Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

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Wuthering Heightsby Emily Bronte

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The Setting - Yorkshire, England
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The Setting, cont.

• Wuthering Heights is set in
• three locations
• Wuthering Heights
• Thrushcross Grange
• The Yorkshire Moors

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(No Transcript)
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Wuthering HeightsA story of two Households
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Thrushcross Grange
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Thrushcross Grange and the Moors
Gimmerton Valley near Thrushcross Park
Looking from the Valley toward the Moors
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Wuthering Heights
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Framework Story

• Wuthering Heights is highly praised for the
  unique narrative technique Emily Bronte used to
  execute the novel, often referred to as a frame
  narrative.
• The two main narrators are Lockwood and Nelly
  Dean, but other narrators arise throughout the
  novel when Nelly quotes what other characters
  have told her.
• The frame narrative form of the novel adds
  complexity for the reader. Lockwood is the outer
  layer and Nelly the inner layer.
• Since the story passes through layers, the reader
  must question the reliability of all that he or
  she reads.
• Example Nelly glosses over events to minimize
  her own guilt.
• Example Lockwood is naïve and lacks good
  judgment.

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Novel Structure

• Wuthering Heights is told in medias res (Latin
  for "into the middle of things). It usually
  describes a narrative that begins, not at the
  beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle
  usually at some crucial point in the action.
  The purpose in Wuthering Heights is to add a
  sense of mystery.

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Industrial Revolution and Social Class

• Wuthering Heights was written in 1847, which was
  a time when Capitalism and the Industrial
  Revolution were the dominant forces of the
  British economy and society. It was a time of
  rapid, often confusing, change that led to
  violence. As a result of the changing economy,
  the traditional relationships between classes and
  the social structure began to change.

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Industrial, cont.

• While wealth had traditionally been measured by
  land ownership, the eighteenth century had begun
  a trend toward a cash-based economy.
• This created a middle class who were more
  economically powerful than its landowning
  superiors (gentry).
• The power of yeomen, or the respectable farming
  class, as well as the traditional power-holding
  gentry was challenged by the newly wealthy
  capitalists.

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Social Changes...

• Each of these classes is represented in the novel
  by various characters.
• Hareton is a member of the respectable farming
  class
• the Lintons are members of the gentry
• Heathcliff makes his fortune (somewhat
  mysteriously) as a capitalist

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Womens Rights

• During this time period womens
• rights were changing.
• Why this is relevant
• Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights during the
  beginning of the womens rights movement in
  England.
• The primary concerns of the movement were the
  lack of womens right to vote and the lack of
  married womens property rights. The latter issue
  arises in Wuthering Heights.

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Romanticism, the Gothic novel, and Wuthering
Heights

• Wuthering Heights contains elements of
  Romanticism and the Gothic novel.
• Romantic elements
• nature as a powerful spiritual force
• descriptions of the countryside
• elevated emotional levels and passion
• a desire to rise above the limitations of
  ordinary human existence
• a strong interest in death
• a portrayal of opposites escape and pursuit,
  life and death
• isolation, both emotional and geographical
• elements of the supernatural

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The Gothic novel

• Elements of the Gothic novel
• a castle, sometimes ruined or haunted
• sinister, ruined buildings
• extreme landscape and weather
• death and madness
• omens
• ancestral curses
• terrifying events
• taboo and sensational topics
• a suggestion of the supernatural
• a villain or villain-hero (Byronic hero) driven
  by passion
• a heroine wooed by both a good and a dangerous
  suitor
• revenge

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Byronic Hero

• Heathcliff is regarded as a classic Byronic hero.
  The Byronic hero was defined by Lord Byrons
  epic narrative poem , Childe Harolds Pilgrimage
  in 1812.
• Elements of the Byronic hero
• a distaste for social institutions and social
  norms
• conflicting emotions or moodiness
• high levels of intelligence and cunning
• self-criticism
• mysterious origins and a troubled past
• self-destructive tendencies
• a loner, rejected from society

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Keep In Mind

• Keep track of dates and how the story progresses.
• Keep track of who is speaking. This will help
  you keep your reading organized.
• Keep track of whether or not the story is in
  flashback mode or not.
• It is not necessary to understand all of Josephs
  dialogue, but you need to keep in mind his
  characterization and the meaning behind what he
  says.