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Introduction to the Novel & Narrative Patterns in Wuthering Heights

Introduction to the Novel & Narrative Patterns in Wuthering Heights. One of the famed Bronte sisters, wrote her only novel, Wuthering Heights (1847) under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell. Emily had four older siblings and one younger: Maria (1814-1825)- died at age 11 when Emily was 7

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Introduction to the Novel & Narrative Patterns in Wuthering Heights

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  1. Introduction to the Novel & Narrative Patterns in Wuthering Heights

  2. One of the famed Bronte sisters, wrote her only novel, Wuthering Heights (1847) under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell. • Emily had four older siblings and one younger: • Maria (1814-1825)- died at age 11 when Emily was 7 • Elizabeth (1815-1825)- died at age 10 when Emily was 7 • Charlotte (1816-1855) • Patrick “Branwell” (1817-1848)- died at age 31 when Emily was 29 • Younger sister Anne (1820-1849) died six months after Emily Emily Bronte (1818-1848)

  3. The four surviving Bronte siblings would often entertain themselves by making up wild stories & poems, effectually creating an imaginary world with corresponding personas. Bronte’s own home in the bleak Yorkshire moors provides the setting for the at-times other-worldly passions of the Byronic Heathcliff and Catherine in W.H.. Set in 18th C. England when social and economic values were changing and land ownership did not always the man make, it is a world of patriarchal values juxtaposed with the natural elements. Emily Bronte (1818-1848)

  4. Yorkshire, England

  5. Yorkshire, England

  6. The present . . . (our ‘frame’) When Mr. Lockwood visits the house known as Wuthering Heights– both of his visits are unwelcome– he is trapped there by a snowstorm and strange things begin to happen as he gets ready to go to bed…Along with some VERY angry people, A tap, tapping at the window, a little voice that cries “Do let me come in,” and an icy little hand that grabs Mr. Lockwood’s as he tries to shut the sash of the window set the stage for an intriguing story.

  7. Mr. Lockwood unnerved • Well, of course, Mr. Lockwood is unnerved– he thinks that he has had a horrible dream until…Mr. Heathcliff rushes in, throws open the window, and howls for Cathy to haunt him.

  8. What’s a man to think? • Naturally, Mr. Lockwood wants to know the whole story behind the ghost, the unidentified girl who lives with Heathcliff, and whatever other mysteries surround the harsh environment of Wuthering Heights, but how is he to find out what happened twenty years ago? • Enter Nelly Dean…

  9. Nelly Dean: housekeeper who has seen it all In the house that Mr. Lockwood rented for the year there is a housekeeper, Nelly Dean. When Mr. Lockwood comes down with the flu, Nelly Dean promises to stay by his sick bed and tell him the WHOLE story about all of the strange goings on at Wuthering Heights…

  10. NELLY THE NARRATOR • Nelly lived at Wuthering Heights and worked for Catherine’s family (and later for Catherine) all of her life, and she was around to witness AND to participate in all of the events. • So, as Mr. Lockwood recuperates, Nelly Dean entertains Lockwood by telling him the tragic and violent story of the love between Heathcliff and Catherine

  11. THE PAST • Now, through Nellie, the reader is taken back twenty years to the time when Mr Earnshaw brought home a waif (“it”) from London and named him Heathcliff (why just one name? why that name?) • The reader will now, with the help of Nelly’s narration, progress through the past and will eventually (toward the end of the book) permanently return to the present.

  12. But there is a “catch” • Remember reading Frankenstein? • Sometimes the narrator of a story may not be reliable or truthful. . . .

  13. Dastardly NELLY? • Nelly says that she ALWAYS-- from the very first day of his arrival-- hated Heathcliff • In fact when he was a young child stricken with a severe case of measles, and she was his nurse, she secretly took the child out on the cold stairs hoping that the chill would kill him.

  14. DEMON CHILD • And when the freezing air didn’t kill the young child, she pronounced him a demon child. ( Hmmm… who’s the demon here?) • But what about Joseph, the bad tempered gardener, who CONSTANTLY tells us that Heathcliff and Catherine are products of the devil? Joseph basically believes that EVERYONE (except for him) is doomed to hell. • Who are the monsters? Who are the saints? What is hell or heaven? Lots of opposites again!

  15. Some other things to think about What factors motivate why people marry? Love, security, social strata or passion? What about Catherine? • Is revenge inherently destructive to the self? How is revenge a force in the text? Is it somehow connected with love?

  16. Raging Violence • How many scenes of violence can you identify? • (You may get so used to all of the scenes of violence that you begin not to notice them.)

  17. Heathcliff What about Heathcliff’s total disregard of all the conventions of society? Is he a free spirit that lives a genuine, authentic life without regard to “what other people think”? OR Is he a horribly destructive force that threatens the fabric of society?

  18. Nature vs. Nurture • An age-old question– why do we become who we are? Is it because of our nature—we were born to be what we become OR • Is it because of the environment in which we are brought up? • What makes Heathcliff SOOOO bitter?

  19. Gender • Are Heathcliff and Catherine the ARCHETYPES of masculinity and femininity? • Why is their story so enduring? • Why do girls often choose the “bad boys” who never treat them well? • What characters fit and bend gender stereotypes?

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