Literature B2 Units

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 9780230035256_Cover:wuthering heights cv outer 28/7/08 11:46 Page 1

ABOUT THE STORY

intermediate 5

I have just returned from a visit to Mr Heathcliff. He was

WUTHERING HEIGHTS
standing by a gate as I arrived at Wuthering Heights
early this afternoon.
Mr Heathcliff is a handsome man. But he looks like

Published in 1847, Wuthering Heights describes how, in 1801, a man called Lockwood rents
a gypsy. His eyes are dark and his hair is black.
‘Are you Mr Heathcliff?’ I asked.
He nodded his head, but did not speak to me.

Thrushcross Grange, a house in the north of England. His unfriendly landlord, Heathcliff, lives in
‘I’m Lockwood, your new tenant at Thrushcross
Grange,’ I said politely. ‘I thought I should call on you.’
He leant on the gate and stared at me. At last he said,

EMILY BRONTË
‘Come in.’ Then he turned and walked away from me

Wuthering Heights, a lonely house high on the moors. One night, Nelly, Heathcliff’s housekeeper, towards the house.
• Extra grammar and vocabulary exercises
• Points for Understanding comprehension questions

tells Lockwood how Heathcliff, an orphan, was brought to the house many years earlier and grew
• Glossary of difficult vocabulary
• Free resources including worksheets, tests and author
data sheets at www.macmillanenglish.com/readers
• Audio CD/download available for this title

up with the two Earnshaw children, Catherine and Hindley. Hindley hated Heathcliff but Catherine 1 Starter MACMILLAN READERS

Wuthering Heights
loved him, and the two of them grew up together on the wild moors. But Catherine leaves

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2 Beginner This series provides a wide variety of enjoyable reading
3 Elementary material for all learners of English. Macmillan Readers
are retold versions of popular classic and contemporary
4 Pre-intermediate
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titles as well as specially written stories, published at
six levels.
Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights and she and Heathcliff have a doomed relationship over several years, before
6 Upper

british english
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A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2

she dies. The novel contains elements of gothic literature, but also transcends that genre in its
I S B N 978-0-230-03525-6

complex character studies and social observations.

Use your Macmillan
English Dictionary 9 780230 035256
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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Brontë was born in Yorkshire, England in 1881. She was one of four children who lived with their father in a remote
and wild part of the Yorkshire moors. The children were educated at home. They read widely and invented their own
fictional worlds and wrote stories about them. When Emily was 20 she left home to become a teacher, but moved back
home after she became ill. From then on, she remained at home and looked after her father. Wuthering Heights was
published in 1847, written under the pen name of Ellis Bell. It was her only novel.

4G 9:20 56%

Soon I was asleep and dreaming again. In my dream, I
could still hear the tree branch banging on the window.
In my dream, I sat up to open the window so I could
stop the noise of the branch. The window would not
5 open so I smashed my hand through the glass. I got
hold of the branch to break it off. But, to my horror, it
was not a branch. It was a small, cold hand.
‘Let me in,’ a child’s voice cried.
‘Who are you?’ I asked.
10 I tried to take my hand away, but the child would not
let go of it.
‘I’m Catherine Linton. I’ve come home,’ the voice said.
As the voice spoke, I saw the child’s face through the
broken window. I was terrified and the child would not
15 let go of my hand. My terror made me cruel and I pulled
the hand against the broken glass. Blood ran down onto
the bed.
Again the voice cried, ‘Let me in! Let me in!’
‘I’ll never let you in,’ I cried. ‘If you asked for twenty
20 years, I would not let you in!’
‘Twenty years…’ the voice replied. ‘I’ve been out here for
twenty years.’
I was so terrified that I shouted out and woke myself up.
I also woke up my landlord who came running into the
25 room.
‘Mr Lockwood!’ shouted Heathcliff. ‘What are you doing
in here? Who let you sleep in this room?’
He was white with fear and he was trembling.
‘Zillah brought me here!’ I cried. I was still trembling
30 after my terrible dream. ‘She shouldn’t have made me
sleep in a haunted room.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I was attacked,’ I replied. ‘I was attacked by the ghost
of Catherine Linton.’ And I told Heathcliff about my
35 dreams.
At first, Heathcliff looked angry. Then he said quietly that
I must sleep in his own room for the rest of the night.
I turned to leave the room, but then I looked back. I
don’t know why. And I saw something very strange.
40 Heathcliff pulled open the window. He got onto the bed
and put his head out of the window. Tears were pouring
down his face.
‘Cathy, come in! Come in!’ he cried. ‘Cathy, come to me
this time. Cathy, my darling – hear me, please!’
45 I was very upset. I went downstairs and stayed for the
rest of the night in the kitchen.

