Analysis of "Wuthering Heights"

D. U. ZIYA GOKALP
EDUCATION FACULTY,
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING,
2013/2014 ACADEMIC YEAR,
SECOND SEMESTER
YDI202 –
ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE – 2
ANALYSIS OF “WUTHERING HEIGHTS”
by
Saim ÖNER
05 / 05 / 2014
DİYARBAKIR

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. AUTHORESS : EMILY JANE BRONTË
2.1. HER LIFE
2.2.HER SOME WORKS (POEMS)
3. CHARACTERS
4. SUMMARY
5.THEMES
6. SETTING ( TIME AND PLACE )
7. VIEW POINT (NARRATOR)
8. QUOTATION
9.BACKGROUND INFORMATION
10.MY COMMENT
11.REFERNCES

1. INTRODUCTION
- Author : Emily Brontë
- It was written between October 1845
and June 1846, in Victorian Age.
- The novel was published under the
pseudonym “ Ellis Bell “ in 1847.
- After the success of her sister
Charlotte’s novel, Jane Eyre she
decided to publish it.
[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014; Wuthering Heights]

- Charlotte edited the manuscript of
Wuthering Heights after the Emily’s
death to publish it as posthumous
second edition, in 1850.
- It is a Gothic Fiction novel and is
regarded as a classic of English
literature.
- Wuthering Heights is the name of the
farmhouse on the North York Moors
where the story unfolds.
- The book's core theme is the
destructive effect that jealousy and
vengefulness have, both on the jealous
or vengeful individuals and on their
communities.

- It received mixed reviews
when it was first
published, and was
considered controversial
because its depiction of
mental and physical
cruelty was unusually
stark, and it challenged
strict Victorian ideals of
the day, including
religious hypocrisy,
morality, social classes
and gender inequality.

2. AUTHORESS : EMİLY JANE BRONTË
- 30 July 1818 (Thornton) – 19
December 1848 ( Haworth, West
Riding of Yorkshire, England )
- an English novelist and poet
- penname : “ Ellis Bell “
- “ Wuthering Heights “ is her only and
famous novel
- an introvert, shy and unsocial person [ A portrait of Brontë made
by her brother, Branwell
Brontë ]
[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014; Emily Brontë]

• The three Brontë sisters, in
an 1834 painting by their
brother Patrick Branwell.
• From left to right: Anne,
Emily and Charlotte.
• (Branwell used to be
between Emily and
Charlotte, but
subsequently painted
himself out.)

2.1. HER LIFE
- She is one of the sixth children of Maria Branwell and Patrick
Brontë.
- After the birth of Emily’s younger sister Anne, the family
moved to Harwoth.
- Her mother died in 1821 due to cancer, when Emily was 3
years old.
- Her elder sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte were sent to
the Clergy Daughter’s School at Cowan Bridge.
- At the age of six, Emily were sent to there, too. But she went
to the school just for a short period.

- When a typhoid epidemic
swept the school, Maria and
Elizabeth caught it.
- Maria died, and Emily,
Charlotte and Elizabeth were
taken from the school.
- Elizabeth died soon after
their return home (1825).
- The remaining sisters and their brother Patrick were
educated by their father and aunt.
[Emily Brontë]

- In her free-time she wrote fictions or
poems.
- At age 13, she and her sister Anne wrote a
fictional story about Gondal (Gondal = is a
fictional island) whose myths and legends
were to preoccupy the two sister
throughout their lives.
- When she was twenty (1839) she became a
teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax. Then
she resigned because of high stress
(working 17 hours in a day).
[Patrick Branwell
Brontë, self-portrait,
1840]
- In 1846, the sisters’ poems were published in one volume as
“Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell”.

