Emily Bront (1818 -1848)

an English novelist and poet

Victorian Era
She wrote under the pen name Ellis Bell
Emily was grown up on Gothic novels
She had 4 sisters and one brother
Emily went to a school for clergymens kids when she was 6 with her three older
sisters. However the two oldest died due to the harsh conditions at the school (they
died of tuberculosis in 1825)
Wrote only one novel Wuthering Heights (1847)
Emily died of tuberculosis in 1848, a year after Wuthering Heights was published
Emily was grown up on Gothic novels

The Wuthering Heights

Romanticism = the main character is on the edge of society

-the main topic is unhappy love
Weather is connected with feelings
-its against convention
-Works are full of feelings
-Psychology of the characters
-Subjection
Characters : Heathclif
Catherine
-They are lovers, they didnt got married
-Intensive feelings
Wuthering Heights= Wind/Rain , Yorkshire

Heathcliff Moors (vesovit)

-He was founding (nalezenec)
-orphan
-gypsy (maybe)
-His name is related to nature
-Heathclif is on the edge of society
-He want to revenge he married someone who he didnt love

Gothic (features) Novels

-Typical for 18th century
-Horror stories
-sense of mysterious and supernatural
-Ghosts

Romatic Features: Unhappy love (Catherine dies)

Lintons = rich family

Ellen Dean, Mr. Lockwood vypravi

Extract:

1. What is this part about ?

-It is about Catherines death
2. Main Characters of this part ?
Heathclif, Catherine (but she is dead), servant Nelly Dean
3. How did she die ?
-In the exact
4.Did She called Heathcliff?
-No

2nd Exact ( ten kde je rodokmen)

-Chapter 3 (Mr. Lockwood)

-Tells us about Ghost

-branch (vtev) us hitting the window (repeating teasing sound)

-when he wanted to stop that noise and put his hand out of the window the ice-
cold hand touched his hand = Horror scene

-The Ghost look like child

-He wanted to get rid of the ghost so he pulled its wrist on to the broken pale and
the blood ran down and soaked the bed clothes

-He decided to say the ghost if she let him go, he would let her in but he lied and
didnt let it in and he put books in front of the window ( so the ghost could not go
in)

-Then Heathclif appeared and he wanted to see the ghost

PLOT

In the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house
called Thrushcross Grange in the isolated moor country of England. Here, he
meets his dour landlord, Heathclif, a wealthy man who lives in the ancient manor
of Wuthering Heights, four miles away from the Grange. In this wild, stormy
countryside, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of
Heathclif and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights. Nelly consents, and
Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale in his diary; these written
recollections form the main part of Wuthering Heights.

Nelly remembers her childhood. As a young girl, she works as a servant at

Wuthering Heights for the owner of the manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family. One
day, Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy whom
he will raise with his own children. At first, the Earnshaw childrena boy named
Hindley and his younger sister Catherinedetest the dark-skinned Heathclif. But
Catherine quickly comes to love him, and the two soon grow inseparable,
spending their days playing on the moors. After his wifes death, Mr. Earnshaw
grows to prefer Heathclif to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty
to Heathclif, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathclif
nearby.

Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. He
returns with a wife, Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathclif. Once
an orphan, later a pampered and favored son, Heathclif now finds himself
treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields. Heathclif continues his
close relationship with Catherine, however. One night they wander to Thrushcross
Grange, hoping to tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish
children who live there. Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced to stay at the
Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time Mrs. Linton works to
make her a proper young lady. By the time Catherine returns, she has become
infatuated with Edgar, and her relationship with Heathclif grows more
complicated.

When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton, Hindley
descends into the depths of alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and
abusively toward Heathclif. Eventually, Catherines desire for social
advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her
overpowering love for Heathclif. Heathclif runs away from Wuthering Heights,
staying away for three years, and returning shortly after Catherine and Edgars
marriage.

When Heathclif returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who
have wronged him. Having come into a vast and mysterious wealth, he deviously
lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing that Hindley will increase his debts
and fall into deeper despondency. When Hindley dies, Heathclif inherits the
manor. He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying
Isabella Linton, whom he treats very cruelly. Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to
a daughter, and dies. Heathclif begs her spirit to remain on Earthshe may take
whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive him madjust as long as she
does not leave him alone. Shortly thereafter, Isabella flees to London and gives
birth to Heathclifs son, named Linton after her family. She keeps the boy with
her there.

Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherines daughters
nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange. Young Catherine is beautiful and headstrong
like her mother, but her temperament is modified by her fathers gentler
influence. Young Catherine grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of
Wuthering Heights; one day, however, wandering through the moors, she
discovers the manor, meets Hareton, and plays together with him. Soon
afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathclif. Heathclif
treats his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boys mother.

Three years later, Catherine meets Heathclif on the moors, and makes a visit to
Wuthering Heights to meet Linton. She and Linton begin a secret romance
conducted entirely through letters. When Nelly destroys Catherines collection of
letters, the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young
lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health. However, it
quickly becomes apparent that Linton is pursuing Catherine only because
Heathclif is forcing him to; Heathclif hopes that if Catherine marries Linton, his
legal claim upon Thrushcross Grangeand his revenge upon Edgar Lintonwill
be complete. One day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathclif lures
Nelly and Catherine back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until
Catherine marries Linton. Soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is
quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton. Heathclif now controls both
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Catherine to live at
Wuthering Heights and act as a common servant, while he rents Thrushcross
Grange to Lockwood.

Nellys story ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood, appalled, ends his
tenancy at Thrushcross Grange and returns to London. However, six months later,
he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further developments in the story. Although
Catherine originally mocked Haretons ignorance and illiteracy (in an act of
retribution, Heathclif ended Haretons education after Hindley died), Catherine
grows to love Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights. Heathclif
becomes more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine, to
the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost. Everything he sees reminds him
of her. Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathclif dies. Hareton
and young Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and
they plan to be married on the next New Years Day. After hearing the end of the
story, Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathclif.

Heathcliff - An orphan brought to live at Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, Heathclif

falls into an intense, unbreakable love with Mr. Earnshaws daughter Catherine. After Mr.
Earnshaw dies, his resentful son Hindley abuses Heathclif and treats him as a servant.
Because of her desire for social prominence, Catherine marries Edgar Linton instead of
Heathclif. Heathclifs humiliation and misery prompt him to spend most of the rest of his
life seeking revenge on Hindley, his beloved Catherine, and their respective children
(Hareton and young Catherine). A powerful, fierce, and often cruel man, Heathclif
acquires a fortune and uses his extraordinary powers of will to acquire both Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the estate of Edgar Linton.

Catherine - The daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and his wife, Catherine falls powerfully in love
with Heathclif, the orphan Mr. Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool. Catherine loves
Heathclif so intensely that she claims they are the same person. However, her desire for
social advancement motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead. Catherine is free-
spirited, beautiful, spoiled, and often arrogant. She is given to fits of temper, and she is
torn between her wild passion for Heathclif and her social ambition. She brings misery to
both of the men who love her.

Edgar Linton - Well-bred but rather spoiled as a boy, Edgar Linton grows into a tender,
constant, but cowardly man. He is almost the ideal gentleman: Catherine accurately
describes him as handsome, pleasant to be with, cheerful, and rich. However, this
full assortment of gentlemanly characteristics, along with his civilized virtues, proves
useless in Edgars clashes with his foil, Heathclif, who gains power over his wife, sister,
and daughter.
Nelly Dean - Nelly Dean (known formally as Ellen Dean) serves as the chief narrator of
Wuthering Heights. A sensible, intelligent, and compassionate woman, she grew up
essentially alongside Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw and is deeply involved in the story
she tells. She has strong feelings for the characters in her story, and these feelings
complicate her narration.

Lockwood - Lockwoods narration forms a frame around Nellys; he serves as an

intermediary between Nelly and the reader. A somewhat vain and presumptuous
gentleman, he deals very clumsily with the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. Lockwood
comes from a more domesticated region of England, and he finds himself at a loss when
he witnesses the strange households disregard for the social conventions that have
always structured his world. As a narrator, his vanity and unfamiliarity with the story
occasionally lead him to misunderstand events.

Young Catherine - For claritys sake, this SparkNote refers to the daughter of Edgar
Linton and the first Catherine as young Catherine. The first Catherine begins her life as
Catherine Earnshaw and ends it as Catherine Linton; her daughter begins as Catherine
Linton and, assuming that she marries Hareton after the end of the story, goes on to
become Catherine Earnshaw. The mother and the daughter share not only a name, but
also a tendency toward headstrong behavior, impetuousness, and occasional arrogance.
However, Edgars influence seems to have tempered young Catherines character, and
she is a gentler and more compassionate creature than her mother.

