Revision Guide to Wuthering Heights
How to Study Emily Bronte's Tale of Cathy and Heathcliff
May 7, 2009
Wuthering Heights was Emily Bronte's first and only published novel, appearing in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Any discussion of the novel should include an understanding of the main themes or ideas presented, and the narrative structure that makes the telling of the story so dramatic.
Key Themes in Wuthering Heights
Love: the novel displays different types of love. The most famous relationship in the book is that of Catherine and Heathcliff, a platonic but passionate relationship that continues long after Catherine's death, despite the fact that in life she married another. Before she marries Edgar Linton, she speaks of her feelings towards each man - "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff!" (chapter 9). When Heathcliff eventually dies, it is with a light in his eyes as he rejoins his love at last (chapter 33).
Other types of love are also shown in the novel: Nelly's maternal feelings towards many of the characters (Catherine, Cathy, Hareton); Edgar's devotion to his wife Catherine and then daughter Cathy; and the healthy love affair that blossoms between Cathy and Hareton, representing the union of the Lintons and the Earnshaws and the hope of a happier future.
Revenge: much of the violence and cruelty in the novel arises from Heathcliff's desire for revenge over certain characters. He hates Hindley as a result of the latter's unkindness towards him when they were children, and retaliates by bringing up Hindley's son Hareton to be coarse and uneducated. Similarly, he blames Edgar for stealing Catherine away from him, and ensnares his sister Isabella into an unhappy marriage to spite him.
Not only does Heathcliff have no scruples about using innocent characters to exact his revenge, he also demonstrates his desire for material goods, as his vengeance over Hindley and Edgar also advance his plans to gain ownership of the two houses of the novel, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Narrative Structure
Much of the dramatic power of the novel lies in the use of a dual narrative. The main narrator is Lockwood, an outsider who rents Thrushcross Grange from Heathcliff; his reactions to Heathcliff's rudeness and Hareton's surliness provides the reader with a more objective viewpoint than that provided by Ellen Dean, the novel's second narrator.
Nelly Dean is Lockwood's housekeeper, and is entreated by him to relate the histories of the individuals he has just encountered at Wuthering Heights. Nelly is heavily involved in events she describes, giving the reader a personal yet flawed account of the Earnshaws and the Lintons.
This framework not only provides the reader with two differing perspectives on events, but also allows Bronte to contrast the past and the present. Whilst the reader may find Heathcliff rude and ill-mannered, this abruptness can be seen in a new light when juxtaposed with the cruelty he has undergone as a child. Similarly, Hareton's ignorance is gradually explained by his role in Heathcliff's plan to exact revenge on Hindley.
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