Wuthering Heights

Emily Bront
Plot Overview
I n the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called
Thrushcross Grange in the isolated moor country of England !ere, he meets his dour landlord,
!eathcliff, a wealthy man who li"es in the ancient manor of #uthering !eights, four miles away from
the Grange In this wild, stormy countryside, Lockwood asks his housekee$er, %elly &ean, to tell him
the story of !eathcliff and the strange deni'ens of #uthering !eights %elly consents, and Lockwood
writes down his recollections of her tale in his diary( these written recollections form the main $art of
Wuthering Heights
%elly remem)ers her childhood *s a young girl, she works as a ser"ant at #uthering !eights
for the owner of the manor, +r Earnshaw, and his family ,ne day, +r Earnshaw goes to Li"er$ool
and returns home with an or$han )oy whom he will raise with his own children *t first, the Earnshaw
children-a )oy named !indley and his younger sister .atherine-detest the dark/skinned !eathcliff
But .atherine 0uickly comes to lo"e him, and the two soon grow inse$ara)le, s$ending their days
$laying on the moors *fter his wife1s death, +r Earnshaw grows to $refer !eathcliff to his own son,
and when !indley continues his cruelty to !eathcliff, +r Earnshaw sends !indley away to college,
kee$ing !eathcliff near)y
Three years later, +r Earnshaw dies, and !indley inherits #uthering !eights !e returns with
a wife, 2rances, and immediately seeks re"enge on !eathcliff ,nce an or$han, later a $am$ered and
fa"ored son, !eathcliff now finds himself treated as a common la)orer, forced to work in the fields
!eathcliff continues his close relationshi$ with .atherine, howe"er ,ne night they wander to
Thrushcross Grange, ho$ing to tease Edgar and Isa)ella Linton, the cowardly, sno))ish children who
li"e there .atherine is )itten )y a dog and is forced to stay at the Grange to recu$erate for fi"e weeks,
during which time +rs Linton works to make her a $ro$er young lady By the time .atherine returns,
she has )ecome infatuated with Edgar, and her relationshi$ with !eathcliff grows more com$licated
#hen 2rances dies after gi"ing )irth to a )a)y )oy named !areton, !indley descends into the
de$ths of alcoholism, and )eha"es e"en more cruelly and a)usi"ely toward !eathcliff E"entually,
.atherine1s desire for social ad"ancement $rom$ts her to )ecome engaged to Edgar Linton, des$ite her
o"er$owering lo"e for !eathcliff !eathcliff runs away from #uthering !eights, staying away for
three years, and returning shortly after .atherine and Edgar1s marriage
#hen !eathcliff returns, he immediately sets a)out seeking re"enge on all who ha"e wronged
him !a"ing come into a "ast and mysterious wealth, he de"iously lends money to the drunken
!indley, knowing that !indley will increase his de)ts and fall into dee$er des$ondency #hen
!indley dies, !eathcliff inherits the manor !e also $laces himself in line to inherit Thrushcross
Grange )y marrying Isa)ella Linton, whom he treats "ery cruelly .atherine )ecomes ill, gi"es )irth to
a daughter, and dies !eathcliff )egs her s$irit to remain on Earth-she may take whate"er form she
will, she may haunt him, dri"e him mad-3ust as long as she does not lea"e him alone 4hortly
thereafter, Isa)ella flees to London and gi"es )irth to !eathcliff1s son, named Linton after her family
4he kee$s the )oy with her there
Thirteen years $ass, during which %elly &ean ser"es as .atherine1s daughter1s nursemaid at
Thrushcross Grange 5oung .atherine is )eautiful and headstrong like her mother, )ut her
tem$erament is modified )y her father1s gentler influence 5oung .atherine grows u$ at the Grange
with no knowledge of #uthering !eights( one day, howe"er, wandering through the moors, she
disco"ers the manor, meets !areton, and $lays together with him 4oon afterwards, Isa)ella dies, and
Linton comes to li"e with !eathcliff !eathcliff treats his sickly, whining son e"en more cruelly than
he treated the )oy1s mother
Three years later, .atherine meets !eathcliff on the moors, and makes a "isit to #uthering
!eights to meet Linton 4he and Linton )egin a secret romance conducted entirely through letters
#hen %elly destroys .atherine1s collection of letters, the girl )egins sneaking out at night to s$end
time with her frail young lo"er, who asks her to come )ack and nurse him )ack to health !owe"er, it
