Communication and Understanding in Wuthering Heights

HOW DOES BRONTË USE FORM,
STRUCTURE AND LANGUAGE TO
EXPLORE THE THEME OF
COMMUNICATION AND
UNDERSTANDING?…read more

NARRATION
Lockwood Nelly
"Perceiving myself in a blunder, I Nelly's narration is partly based on
attempted to correct it" fact, partly based on assumption
Lack of understanding, lack of "hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment"
clarity She relies heavily on gossip, such as
The reader sees it through when she is with the mourning
Lockwood's eyes; our clarity comes Catherine, and it is left to another
with his clarity, hence our initial minor servant to tell her Heathcliff is
lack of understanding approaching, or on the word of Dr
He cannot take over narration Kenneth
without the clarity from Nelly…read more

MINOR NARRATORS
Cathy's Diary Isabella's Letter
Only direct communication we Only direct communication we
have from her have from her
We see her with the innocence of a "I do hate him ­ I am wretched ­ I
child have been a fool!" ­ It is only
through the form of a letter that
Even through this, we are seeing it Isabella had any power over
through Lockwood's eyes ­ can we Heathcliff, similar to how Cathy's
ever break free from his bias or his diary was her power over Hindley,
own interpretation and this is how they communicate
their despair ­ through words…read more

GENRE
Setting ­ Wuthering Heights is an ancient building on the Yorkshire Moors ­ a
"misanthropist's heaven"
Visions ­ "her presence invokes only maddening sensation"
Supernatural ­ "I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till
the blood ran down and soaked the bed-clothes: still it wailed `Let me in!' and
maintained its tenacious grip, almost maddening me with fear."
High emotion ­ "passion of tears"
Metonymy of gloom and horror ­ pathetic fallacy
Women in distress ­ "You have left me so long to struggle against death, alone, that
I feel and see only Death!"
Women threatened by a tyrannical male ­ "[He says] I'm not to be soft with
Catherine ­ she's my wife, and it's shameful that she should wish to leave me!"…read more

PATHETIC FALLACY
The very name "Wuthering" Heights ­ it is battered, much like its inhabitants
at the opening of the novel
When "it is raining" Heathcliff is sullen (this particular quote was taken from
when Cathy is wearing a gown, despite claiming she is not leaving the Heights
and she expects no visitors)
"There was a violent wind, as well as thunder, and either one or the other split
a tree off at the corner of the building; a huge bough fell across the roof, and
knocked down a portion of the east chimney-stack, sending a clatter of stones
and soot into the kitchen fire" ­ After Cathy reveals she is marrying Edgar
Linton…read more

CATHY'S ILLNESS
Does Cathy's illness communicate her character better than her words?
"It is a foolish story to assert that Catherine could not bear to see me" ­
Heathcliff thinks not
"There was a start, and a troubled gleam or recollection, and a struggle to
arrange her ideas" ­ This is her reaction to Heathcliff's letter. Whilst Edgar's
love cannot penetrate her mental illness, a mere letter from Heathcliff can.
When she is well, she dismisses Heathcliff, hence why she married Edgar. But
during her illness that would lead to her death, it is her love for Heathcliff that
remains
"You have killed me" ­ Does she believe this? Does Heathcliff?…read more