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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte | Summary, Setting & Analysis

“Wuthering Heights” is a classic novel written by Emily Bronte. It is renowned for its intense portrayal of love, revenge, and the complexities of human nature. In this article, we will delve into the various aspects of this timeless piece of literature, including its summary, setting, and analysis.

Table of Contents

Emily Bronte, born in 1818, was an English novelist and poet. She, along with her sisters Charlotte and Anne Bronte, is best known for her contribution to English literature. Emily’s only novel, “Wuthering Heights,” was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell.

Overview of the Plot

The narrative of “Wuthering Heights” revolves around the passionate yet destructive love story between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. The novel is set in the harsh Yorkshire moors and spans several decades, depicting the lives of the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

Introduction to Characters

Key characters include Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by the Earnshaw family; Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff’s childhood friend and love interest; Edgar Linton, Catherine’s husband; and Nelly Dean, the housekeeper and narrator of the story.

Physical Setting

The novel is primarily set in two neighboring houses: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The former is depicted as a dark, gloomy mansion on the Yorkshire moors, while the latter represents a more refined and civilized environment.

Historical Setting

“Wuthering Heights” is set against the backdrop of early 19th-century England, a time marked by social and economic upheaval. The novel reflects the rigid class structure and societal norms of the period.

Themes Explored

Love and revenge.

At its core, “Wuthering Heights” explores the destructive power of love and the desire for revenge. The tumultuous relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine drives much of the plot, as their love becomes entangled with themes of jealousy, betrayal, and vengeance.

Social Class

The novel also delves into the theme of social class, highlighting the divisions and tensions between the characters from different backgrounds. Heathcliff’s rise from poverty to wealth underscores the fluidity of class distinctions and the complexities of social hierarchy.

Nature vs. Culture

The rugged landscape of the Yorkshire moors serves as a powerful backdrop for the story, emphasizing the contrast between the untamed forces of nature and the constraints of human civilization.

Analysis of Characters

Heathcliff is a complex and enigmatic character whose dark and brooding nature captivates readers. His intense love for Catherine is overshadowed by his thirst for revenge, making him one of literature’s most compelling antiheroes.

Catherine Earnshaw

Catherine Earnshaw is portrayed as a spirited and passionate young woman torn between her love for Heathcliff and her desire for social status. Her tragic fate reflects the novel’s exploration of the destructive effects of societal expectations on individual happiness.

Edgar Linton

Edgar Linton represents the opposite of Heathcliff, embodying the refined manners and social status prized by Victorian society. Despite his gentleness and kindness, he is ultimately unable to compete with Heathcliff for Catherine’s affections.

Nelly Dean serves as the primary narrator of the story, providing insight into the lives of the characters and the events that unfold at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Her perspective offers a nuanced understanding of the complex relationships within the novel.

Narrative Structure

Framing device.

“Wuthering Heights” is structured as a series of nested narratives, with the story being recounted by multiple characters. This framing device adds depth and complexity to the narrative, allowing readers to see events from different perspectives.

Multiple Perspectives

The use of multiple narrators in the novel allows for a rich and multifaceted exploration of the characters and their motivations. Each narrator brings their own biases and interpretations to the story, adding layers of complexity to the overall narrative.

Symbolism in “Wuthering Heights”

The weather in “Wuthering Heights” often mirrors the emotional states of the characters, with storms and tempests reflecting their inner turmoil. The harsh and unforgiving landscape of the moors serves as a metaphor for the tumultuous relationships depicted in the novel.

The houses of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are symbolic of the characters who inhabit them. Wuthering Heights represents passion, wildness, and untamed nature, while Thrushcross Grange symbolizes civility, refinement, and social order.

Writing Style and Language

Gothic elements.

“Wuthering Heights” is characterized by its Gothic elements, including themes of madness, the supernatural, and the macabre. The novel’s dark and atmospheric prose creates a sense of unease and foreboding, adding to its haunting appeal.

Psychological Depth

Bronte’s exploration of the inner workings of the human psyche adds a layer of psychological depth to the novel. The characters’ inner thoughts and emotions are laid bare, allowing readers to empathize with their struggles and motivations.

