Comprehensive Study Guide for "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë: Plot, Analysis, and Themes
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Course
English literature and composition
Institution
Junior / 11th Grade
Dive deep into the haunting world of Emily Brontë’s gothic masterpiece with this meticulously crafted document. Wuthering Heights, first published in 1847, remains a cornerstone of classic literature, captivating readers with its dark exploration of passion, revenge, and social class. This compr...
Key Facts
➔ Full Title: Withering Heights
➔ Author: Emily Brontë
➔ Type of work: Novel
➔ Genre: Gothic Novel, Realistic Fiction
◆ Designed to horrify and fascinate readers with scenes of passion, cruelty,
supernatural elements, and a dark foreboding atmosphere
◆ Incorporates vivid circumstantial delta into a consistently minutely thought out
plot, dealing mostly with the relationships of the characters to one author)
➔ Language: English with bits of Yorkshire dialect
➔ Time and place written: 1846-1847 Haworth, Yorkshire
➔ Date of publication: 1847
➔ Publisher: Thomas C. Newby
➔ Narrator: LW’s Diary
◆ The story is LW records of a story told to him by Nelly
, ◆ LW writes most of the narrative in her voice
➔ Point of view: Most events are narrated in Nelly’s voice from Nelly’s POV
◆ Nelly frequently comments on other characters' thoughts and feelings but these
are all interpretations
➔ Tone:
◆ The first half - Catherine and HC doomed love is a tragedy of lost potential and
wasted passion.
◆ The second half - celebrates renewal and rebirth brought by the passage of time
and the rise of a new generation
➔ Tense: both LW and Nelly narrate in the past tense
➔ Setting:
◆ Nelly’s story begins in the 1770s
◆ LW leaves Yorkshire in 1802
◆ Two neighboring houses in Yorkshire moors
● Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange
➔ Protagonists: Heathcliff, and Catherine
➔ Major Conflicts:
◆ HC uses natural abilities, the strength of character, and love for Catherine
Earnshaw to raise himself from humble beginnings to be a wealthy gentleman
◆ His need for revenge on Hindley, and Catherine’s betrayal lead him to a twisted
life of cruelty and hatred
◆ Catherine is torn between her love for Heathcliff and her social status
● Her marriage to Edgar brings all of the novel's characters to conflict with
HC
➔ Rising action: HC's arrival at WH, Hindley’s abusive treatment of HC, and Catherine’s
first visit to TCG set major conflicts in motion
➔ Climax: Catherine's death is the culmination of the conflict between herself and HC and
removes the possibility that could resolve their conflict positively. After Catherine's death,
HC’s drive for revenge and cruelty heightens
➔ Falling action: HC drives Isabella away, takes possession of young Linton, forces
Catherine and Linton to marry, inherits TCG, loses interest in the whole project, and dies.
Hareton and Catherine are engaged, promising to end 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
➔ Symbols: the moors, ghosts
Full Book Summary
➔ In late winter of 1801
➔ Lockwood rents a manor called Thrushcross Grange
◆ Isolated
◆ In the Moor country of England
, ◆ Landlord: Heathcliff
● Lives in a manor called Wuthering Heights
○ Four miles from TCG
➔ LW asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean to tell him the history of HC
◆ LW writes down his memory of her story in his diary
● Nelly was a servant at WH as a young girl
● She was a servant for Mr. Earnshaw (the owner of WH at the time)
➔ Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns with an orphan boy (HC)
◆ At first, both Hindley and Catherine dislike HC
◆ Catherine grows to love him
◆ After Mrs. Earnshaw’s death, HC becomes Mr. Earnshaw’s favorite
◆ Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley to college to prevent further cruelty toward HC
➔ Three years after sending Hindley to college Mr. Earnshaw dies
◆ Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights
➔ Hindley returns with a wife, Frances
➔ Hindley seeks revenge on HC
◆ HC becomes a common laborer
➔ One day Catherine and HC sneak off to TCG
➔ Catherine gets bitten by a dog and is forced to stay
➔ Catherine returns to WH well-educated in manners and social elegance
➔ Frances dies giving birth to Hareton (baby boy)
◆ Hindley becomes an alcoholic
➔ Hindley becomes more abusive to HC
➔ Catherine accepts a marriage proposal from Edgar with the desire of advancing socially,
despite her love for HC
◆ HC runs away from WH for three years, he returns shortly after Catherine and
Edgar’s marriage
➔ HC returns with a vast mysterious wealth
◆ He lends money to Hindley
● Hindley falls deeper into debt
➔ Hindley dies and HC inherits the manor
➔ HC marries Isabella Linton so that he can inherit TCG
◆ HC abuses Isabella
➔ Catherine becomes ill
➔ Catherine gives birth to a baby girl and passes away
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