0uickly )ecomes a$$arent that Linton is $ursuing .atherine only )ecause !eathcliff is forcing him to(
!eathcliff ho$es that if .atherine marries Linton, his legal claim u$on Thrushcross Grange-and his
re"enge u$on Edgar Linton-will )e com$lete ,ne day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death,
!eathcliff lures %elly and .atherine )ack to #uthering !eights, and holds them $risoner until
.atherine marries Linton 4oon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is 0uickly followed )y the
death of the sickly Linton !eathcliff now controls )oth #uthering !eights and Thrushcross Grange
!e forces .atherine to li"e at #uthering !eights and act as a common ser"ant, while he rents
Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood
%elly1s story ends as she reaches the $resent Lockwood, a$$alled, ends his tenancy at
Thrushcross Grange and returns to London !owe"er, si6 months later, he $ays a "isit to %elly, and
learns of further de"elo$ments in the story *lthough .atherine originally mocked !areton1s ignorance
and illiteracy 7in an act of retri)ution, !eathcliff ended !areton1s education after !indley died8,
.atherine grows to lo"e !areton as they li"e together at #uthering !eights !eathcliff )ecomes more
and more o)sessed with the memory of the elder .atherine, to the e6tent that he )egins s$eaking to her
ghost E"erything he sees reminds him of her 4hortly after a night s$ent walking on the moors,
!eathcliff dies !areton and young .atherine inherit #uthering !eights and Thrushcross Grange, and
they $lan to )e married on the ne6t %ew 5ear1s &ay *fter hearing the end of the story, Lockwood
goes to "isit the gra"es of .atherine and !eathcliff
Chronology
The story of Wuthering Heights is told through flash)acks recorded in diary entries, and e"ents
are often $resented out of chronological order-Lockwood1s narrati"e takes $lace after %elly1s
narrati"e, for instance, )ut is inters$ersed with %elly1s story in his 3ournal %e"ertheless, the no"el
contains enough clues to ena)le an a$$ro6imate reconstruction of its chronology, which was
ela)orately designed )y Emily Bront 2or instance, Lockwood1s diary entries are recorded in the late
months of 1801 and in 4e$tem)er 1809( in 1801, %elly tells Lockwood that she has li"ed at
Thrushcross Grange for eighteen years, since .atherine1s marriage to Edgar, which must then ha"e
occurred in 1:8; #e know that .atherine was engaged to Edgar for three years, and that %elly was
twenty/two when they were engaged, so the engagement must ha"e taken $lace in 1:80, and %elly
must ha"e )een )orn in 1:<8 4ince %elly is a few years older than .atherine, and since Lockwood
comments that !eathcliff is a)out forty years old in 1801, it stands to reason that !eathcliff and
.atherine were )orn around 1:=1, three years after %elly There are se"eral other clues like this in the
no"el 7such as !areton1s )irth, which occurs in >une, 1::88 The following chronology is )ased on
those clues, and should closely a$$ro6imate the timing of the no"el1s im$ortant e"ents * ?@A )efore a
date indicates that it cannot )e $recisely determined from the e"idence in the no"el, )ut only closely
estimated
1500 - The stone above the front door of Wuthering Heights, bearing the name
of Hareton Earnshaw, is inscribed, possibly to mark the completion of the house.
1758 - Nelly is born.
~1761 - Heathcli and !atherine are born.
~1767 - "r. Earnshaw brings Heathcli to live at Wuthering Heights.
1774 - "r. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college.
1777 - "r. Earnshaw dies# Hindley and $rances take possession of Wuthering
Heights# !atherine %rst visits Thrushcross &range around !hristmastime.
1778 - Hareton is born in 'une# $rances dies# Hindley begins his slide into
alcoholism.
1780 - !atherine becomes engaged to Edgar (inton# Heathcli leaves Wuthering
Heights.
1783 - !atherine and Edgar are married# Heathcli arrives at Thrushcross
&range in )eptember.
1784 - Heathcli and *sabella elope in the early part of the year# !atherine
becomes ill with brain fever# young !atherine is born late in the year# !atherine dies.
1785 - Early in the year, *sabella +ees Wuthering Heights and settles in (ondon#
(inton is born.
~1785 - Hindley dies# Heathcli inherits Wuthering Heights.
