Wuthering Heights

                                  WUTHERING HEIGHTS

                                                       Emily Brontë 

Biography

Emily Jane Brontë -Ellis Bell- (July 30, 1818, Thomton, England- December 19, 1848, Haworth, England)

English novelist and poet, wrote only one novel "Wuthering Heights" considered a classic of English literature, is about passion and hate set on the Yorkshire.

Emily was the third of Brontë siblings, her father was Patrick Brontë who was Irish, her mother was Maria Branwell. In 1820 the family moved to Haworth, There the Brontë children developed their literary talents.

In 1844, Emily recoies all the poems she had written into two notebooks. One was labeled "Gondal Poems", the other was unlabeled. In 1845, Charlotte discovered the notebooks and insisted that the poems be published. At first, Emily refused, but relented when Anne brought out her own manuscripts and revealed to Charlotte that she had been writing poems in secret as well. As co-authors of Gondal stories, Anne and Emily were accustomed to reading their Gondal stories and poems to each other. In this time Emily wrote her most famous poem, "Not coward soul is mine".

The sister's poems were published in 1846 in one volume as "Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell". They adopted pseudonyms for publication, preserving their initial: Charlotte as "Currer Bell", Emily was "Ellis Bell" and Anne was "Acton Bell". Charlote contributed with 19 poems and Emily and Ann with 21 each one.

                             

Historical Background:

When Emily was three years old in 1821, her mother died of cancer. Her sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School, there they suffered abuse and privations, later described by Charlotte in her novel Jane Eyre. When Emily was six years old, joined her sisters at school. When an epidemic swept the school, Maria and Elizabeth caught it. Maria was sent home because she had tuberculosis and died, Emily and her sister were removed from the school, but soon Elizabeth died too.

Emily and her siblings were educated at home by their father and aunt Elizabeth Branwell. They had access to a wide range of published material.

In their leisure time they began to write fiction at home, inspired by a box of toy soldiers on Branwell her brother and created a number of fantasy worlds.

During her adulthood, Emily became a teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax when she was twenty. There she worked 17 hours a day, so she got sick and back home.  At home, she did most of the cooking, ironing and cleaning. She taught herself German out of books and practiced the piano.

Emily and Charlotte went to Brussels, Belgium, where they attended the girl's academy, where Emily felt uncomfortable. The sisters planned to perfect their French and German in anticipation of opening their school. Nine of Emily's French essays survive from this period. 

Emily Brontë was a mysterious figure, she didn't make any friends outside her family. Her closest friend was her sister Anne, in childhood they were like twins, always inseparable and very close.

The sisters went to York where Anne showed her sister York Minster. 

SUMMARY: 

In the winter of 1801, Lockwood, went to Wuthering Heights to make arrangements with Heathcliff to rent Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff was the landlord, he makes no effort to be pleasant and immediately becomes a source of deep curiosity to Lockwood. A snowstorm forces Lockwood to spend the night at Wuthering Heights, and he has nightmares with a ghost named Catherine Linton trying to come through the window.

Settled into his new house, Lockwood invites the housekeeper, Ellen Dean, to tell the story of the curious inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. Nelly is happy to recount the dark tale of the Earnshaws, the Lintons, and mostly, Heathcliff.

Nelly starts to work for the Earnshaws as a young girl. Everything is fine until Mr. Earnsaw takes a trip to Liverpool and returns with a swarthy little orphan child named Heathcliff. Though Earnshaw's daughter, Catherine, takes to the boy after only some initial aversion, the son Hindley, resents his father's favoritism of the strange boy.

Soon Catherine and Heathcliff are inseparable, but Hindley's bitterness has only grown, so he goes off to college. Catherine and Heathcliff briefly enjoy a sort of idyllic, adventurous childhood out on the stormy moors and snuggling in the oak-paneled bed.

When Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley returns from college, with his new wife Frances, to claim his place as master of Wuthering Heights. The College hasn't altered Hindley's feelings toward Heathcliff, so he decides to make life miserable for his adopted brother by treating him like a servant.

With Hindley acting the tyrant, Catherine provides Heathcliff's only solace. They remain allies and friends. One night Heathcliff and Catherine ramble down to Thrushcross Grange on spy to the Linton children, Edgar and Isabella, who live a pampered and protected existence. When a dog bites Catherine, she is forced to stay at the Grange for five weeks to recuperate. While there, she captures the affections of young Edgar. Back at Wuthering Heights, life without Catherine has been miserable for Heathcliff, but with Edgar in the picture, things will never be the same.

