Structure of Wuthering Heights (AO2)

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  • Created by: SarahE96
  • Created on: 12-05-16 13:25
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  • Structure of Wuthering Heights
    • Classic pattern with is recurrent in literature since Greek Tradgey
      • 1. Harmony- Happy Earnshaw family
      • 2. Destruction of harmony- Heathcliff's arrival and presents broken
      • 3. Restoration of Harmony- Catherine and Hareton's marriage
    • Two main narrators- Nelly and Lockwood
      • Bronte carefully controls the release of plot information and can deflate the development of tension e.g. having Lockwood interrupt Nelly's narrative
      • Lockwood being the outsider from the South
    • Time in the novel
      • Deliberately non-linear, unlike other texts (Macbeth)- all the events of Wuthering Heights can be unravelled and reconstructed against a fixed time-line.
      • Significant jumps into the narrative and some bits not explained (Heathcliff's experiences outside of the text). Because of this structure these are less strikingly obvious.
    • Mirroring used in the Structure
      • Heathcliff suffered at the hands of Hindley, now Hindley's son Hareton suffers at the hands of Heathcliff
      • Hareton and Catherine- whose social stations echo those previous (Heathcliff and Cathy) are married.
      • Two parallel love stories- Cathy and Heathcliff/ Catherine and Hareton
    • Happy Ending?
      • Heathcliff and Cathy are reunited and are spotted wondering the moors together.
      • Degree of ambiguity however, will the future really be happier than the past, given how damaged the characters have been?

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