~1797 - ,oung !atherine meets Hareton and visits Wuthering Heights for the
%rst time# (inton comes from (ondon after *sabella dies -in late ./0/ or early ./012.
1800 - ,oung !atherine stages her romance with (inton in the winter.
1801 - Early in the year, young !atherine is imprisoned by Heathcli and forced
to marry (inton# Edgar (inton dies# (inton dies# Heathcli assumes control of Thrushcross
&range. (ate in the year, (ockwood rents the &range from Heathcli and begins his
tenancy. *n a winter storm, (ockwood takes ill and begins conversing with Nelly 3ean.
18011802 - 3uring the winter, Nelly narrates her story for (ockwood.
1802 - *n spring, (ockwood returns to (ondon# !atherine and Hareton fall in love#
Heathcli dies# (ockwood returns in )eptember and hears the end of the story from
Nelly.
1803 - 4n New ,ear5s 3ay, young !atherine and Hareton plan to be married.
Analysis of Major !ara"ters
Heathclif
Wuthering Heights centers around the story of !eathcliff The first $aragra$h of the no"el
$ro"ides a "i"id $hysical $icture of him, as Lockwood descri)es how his ?)lack eyesA withdraw
sus$iciously under his )rows at Lockwood1s a$$roach %elly1s story )egins with his introduction into
the Earnshaw family, his "engeful machinations dri"e the entire $lot, and his death ends the )ook The
desire to understand him and his moti"ations has ke$t countless readers engaged in the no"el
!eathcliff, howe"er, defies )eing understood, and it is difficult for readers to resist seeing what
they want or e6$ect to see in him The no"el teases the reader with the $ossi)ility that !eathcliff is
something other than what he seems-that his cruelty is merely an e6$ression of his frustrated lo"e for
.atherine, or that his sinister )eha"iors ser"e to conceal the heart of a romantic hero #e e6$ect
!eathcliff1s character to contain such a hidden "irtue )ecause he resem)les a hero in a romance no"el
Traditionally, romance no"el heroes a$$ear dangerous, )rooding, and cold at first, only later to emerge
as fiercely de"oted and lo"ing ,ne hundred years )efore Emily Bront wrote Wuthering Heights, the
notion that ?a reformed rake makes the )est hus)andA was already a clichB of romantic literature, and
romance no"els center around the same clichB to this day
!owe"er, !eathcliff does not reform, and his male"olence $ro"es so great and long/lasting that
it cannot )e ade0uately e6$lained e"en as a desire for re"enge against !indley, .atherine, Edgar, etc
*s he himself $oints out, his a)use of Isa)ella is $urely sadistic, as he amuses himself )y seeing how
much a)use she can take and still come cringing )ack for more .ritic >oyce .arol ,ates argues that
Emily Bront does the same thing to the reader that !eathcliff does to Isa)ella, testing to see how
many times the reader can )e shocked )y !eathcliff1s gratuitous "iolence and still, masochistically,
insist on seeing him as a romantic hero
It is significant that !eathcliff )egins his life as a homeless or$han on the streets of Li"er$ool
#hen Bront com$osed her )ook, in the 18C0s, the English economy was se"erely de$ressed, and the
conditions of the factory workers in industrial areas like Li"er$ool were so a$$alling that the u$$er
and middle classes feared "iolent re"olt Thus, many of the more affluent mem)ers of society )eheld
these workers with a mi6ture of sym$athy and fear In literature, the smoky, threatening, misera)le
factory/towns were often re$resented in religious terms, and com$ared to hell The $oet #illiam
Blake, writing near the turn of the nineteenth century, s$eaks of England1s ?dark 4atanic +illsA
!eathcliff, of course, is fre0uently com$ared to a demon )y the other characters in the )ook
.onsidering this historical conte6t, !eathcliff seems to em)ody the an6ieties that the )ook1s
u$$er/ and middle/class audience had a)out the working classes The reader may easily sym$athi'e
with him when he is $owerless, as a child tyranni'ed )y !indley Earnshaw, )ut he )ecomes a "illain
when he ac0uires $ower and returns to #uthering !eights with money and the tra$$ings of a
gentleman This corres$onds with the am)i"alence the u$$er classes felt toward the lower classes-the
u$$er classes had charita)le im$ulses toward lower/class citi'ens when they were misera)le, )ut
feared the $ros$ect of the lower classes trying to esca$e their misera)le circumstances )y ac0uiring
