An Book Review On Wuthering Heights

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The story begins when a rich man called Mr Lockwood rents a house called Thrushcross grange. The afternoon he arrives he goes to his landlords house, called Wuthering Heights, his landlords name is Heathcliff. When Mr Lockwood arrives at Wuthering heights his landlord seems pleasant, however the way in which Heathcliff talks to his family makes him weary of him. That evening there is a snow storm and Lockwood is snowed in and is forced to sleep at Wuthering Heights. He sleeps in the room of the late Catherine, and that night has a terrible nightmare that Catherine was a ghost, trying to get in through the window. The next day, at his arrival to Thrushcross Grange, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of how Wuthering Heights became so strange. Lockwood then writes down all of Nelly’s recollections in his diary.

It all started when the original owner of Wuthering heights, Mr Earnshaw, came back from a business trip with an orphan that he adopts. The orphans’ name was Heathcliff. Earnshaw's two children, Hindley and Catherine, did not enjoy the company of their new brother, but then Catherine and Heathcliff became friends and were soon inseparable. At the time, Nelly was a young servant at the house. Hindley and Heathcliff never got on and when Hindley continued abusing Heathcliff, his father sent him away to college, keeping Heathcliff close to him.

When Mr Earnshaw died Hindley inherited Wuthering Heights and forced Heathcliff to be a servant in order to take revenge on him. Even though Heathcliff was no longer part of the family, his relationship with Catherine was still very strong. One afternoon the two decided to spy on the Linton family that lived on Thrushcross Grange. However Catherine got bitten by a dog and was forced to stay at the Linton’s residence, where Mrs Linton taught her to act like a lady. She returned to Wuthering Heights after five weeks and was amused at the how scruffy and dirty Heathcliff was, she also became friends with Edgar Linton, one of the Linton children, during her stay. Over time she and Edgar became closer while she and Heathcliff became more distant.

Hindley's wife then gave birth to a son named Hareton, however she dies soon after giving birth. This lead Hindley into alcoholism and depression. Edgar soon asks Catherine to marry him and she says yes because although she loves Heathcliff more, he has no education or social status, unlike Edgar. Heathcliff then runs away and only returns three years later as a wealthy man seeking revenge on all that have done him wrong. He lent Hindley money to fund his alcoholism and because of the large debt, he inherited Wuthering Heights at Hindley’s death. He also stood in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Edgar’s sister, Isabella Linton, whom he treated very badly. She ran away and gave birth to Heathcliff's son, named Linton after her family. Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter also named Catherine and soon dies. Edgar raises Catherine with the help of Nelly and she is kept within close proximity of Thrushcross Grange, making her unaware of Wuthering Heights. Isabella dies and Linton comes to live with his Uncle, however Heathcliff insists that he lives with him. He ends up treating Linton worse than he treated Isabella.

Heathcliff then lures Catherine to Wuthering Heights, against her father and Nelly’s will, in order to visit her cousin Linton, whom she had met years before. Linton and Catherine soon fall in love with each other, sending secret letters to each other via the milkman. Nelly finds out about this secret romance and burns all of the letters between them, and so instead Catherine begins to sneak out at night to visit her now sickly lover. It soon becomes apparent that Linton does not truly love Catherine but is only pursuing her because his father is forcing him to. One day, when Mr Linton is very ill and close to death, Heathcliff lures Catherine and Nelly to Wuthering Heights and imprisons them until Catherine married Linton. Soon after this Mr Lockwood died followed by Linton. This left the whole of Thrushcross Grange to Heathcliff, who was finally taking revenge on Mr Linton. Heathcliff makes Catherine a servant at Wuthering Heights.

The story comes back to the present tense and Mr Lockwood decides to leave Thrushcross Grange. He returns six months later to visit Nelly and finds out from her that Heathcliff had died, and that Hindley and Catherine had inherited all of his wealth, including Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. They had also fallen in love with each other and planned on getting married on New Year’s Day. So in the end, the children of those he took revenge on became the beneficiaries of all of his wealth.