Frances dies after giving birth to a son, Harethon. Without his wife to help tone down his rage, Hindley becomes even more vengeful toward Heathcliff. Hindley resents his new son, and he becomes an abusive alcoholic. His primary activity is making life miserable for Heathcliff and for everyone else in the house.

Though Catherine confesses to Nelly, her love for Heathcliff, she still marries Edgar. Heathcliff dessappears for three years to who knows where. When he returns, finds Catherine and Edgar married and living at Thrushcross Grange.

Heathcliff is now on a mission of revenge against Hindley, who is in even worse shape than before. Loaded with a bunch of money gained during his mysterious absence, Heathcliff sets it on motion his master plan to acquire Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff exploits the fact that Hindley is a drunken mess and engages him in extended bouts of gambling that eventually lead Hindley to mortgage Wuthering Heights to pay his debts. The house belongs to Heathcliff.

 
Heathcliff continues to visit Catherine at Thrushcross Grange, though her husband Edgar treats him like a low-born outsider. In order to acquire Edgar's property, Heathcliff marries Isabella Linton, who brings out all of his abusive instincts.

A violent argument between Edgar and Heathcliff sends Catherine to the sickbed, from which she never really recovers. She does, however, give birth to a daughter, also named Catherine. When Catherine dies, Heathcliff's sorrow and rage increase and he pleads for Catherine's ghost to haunt him.

Unable to take his abusiveness any longer, Isabella flees for London, where she gives birth to a son, Linton Heathcliff.

For the next thirteen years, Nelly Dean stays at Thrushcross Grange to raise Catherine, a feisty daddy's girl. Edgar and Nelly make sure that Catherine knows nothing of Wuthering Heights or its master. But, like her mother, Catherine is drawn to adventure and wants to explore the moors and all of its craggy, windswept spots. When Nelly forbids her to leave the property of Thrushcross Grange, Catherine goes off on her own. She ends up at Wuthering Heights, where she meets Hindley's son Hareton. Heathcliff's despicable treatment of the young man has turned Hareton into a grunting, uneducated oaf. Still, Catherine is happy to have some companionship.

When Isabella dies, Edgar retrieves his fragile, dismal nephew Linton and brings him back to live with them at Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff has other plans, and demands that his son live with him, though Linton did not even know his father existed. The contrast between Linton and Hareton is stark, but Heathcliff can't stand either of them.

Eventually, young Catherine encounters Heathcliff on the moors and ventures to Wuthering Heights, where she meets Linton, whom she only vaguely remembers. She and Linton begin a secret correspondence of love letters sent via the milk-fetcher. When Edgar and Nelly become sick and bedbound, Catherine begins to sneak up to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton. The miserable and suffering Linton becomes a tool of his father's plot for revenge—marrying Catherine would ensure that Linton inherits Thrushcross Grange.

At a prearranged meeting between Catherine and Linton, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to Wuthering Heights, where he imprisons them and forces Catherine to marry Linton. Soon after, Edgar dies and so does the sickly, young Linton. Heathcliff is now master of both Wuthering Height and Thrushcross Grange. He keeps his widowed daughter-in-law with him at Wuthering Heights so that she can work for him as a common servant. He rents out Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.

Nelly's story is now complete. Lockwood's fascination with Heathcliff has turned to disgust and he gives notice to Heathcliff that he will be leaving Thrushcross Grange to return to London. Six months later, however, he is back in the neighborhood and visits Nelly, who gives him an update on the dramatic tale.

Despite her initial rejection of Hareton as an illiterate boor, Catherine warms to him and begins teaching him how to read. Heathcliff finds himself too obsessed with the dead Catherine to even care about the younger generation or even to bother eating or sleeping. Instead of continuing his cycle of abuse and revenge, he wanders the moors, stares into the middle distance, and makes broken-hearted appeals to Catherine's ghost. Heathcliff dies in the oak-paneled bed, a water-logged, grimacing stiff.

Hareton and Catherine inherit the two houses. They plan to marry on New Year's day and have created a new atmosphere of renewal and hope. Lockwood leaves the happy lovers and passes by the gravestones of Catherine, Heathcliff, and Edgar. Heathcliff's grave plot is fresh and not yet covered with grass.

 

Expectation:

When I decided to read Wuthering Heights, I thought it was a love tale, now I know is a great novel, a family saga where tells the story of three generations of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons.

Literary Movement: 

Victorian Period. 

Country:

England

Genre: 

Romanticism

Did you confirm your predictions? 

In some way yes, because I thought it was a romantic novel, but it was more than love, is a saga of passion and destruction between two families.

Main Characters:

Heathcliff: Enters the story as a Gypsy foundling brought home to live at Wuthering Heights by the well-meaning Mr. Earnshaw. His origins are never revealed. Heathcliff is an enigmatic, unpredictable, temperamental and often cruel character from the beginning. Heathcliff used his power to acquire Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights.