Critical Reception

Despite receiving mixed reviews upon its publication, “Wuthering Heights” has since been recognized as a literary masterpiece. Its unconventional narrative structure, complex characters, and powerful themes have cemented its place in the canon of English literature.

Influence and Legacy

“Wuthering Heights” has had a profound influence on subsequent generations of writers and artists. Its themes of love, revenge, and redemption continue to resonate with readers around the world, ensuring its enduring legacy.

Comparisons with Other Works

“Wuthering Heights” is often compared to other works of Gothic literature, such as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” Its exploration of dark and taboo subjects sets it apart from more conventional Victorian novels.

Film Adaptations

Numerous film adaptations of “Wuthering Heights” have been produced over the years, with directors seeking to capture the novel’s haunting atmosphere and complex characters on screen. Notable adaptations include the 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier and the 2011 version directed by Andrea Arnold.

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“Wuthering Heights” continues to captivate readers with its timeless tale of love, revenge, and redemption. Emily Bronte’s masterful storytelling and richly drawn characters ensure that the novel remains a classic of English literature.

Is “Wuthering Heights” based on a true story?

No, “Wuthering Heights” is a work of fiction, although it may have been inspired by elements of Emily Bronte’s own life and experiences.

Why is “Wuthering Heights” considered a Gothic novel?

The novel features many elements typical of Gothic literature, including a dark and foreboding atmosphere, supernatural occurrences, and themes of madness and obsession.

What is the significance of the title “Wuthering Heights”?

The term “wuthering” refers to the fierce winds that often blow across the Yorkshire moors, emphasizing the wild and untamed nature of the setting.

Why did Emily Bronte use a male pseudonym for “Wuthering Heights”?

During the 19th century, it was common for female authors to use male or gender-neutral pen names to avoid gender bias and discrimination in the publishing industry.

What is the legacy of “Wuthering Heights” in popular culture?

“Wuthering Heights” has inspired countless adaptations in various media, including film, television, and music. Its themes and characters continue to resonate with audiences worldwide.

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Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: Setting

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë makes use of atmospheric conditions to emphasize events and highlight the mood of the characters in the story. The Yorkshire moors are known for their harsh beauty and sometimes desolate landscape. This theme of a rough countryside filled with hidden beauties and seasonal storms fits well into the storyline of Wuthering Heights.

The title of the novel and the name of the Earnshaw’s dwelling are used by Emily Brontë’s to project the overall mood of the book. She herself writes that the word “Wuthering [is] a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station (the Earnshaw house) is exposed in stormy weather” (p.2).

Many of the notable events that take place between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are accompanied by a change in the weather. Emily Brontë uses the weather to show the beginning of a transition from calm to turbulent events in the storyline.

The book starts with Lockwood’s arrival, a severe winter storm raging outside foreshadows the unfriendly environment he is about to enter and the chaotic events that he is going to witness through Nellie’s storytelling. When Nelly begins to tell the story of the two neighboring households, she describes Old Mr. Earnshaw setting out to Liverpool on a “fine summer morning” (p.34).

Yet, when Old Mr. Earnshaw dies she relates that “A high wind blustered around the house, and roared in the chimney; it sounded wild and stormy” (p. 41).

Emily Brontë often uses the weather to accentuate the personality traits and moods of the characters throughout the novel. The countryside’s sometimes savage weather compares well to Heathcliff’s temperament. Heathcliff disappears for days on end into this desolate landscape and seems to be most at home when wandering about in the moors. He is quick to fly into a rage, like a winter storm beating at Wuthering Heights with wind and hail.

Heathcliff’s storms of rage often abate, but they can fly into full force without care for anything or anyone around him like the force of Mother Nature on the moors. Like a winter storm, Heathcliff’s strength cannot remain with him forever. At the end of the novel, Heathcliff’s rage has abated, and he has lost the will to render any more harm, with his death a stormy period in the history of the Earnshaws’ and the Lintons’ has passed.

The final pages of this novel leave the reader with a feeling of content and happiness which has once again descended upon Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë writes that the weather is “sweet and warm” (p.305), she has brought the ‘storm’ to an end.

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Characters and Setting in Wuthering Heights

This essay discusses how characters in novels can often move through physical landscapes as well as moral landscapes. It basically discusses how the setting in the novel relate to the temprements of the characters.

