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Character analysis in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
Character analysis in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
Themes and Narrative techniques in Wuthering Heights
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Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is deemed a complex novel, with its wide ranging themes of love, betrayal, suffering and imprisonment. It contains all the elements of a Gothic novel in nature but with the added ingredient of realism, but it is not just this blending of Gothic with realism that makes the novel so multifaceted, it is also Brontë’s use of multiple narrators that adds to the complexities of this novel. And it is the resulting effect of the different narrative voices in Wuthering Heights that this essay seeks to discuss.
There are two distinct narrative voices in Wuthering Heights, that of Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean, but within the novel we also encounter tertiary narratives from Catherine Earnshaw, Isabella and Zillah. The opening narrative of the novel begins with Lockwood who is the primary narrator and author of the story and it is Lockwood’s narrative that provides the outer frame for the story as he introduces the reader to Heathcliff and the inhabitants at the Heights.
During Lockwood’s visit to the Heights he uncovers the diary of Catherine Earnshaw scribbled within several volumes of mildewed books. His reading of the diary temporarily transports the reader back in time and into the first tertiary narrative of Catherine Earnshaw before Lockwood reinstates himself as the narrator and propels us back to the present. His visit is also the catalyst that drives him to question his servant Nelly Dean regarding his poorly received reception from his hosts at the Heights. It is at this point we are introduced to the second and most prominent narrator Nelly Dean, who begins by taking us back some twenty years to the beginning of her story. As with Lockwood, it is within Nelly’s narrative that we are introduced to t...
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...domestic life, as Da Souse Correa explains, ‘The brutal truths which Wuthering Heights presents include the realities of domestic life, social exclusion and economic dispossession’ (Correa, 2012, pg.373).
Our final narrator in the novel is supplied through a recalled conversation between Nelly and the servant Zillah.
Works Cited
Da Sousa Correa, D. (2012) ‘Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights: at home’ in Watson, N. and Towheed, S. (eds) Romantics and Victorians, London, Bloomsbury Academic/Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 350-375.
Da Sousa Correa, D. (2012) ‘Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights: abroad’ in Watson, N. and Towheed, S. (eds) Romantics and Victorians, London, Bloomsbury Academic/Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 378-407.
Brontë, E. (2009 [1847]) Wuthering Heights (ed. I. Jack, with an introduction by H Small), Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Brontё further imposes the reader against this repressive society that emulates Heathcliff’s rejection because of his inexorable revenge. His revenge against Hindley begins to threaten the system because even with his nebulous and “gypsy” background he manages to ascend into the bourgeoisie status, reducing the unequal system to mere superstition. Arnold Kettle argues that these values represented in Wuthering Heights, which Heathcliff rebels, “reflects the specific tyranny of Victorian capitalist society” against gypsies and those with little social economic status, which Heathcliff embodies.
Brennan, Zoe. "Reader's Guide: Bronte's Jane Eyre." Ebrary. Continuum International Publishing 2 2010. Print. April 28, 2014
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 3rd ed. New York: The Modern Library. Bronte, Charlotte. "
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
Shapiro, Arnold. “‘Wuthering Heights’ as a Victorian Novel.” Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 16. Eds. Joann Cerrito and Paul Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. 108-110.
Since Nelly’s life was not personally haunted by regrets, like Catherine and Heathcliff’s, she is able to recite the past and present in a clear and rational way. Lockwood believes in her story and is so intrigued by all the dreadful events that took place across a lifetime on these Yorkshire moors. From the outside looking in it may appear that the Earnshaws and Lintons were just a private family living their lives, but nobody really knows what goes on behind closed doors, except for the help, our Nelly. This is why her narration is crucial and without it, the story of Wuthering Heights may still exist, but would not be as believable. Works Cited Bront, Emily.
Web. 8 Dec. 2010. . Mitchell, Hayley R., ed. Readings on Wuthering Heights.
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.
