Literary Criticism of Wuthering Heights
According to the editor Currer Bell, the novel Wuthering Heights may seem rather
crude and unintelligible to those who know nothing of the author. Strangers who are
unacquainted with the setting where the story takes place, or who are unfamiliar with the customs
of the time may also look at Wuthering Heights with a critical eye. "To all such Wuthering
Heights must appear a rude and strange production" (Bell 5).
Readers may feel that the manners, language, and the very dwellings of the characters
are somewhat "repulsive" (Bell 5). People who are perhaps calm and collected will "have no idea
what to make of the rough, strong utterance, the harshly manifested passions, the unbridled
aversions, and headlong partialities" (Bell 5). Many people have been taught carefully to observe
the evenness of language and manner, and it is these people whom the roughness will shock .
The entire novel is regarded for its rusticity. "It is moorish, and wild, and knotty as the
root of heath" (Bell 5). However, Currer Bell insists that this is exactly the way the novel should
be. The author was a product of these wild and rustic moors, and it is quite natural that she writes
about what she lived in. "Her descriptions, then, if natural scenery, are what they should be, and
all that they should be" (Bell 6).
The author herself was not a very social person. She looked upon most
people with benevolence, but there were very few instances where she interacted with them on a
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personal level. However, this did not stop her from accurately identifying the ways, language, and
family history of most people. "She could hear of them with interest, and talk of them with detail,
minute, graphic,and accurate; but with them she barely exchanged a word" (Bell 6-7). Her
imagination was dismal yet powerful.
Still, there are certain examples in Wuthering Heights that bring a sort of brightness to
the other dreary aspects of the novel. The character of Nelly Dean is an example of tenderness
and compassion. In the character of Edgar Linton one can see a sense of constancy and
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights share similarities in many aspects, perhaps most plainly seen in the plots: just as Clarissa marries Richard rather than Peter Walsh in order to secure a comfortable life for herself, Catherine chooses Edgar Linton over Heathcliff in an attempt to wrest both herself and Heathcliff from the squalid lifestyle of Wuthering Heights. However, these two novels also overlap in thematic elements in that both are concerned with the opposing forces of civilization or order and chaos or madness. The recurring image of the house is an important symbol used to illustrate both authors’ order versus chaos themes. Though Woolf and Bronte use the house as a symbol in very different ways, the existing similarities create striking resonances between the two novels at certain critical scenes.
In comparing The Song of Roland to Ywain, the society for which each derives its story becomes clear. Likewise, when keeping in mind the changing thoughts, concepts, and feelings of the twelfth century the shift from epic to romance also becomes apparent. Southern's chapter detailed the journey that the people of the period took that made this shift possible. It is these thoughts, found within the romantic literature, which forever differentiates the high Middle Ages for the earlier ages.
In a novel where everything is turned upside down and every character plays a role they probably shouldn’t, Nelly Dean’s role is the most ambiguous. As both Lockwood’s and the reader’s narrator, Nelly plays the role of the storyteller. Yet at the same time, Nelly is also a character in the story that she tells, occupying a vast array of roles. As a character within her own tale, Nelly attempts to manipulate the actions of her fellow characters. The best way for the reader to understand both Nelly’s role in the novel and her manipulative actions is to see Nelly as being representative of the author. Authors occupy roles that are similarly as ambiguous as Nelly’s role, acting as both writers of and characters in their own stories, often unwittingly writing aspects of themselves into a large variety of roles within their own novels. Furthermore, Nelly’s manipulative actions and biases are analogous to an author’s exertions to move the narrative in accordance with her artistic vision. The multiplicity and ambiguity of Nelly’s roles as well as Nelly’s clearly manipulative maneuvers to alter the plot ultimately implicate Nelly in the meta-fictional role of representing the author.
Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff’s dwelling place whom he shared with his son Linton and Hareton, underwent the most significant change since the Earnshaw’s resided there. Wuthering, by definition, is a wild wind blowing strongly with a roaring sound. This shows the readers that the residents of each property also reflect the character’s behavior and actions that dramatically affects the appearance of the properties and a change in weather. But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. Wuthering Height...