Narrative Style:

There are two main narrators in this novel, Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean. Mr Lockwood Narrates at the beginning and end of the novel in first person, singular, intrusive as he often comments on what he thinks of what he sees; " I began to doubt whether he was a servant or not ". Nelly Dean’s narration is also in first person, singular, intrusive as she also very often narrates what she was thinking.

Character analysis:

Heathcliff:

The story of Wuthering heights revolves around the character Heathcliff. He is a tall muscular man with an "athletic built". He is a very difficult person to read and often times, the reader cannot decide if he a romantic hero, doing everything in his power to take revenge over those who got in the way of his undying love for Catherine, or if he is simply a villain, unnecessarily hearting people for a lost cause. At the beginning of the novel Heathcliff is a round character, treating everybody differently, he loved Catherine, hated Hindley and respected his parents. However later in the novel he becomes a flat character, showing hatred towards everyone around him. This shows the transition of Heathcliff from an orphan, that people took pity on, to a grown man that has become a villain.

Catherine Earnshaw:

Everything the reader knows about Catherine has been learnt from Nelly Dean. She is a rebellious and adventurous girl who, who later acts as if she is lady-like, in order to fit in with her new social class, after marrying Mr Linton. She is also superficial, because even though she loves Heathcliff, she marries Linton because Heathcliff "has no education" and will not be able to support her lifestyle. Catherine is wild and free spirited although the circumstances she was put under stopped her from doing what she wanted to.

Nelly Dean:

Nelly Dean is the main source of information for the novel as she is the only person who is still alive that was present at the time. Although we rely on her for the majority of the information, her point of view is extremely unreliable as she also hated Heathcliff when they were younger; "Hindley hated him, and to say the truth I did the same". She is also a caring and gentle person, we can see this from the way she takes care of Hareton "as I rocked Hareton to sleep".

Language and Diction:

The language in Wuthering Heights is informal and the diction is simple. The narration is often made of long sentences containing dashes, colons and semi colons, this can often be seen in Lockwood’s narration. The story is made up of mostly dialogue, showing what actually happened at the time, the only time narration was used was to show what the narrator was thinking or when the story was in the present tense.

Imagery:

imagery is used well in this novel, I could almost feel how cold it was when Lockwood describes his journey to Wuthering Heights; "Yesterday afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering Heights ". Imagery of sight is depicted when Lockwood describes the living room of Wuthering Heights "immense pewter dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser. "Imagery of sound is depicted when Lockwood describes how the dogs ‘growled’ at him.

Themes:

The first theme of Wuthering Heights is undying love, Heathcliff never stopped loving Catherine and Catherine never stopped loving Heathcliff. Social status, and the ability to gain or lose it, was also a theme of Wuthering Heights, because it is reinforced many times during the novel, it is shown when Heathcliff never received and education but Hindley did, when Catherine married Mr Linton instead of Heathcilff and when Isabella Linton moved to Wuthering Heights and became a servant. Another theme is that of culture versus what people believe. Catherine and Heathcliff truly loved each other, however their culture would not allow them to ever be with each other.

Setting:

This novel is set in the countryside in England. This helps the plot because it is secluded and nothing else from the "outside world" influences it. Only the two houses, Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights impact on each other. This setting also gives Catherine enough space to be "wild" and run around like a child and allow the place to be secluded enough to make running away difficult for those who were being hurt by Heathcliff.

Genre:

The genre is a romantic thriller, because although the storyline is about love, it is a thriller because the reader is never sure of what is going to happen next.

Aspects I enjoyed:

I enjoyed the ending of the novel because in the end, Heathcliff couldn’t take his belongings with him when he died. All of Heathcliff’s belongings went to those who he took revenge on, Catherine and Hareton inherited everything of his. So after all the pain and suffering he caused, he could not stop them from inheriting all of his wealth. To me, this is the final justice that is served.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this novel to those who love to be kept in suspense. I would also recommend that those who read this novel should pay attention to how the characters are related, as it is easy to get confused as to how they are linked to one another. Those that choose to read this novel should also know that it is difficult reading, in the sense that one has to be fully engaged in reading the book in order to understand it fully.