The temprements of the characters in a novel can sometimes be skillfully portrayed and enhanced through their physical surroundings. Their morals and values are constructed to reflect the surroundings they are placed in, which helps the reader uderstand them and their situation more. This use of setting is clearly demonstrated in Emily Brontes novel Wuthering Heights, a story of love and hate between two families, which is emphasised by the houses in which these families live. The story takes place in two main settings, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, both situated on the harsh and desolate moors of Yorkshire. Emily Bronte actually grew up and lived in this place, and so her depiction of it is very accurate, and she uses her knowledge to emphasise the moods and attitudes of the characters. The people from Wuthering Heights such as Heathcliff, are generally angry, ill tempered, vengeful, and often immoral. These attitudes are clearly reflected through the large, cold and dark house, situated on top of a ruthless hill on the moors. Thrushcross Grange is a more cultivated, calm house, situated in a valley of the moors. Its inhabitants, including Edgar Linton, are generally more refined, with more morals and calmer attitudes than those of Wuthering Heights. Catherine Earnshaw is a character who creates the conflict throughout the whole book and between the two characters, Edgar and Heathcliff. Her attitudes are also reflected through the setting in which she grew up, in between the two contrasting houses. It is not only the contrasting attitudes, values, and morals of the characters that make the novel so arresting, but also the physical contrasts between the landscapes in the novel, the two houses. One of the main characters in Wuthering Heights is the fiendish Heathcliff. An orphan despised since his birth, Heathcliff grows up to become a sadistic, cruel, vengeful and immoral man. He is often reffered to as ?like the devil? or as ?evil?, and this is certainly the way he acts. His intense yet destroyed passion towards Catherine Earnshaw causes him to despise all members of the Linton family of Thrushcross Grange, and he schemes to destroy them in numerous ways. A horrible person, Heathcliff abuses Isabelle, Edgar Lintons sister, by using her infatuation as a tool of revenge towards the Lintons, he constantly and savagly attacks Linton, his own dying son, and even his tenant, Mr. Lockwood, cannot escape his cruelty. The way Bronte writes the novel, many comparisons can be seen between Heathcliffs character and the actual house in which he grew up, Wuthering Heights. This house is a dark, ?bleak?, unpleasant place situated on a high, windy crest on the moors. Yet not only is the atmosphere of Wuthering Heights similar to that of Heathcliff, but both are also physically described in a similar way. The house is described as ?grotesque?, with ?strong...narrow windows...deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large, jutting stones? (page 4). This is similar to many descriptions of Heathcliffs personal appearance, his ?savage? face is illustrated as having "brows lowering, the eyes deep set and singular...black eyes withdrawn so suspiciously under their brow" (page 93). His dark, immoral attitude is enhanced by his personal physical description, which is similar to that of the actual house, as well as by the described influence of his surroundings. This characters temprement is not only shown through the way he is personally portrayed, but also through the setting in which he is shown. Thrushcross Grange and the Linton family represent culture, refinement, convention, and cultivation. Thrushcross Grange, in contrast to the bleak exposed farmhouse on the heights, is situated in the valley with none of the grim features of Heathcliff?s home. Opposite of Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange is filled with light and warmth. "Unlike Wuthering Heights, it is elegant and comfortable...a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold?." Thrushcross Grange is the appropriate home of the children of the calm. The atmosphere of Thrushcross Grange illustrates the link the inhabitants have with the upper-class Victorian lifestyle. Although the Linton?s appearance was often shallow, appearances were kept up for their friends and their social standing. While Wuthering Heights was always full of activity, sometimes to the point of chaos, life at the Grange always seemed placid. Linton?s existence here at Thrushcross Grange was as "different from Heathcliff?s ?as moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire?." The Linton?s often portrayed themselves as shallow, arrogant people, but life here was much more jovial than the inmates of Wuthering Heights lives were. Quite a contrast to Heathcliff's malevolent character is the warm and gentle Edgar Linton, one whose personality befits that of his dwelling, Thrushcross Grange. a "beautiful, splendid place"(89), around which "the sky is blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim full"(171). Raised in a loving family and comfortable house, Edgar has become a well respected, dignified gentleman in the neighborhood and a "kind master"(131) to Ellen Dean. The Grange, in which all is orderly and pleasant, symbolizes the civilized and kindhearted Edgar. Instead of