A VOCABULARY FOCUS
branch (line 2): a part of a tree that grows out of the
trunk and has leaves growing on it
smash (line 5): to break something noisily into many
pieces by hitting it with a lot of force
let go (line 11): to release
blood (line 16): the red liquid that flows around
inside your body
landlord (line 24): a man who owns a property that people
can rent
tremble (line 28): to shake because you are nervous or afraid
haunted (line 31): lived in or visited by the spirit of a dead
person
tear (line 41): liquid that comes from your eyes when you cry
pour (line 41): to flow continuously and in large amounts

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 Literature
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  Before reading
1 You are going to read an excerpt from a novel
called Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is
the name of a house. What kind of house do you
think it is? A man called Heathcliff lives there.
What kind of man do you think he is?
2 Read About the story and About the author. Why
do you think Emily Brontë published the novel
under the name Ellis Bell?
3 In the excerpt you are going to read, Lockwood
spends the night at Wuthering Heights. He
finds and reads the diary of Catherine Earnshaw
and the unhappy story of her life, then he has
a dream. Read About the story again and think
about what might happen in Lockwood’s dream.
Think about:
■ the elements of gothic literature
■ the natural setting for the house
■ the people in the story.
  While reading
1 Read the excerpt. Are these sentences True (T) or
False (F)? Correct the false sentences.
1 The child hurts Lockwood’s hand and
makes it bleed.
2 Lockwood is afraid of the ghost. 
3 The child has been outside the window
all night.
4 The child wants to come into the house.
5 Heathcliff didn’t know the room was haunted.
6 The child in the dream is the ghost of
Catherine Linton.
2 Read the excerpt again. Answer the questions.
1 What causes the banging on the window? Why do
you think Brontë chose this object?
2 What object separates Lockwood from the ghost?
What could this represent?
3 How does Heathcliff react initially to the events?
4 How does Heathcliff react to the ghost?
5 Why do you think Lockwood is surprised by
Heathcliff’s reaction?
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B2 Units
3 This chapter of Wuthering Heights contains many
elements of the gothic genre. Read the excerpt
again and discuss these questions in pairs. Find
sentences and imagery in the extract to support
your answers.
1 What atmosphere does Emily Brontë create?
2 How does she include elements of a gothic novel?
Identify examples of the following:
■ aspects of the supernatural
■  feelings of insecurity
■  mystery and suspicion
■  exaggerated emotions.
  After reading
1 Look at some of the themes in Wuthering Heights
below. Work in pairs and discuss how the excerpt
covers these themes.
a good and evil
b chaos and order
c obsession and love
2 Wuthering Heights has two narrators: Lockwood,
through his diary, and Nelly Dean, the
housekeeper of Thrushcross Grange. Lockwood’s
diary is a framing device: his observations frame
Nelly’s narration of the main story. Work in pairs
and answer the questions.
T/F
1 Before his dream, Lockwood saw Heathcliff and the
T/F other inhabitants of the house shouting at each other
and fighting. He was then attacked by Heathcliff’s
T/F dogs. How do these events influence his dream?
T/F 2 Lockwood doesn’t like Heathcliff or the other
T/F inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. How do you think
this might affect the way he tells the story?
T/F 3 After his encounter with the ghost of Catherine,
Lockwood says to Nelly Dean: ‘Mrs Dean, perhaps
you could tell me the story of my neighbours?’ Nelly
tells Lockwood she likes reading and has read all
the books in the library. How do you think this might
affect the way she tells the story? Do you think Nelly
tells Lockwood the true version of events, or her own
version of events?
3 In pairs, think about how the story will develop.
Make notes on the following questions:
■ Who will Lockwood talk to about what he has seen?
■ What questions will Lockwood ask to find out more?
■ What will happen to Heathcliff?
Now write a short passage to continue
Lockwood’s diary.
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