$olitical, social, cultural, or economic $ower
Catherine
The location of .atherine1s coffin sym)oli'es the conflict that tears a$art her short life 4he is
not )uried in the cha$el with the Lintons %or is her coffin $laced among the tom)s of the Earnshaws
Instead, as %elly descri)es in .ha$ter DEI, .atherine is )uried ?in a corner of the kirkyard, where the
wall is so low that heath and )il)erry $lants ha"e clim)ed o"er it from the moorA +oreo"er, she is
)uried with Edgar on one side and !eathcliff on the other, suggesting her conflicted loyalties !er
actions are dri"en in $art )y her social am)itions, which initially are awakened during her first stay at
the Lintons1, and which e"entually com$el her to marry Edgar !owe"er, she is also moti"ated )y
im$ulses that $rom$t her to "iolate social con"entions-to lo"e !eathcliff, throw tem$er tantrums,
and run around on the moor
Isa)ella Linton-.atherine1s sister/in/law and !eathcliff1s wife, who was )orn in the same
year that .atherine was-ser"es as .atherine1s foil The two women1s $arallel $ositions allow us to
see their differences with greater clarity .atherine re$resents wild nature, in )oth her high, li"ely
s$irits and her occasional cruelty, whereas Isa)ella re$resents culture and ci"ili'ation, )oth in her
refinement and in her weakness
Edgar
>ust as Isa)ella Linton ser"es as .atherine1s foil, Edgar Linton ser"es as !eathcliff1s Edgar is
)orn and raised a gentleman !e is graceful, well/mannered, and instilled with ci"ili'ed "irtues These
0ualities cause .atherine to choose Edgar o"er !eathcliff and thus to initiate the contention )etween
the men %e"ertheless, Edgar1s gentlemanly 0ualities ultimately $ro"e useless in his ensuing ri"alry
with !eathcliff Edgar is $articularly humiliated )y his confrontation with !eathcliff in .ha$ter DI, in
which he o$enly shows his fear of fighting !eathcliff .atherine, ha"ing witnessed the scene, taunts
him, saying, ?!eathcliff would as soon lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a
colony of miceA *s the reader can see from the earliest descri$tions of Edgar as a s$oiled child, his
refinement is tied to his hel$lessness and im$otence
.harlotte Bront, in her $reface to the 18<0 edition of Wuthering Heights, refers to Edgar as
?an e6am$le of constancy and tenderness,A and goes on to suggest that her sister Emily was using
Edgar to $oint out that such characteristics constitute true "irtues in all human )eings, and not 3ust in
women, as society tended to )elie"e !owe"er, .harlotte1s reading seems influenced )y her own
feminist agenda Edgar1s ina)ility to counter !eathcliff1s "engeance, and his naF"e )elief on his
death)ed in his daughter1s safety and ha$$iness, make him a weak, if sym$athetic, character
#!e$es% Motifs & 'y$(ols
Themes
The 3estructiveness of a (ove That Never !hanges
.atherine and !eathcliff1s $assion for one another seems to )e the center of Wuthering
Heights, gi"en that it is stronger and more lasting than any other emotion dis$layed in the no"el, and
that it is the source of most of the ma3or conflicts that structure the no"el1s $lot *s she tells .atherine
and !eathcliff1s story, %elly critici'es )oth of them harshly, condemning their $assion as immoral, )ut
this $assion is o)"iously one of the most com$elling and memora)le as$ects of the )ook It is not easy
to decide whether Bront intends the reader to condemn these lo"ers as )lameworthy or to ideali'e
them as romantic heroes whose lo"e transcends social norms and con"entional morality The )ook is
actually structured around two $arallel lo"e stories, the first half of the no"el centering on the lo"e
)etween .atherine and !eathcliff, while the less dramatic second half features the de"elo$ing lo"e
)etween young .atherine and !areton In contrast to the first, the latter tale ends ha$$ily, restoring
$eace and order to #uthering !eights and Thrushcross Grange The differences )etween the two lo"e
stories contri)ute to the reader1s understanding of why each ends the way it does
The most im$ortant feature of young .atherine and !areton1s lo"e story is that it in"ol"es
growth and change Early in the no"el !areton seems irredeema)ly )rutal, sa"age, and illiterate, )ut
o"er time he )ecomes a loyal friend to young .atherine and learns to read #hen young .atherine first