Catherine Earnshaw: is beautiful and free-spirited, but also wild, self-centered, stubborn. She admits it is Heathcliff she will always love. They are so close, she claims they are part of the same person. Her vanity causes her to crave social advancement, so she married Edgar Linton. After Heathcliff marries Isabella Linton to spite Catherine and Edgar. Catherine Histerically will herself into an illness. She describes strange hallucinations and eventually learns she is pregnant. Catherine dies the same night she gives birth to her daughter, also called Catherine. 

Edgar Linton: Grew up sheltered at Thrushcross Grange. Despite his civilized gentlemanly nature and his generous love for Catherine who never truly love him. She and Heathcliff call him a "lamb" and a "milk-blooded coward". Edgar proves ineffectual in dealing with the newly returned Heathcliff, who infiltrates Thrushcross Grange, slowly gaining power over Catherine, his sister Isabella and later his daughter Cathy. 

Nelly Dean or Ellen Dean: is the housekeeper who sees and hears all. She seems sensible, levelheaded, trustworthy and compassionate. This makes her the confidante of Catherine and Cathy. Nelly's opinions hold away in the two households; over the years she acquires many strong feelings about the various members of the Earnshaw and Linton clans, and these feelings serve to complicate her narration. She is not impartial and her actions affect the course of the novel in many ways.

Lockwood: As a narrative lens, Lockwood fumbles through the tale, often misunderstanding events, partly because he is unaccustomed to the people and culture of the moors, and partly because his own vanity often gets in the way.

Catherine Linton: Also called Cathy, is the daughter of Edgar Linton and Catherine Earnshaw. She inherits many of her mother's characteristics, but Cathy is more compassionate and gentle woman than her mother was.

Hindley Earnshaw: Is Catherine's brother and Mr. Earnshaw's son. Resentful of Heathcliff from the very start, he gets his revenge on Heathcliff after Mr. Earnshaw's death, when he treats him as a servant and orders him to work the fields.                                              

Antagonist: 

Hindley Earnshaw.

Protagonist: 

Heathcliff. 

Plot:

1. Exposition

a. Conflict: Wuthering Heights is divided between two love stories, the tragic, eternal love of Catherine and Heathcliff, and the transformative love of the second Catherine and Hareton. Catherine and Heathcliff's love is rooted in the shared memory of a fixed past, their nostalgia for a free-spirited childhood roaming among the moors. Catherine declares that they are halves of the same person, and Heathcliff describes Catherine as his soul.  

b. Characters: Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, Ellen Dean, Lockwood, Catherine Linton, Hareton Earnshaw, Linton Heathcliff, Hindley Earnshaw, Isabella Linton, Mr. Earnshaw, Mrs. Earnshaw, Joseph, Frances Earnshaw, Mr. and mrs. Linton, Zillah.

c. Setting: Yorkshire moors in Northern England.

2. Rising Action:

 Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering Heights, Hindley’s abusive treatment of Heathcliff, and Catherine’s first visit to Thrushcross Grange set the major conflicts in motion; once Heathcliff hears Catherine say it would “degrade” her to marry him, the conversation between Nelly and Catherine, which he secretly overhears, drives him to run away and pursue his revenge.

 3. Climax: 

Catherine’s death is the culmination of the conflict between herself and Heathcliff and removes any possibility that their conflict could be resolved positively; after Catherine’s death, Heathcliff merely extends and deepens his drives toward revenge and cruelty.

 4. Falling Action:

Heathcliff destroys Isabella and drives her away, takes possession of young Linton, forces Catherine and Linton to marry, inherits Thrushcross Grange.

 5. Resolution:

Heathcliff loses interest in his plans of revenge and dies; Hareton and young Catherine are to be engaged to be married, promising and end to the cycle of revenge.

Literary Devices: 

Dynamic character: Ellen or Nelly Dean, who is telling the story to Mr. Lockwood.

Static Character: Zilla, a housekeeper, is one of the few servants at Wuthering Heights.

                                        _______________ 

 "and her eyes sparkled as bright as diamonds"
This comparison using like or as describes Miss Cathy and helps us illustrate the beauty she held.  (Similes)

"but the snow and wind whirled wildly through, even reaching my station, and blowing out the light."
The snow and wind blew out the light. This shows how powerful the blizzard was. (personification)

References:

Emily Brontë- writer - Biography.com

https//www.biography.com/people/emily-bronte-9227381 

Emily Brontë - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki//Emily_Brontë

Emily Brontë Biography - life, children, parents, story, death, history...
www.notablebiographies.com>Br-Ca