Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights features unlikable characters like the vengeful Heathcliff, a complex plot with intertwining storylines across generations seeking revenge, and an unreliable point of view narrated through a gossiping housekeeper and biased guest. These elements make the novel tedious and difficult to enjoy for readers.

1. Pearl Craig
October 24, 2016
English IV H
2nd
Wuthering Heights Critical Analysis
Anyone interested in 19th century gothic novels might have a keen interest in Emily
Bronte’s ​Wuthering Heights​ but their enthusiasm for the novel will soon prove to be as empty as
the moors set in ​Wuthering Heights​. The story follows Mr. Lockwood, the nosey tenant of a
neighboring estate, Thrushcross Grange, on the countryside of England, as he inquires a
housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to recollect the life of his dark-skinned, wealthy and hostile landlord,
Heathcliff, and the other residents of the manor house,Wuthering Heights. Mr. Lockwood learns
that Heathcliff was an orphaned boy who was taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, the original owner of
Wuthering Heights, and raised alongside his son and daughter, Hindley and Catherine. After Mr.
Earnshaw’s death, Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights and reduces Heathcliff to the status of a
servant, Catherine and Heathcliff become inseparable but despite their obvious love for each
other she decides she can never be with Heathcliff because of his social status so she marries
Edgar Linton, her cousin from the neighboring estate. Heathcliff runs away returns three years
later with mysterious wealth and a 17 year plan for revenge that ends with him acquiring both
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and inducing misery on the second generation of
Earnshaw-Linton-Heathcliff children as proxies for their dead parents offenses, before dying and
longing for afterlife with Catherine, and allowing the children to carry on with their lives. Emily
Bronte’s ​Wuthering Heights​ is a dark, off-putting novel attributed to its characterization, plot
line, and point of view.
Emily Bronte’s characterization has a repellent effect in ​Wuthering Heights​. Heathcliff is
the main protagonist of the novel, thus the whole book is centered around a vengeful, vile

2. character. His wife, Edgar’s sister, Isabella, describes his nasty character after learning his true
intentions of marrying her to spite Edgar, “ He is ingenious and unresting in seeking to gain my
abhorrence! I sometimes wonder at him with the an intensity that deadens my fear: yet, I assure
you, a tiger or a venomous serpent could not rouse terror in me equal to which he wakens”
(Bronte, Emily. 144). Heathcliff is overwhelmingly cruel, and the reader cannot bear to follow
his foolish quest for revenge and eternal conflict of love overtaken by hate, which drives the
entire plot. As terrible as Heathcliff is, the reader is even more infuriated by Catherine, the other
protagonist who is not worth avenging. Catherine explains her shallow reasoning as to why she
chose to marry Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff, “I’ve no more business to marry Edgar Linton
than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I
shouldn’t have thought of it” (80). Losing Catherine is the sole cause of Heathcliff’s distress that
drives his ploy for vengeance. Heathcliff and Catherine surely deserve each other because they
are both mischievous wicked people, but Catherine rejected Heathcliff on her own accord, she
inflicted his pain, no one else did, so it is infuriating for the reader to watch Heathcliff destroy
the lives of innocent people in avenge for the prissy love of his life. Perhaps the only character
left for the reader to route for is the third member of the love triangle, Edgar Linton, but the
reader watches him grow from a spoiled brat to a soft, impotent man. When Edgar tries to throw
Heathcliff out of his house for scheming with Catherine he becomes scared of the bigger and
broader Heathcliff and tries to back down and call for help but Catherine disgraces him saying,
“If you have not courage to attack him, make an apology, or allow yourself to be beaten. It will
will correct you of feigning more valour than you posses” (114). Edgar very well could have
prevented a lot of conflicts throughout the novel, considering he was the only one alive with

