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Analyze the gathering heights’ setting
Analyze the gathering heights’ setting
Narrative technique of Bronte's Wuthering Height
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1.In attempting to solve the mystery embedded in the story line of Emile Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, one feels compelled to make interpretations rendered hermeneutically blind with regards to the account of the story comprising the text. While reading Wuthering Heights, the reader perceives ellipses or gaps in the narrative of the novel. The reader must still, however, frame a reading of the novel, which lacks a narrative centre. These prolonged moments of indeterminacy allow the reader to respond by concretizing an imaginary account of what has been left untransmitted. The primary narrators, Lockwood and Nelly have display limited perspective on the events narrated, which are questionable as there exists a great unrest underlying the narration and the events narrated. In order to compensate for this loss in the storyline, the reader replaces it with interpretation and imagination, thereby fabricating a reading in spite of the several instances of narrative absence present throughout the text. These moments of non-transmission classify Wuthering Heights as a narrative of transmission. An example of this is displayed at one point in Nelly’s narration during which she skips three years, the time during which Heathcliff had disappeared. The withdrawal of this tale provided me with a unique opportunity to fill this narrative gap between the time of Heathcliff’s disappearance and Nelly’s intradiegetic narration.
2. To maintain a high level of authenticity in the construction of this fan fiction, I ensured as best as I could, that the genre, form, style, and characterization used within the fan fiction mimicked that of Emily Bronte’s. Wuthering Heights can be classified as a Gothic novel. It was designed to both horrify and f...
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...ude that Heathcliff is a well-educated, sophisticated gentleman who is literate. It also reveals Heathcliff’s most intimate thoughts and reflections, so that the reader is able to gain a better understanding of Heathcliff’s character, one that is caring for Catherine, thereby depicting a side of him that is not always displayed, thus attempting to compel the reader to sympathize with him. This is similar to Bronte’s style of writing as she dictates the story in such as way so as to avoid diverting our sympathy and interest from the wilder characters such as Heathcliff, tending to depict more civilized characters as despicably silly and weak.
7.In constructing my fan fiction so as to imitate the genre, form, style, and characterization of Wuthering Heights, I maintained a high level of authenticity, while simultaneously filling one of the novel’s narrative absences.
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.
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
In the gothic novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the author hides motifs within the story.The novel contains two major love stories;The wild love of Catherine, and Heathcliff juxtaposing the serene love of Cathy,and Hareton. Catherine’s and Heathcliff's love is the center of Emily Bronte’s novel ,which readers still to this day seem to remember.The characters passion, and obsession for each other seems to not have been enough ,since their love didn't get to thrive. Hareton and Cathy’s love is what got to develop. Hareton’s and Cathy’s love got to workout ,because both characters contained a characteristic that both characters from the first generation lacked: The ability to change .Bronte employs literary devices such as antithesis of ideas, and the motif of repetition to reveal the destructiveness of wild love versus a domestic love.
The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.
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.
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.
(2) Emily Bronte’s purpose in writing Wuthering Heights is to depict unfulfilled love in a tragic romance novel and hence the theme of Wuthering Heights is love is pain. Emily Bronte reveals an important life lesson that love is not sufficient for happiness and if anything, stirs up more agony. This message is important because, although it is difficult to accept, the message is devastatingly honest. In Wuthering Heights, two characters named Heathcliff and Catherine loved each other immensely. However, their pride and adamance disabled them from making any progress on their romantic relationship. In fact, Heathcliff and Catherine purposely hurt each another through reckless and cruel actions. The author is exemplifying a recurring theme in history that love is associated with pain. The message allows readers to be aware that love is not constant perfection and happiness.
To sum up, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a classic that portrays a love, even though confined by social classes, trespasses boundaries of life and death. The Gothic elements incorporated in this novel such as extreme landscape and weather, supernatural events and death brings about a mysterious and gloomy atmosphere suitable for a revenge plot with heightened emotions.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, a story about love that has turned into obsession, Emily Bronte manipulates the desolate setting and dynamic characters to examine the self-destructive pain of compulsion. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that are intertwined with one another. All the characters in this novel are commingled in their relationships with Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
“Wuthering Heights is a strange, inartistic story”(Atlas, WH p. 299). “Wuthering Heights is a strange sort of book” (Douglas, WH p.301). “This is a strange book” (Examiner, WH p.302). “His work [Wuthering Heights] is strangely original” (Britannia, WH p.305). These brief quotes show that early critics of Emily Bronte’s first edition of Wuthering Heights, found the novel baffling in its meaning - they each agreed separately, that no moral existed within the story therefore it was deemed to have no real literary value. The original critical reviews had very little in the way of praise for the unknown author or the novel. The critics begrudgingly acknowledged elements of Wuthering Heights that could be considered strengths – such as, “rugged power” and “unconscious strength” (Atlas, WH p.299), “purposeless power” (Douglas, WH p.301), “evidences of considerable power” (Examiner), “power and originality” (Britannia, WH p.305). Strange and Powerful are two recurring critical interpretations of the novel. The critics did not attempt to provide in depth analysis of the work, simply because they felt that the meaning or moral of the story was either entirely absent or seriously confused.
Bronte also proves that non-human things can change, such as the manner of Wuthering Heights. The idea that people and objects can transform is shown throughout the novel through many examples. The protagonist of the novel, Heathcliff, was shown to have gone through the biggest transformation. In the beginning of the novel, Heathcliff is an orphan brought home to live with a high-class family. He is described as “a dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk.yet when it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish that nobody could understand” (Bronte page 36).
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.
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.
In conclusion, Bronte uses the supernatural and ghosts in Wuthering Heights to emphasise the power of love between Cathy and Heathcliff and proving that love exists beyond the grave and that the quality of love is unending. Furthermore, ghosts are used to assist in the storytelling, to help in enhancing the setting and develop characterisation, particularly in the character of Heathcliff, Nelly and Lockwood. The use of the supernatural enables the reader to be intrigued by the confusing use of extraordinary beings.