meets !areton he seems com$letely alien to her world, yet her attitude also e"ol"es from contem$t to
lo"e .atherine and !eathcliff1s lo"e, on the other hand, is rooted in their childhood and is marked )y
the refusal to change In choosing to marry Edgar, .atherine seeks a more genteel life, )ut she refuses
to ada$t to her role as wife, either )y sacrificing !eathcliff or em)racing Edgar In .ha$ter DII she
suggests to %elly that the years since she was twel"e years old and her father died ha"e )een like a
)lank to her, and she longs to return to the moors of her childhood !eathcliff, for his $art, $ossesses a
seemingly su$erhuman a)ility to maintain the same attitude and to nurse the same grudges o"er many
years
+oreo"er, .atherine and !eathcliff1s lo"e is )ased on their shared $erce$tion that they are
identical .atherine declares, famously, ?I am !eathcliff,A while !eathcliff, u$on .atherine1s death,
wails that he cannot li"e without his ?soul,A meaning .atherine Their lo"e denies difference, and is
strangely ase6ual The two do not kiss in dark corners or arrange secret trysts, as adulterers do Gi"en
that .atherine and !eathcliff1s lo"e is )ased u$on their refusal to change o"er time or em)race
difference in others, it is fitting that the disastrous $ro)lems of their generation are o"ercome not )y
some climactic re"ersal, )ut sim$ly )y the ine6ora)le $assage of time, and the rise of a new and
distinct generation Gltimately, Wuthering Heights $resents a "ision of life as a $rocess of change, and
cele)rates this $rocess o"er and against the romantic intensity of its $rinci$al characters
The Hrecariousness of 4ocial .lass
*s mem)ers of the gentry, the Earnshaws and the Lintons occu$y a somewhat $recarious $lace
within the hierarchy of late eighteenth/ and early nineteenth/century British society *t the to$ of
British society was the royalty, followed )y the aristocracy, then )y the gentry, and then )y the lower
classes, who made u$ the "ast ma3ority of the $o$ulation *lthough the gentry, or u$$er middle class,
$ossessed ser"ants and often large estates, they held a nonetheless fragile social $osition The social
status of aristocrats was a formal and settled matter, )ecause aristocrats had official titles +em)ers of
the gentry, howe"er, held no titles, and their status was thus su)3ect to change * man might see
himself as a gentleman )ut find, to his em)arrassment, that his neigh)ors did not share this "iew *
discussion of whether or not a man was really a gentleman would consider such 0uestions as how
much land he owned, how many tenants and ser"ants he had, how he s$oke, whether he ke$t horses
and a carriage, and whether his money came from land or ?tradeA-gentlemen scorned )anking and
commercial acti"ities
.onsiderations of class status often crucially inform the characters1 moti"ations in Wuthering
Heights .atherine1s decision to marry Edgar so that she will )e ?the greatest woman of the
neigh)orhoodA is only the most o)"ious e6am$le The Lintons are relati"ely firm in their gentry status
)ut nonetheless take great $ains to $ro"e this status through their )eha"iors The Earnshaws, on the
other hand, rest on much shakier ground socially They do not ha"e a carriage, they ha"e less land, and
their house, as Lockwood remarks with great $u''lement, resem)les that of a ?homely, northern
farmerA and not that of a gentleman The shifting nature of social status is demonstrated most
strikingly in !eathcliff1s tra3ectory from homeless waif to young gentleman/)y/ado$tion to common
la)orer to gentleman again 7although the status/conscious Lockwood remarks that !eathcliff is only a
gentleman in ?dress and mannersA8
Motifs
3oubles
Bront organi'es her no"el )y arranging its elements-characters, $laces, and themes-into
$airs .atherine and !eathcliff are closely matched in many ways, and see themsel"es as identical
.atherine1s character is di"ided into two warring sidesI the side that wants Edgar and the side that
wants !eathcliff .atherine and young .atherine are )oth remarka)ly similar and strikingly different
The two houses, #uthering !eights and Thrushcross Grange, re$resent o$$osing worlds and "alues
The no"el has not one )ut two distinctly different narrators, %elly and +r Lockwood The relation
)etween such $aired elements is usually 0uite com$licated, with the mem)ers of each $air )eing