Wuthering Heights is novel written by Emily Bronte is a story about love. Not only love,
Wuthering Heights is a good novel to show that everyone and everything has the ability to change. Almost every character’s appearance or personality altered in some way. Sometimes this metamorphosis is for the better, and other times it is not. Some people can willingly change who they are or how they act while others find a hard time doing so. Novels that express this idea really appeal to the reader because they are relatable and reflect real life.
Hindley’s obstructive actions, imposed on Heathcliff’s life, expand an internal anger that arouses as Heathcliff’s time at Wuthering Heights draws to a close. The negligent and condemnatory conditions advanced by Hindley transform Heathcliff’s futuristic outcome and supply him with motives to carry out vengeance on multiple personalities involved in the plot. Heathcliff’s troubled social environment renders it difficult to determine the ethical legitimacy behind his decisions, contributing to the moral ambiguity of his
According to him, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is not only just a romance, but it is about class origins, and how industrialization in Britain had an impact on the culture of the English and found its way to the far reaches of the wild English countryside, that is. Heathcliff was not a Romeo, he was a dark-skinned outsider who reminded the reader of the dramatic social change that happened at that time.
Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Bronte, has 323 pages. The genre of Wuthering Heights is realistic fiction, and it is a romantic novel. The book is available in the school library, but it was bought at Barnes and Nobles. The author’s purpose of writing Wuthering Heights is to describe a twisted and dark romance story. Thus, the author conveys the theme of one of life’s absolute truths: love is pain. In addition, the mood of the book is melancholy and tumultuous. Lastly, the single most important incident of the book is when Heathcliff arrives to Edgar Linton’s residence in the Granges unannounced to see Catherine’s state of health. Heathcliff’s single visit overwhelmed Catherine to the point of death.
In conclusion, the Wuthering Heights Estate has many important parts to the house, including the furniture, windows, gates, and the vegetation. It sets the mood for the scenes that take place there, and reflects its inhabitants. Without the description of this estate the scenes would not be as sullen and dark as they are.
Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a destructive force, motivating him to enact revenge and wreak misery. The power of Heathcliff’s destructive love is conquered by the influence of another kind of love. Young Cathy’s love for Hareton is a redemptive force. It is her love that brings an end to the reign of Heathcliff.
...e. On a very simplistic level, it is attractive, the name ‘Wuthering Heights’ sounds to the ear a more mysterious and enigmatic choice than Thrushcross Grange. But it can be assumed that the author had made the choice of naming the novel based on reasons that run deeper than mere attractiveness. The setting is vital to the plot, and as Wuthering Heights and its presence directly or indirectly precipitates a major part of the action, the choice is an apt one. In conclusion,the characters’ relation with Nature runs deep, and this too has been highlighted forcefully by the title, that keeps reminding the reader that in ‘Wuthering Heights’, the setting is the thread that runs through the entire narrative holding it together, and halfway through the novel, we can almost perceptibly feel the throb of Nature that is alive, that is at work, and that has a will of its own.
Wuthering Heights is immensely filled with nature imagery. Mathison believes that Wuthering Heights is a “wild novel” because of its illustration of the wild nature (18). From the moors to the barren landscape, Bronte brings together these images to depict a dreary and desolate setting. Bronte also uses the elements of nature to convey characteristics of characters. Bronte uses the imagery of nature to reflect the personalities of the characters in Wuthering Heights.
Wuthering Heights is not just a love story, it is a window into the human soul, where one sees the loss, suffering, self discovery, and triumph of the characters in this novel. Both the Image of the Book by Robert McKibben, and Control of Sympathy in Wuthering Heights by John Hagan, strive to prove that neither Catherine nor Heathcliff are to blame for their wrong doings. Catherine and Heathcliff’s passionate nature, intolerable frustration, and overwhelming loss have ruined them, and thus stripped them of their humanities.
Wuthering Heights is filled with different examples of the Romantic Movements. Heathcliff is an exceptionally difficult character to analyze because he displays numerous altered personalities. This raises the question: which Romantic Movement was most common in Wuthering Heights? An analysis of Wuthering Heights reveals the most common Romantic Movement in the text: Romanticism. Romanticism is based upon the ideas of subjectivity, inspiration and the primacy of the individual. Various examples of these from the text are when Heathcliff has Catherine’s grave excavated, the repeated possibility of supernatural beings, and the love from the past that is seen from Heathcliff and Catherine.