Wuthering Heights  Form & Structure

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  • Created on: 06-04-13 10:14
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  • Wuthering Heights    Form & Structure
    • Anachrony- a deliberate shuffling of time sequences in a narrative.
      • A common feature of novels, for example, is that the order in which the plot develops is quite different from the chronological sequence of events in the original story.
        • The narrative moves forward through a developing story line; simultaneously explaining a large span of events.
          • The novel begins when the story is almost finished, but Lockwood's curiosity triggers the narration. We have to re-live the past imaginatively.
            • Past and present are bound up in a way that does not divide the time frame awkwardly.
    • Nelly's narration is heavily dramatised: she records conversations as well as events etc.), which strongly affects the reader's perceptions and opinions.
    • The novelist was not able to use her own voice (Emily Bronte wrote under the ambiguous pseudonym of Ellis Bell) so the story must speak for itself.
      • We are thrust into the story (in the same way Lockwood is), a stranger to the characters, relationships and setting of the story.
        • Lockwood and Nelly provide the necessary objectivity. Smaller narratives such as Cathy's diary give us glimpses into the lives of the protagonists.
        • Lockwood is an outsider, intrigued by the mystery of Wuthering Heights, who presents the situation as he sees it.
          • He provides an insight into the 19th century world
          • His format of storytelling is intimate and personal (diary form), establishing a partly subjective tone.
            • His style is factual, full of comment, educated and literary. He provides a perspective less coloured by bias than Nelly's. Long, complex sentences allude to his sophistication which we as the reader find amusing.
    • Bronte steers our response through the the abrupt reactions of her narrators. Even the setting has a life and mind of its own, and contributes to our heart-and-mind experience.
      • The novel begins when the story is almost finished, but Lockwood's curiosity triggers the narration. We have to re-live the past imaginatively.
        • Past and present are bound up in a way that does not divide the time frame awkwardly.
    • Nelly  has an energy and urgency with her style of narration. She gives us a detailed account of the story;  the use  of verbatim-dialogue accounting for the conversations: which enhances her credibility as a narrator.
      • Her sentences are brief and rapid compared to Lockwood's, they convey her depth of engagement in the story.
        • She provides an inner frame within the benefit of hindsight, and unlike Lockwood she is a character in her own narrative- which increases her subjectivity and sometimes compromises her reliability,
          • Her moral stance is difficult to read at times- she is perhaps inconsistent in some ways.
            • She is perhaps limited by her social standing, and as the reader we might at times assume that we can read the situation better ourselves.
          • Nelly is telling the story to Lockwood, so we have to judge what she says based on this- considering: does she elaborate, exaggerate or edit what happens for his benefit?
    • The multiple layers of narrative allow us immediacy when seeing characters, and inevitably we find ourselves closer to the action as a direct result of the narrative style.
  • Her sentences are brief and rapid compared to Lockwood's, they convey her depth of engagement in the story.
    • She provides an inner frame within the benefit of hindsight, and unlike Lockwood she is a character in her own narrative- which increases her subjectivity and sometimes compromises her reliability,
      • Her moral stance is difficult to read at times- she is perhaps inconsistent in some ways.
        • She is perhaps limited by her social standing, and as the reader we might at times assume that we can read the situation better ourselves.
      • Nelly is telling the story to Lockwood, so we have to judge what she says based on this- considering: does she elaborate, exaggerate or edit what happens for his benefit?

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Reanne

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Cheeeeers

070998

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Apart from the fact that the lack of categories completely lost me, this was still good, thanks

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