neither e6actly alike nor diametrically o$$osed 2or instance, the Lintons and the Earnshaws may at
first seem to re$resent o$$osing sets of "alues, )ut, )y the end of the no"el, so many intermarriages
ha"e taken $lace that one can no longer distinguish )etween the two families
6epetition
Je$etition is another tactic Bront em$loys in organi'ing Wuthering Heights It seems that
nothing e"er ends in the world of this no"el Instead, time seems to run in cycles, and the horrors of
the $ast re$eat themsel"es in the $resent The way that the names of the characters are recycled, so that
the names of the characters of the younger generation seem only to )e rescram)lings of the names of
their $arents, leads the reader to consider how $lot elements also re$eat themsel"es 2or instance,
!eathcliff1s degradation of !areton re$eats !indley1s degradation of !eathcliff *lso, the young
.atherine1s mockery of >ose$h1s earnest e"angelical 'ealousness re$eats her mother1s E"en
!eathcliff1s second try at o$ening .atherine1s gra"e re$eats his first
The !on+ict 7etween Nature and !ulture
In Wuthering Heights, Bront constantly $lays nature and culture against each other %ature is
re$resented )y the Earnshaw family, and )y .atherine and !eathcliff in $articular These characters
are go"erned )y their $assions, not )y reflection or ideals of ci"ility .orres$ondingly, the house where
they li"e-#uthering !eights-comes to sym)oli'e a similar wildness ,n the other hand,
Thrushcross Grange and the Linton family re$resent culture, refinement, con"ention, and culti"ation
#hen, in .ha$ter EI, .atherine is )itten )y the Lintons1 dog and )rought into Thrushcross
Grange, the two sides are )rought onto the collision course that structures the ma3ority of the no"el1s
$lot *t the time of that first meeting )etween the Linton and Earnshaw households, chaos has already
)egun to eru$t at #uthering !eights, where !indley1s cruelty and in3ustice reign, whereas all seems to
)e fine and $eaceful at Thrushcross Grange !owe"er, the influence of #uthering !eights soon $ro"es
o"er$owering, and the inha)itants of Thrushcross Grange are drawn into .atherine, !indley, and
!eathcliff1s drama Thus the reader almost may inter$ret #uthering !eights1s im$act on the Linton
family as an allegory for the corru$tion of culture )y nature, creating a curious re"ersal of the more
traditional story of the corru$tion of nature )y culture !owe"er, Bront tells her story in such a way
as to $re"ent our interest and sym$athy from straying too far from the wilder characters, and often
$ortrays the more ci"ili'ed characters as des$ica)ly weak and silly This method of characteri'ation
$re"ents the no"el from flattening out into a sim$le $ri"ileging of culture o"er nature, or "ice "ersa
Thus in the end the reader must acknowledge that the no"el is no mere allegory
Symbols
"oors
The constant em$hasis on landsca$e within the te6t of Wuthering Heights endows the setting
with sym)olic im$ortance This landsca$e is com$rised $rimarily of moorsI wide, wild e6$anses, high
)ut somewhat soggy, and thus infertile +oorland cannot )e culti"ated, and its uniformity makes
na"igation difficult It features $articularly waterlogged $atches in which $eo$le could $otentially
drown 7This $ossi)ility is mentioned se"eral times in Wuthering Heights8 Thus, the moors ser"e "ery
well as sym)ols of the wild threat $osed )y nature *s the setting for the )eginnings of .atherine and
!eathcliff1s )ond 7the two $lay on the moors during childhood8, the moorland transfers its sym)olic
associations onto the lo"e affair
&hosts
Ghosts a$$ear throughout Wuthering Heights, as they do in most other works of Gothic fiction,
yet Bront always $resents them in such a way that whether they really e6ist remains am)iguous Thus
the world of the no"el can always )e inter$reted as a realistic one .ertain ghosts-such as .atherine1s
s$irit when it a$$ears to Lockwood in .ha$ter III-may )e e6$lained as nightmares The "illagers1
alleged sightings of !eathcliff1s ghost in .ha$ter DDDIE could )e dismissed as un"erified
su$erstition #hether or not the ghosts are ?real,A they sym)oli'e the manifestation of the $ast within
the $resent, and the way memory stays with $eo$le, $ermeating their day/to/day li"es
)ey *a"ts
full title K Wuthering Heights
author K Emily Bront
type of work K %o"el
