Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
Date of First Publication: 1847
Place of Publication: Thomas Cautley
Type: novel
Characters: No Character
Themes: BYRONIC HERO; RACE/POLITICS; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; WOMEN WRITING MONSTERS
Critical Summary: The story begins with Mr. Lockwood’s renting of Thrushcross Grange, in the English countryside of Yorkshire. After visiting his landlord at Wuthering Heights, Lockwood is stuck there and cannot return home due to a storm. While there, he has a nightmare about the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw. Curious and confused, he implores his maid, Nelly, who has been an intimate servant to both houses since her childhood, to tell him the history of the family.
After a trip to the city, Mr. Earnshaw returns with an orphaned “gypsy,” Heathcliff. Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff bond and become inseparable, while Hindley Earnshaw feels alienated and sees Heathcliff as a leeching usurper. After the death of Mrs., and Mr. Earnshaw, Catherine and Heathcliff are left to be raised by Hindley, who ignores them. Hindley goes to college and returns with a wife, Frances. They have a son, Hareton. After Frances’ death, Hindley spends most of his time drinking, gambling, and mistreating Heathcliff. Although Catherine loves Heathcliff dearly, she knows that it would be beneath her to marry him, a fact that is illuminated by the arrival of their refined neighbors, the Lintons. Heathcliff overhears Cathy reveal this secret to Nelly and decides to leave, and return with money, in order to be worthy of her. In Heathcliff’s absence, Catherine marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff returns, a with supposedly ill-gotten fortune, and decides to exact revenge on Hindley, Catherine, and the Lintons. Heathcliff elopes with Isabella Linton, who has fallen in love with him. Catherine suffers a long, self-induced illness, and passes away after prematurely giving birth to her daughter, Cathy. Heathcliff is cruel to Isabella, who is miserable. Nelly helps her escape, but she is already pregnant with their son, Linton. Upon Isabella’s death, Edgar goes to retrieve Linton, but Heathcliff takes him instead. Four years later, he forces Linton and Cathy to marry, thus entailing Cathy’s entire fortune to Linton. Sickness claims Edgar and Linton, leaving Cathy to unhappily reside at Wuthering Heights. As time passes, Heathcliff’s revenge gives way to despair over Catherine’s death, he disturbs her grave in order to take out a piece of her coffin, so he can be closer when buried. Mr. Lockwood quits Thrushcross grange half a year. Heathcliff dies after a fit of madness. Hareton and Cathy have fallen in love and are to be married.
Many of the novel’s characters are accused of behaving in a monstrous way, namely Heathcliff and Catherine, and often times, Hindley. Catherine and Heathcliff have been described as vampiric, and all three can be seen as sympathetic monsters. Catherine and Heathcliff can never be together because of prejudices against Heathcliff’s race. Lack of status, class, and wealth make him unfit to be in the society of the Earnshaws and the Lintons. His dark skin separates him from the other characters, allowing him to be seen as the “other”, making him less than human. Heathcliff, Hindley, and Hareton can also be tied to Frankenstein’s creature, because they are all abandoned by their makers. Catherine, a Byronic Hero, inhabits a self-created hell on Earth. Despite her selfish manner, which is fueled by passion, she is loved by all other characters in the book for her witty, charismatic ways.
Administrative Notes: Sabrina McCrocklin, CSUF; GC Philipp, CSUF (editing)