1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

2. The Setting - Yorkshire, England

3. The Setting, cont. Wuthering Heights is set in three locations:
Thrushcross Grange
The Yorkshire Moors

5. Wuthering Heights A story of two Households…

6. Thrushcross Grange

7. Thrushcross Grange and the Moors
Gimmerton Valley near Thrushcross Park
Looking from the Valley toward the Moors

8. Wuthering Heights

9. Framework Story
Wuthering Heights is highly praised for the unique narrative technique Emily Bronte used to execute the novel, often referred to as a “frame narrative.”
The two main narrators are Lockwood and Nelly Dean, but other narrators arise throughout the novel when Nelly quotes what other characters have told her.
The frame narrative form of the novel adds complexity for the reader. Lockwood is the outer layer and Nelly the inner layer.
Since the story passes through layers, the reader must question the reliability of all that he or she reads.
Example: Nelly glosses over events to minimize her own guilt.
Example: Lockwood is naïve and lacks good judgment.

10. Novel Structure
Wuthering Heights is told in medias res (Latin for "into the middle of things”). It usually describes a narrative that begins, not at the beginning of a story, but somewhere in the middle — usually at some crucial point in the action. The purpose in Wuthering Heights is to add a sense of mystery.

11. Industrial Revolution and Social Class
Wuthering Heights was written in 1847, which was a time when Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution were the dominant forces of the British economy and society. It was a time of rapid, often confusing, change that led to violence. As a result of the changing economy, the traditional relationships between classes and the social structure began to change.

12. Industrial, cont.
While wealth had traditionally been measured by land ownership, the eighteenth century had begun a trend toward a cash-based economy.
This created a middle class who were more economically powerful than its landowning superiors (gentry).
The power of yeomen, or the respectable farming class, as well as the traditional power-holding gentry was challenged by the newly wealthy capitalists.

13. Social Changes...
Each of these classes is represented in the novel by various characters.
Hareton is a member of the respectable farming class
the Lintons are members of the gentry
Heathcliff makes his fortune (somewhat mysteriously) as a capitalist

14. Women’s Rights… During this time period women’s rights were changing.
Why this is relevant:
Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights during the beginning of the women’s rights movement in England.
The primary concerns of the movement were the lack of women’s right to vote and the lack of married women’s property rights. The latter issue arises in Wuthering Heights.

15. Romanticism, the Gothic novel, and Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights contains elements of Romanticism and the Gothic novel.
Romantic elements:
nature as a powerful spiritual force
descriptions of the countryside
elevated emotional levels and passion
a desire to rise above the limitations of ordinary human existence
a strong interest in death
a portrayal of opposites – escape and pursuit, life and death
isolation, both emotional and geographical
elements of the supernatural

16. The Gothic novel Elements of the Gothic novel
a castle, sometimes ruined or haunted
sinister, ruined buildings
extreme landscape and weather
death and madness
omens
ancestral curses
terrifying events
taboo and sensational topics
a suggestion of the supernatural
a villain or villain-hero (Byronic hero) driven by passion
a heroine wooed by both a good and a dangerous suitor
revenge

17. Byronic Hero
Heathcliff is regarded as a classic Byronic hero. The Byronic hero was defined by Lord Byron’s epic narrative poem , Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812.
Elements of the Byronic hero:
a distaste for social institutions and social norms
conflicting emotions or moodiness
high levels of intelligence and cunning
self-criticism
mysterious origins and a troubled past
self-destructive tendencies
a loner, rejected from society

18. Wuthering Heights stresses or asks the following:
The importance of a balanced view of what makes an individual what he or she becomes. The “nature vs. nurture” debate. The question is whether a person’s inherent nature or the way he or she is “nurtured,” or raised, is the more critical factor in determining what kind of person he or she will eventually become.
The realization that there is a tension between good and evil in both nature and human personality
An understanding of the powerful force exerted by acceptance and rejection. Outsiders vs. Insiders. Which characters are considered “outsiders” and which ones are “insiders”? How does this position in life shape who these people become?
An understanding of the driving, destroying power of revenge
An understanding of the restorative, integrating power of love
Asks the question of whether it is better to live a life driven by passion, which will inevitably fade, or a life of conservatism, where everything comes in moderation and never really changes (there is little passion, but, in turn, there is stability). Is it better to marry for passion and love, or for standing and stability?
Are marriages from different social strata doomed to fail?

19. Keep In Mind… Keep track of dates and how the story progresses.
Keep track of who is speaking. This will help you keep your reading organized.
Keep track of whether or not the story is flashback mode or not.
It is not necessary to understand all of Joseph’s dialogue, but you need to keep in mind his characterization and the meaning behind what he says.