Charlotte Bronte assumed the role of intermediary between her late sister and the perplexed and hostile readers of Wuthering Heights (Sale and Dunn, WH p. 267). Charlotte attempted to provide Emily’s readers with a more complete perspective of her sister and her works. She selectively included biographical information and critical commentary into the revised 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights, which gave the reader a fuller appreciation of the works of Emily Bronte. Charlotte championed the efforts of her younger sister and believed that Emily’s inexperience and unpracticed hand were her only shortcomings. Charlotte explains much of Emily’s character to the readers through the disclosure of biographical information.
Seichepine, Marielle. "Childhood And Innocence In Wuthering Heights." Bronte Studies 29.3 (2004): 209-215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
Since there is not a lot of information known about Emily Bronte, people have speculated on how Wutheirng Heights came to be written by Emily. When Mr. Bronte returned from a trip on time, he brought Emily’s brother, Branwell, a box of wooden soldiers. The Bronte siblings began writing stories and plays about these soldiers, which some have said influenced Emily’s writing of Wuthering Heights later on in her life (Vine 6). Harold Bloom believes that “early marriage and early death [which are seen in Wutheirng Heights] are thoroughly High Romantic, and emerge from the legacy of Shelley, dead at thwenty-nine, and of Byron, martyred to the cause of Greek independence at thiry-six” (Bloom 8). Maggie Bewrg suggests that the character of Heathcliff was influencecd by “Byron’s anti-heroes, although he outdoes the Byronic hero in his romantic rebellion” (5). Because there is not much information on Emily, her influences for the book are just speculation.
Dreams play a large role in the story of Wuthering Heights. During Lockwood's first visit to the Heights, he has a night full of dreams and nightmares. Each one related to what Heathcliff had just read on the windowsil...
‘Wuthering Heights’, although having survived the test of time as a work that is poignant and passionate, and eminently capable of holding the reader’s attention, received mixed criticism upon publication in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Apparently, the vivid description of mental and physical violence and agony was hard to stomach, and the atmosphere was too oppressive to merit popular liking. But many later readers and critics have given ‘Wuthering Heights’ the mantle of being the best of the works of the Bronte sisters, displacing Charlotte’s ‘Jane Eyre’. One of its prime merits, at least to my eyes, lies in Emily’s ability to make Nature an eloquent party to the story-corresponding closely with a character’s emotions, with the incidents, with the movement of the plot, and thus adding to the quality of the story. Emily was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, and her love for the landscape that she grew up with is reflected in the novel in the moors and the crags, the storms and the spring. One can see an extension of this one-ness with nature, this unity, in her choice of Wuthering Hei...
Bronte's Use of Language and Setting in Wuthering Heights Between pages 15 and 18 there are identifiable ways in which 'Bronte' uses 'language and setting' to establish the characters and create a distinguishable atmosphere. In this essay, themes, genres and styles will be discussed to show how 'Bronte' establishes the characters; there will also be a discussion of the 'gothic' elements which Wuthering Heights contains. Many people would argue that the style of 'Wuthering Heights' is peculiar and complex, the power of Wuthering Heights owes much to its complex narrative structure and to the device of having two conventional people relate a very unconventional tale. Bronte importantly introduces the element of 'the supernatural' into chapter 3 which is an important technique as it grips the reader. Lockwood has come into contact with the ghost of Cathy, who died 18 years before, Some might argue that she is a product of Lockwood's imagination, and it is clear that Bronte has presented these facts in this way so that the reader can make up their own mind on the subject.
Narratology divides a ‘narrative into story and narration’. (Cohan et al., 1988, p. 53) The three main figures that contribute a considerable amount of research to this theory are Gerard Genette, Aristotle and Vladimir Propp. This essay will focus on how Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights can be fully appreciated and understood when the theory is applied to the text. Firstly, I will focus on the components of narration Genette identifies that enhance a reader’s experience of the text. Secondly, I will discuss the three key elements in a plot that Aristotle recognises and apply these to Heathcliff’s character. In the final section I will apply part of the seven ‘spheres of action’, Propp categorises, to Heathcliff’s character. However, not all of Narratology can be applied to a text. This raises the question; does this hinder a readers understanding and/or appreciation of the text? This paper will also address this issue.