3. power to do anything but he never took an action against Heathcliff. For that, the reader can’t
help but to put partial blame on Edgar for all the misery inflicted on the second generation,
including his daughter, Heathcliff’s son, and Hindley’s son. Bronte’s unlikable characterization
makes the novel tiresome to read.
The plot of ​Wuthering Heights​ can be seen as excessive and confusing. There are
essentially three sub stories that take place in the novel that tie together to form one big story.
The first being the plot of Mr. Lockwood. In the beginning of the novel he arrives at Wuthering
heights saying, “ Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon
as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not inconvenienced you my
perseverance in soliciting the occupation of Thrushcross Grange” (3). The presence of Mr.
Lockwood in the novel interrupts the plot, his only purpose is to reflect on the story that he is
being told and chimes in from time to time to remind the reader that he is still there. The author’s
choice to follow his plot line as he observes the story, leaves england, then comes back to hear
more of the story, seems like an unnecessary and excessive measure for the reader. The second
plot line is Nelly Dean’s account of the early life of Mr. Heathcliff and the events that led him to
his quest for revenge, up until Catherine’s death. Nelley recounts Heathcliff’s childhood, “He
seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley’s
blows without winking or shedding a tear, and my pinches moved him only to draw in breath and
open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident, and nobody was to blame” (38). While this
part of the plot is essential, Heathcliff’s biography is presented in a sequence of different events,
that forces the reader to piece together what is happening and how it falls in line with
Heathcliff’s agenda.The third plot line begins to merge with the present time at the beginning of

4. the novel and parallels that of the second plot line, it is essentially the same story except with the
second generation. Heathcliff tells Nelly of the new addition to his revenge plot, that will
complete his plan to acquire Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, “ My design is as
honest as possible. I’ll inform you of it whole scope, he said. That the two cousins may fall in
love, and get married. I’m acting generously to your master: his young chit has no expectations,
and should she second my wishes she’ll be provided for at once as joint successor with Linton’
(210). The reader has already read through one part of Heathcliff’s revenge agenda and gone
through the tiresome love triangle, now the author wishes to repeat the same story with
Heathcliff’s son, Linton, representing Edgar; Edgar and Catherine’s daughter, also named
Catherine, representing the older Catherine; and Hindley’s son, Hareton, representing Heathcliff;
as Heathcliff torments him after his father’s death by reducing him to the status of a servant and
stopping his education. The entirety of this plot, makes ​Wuthering Heights​ tedious to read and
takes a step back in the direction of the plot, considering the second generation represents the
first generation and the reader has already seen how they all self-destructed.
Emily Bronte’s choice of point of view in ​Wuthering Heights​ is unreliable and biased.
The primary narrator is Mr.Lockwood but he inquires Nelly Dean to tell him a story that he
interprets and writes down in his diary, “Well Mrs. Dean, it will be a charitable deed to tell me
something of my neighbours: I feel I shall not rest if I go to bed; so be good enough to sit and
chat an hour” (35). Ultimately, what the reader has in front of them, is the account of a nosy
house guest’s account of a gossiping housekeeper’s account of a person’s life. Upon arrival Mr.
Lockwood was infatuated with residents of Wuthering Heights and Nelly was not slow to
confess all she knows about them to a stranger, as far as character goes they are not the best

5. candidates. In fact, on occasion, Nelly tries to defend her questionable actions throughout the
tail, “Was it right or wrong? I fear it was wrong, though expedient. I thought I prevented another
explosion by my compliance…”(152). Nelly is not a detached narrator, she is just as involved in
the story as any other character, if not more involved because she interacts with every character
when the other characters are not on speaking terms with one another. The reader cannot not
trust Nelly because she adds creative interpretations to the scene by commenting on her actions
and other characters’ actions. Likewise, the reader cannot trust Mr. Lockwood because he’s
shown to have ulterior motives in knowledge of the story. Lockwood is particularly fond of
young Catherine who is a current resident of Wuthering Heights when he visits, he even says, “It
may be very possible that I should love her; but should she love me? (247). Lockwood’s diary
serves as a median between Nelly’s story and the reader, he has shown a liking to young
Catherine, so he could be making her seem more likable throughout the story even though she is
described to carry the same characteristics as he her mother, older Catherine. Thus, both Nelly
and Lockwood present a biassed, untrustworthy account of ​Wuthering Heights​.
Emily Bronte’s unlikable characters, complex plot, and unreliable point of view make
Wuthering Heights​ a deplorable novel. The book forces the reader to come to terms with the
destructiveness of love and the true nature of the wickedness of man. Readers may enjoy dark
novels but they should certainly cross ​Wuthering Heights​ off their pick up list.