Wuthering Heights
November 4, 1986
A review of "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte.
Copyright © 1998 Property of Deborah K. Fletcher. All rights reserved.
Wuthering Heights was written by Emily Bronte under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was originally published at the end of 1847. The most recent publication of the Norton Critical Edition, edited by William Merritt Sale, was in 1972.
Wuthering Heights is a Victorian novel. It is vivid and energetic. It is not a typical novel of Victorian England.
Emily Bronte was one of three sisters, and the daughter of a clergyman. She did not possess a demonstrative character, nor was it wise to intrude upon her affairs. Very little else is known about her.
Wuthering Heights was set at Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, in England, beginning in 1771 and ending in 1803. The opening scene is set in 1801, and the story of Wuthering Heights is told as the memories of a character, Nellie Dean, related to another character, Mr. Lockwood.
The story centres around two families, which become intermarried. The main character, Heathcliff, is adopted by the Earnshaws. Hindley Earnshaw detests his adopted brother, who is their father's favourite, while Catherine Earnshaw becomes very close to Heathcliff.
Edgar Linton, the son of the other family, marries Catherine, causing Heathcliff, who loves her, to hate him. In spite, Heathcliff marries Edgar's sister, Isabella.
Catherine has a daughter, but dies in childbed. The child is named Catherine in her honour. After the death of the elder Catherine, Heathcliff removes a lock of Edgar's hair from her locket and replaces it with one of his own to claim her as his love.
Isabella leaves Heathcliff and moves to London, where she gives birth to a son, Linton Heathcliff.
When Catherine is thirteen years old, she meets Hindley's son, Hareton. She disdains Hareton's country manners, but returns to Wuthering Heights with him. Nellie Dean, Catherine's servant, is waiting for her at the Heights, and she gives Catherine a scolding.
While at the Heights, Catherine meets Linton. They write to each other, Linton's writing being forced by Heathcliff. When Linton becomes ill, Catherine begins to visit him secretly. This continues for nine months, at the end of which time Nellie takes Catherine to visit Linton openly. Heathcliff kidnaps Catherine and Nellie, and forces Catherine to marry Linton.
Catherine is miserable at the Heights, so she runs away to Thrushcross Grange, where her father lives. She finds that he is dying and stays there overnight. Edgar dies during the nights, and Catherine is heartbroken when Heathcliff takes her back to the Heights.
Linton dies a month after Edgar's death, leaving Heathcliff as heir to both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. Following Linton's death, Hareton makes advances toward Catherine.
At this point, the story ceases to be a memory of the past and becomes a simple narrative.
Early in 1802, Hareton's arm is injured when his gun explodes. He loses a lot of blood, and is forced to spend a good deal of time at the kitchen hearth. Catherine also spends a lot of time there, and they eventually become friends.
Some eight months after Hareton's injury, he and Catherine marry, resolving the problems between the two families.
There is a good deal of symbolism in Wuthering Heights, most of it stemming from the characters' superstitious natures. Ghosts, demons, and appropriately symbolic weather are common.
The dialogue is very realistic. The city-bred characters speak a modern, sophisticated dialect of English, while the country-bred characters speak an older dialect. An example of this older dialect is a speech given by Joseph, a household servant, in Chapter XXXII:
Aw'd rayther, by th' haulf, hev 'em swearing i' my lugs frough morn tuh neeght, nur hearken yah, hahsiver! It's a blazing shaime, ut Aw cannut oppen t' Blessed Book, bud yah set up them glories tuh Sattan, un' all t' flaysome wickednesses ut iver wer born intuh t' warld! Oh! yah're a raight nowt, un' shoo's another; un' that poor lad 'ull be lost, arween ye. Poor lad! he's witched, Aw'm sartin on't! O, Lord, judge 'em, for they's norther law nur justice amang wer rullers!
Heathcliff is the main character of Wuthering Heights. Although he is a continued bad influence in the novel, he is also the hero. He overcomes having been born in the streets, and he becomes a very wealthy man. His main downfall is his love for the elder Catherine.
This is a very good novel, worthy of its rating as a classic. It seems to be a purely entertaining book, and I can find no universal themes, beside love, in the novel.
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