- In 1848 she died at age 30 due to tuberculosis.
2.2.HER SOME WORKS (POEMS):
A Death-Scene
A Little While
Day Dream
F. De Samara to A. G. A.
Hope
How Clear She Shines
Heavy hangs the raindrop
Lines
Lines (Far away is the land of
rest)
My Comforter
My Lady's Grave
No coward soul is mine
The Old Stoic
Self Interrogation
Song for A.A
Song (1839)
Song (1846)
Spellbound
Stanza
To Imagination
The Prisoner
[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014; List of Brontë poems]

[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014]
Earnshaw Family Linton Family

Other Characters :
- Mr. Lockwood
- Nelly Dean
- Joseph
[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014]

4.SUMMARY Chapters 1-3
Mr. Lockwood, a rich man, rents Thrushcross for peace and
recuperation. He goes to see Heatcliff, the owner of Thruschcross
Grange. Heatcliff and the others ( Cathy, Hareton and servant) are
rude to him. After this visit, he decides to go there again. Because
of heavy snowing he stays there. In the room where he should
sleep, he finds books under the name Linton Earnshaw and
Heatcliff. Mr. Lockwood reads a book in which Cathrine described
her father’s funeral and complained her brother Hindley. After
falling asleep, he dreams two nightmare. In first, he is preached
by Joseph. In second nightmare, he dreams Cathrine as a ghost
who tries to get in through window. He screams and wakes up. He
spents his night awakened in downstairs in a room. As soon as the
sun rises, Heatcliff escorts him to Wuthering Heights.

Chapters 4-18
Mr. Lockwood asks Nelly, a former servant of Wutherin Heights,
about the Earnshaw and Linton family. She begins to narrate the
story.
Old Earnshaw takes Heatcliff (7 years old orphan) from Liverpool to
Wuthering Heights. He befriends with Cathrine. 3 years later, Old
Earnshaw dies and Hindley becomes the master of the wutherin
Heights. He forces Heatcliff to become a servant instead of a
member of family.
One day Heatcliff and Cathrine escapes from home and go to
Trushcross Grange. They observe the Linton’s children Isabella
and Edgar, and laugh at their childish behavior. The children see
them and are caught by dogs. The Lintons sends Heatcliff to
home and Cathrine stays there for three months because she
was hurt while trying to escape from the dogs.

Cathrine is taught to become a lady by Mrs. Linton. When she
comes home back, she laughs at Heatcliff’s bad and dirty
appearance. Next day, Edgar and Isabella visit Cathrine. Heatcliff
dresses himself as a gentleman to impress Cathrine, but it fails
when Edgar makes fun of him and they argue.
In the following year, Hindley’s wife Frances gives birth to a child
called, hareton. After few months the she dies. Her death leads
Hindley to drunkeness and waste.
In the next two years, Cathrine and Edgar become close friends and
the distant between Cathrine and Heatcliff grows up. One day,
Cathrine tells Nelly that she loves Heatcliff but wants to marry
Edgar because he is rich and educated. Heatcliff overhears them
and leaves the house for three years without traces.
6 months after Edgar and Linton marry, Heatcliff comes back to take
revenge. Edgar is not happy to see him again. Isabella falls in love
with Heatcliff. Later, she escapes from house to marry Heatcliff.

Heatcliff stays at Wuthering Heights. He gambles with Hindley and
teaches Hareton bad habbits. Hindley mortgage his farmhouse
to pay his debts. So, Heatcliff becomes the master of the house.
Heatcliff use violence on Isabella to torture her to take his
revenge. Later, Cathrine gets ill and dies just after the birth of
her daughter Cathy. Then, Isabella escapes from Wuthering
Heights to London while Heatcliff is busy with Cathrine’s
funeral. Six months later Hindley dies.
Chapters 18-31
Cathy has grown into a beautiful lady. She spends their time rarely
outside the borders of Grange. Isabella is dying and Edgar goes
to London to pick up her son Linton. While he is gone, Cathy
goes to the Moors where she meets Hareton, and in Wuthering
Heights she learns of her cousine’s excistence.
Edgar returns with Linton. Then, Heatcliff sends Joseph (a servant)
to bring him. Edgar sends Linton with Nelly to the Heights.

In the following years Edgar gets ill, Cathy and Nelly goes out to
the Moors where she meets Heatcliff. Heatcliff takes them to
Wuthering Heights and she sees her cousines Linton and
Hareton again. Heatcliff wants to Cathy marry his son to take his
revenge. Linton and Cathy become close friends and text each
other secretly.Linton is very ill, Cathy and Nelly visit Wuthering
Heights to see Linton. Heatcliff helds them captive and prevent
them to go back. He forces Cathy to marry his son.
After few days, he lets Nelly go, and Cathy escapes from there with
Lintons helps. She sees her father just before he dies. Then,
Heatcliff becomes the master of both farmhouses. Soon later,
Linton dies due to his illness, flu.
After Hareton tries to be kind to Cathrine, but he gets bad
feedback from her.
Mr. Lockwood leaves the Thrusscross Grange because he has
enough to being ill here by catching cold.

