Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gathering heights setting analysis
Character Analysis of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
What does wuthering heights symbolise
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Gathering heights setting analysis
When initially diving into a novel, it is common knowledge that there is an already preconceived agreement of trust that the reader instills in the story’s narrator. The reader virtually always relies on the narrator to illustrate the story in an honest unbiased manner, but the story teller in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights appears to break the chains of trust understood by the audience. The novel is heard through the keen ears of Mr. Lockwood who is being told the history of the Earnshaws, Heathcliff, and the Linton family by his housekeeper, Ellen Dean. Establishing herself as the primary narrator, Nelly reminisces upon her experiences at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. She fails to give Lockwood and ultimately the reader a precise narration of the affairs that took place in the past. Throughout her vivid flashback, Nelly on numerous occasions lessens the impact of her role and participation in certain events to keep her hands clean from the tragedies that more or less ruined those among her presence at Wuthering Heights.
As Nelly Dean embarks on her tale to Lockwood, she is caught uttering the words, “I am to follow my story in true gossip fashion” (Bronte 51). By her own confession it can be inferred that her account of what actually took place could quite possibly be exaggerated to tell a more fascinating version of the truth. It is apparent that Nelly creates the identity of herself as only being a key witness instead of the manipulating agent that she truly is. The fact that she has some sort of interaction with all the characters in the novel makes her more than just an onlooker. Furthermore, one critic reiterates that Nelly is too close to the action and is often up to her neck in the world of Wuther...
... middle of paper ...
...ictions of duty; from which, it struck me then, all the misfortunes of my employers sprang. It was not the case, in reality, I am aware; but it was, in my imagination, that dismal night; and I thought Heathcliff himself less guilty than I” (Brontechp27). It is here that Nelly is no longer blinded by her own ignorance. She is one of the last to live but is cursed to tell a tale of wickedness just like the remaining survivor of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Nelly Dean’s poor narration to Mr. Lockwood is the housekeeper’s way to justify that she posses no blood on her hands. Her upbringing with the novel’s main characters gives her a poor choice in judgement and makes her extremely biased on how the story is portrayed. Nelly’s actions cause nothing but despair to the Earnshaws and Lintons, pushing the idea that she is the silent villain of Wuthering Heights.
Nelly opinions come from that of an outsider, whose strong personality did not fear Catherine, but easily called her out for her miserable nature. Nelly sees Catherine as a vindictive person who readily gets what she wants and does evil things to overpower people. Nelly has come to face Catherine’s wrath first hand; as evident by her pinches and the stinging blow she delivers to Nelly when she refuses to leave the room as Edgar visits, and Catherine wants to be alone with Edgar as he visits the Heights. In Nelly’s eyes, Catherine is spoiled, and she does not matter who gets hurt or betray in the process to accomplish her goals.
Over a long period of time, an individual’s social status has always had a great impact on relationships between others. Relationships such as friendship, romance and even family relationships are greatly influenced by one’s social status. When people value social status to the utmost importance, it often acts as a barrier to further solidify relations with others. “Wuthering Heights” is a classic novel written by Emily Bronte which illustrates how social status gets in the way of relationships. This story (set in eighteen hundreds) displays the true nature of the people at that time because they excessive had pride. Since they had excessive pride, they often judged people based on their social class; hence changing their relationship between each other. In this novel social class was measured by observing an individual’s wealth, appearance and manners. Heathcliff happens to be the male lead character of this story that lacks social class due to his rebellious relationship with Hindley. Afterwards, Hindley degrades Heathcliff’s status this affects his connections with Catherine and Nelly. Since Heathcliff’s status diminishes, Catherine becomes reluctant to continue her affair with Heathcliff. Nelly also becomes wary of Heathcliff because his personality changes after restoring his own status. Thus, it is clearly seen that social class has an impact on the story by altering Heathcliff’s relationship between Hindley, Catherine and Nelly.
Throughout Wuthering Heights, I attempted to learn from the characters misery that they had, in most cases, brought upon themselves. Catherine’s difficulty making her decision reiterated to me how important it is to follow your heart when in a relationship, even if there are ‘good reasons’ to do just the opposite. From Heathcliff, I was able to see how seeking revenge will only destroy your happiness as well as the one’s you love. Young Cathy was a perfect example of the power of positivity, and how to indulge in negative thoughts will only add to your burden and isolate you from friends and family. Whether Emily Bronte intentionally wrote the novel with moral lessons in mind or not, her characters are perfect examples of how not to live.
The initial downward spiral of Heathcliff’s life was predominantly caused by harsh influences in the environment in which he was raised. Heathcliff, an adopted child, grew up in Wuthering Heights, a desolate and dystopian estate when compared to the beauty of the neighboring Thrushcross Grange. In childhood, Heathcliff displayed evidence of a sympathetic personality through his emotional attachment to Catherine and kind attitude towards Nelly. At the time of Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Nelly describes a scene where, “Miss Cathy had been sick, and that made her still; she
There is two stereotypical types of families, one where the children learn from their parents behavior and do the same as they grow up, and the other where they dislike – and do the opposite. In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the characters are quite intricate and engaging. The story takes place in northern England in an isolated, rural area. The main characters of the novel reside in two opposing households: Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is a story of a dynamic love between two people. This love transcends all boundaries, including that over life and death. The author takes parallelism to great extends. Much of the events that happen in the first half of the story correspond to events in the second half; first generation of characters is comparable to the second generation. Many may argue that the characters are duplicates of each other and that they share many traits. Although Catherine Earnshaw and Cathy Linton are mother and daughter, their personalities and lifestyles are very different. This is a great example where the child is and behaves quite different than her mother.
Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, set in the countryside of England’s 1700’s, features a character named Heathcliff, who is brought into the Earnshaw family as a young boy and quickly falls into a passionate, blinding romance with the Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. However, Heathcliff is soon crushed by this affection when his beloved chooses the company of another man rather than his own. For the remainder of the novel he exudes a harsh, aversive attitude that remains perduring until his demise that is induced by the loss of his soulmate, and in turn the bereavement of the person to whom the entirety of his being and his very own self were bound.
Nelly Dean is quite knowledgeable about Wuthering Heights and the events that transpired there; however, she is blunt and opinionated. She does not fail to mention that he has taken a genuine interest in Heathcliff sinc...
In a failed attempt to discourage Isabella Linton’s budding desire for Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Nelly Dean does not hesitate in standing behind Catherine’s assertion that he would destroy Isabella if she were to pursue him romantically: “She is better acquainted with his heart than I, or any one besides,” Nelly warns, “and she would never represent him as worse than he is” (103). While Nelly’s plea falls upon deaf ears, her admission rings true—if there is anyone in Wuthering Heights with more insight on Heathcliff’s actions and motives, it is Catherine Earnshaw. Had Brontë aimed to interrogate Heathcliff’s individual growth and regression in Wuthering Heights, Catherine may have narrated the tale, but as the original
Emily Bronte relates the setting of the novel to what actions are presently occurring within the characters. The weather mocks the behaviors of the characters as well as the moors, which behave similarly to Catherine. Eventually she will be buried beside the moors allowing the appearance to change after she passed. A negative energy easily evident in the novel is Heathcliff, who disrupted not only the outward structure of Wuthering Heights but also the weather and appearance of the moors within the novel. The moors were discussed throughout the book and discussed how Heathcliff and Catherine first fell in love beside them, which began the downfall of the entire setting and appearance of the moors. Heathcliff disturbed Catherine’s deceased body by digging up her grave so that he may reside by her side when he passes, which caused disruption in the story between the spiritual and physical side of humanity. In Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights”, she displays a constant emphasis of the significance that the setting of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange have on the characters as well as the describes dramatic changes in weather which coincided within the story’s plot.
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that cross paths and are intertwined with one another. Healthcliff, an orphan, is taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, the owner of Wuthering Heights. Mr. Earnshaw has two children named Catherine and Hindley. Jealousy between Hindley and Healthcliff was always a problem. Catherine loves Healthcliff, but Hindley hates the stranger for stealing his fathers affection away. Catherine meets Edgar Linton, a young gentleman who lives at Thrushcross Grange. Despite being in love with Healthcliff she marries Edgar elevating her social standing. The characters in this novel are commingled in their relationships with Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
In chapter three, Lockwood opens a window to Catherine Earnshaws childhood through perusing through her books “Catherine’s library was select…scarcely one chapter had escaped a pen-and-ink commentary…scrawled in an unformed childish hand” we can see that her collection of books was limited but nevertheless well used. Two voices also come to the fore one being Lockwood’s and the other the autobiographical elements of Emily Brontë’s voice, ‘pen-and-ink commentary’ and ‘unformed childish’ the pre-modifiers reveal that the Brontë sisters also wrote in the margins of the novels they owned as paper was a scarce material.
Lockwood is the narrator of the story and the reader follows him during his encounter with Heathcliff and his forced stay at the manor Wuthering Heights. There, he meets the ghost Catherine Linton who foreshadows the coming story. Once home at Thrushcross Grange, Lockwood inquires Nelly, his housekeeper, about Heathcliff and the mysteries surrounding him. Through a series of diary entries, Lockwood dictates what he heard from Nelly who is remembering from her childhood.
Her criticism of the other characters and her loyalty towards them not only make her a good narrator, but also an excellent servant and a confidant to the characters. Even though she is a servant, her intelligence and knowledge of self-worth create equality between her and the other characters, giving her the ability to speak her mind. Nelly’s narration comes from being closely and privately involved in the lives of the characters in the story. She not only acts as a witness to the events in their lives, but also as somewhat of a judge and critic to their actions. Nelly is our guide through the story, and without her voice, we would never be aware of the strange and amazing events that occurred in Wuthering Heights.
It is a question that has baffled readers and critics alike through generations, a question that can be endlessly pondered upon and debated over, as to why Emily Bronte chose to name her first and only novel, after the house in which a sizable part of the action chronicled takes place, despite being armed with characters of such extra-ordinary strength and passion as Heathcliff or Catherine. But on close scrutiny, a reader can perhaps discern the reason behind her choice, the fact that Wuthering Heights is at once a motif, a setting and according to a few critics, even a ‘premonitory indication’ of the tempestuous nature of things soon to occur.
In the 1847 novel of Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte brilliantly employs frame narrative in order to tell a story within a story. The character of Ellen Dean, known formally as Nelly, tells of the past and present from her first person perspective, to the visiting Mr. Lockwood. She depicts the events as she recalls them that transpired during her years at the respective houses, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. She talks of the past as she remembers it, and also from what she sees, hears or finds out through the other characters’ words and actions. Although Nelly is basing the characters solely on her own interpretation of them, she is a pretty reliable source, having grown up with the first generation of characters and cared for the second.