Emily Bronte was one of four siblings - three sisters and one brother - who were all writers. As children, they created imaginary worlds and societies in their writings. Emily went on to write Wuthering Heights, set on the Yorkshire Moors near her family home. The novel depicts the all-consuming loves and hatreds between the residents of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. It examines the harshness of the isolated moorland setting and the impacts of childhood experiences and class divisions on the characters. The frame story is told through the eyes of the tenant Lockwood, who experiences the volatile temperaments of the Wuthering Heights household during his stay.

1. Emily Brontë,
Wuthering Heights
A view of the Yorkshire Moors near Haworth Parsonage

2. Emily Bronte
(1818-1848)
--5th
of 6 children, of whom
only 4 survive to adulthood
--3 sisters: Charlotte, Emily,
and Anne—all three
novelists
--1 brother: Branwell—artist
--Mother dies in their
childhood
--Father, originally “Patrick
Brunty,” is “perpetual
curate” of Haworth
Parsonage.
(Father: poor Irish farming
origins—elevated through
education, changed his
name to “Bronte”)

3. MS of Emily Bronte’s
childhood poems set in
“Gondalo,” an
imaginary world and
epic saga she created
with her sister, Anne
All four siblings
collaborated on
building imaginary
societies:
Glasstown Saga, set in
Angria
Gaaldine
Few of their childhood MS
survive.
Note importance of child’s
writing in Wuthering
Heights

4. The Bronte Sisters and Authorship
• Branwell, the only brother, supposed to support
his sisters, but fails in his calling as artist…
opium addiction, early death
• Charlotte, Emily, and Anne must support
themselves
• imaginatively stifling work as governesses,
schoolteachersturn to authorship
• Male Pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell
• All 4 siblings die young—Emily first
(tuberculosis)

5. View of Haworth Parsonage (1997)

6. Another view of the Parsonage:
(Note proximity of church and
graves to house)
Public health hazard—Haworth
and rates of tuberculosis
deaths in 19th
century…
Yorkshire Moors access via
footpath behind house

7. Yorkshire Moors
access via footpath
behind Haworth
Parsonage
Rel. to setting for
Wuthering Heights

8. Wuthering Heights
• Most “savage” and controversial of the
three Bronte novels
• Note Charlotte’s commentary on her
sister’s work in Preface, pp. xxxvi-vii
• “Wuthering”: Yorkshire dialect, for
“withering”: a blast, blow, or stroke
• Note connection, p. 4, of Wuthering with
Weather

9. Wuthering Heights,
Wuthering People
• Heathcliff’s household:
Heathcliff, Hareton, “Mrs. Heathcliff,” Joseph,
Zillah
• “Yorkshire Temperament” (n. p. 337)
• Roles of servants/servant women—Zillah, Nellie
Dean

10. Lockwood’s frame story:
• How is his character defined for us in his
account of himself?
• Wuthered by weather, Heathcliff’s household,
and Dreams
• Nightmares
religious persecution: 70 x 7
Cathy (Earnshaw, Linton, Heathcliff???)

11. Wuthering People and their
Childhoods
Heathcliff’s origins: Liverpool, Mr. Earnshaw
“gift of God” (p. 36)
Hindley, Cathy, and Nellie’s responses
Who is Catherine Earnshaw?
Violent powerplays, rivalry