quarreling with Catherine, Edgar treats her with the utmost patience and affection, resolving to marry her despite witnessing her tyrannical conduct towards Ellen. Moreover, he regards those around him with kindness and hospitality--he even takes pity upon Linton, when others think of him as "the worst-tempered bit of a sickly slip that ever struggled into his teens"(275). The Grange holds elegant objects--"crimson-covered chairs and tables", a "pure white ceiling bordered with gold" and", a shower of glass drops"(89); similarly, Edgar handles his affairs with grace. Edgar is as gentle and gracious as the Grange, and he lives and dies a generous soul in the Grange, Lastly, Catherine Earnshaw, who has spent her lifetime partly at the Heights and partly at the Grange, displays herself similar in temperament to the atmospheres of both houses. Ellen describes Catherine as being a wayward, quarrelsome girl, her temper matching the "[seasons] of steady rain"(193) at the Heights; yet "she [has] the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish"(83), pleasant qualities much like the Grange. She is capable of being extremely disagreeable and selfish, evident when she lavishes her love on Heathcliff despite her husband's sorrow. Yet, Catherine is also capable of gentleness and kindness--Ellen describes this trait during her narration to Mr. Lockwood: "She [seems] almost over fond of Mr. Linton; and even to his sister, she [shows] plenty of affection"(131). Like the Grange, Catherine often evinces warmth in her own feminine sense of tenderness, and she strives to be polite and civilized; but like the Heights, Catherine can be stormy and almost violently ardent at times. This trait is exemplified when, after a quarrel with Heathcliff and Edgar, she resolves to "dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding her teeth, so that [one] might fancy she would crash them to splinters"(157). Clearly, Catherine is a character combining that which is most pleasant and wonderful of Thrushcross Grange, with the harmful and turbulent characteristics of Wuthering Heights. It is Bronte?s remarkable imagination, emotional power, figures of speech, and handling of dialect that makes the characters of Wuthering Heights relate so closely with their surroundings. The contrast of these two houses adds much to the meaning of this novel, and without it, the story wouldn?t be the interesting, complex novel it is without the contrast between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The contrast between them is more than physical, rather these two houses represent opposing forces which are embodied in their inhabitants. Having this contrast is what brings about the presentation of this story altogether. Bronte made Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights as one. Both of these being cold, dark, and menacing similar to a storm. Thrushcross Grange and the Lintons were more a welcoming and peaceful dwelling. The personality of both is warm and draws itself to you by the warmth of the decor and richness of the surrounding landscape. An author sometimes helps readers gain a better understanding of his characters by giving clues of their personalities in the descriptions of the places where they live. This technique, the use of setting, is demonstrated in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, a story of the love and hate between two households: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Descendants from these two households have engaged in bitter arguments, fallen in love, and their fates have been twisted together ever since the arrival of a gypsy orphan, Heathcliff. This extraordinary tale is told by the housekeeper, Ellen Dean, who has worked at both abodes. Bronte uses the technique of setting to enhance and reinforce the characters' personalities: Heathcliff's composition is as chilly and gloomy as Wuthering Heights; Edgar Linton is warm, dignified, and elegant like Thrushcross Grange; and Catherine Earnshaw is a combination of the two estates: warm and civilized, yet not without violent temperament. Without a doubt, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, along with the people who dwell in them, represent two entirely contrasting mentalities and states of mind: one of unrestrained passion and dark broodiness, the other of politely refined affection and soft tenderness. Heathcliff's love for Catherine is tinged with danger and violence; Edgar loves Catherine with gracious tranquility, and Catherine returns affection to each of them accordingly. The Grange is a symbol of civilization, warmth, and goodness; the Heights is a symbol of wildness, cruelty, and evil. Such utter difference between the environments and climates of the two households symbolizes the distinction between the temperaments of their inhabitants. Not surprisingly, this contrast results in the pain, anguish, and discontent suffered by the protagonists; yet ultimately, the violent passion that is like the howling winds of Wuthering Heights and the tender love that reminds one the sweet air at Thrushcross Grange come together, through the marriage of Catherine and Heathcliff's respective offspring, never to separate again. Through extensive descriptions of the characters' dwellings and its surroundings, Bronte helps the reader gain insight into these characters.