Chapters 32-34
After going from there, 8 months later, Mr. Lockwood finds
himself near to Thrushcross Grange while he was visiting his
friend. He decides to go Thruschcross Grange to stay there
untill the tenancy finishes. He meets a new servant, and
learns that Nelly is working now in Wuthering Heights. He
goes to the Heights, and tells him that Heatcliff died. After he
asks her how died, and begins again to narrate the story.
After an accidant in which Hareton hurts himself, Cathy and
Hareton becomes close friends. At the end of the story,
Heatcliff begins to seeing vision of Cathrine. After not eating
for four days he dies.
Before Mr.Lockwood leaves there, he hears that Hareton and
Cathy are planning to marry.
[ Brontë, Emily; Wuthering Heights;2013]

5. THEMES
- The most emphasized themes are love, jealousy, hatred and
revenge. It shows us the destructive power of them on people
and community.
- Heatcliff becomes jealous when Cathrine befriends Edgar.
Heatcliff tries to change himself to get his love, Cathrine back
but she chooses Edgar for marriage. The feelings of love and
jelousy are so disruptive that Heatcliff could kill Edgar for
robbing his love.
- Since his childhood, Heatcliff was humiliated by Hindley and the
environment. This has changed him into a wild person filled by
hatred. So the hatred inside Heatcliff grows up from day to day,
and leads him to take revenge. The environment itself is an
enemy for him. He is so wild that he even sacrifices his own son
for his revenge feelings.

6.SETTİNG
Time :
- The story begins in year 1771, by
bringing Heatchliff to Wuthering
Heights by old Mr. Earnshawn
( Bronte, p. 43 )
- But it is narrated by Nelly Dean in
year 1801 to Mr. Lockwood
( Bronte, p. 7, 43 )

Place :
- The Story takes place in
Wuthering Heights (where
the Earnshawns live) and in
Thrushcross Grange (where
the Lintons live).
- Other mentioned places are ;
Liverpool = Old Mr. Earnshawn goes
to there for his business
London = Isabella moves to London
after escaping from Wuthering
Heights

7.NARRATOR
The story is narrated in First-Person-View.
Narrators:
Mr. Lockwood - Chapters: 1-3, 31-32
Nelly Dean - Chapters: 4-12, 14-16, 18-30, 33-34
Isabella - Chapters: 13,17
e.g. ‘Mr. Heatcliff ?’ I said.
A nod was the answer.
‘ Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honor of
calling as soon as possible after my arrival,… ‘
(Bronte, p. 7)

- “ … but treachery and violence are spears pointed at both
ends; they wound those who resort to them worse than
their enemies.”
- “ Treachery and violence are a just return for treachery and
violence ! “
(Bronte,p.197)
8.QUOTATION

9.Background Information
Victorian Era
- Victorian Era was the period of
Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June
1837 until her death, on 22 January
1901
- It was a long period of peace,
prosperity, refined sensibilities and
national self-confidence for Britain
- The era was preceded by
the Georgian period and followed
by the Edwardian period.
[Queen Victoria, after whom the
era is named]
[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014; Victorian Era]

- Culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of
the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism
with regard to religion, social values, and arts.
- In international relations the era was a long period of peace,
known as the Pax Britannica, and economic, colonial, and
industrial consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the
Crimean War in 1854. The end of the period saw the Boer
War.
- Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a
number of shifts in the direction of gradual political reform,
industrial reform and the widening of the voting franchise.
[Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia; 2014; Victorian Era]

In general sense it is written very well. It includes many flashbacks.
However, the story itself continues in the novel fluently
without stopping. The created atmosphere especially the
pessimistic atmosphere catches the readers and makes them a
part of the story.
10. MY COMMENT

11 .Refernces:
- Emily,Bronte (2013);Wutherin Heights;İstanbul;Sis Publishing
- Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2014;Emily Bronte
Retrived from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB
- Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2014; Wuthering Heights
Retrived from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights
- Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2014; Wuthering Heights Family Tree
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wuthering_Heights_family_tree.jpg
- - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2014;Victoria Era
Retrived from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_period

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