TYPE OF WORK Novel

GENRE Gothic novel (designed to both horrify and fascinate readers with scenes of
passion and cruelty; supernatural elements; and a dark, foreboding atmosphere); also
realist fiction (incorporates vivid circumstantial detail into a consistently and minutely
thought-out plot, dealing mostly with the relationships of the characters to one another)

NARRATOR Lockwood, a newcomer to the locale of Wuthering Heights, narrates the

entire novel as an entry in his diary. The story that Lockwood records is told to him by
Nelly, a servant, and Lockwood writes most of the narrative in her voice, describing how
she told it to him. Some parts of Nellys story are narrated by other characters, such as
when Nelly receives a letter from Isabella and recites its contents verbatim.

POINT OF VIEW Most of the events of the novel are narrated in Nellys voice, from
Nellys point of view, focusing only on what Nelly can see and hear, or what she can find
out about indirectly. Nelly frequently comments on what the other characters think and
feel, and on what their motivations are, but these comments are all based on her own
interpretations of the other charactersshe is not an omniscient narrator.

TONE It is not easy to infer the authors attitude toward the events of the novel. The
melodramatic quality of the first half of the novel suggests that Bront views Catherine
and Heathclifs doomed love as a tragedy of lost potential and wasted passion. However,
the outcome of the second half of the novel suggests that Bront is more interested in
celebrating the renewal and rebirth brought about by the passage of time, and the rise of
a new generation, than she is in mourning Heathclif and Catherine.

TENSE Both Lockwoods and Nellys narrations are in the past tense.

SETTING (TIME) The action of Nellys story begins in the 1770s; Lockwood leaves
Yorkshire in 1802.
SETTING (PLACE) All the action of Wuthering Heights takes place in or around two
neighboring houses on the Yorkshire moorsWuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

PROTAGONISTS Heathclif, Catherine

MAJOR CONFLICTS Heathclifs great natural abilities, strength of character, and love
for Catherine Earnshaw all enable him to raise himself from humble beginnings to the
status of a wealthy gentleman, but his need to revenge himself for Hindleys abuse and
Catherines betrayal leads him into a twisted life of cruelty and hatred; Catherine is torn
between her love for Heathclif and her desire to be a gentlewoman, and her decision to
marry the genteel Edgar Linton drags almost all of the novels characters into conflict
with Heathclif.

RISING ACTION Heathclifs arrival at Wuthering Heights, Hindleys abusive treatment

of Heathclif, and Catherines first visit to Thrushcross Grange set the major conflicts in
motion; once Heathclif hears Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, the
conversation between Nelly and Catherine, which he secretly overhears, drives him to run
away and pursue his vengeance.

CLIMAX Catherines death is the culmination of the conflict between herself and
Heathclif and removes any possibility that their conflict could be resolved positively;
after Catherines death, Heathclif merely extends and deepens his drives toward revenge
and cruelty.

FALLING ACTION Heathclif destroys Isabella and drives her away, takes possession of
young Linton, forces Catherine and Linton to marry, inherits Thrushcross Grange, then
loses interest in the whole project and dies; Hareton and young Catherine are to be
engaged to be married, promising an end to the cycle of revenge.

THEMES The destructiveness of a love that never changes; the precariousness of social
class

MOTIFS Doubles, repetition, the conflict between nature and culture

FORESHADOWING Lockwoods initial visit to Wuthering Heights, in which the

mysterious relationships and lurking resentments between the characters create an air of
mystery; Lockwoods ghostly nightmares, during the night he spends in Catherines old
bed, prefigure many of the events of the rest of the novel.

SYMBOLS The moors, ghosts

Moors

The constant emphasis on landscape within the text of Wuthering Heights endows the
setting with symbolic importance. This landscape is comprised primarily of moors: wide,
wild expanses, high but somewhat soggy, and thus infertile. Moorland cannot be
cultivated, and its uniformity makes navigation difficult. It features particularly
waterlogged patches in which people could potentially drown. (This possibility is
mentioned several times in Wuthering Heights.) Thus, the moors serve very WELL as
symbols of the wild threat posed by nature. As the setting for the beginnings of Catherine
and Heathclifs bond (the two play on the moors during childhood), the moorland
transfers its symbolic associations onto the love afair.

Ghosts
Ghosts appear throughout Wuthering Heights, as they do in most other works of Gothic
fiction, yet Bront always presents them in such a way that whether they really exist
remains ambiguous. Thus the world of the novel can always be interpreted as a realistic
one. Certain ghostssuch as Catherines spirit when it appears to Lockwood in Chapter III
may be explained as nightmares. The villagers alleged sightings of Heathclifs ghost in
Chapter XXXIV could be dismissed as unverified superstition. Whether or not the ghosts
are real, they symbolize the manifestation of the past within the present, and the way
memory stays with people, permeating their day-to-day lives.