genre K Gothic no"el 7designed to )oth horrify and fascinate readers with scenes of $assion
and cruelty( su$ernatural elements( and a dark, fore)oding atmos$here8( also realist fiction
7incor$orates "i"id circumstantial detail into a consistently and minutely thought/out $lot, dealing
mostly with the relationshi$s of the characters to one another8
language K English 7including )its of 5orkshire dialect8
time and place written K In 18C=L18C:, Emily Bront wrote Wuthering Heights in the
$arsonage of the isolated "illage of !aworth, in 5orkshire
date of first publication K 18C:
publisher K Thomas . %ew)y
narrator K Lockwood, a newcomer to the locale of #uthering !eights, narrates the entire
no"el as an entry in his diary The story that Lockwood records is told to him )y %elly, a ser"ant, and
Lockwood writes most of the narrati"e in her "oice, descri)ing how she told it to him 4ome $arts of
%elly1s story are narrated )y other characters, such as when %elly recei"es a letter from Isa)ella and
recites its contents "er)atim
point of view K +ost of the e"ents of the no"el are narrated in %elly1s "oice, from %elly1s
$oint of "iew, focusing only on what %elly can see and hear, or what she can find out a)out indirectly
%elly fre0uently comments on what the other characters think and feel, and on what their moti"ations
are, )ut these comments are all )ased on her own inter$retations of the other characters-she is not an
omniscient narrator
tone K It is not easy to infer the author1s attitude toward the e"ents of the no"el The
melodramatic 0uality of the first half of the no"el suggests that Bront "iews .atherine and
!eathcliff1s doomed lo"e as a tragedy of lost $otential and wasted $assion !owe"er, the outcome of
the second half of the no"el suggests that Bront is more interested in cele)rating the renewal and
re)irth )rought a)out )y the $assage of time, and the rise of a new generation, than she is in mourning
!eathcliff and .atherine
tense K Both Lockwood1s and %elly1s narrations are in the $ast tense
setting (time) K The action of %elly1s story )egins in the 1::0s( Lockwood lea"es 5orkshire in
1809
setting (place) K *ll the action of Wuthering Heights takes $lace in or around two neigh)oring
houses on the 5orkshire moors-#uthering !eights and Thrushcross Grange
protagonists K !eathcliff, .atherine
major conflicts K !eathcliff1s great natural a)ilities, strength of character, and lo"e for
.atherine Earnshaw all ena)le him to raise himself from hum)le )eginnings to the status of a wealthy
gentleman, )ut his need to re"enge himself for !indley1s a)use and .atherine1s )etrayal leads him into
a twisted life of cruelty and hatred( .atherine is torn )etween her lo"e for !eathcliff and her desire to
)e a gentlewoman, and her decision to marry the genteel Edgar Linton drags almost all of the no"el1s
characters into conflict with !eathcliff
rising action K !eathcliff1s arri"al at #uthering !eights, !indley1s a)usi"e treatment of
!eathcliff, and .atherine1s first "isit to Thrushcross Grange set the ma3or conflicts in motion( once
!eathcliff hears .atherine say it would ?degradeA her to marry him, the con"ersation )etween %elly
and .atherine, which he secretly o"erhears, dri"es him to run away and $ursue his "engeance
climax K .atherine1s death is the culmination of the conflict )etween herself and !eathcliff
and remo"es any $ossi)ility that their conflict could )e resol"ed $ositi"ely( after .atherine1s death,
!eathcliff merely e6tends and dee$ens his dri"es toward re"enge and cruelty
falling action K !eathcliff destroys Isa)ella and dri"es her away, takes $ossession of young
Linton, forces .atherine and Linton to marry, inherits Thrushcross Grange, then loses interest in the
whole $ro3ect and dies( !areton and young .atherine are to )e engaged to )e married, $romising an
end to the cycle of re"enge
themes K The destructi"eness of a lo"e that ne"er changes( the $recariousness of social class
motifs K &ou)les, re$etition, the conflict )etween nature and culture
symbols K The moors, ghosts
foreshadowing K Lockwood1s initial "isit to #uthering !eights, in which the mysterious
relationshi$s and lurking resentments )etween the characters create an air of mystery( Lockwood1s
ghostly nightmares, during the night he s$ends in .atherine1s old )ed, $refigure many of the e"ents of
the rest of the no"el