Blog 1

The novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is written with a unique plot. It all begins with Bronte placing a lonely man, Mr. Lockwood, in the middle of a very lonely house, in the middle of a very lonely town with just two houses – his, and his landlords, Mr. Heathcliff’s. In the beginning chapters, Mr. Lockwood is sleeping at Mr. Heathcliff’s house, called Wuthering Heights: not because they are close friends, but because he is too scared to walk home in the dark. While there, he stays in a room with a “large oak case.” He wanders into this oak case and places his candle on a ledge, describing it as having, “a few mildewed books piled up in one corner; and covered with writing scratched on the paint. This writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small – Catherine Earnshaw.”

When he comes back to his home in the morning, called Thrushcross Grange, he questions his servant, Mrs. Dean, about the Heathcliff family. Mrs. Dean had lived with the Heathcliff family for 18 years. Mr. Lockwood states, “Well, Mrs. Dean, it will be a charitable deed to tell me something of my neighbours: I feel I shall not rest if I go to bed; so be good enough to sit and chat an hour.” Mrs. Dean complies happily.

The story that Mrs. Dean tells becomes the novel. In other words, the novel Wuthering Heights drastically changes perspective. First from the point of view from Mr. Lockwood, the novel now starts to be told from Mrs. Dean. It’s like a story inside a story. The point of view is still limited omniscient, but from another characters viewpoint.  The name “Mr. Lockwood” hasn’t come up since Chapter IV.
Although difficult to read, this novel is very captivating. The depiction of the characters is very interesting; Bronte has each character act in very distinct manners. One aspect of the novel that suggested this distinction in personality is the conflict Bronte presents. Throughout this novel (so far at least), the selfishness and jealousy of the characters - which directly is linked to the conflict - is the driving force of this novel. For example, when Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff into the family for the first time both Catherine and Hindley despised him. Mrs. Dean states, "[Heathcliff] was hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley's blows without winking or shedding a tear" This was the first sight of discord in family, and is directly linked to the sense of hegemony Hindley had over Heathcliff. Another example of conflict is when Catherine comes home from the Linton’s house. She is in an intimate relationship with Edgar Linton. Mrs. Dean states to Heathcliff, "It looks as if you envied her, because she is more thought of than you." The conflict between Heathcliff and Catherine spawned from jealousy - Heathcliff is envious of Edgar. The conflicts in the novel are very important and presented excellently in the novel; they not only represent the selfishness and jealousy of the characters, but also the desires.