In this lesson the first task we initially did was a listening task, whereby we listened to a song named............ Wuthering Heights by Kate bush. The light hearted melody is composed of lyrics where Catherine squeals of her romantic infatuation towards her lover Heathcliff. We begin to see how the novel is seen as a contemporary romantic and lose trace of its gothic conventions- especially to the current world. This is further evidenced in the contemporary plays where the wild barbaric Heathcliff is played by the fun loving Christian Cliff Richards and film reviews describe it as ‘A passion. An obsession. A love that destroyed everyone it touched’.
The next activity however reminded us of the gothic elements of the novel as we took some time to swiftly analyse Bronte’s poems. Bronte in these poems includes no romantic elements henceforth enabling us to gain a better perception on the gothic elements explored in Wuthering Heights. She employ’s many terrifying concepts within these poems such as “shadows of the dead” which eyes can’t see “surrounding her bed”. She also uses many references to the weather, and creating settings where she is confined by the natural world.
We then completed an activity whereby we had to arrange some quotes taken from various points of the story and we begin to realise that Wuthering heights is very much a novel which is cyclical and events seem to reoccur. The main points which we were able to distinguish were:
A refusal to entrapment- In the story all the men (with the exception of Linton Heathcliff) physically and metaphorically refuse to be confined. For example Heathcliff when trapped in thrushcross grange by Edgar he breaks out, similarly when Mr. Lockwood is trapped outside Wuthering Heights he breaks in. However when little Cathy Linton gets trapped inside the Heights she is unable to make her escape without succumbing to the demands of Heathcliff and Isabella is also yielded to a similar situation. It could be argued that this thus represents patriarchal oppression from the male characters of the book.
Nature- Catherine’s descriptions connect closely with Nature. For example when she describes her love for Heathcliff and describes her love for Edgar. (“I am Heathcliff” quote)
Supernatural- Elements of the super natural because of the ghosts etc.
Oppositions
Rich vs. Poor /The Heights (nature) vs. The Grange (culture)/ Religion vs. Atheism /Life vs. Death /Heathcliff- A man or Monster.
Finally to end the lesson we began to read the first chapter of the novel. It was discussed how Gothic narrative structures are very complicated and how this could be seen to add to a sense of TERROR for the reader. It was mentioned how humans have a “dare to know" desire henceforth a structure such as Wuthering Heights causes terror as the narrative gives us a sense of the unknown. The story has bypassed a variation of different narrators before it gets to the reader fundamentally leaving us unaware with reliability of the passing events. It is “a novel that warns against easy judgements and intentionally so”
Elizabeth Gregory says as someone closely involved in the story, Nelly’s account is inevitably coloured by her own opinions about the characters. Having grown up with Heathcliff, Catherine and Hindley, her residual feelings of fondness and of family duty cause her to be more lenient towards them than their behaviour sometimes deserves.
Similarly, it is natural that she should remain fond of the children she has been instrumental in bringing up: she looked after Hareton for the first years of his life, and frequently refers to Cathy, whom she has acted as a mother towards for all of the child’s life, as her “angel” – although her behaviour often suggests she is anything but! Nelly is just as quick to show her disapproval of those characters she dislikes: Linton Heathcliff merits particular scorn – “the worst-tempered bit of a sickly slip that ever struggled into his teens” (chapter 23). Nelly is unable to tell us of his marriage to Cathy, as she finds herself locked up safely out the way while it is taking place.
So while readers may enjoy Nelly’s lively and gossipy narrative style, they would perhaps be best advised to take it with a pinch of salt.
See the following for more information:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/romantic.html- About Romance in the novel
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/love.html- About Love/ostensible love.
Chris A
The next activity however reminded us of the gothic elements of the novel as we took some time to swiftly analyse Bronte’s poems. Bronte in these poems includes no romantic elements henceforth enabling us to gain a better perception on the gothic elements explored in Wuthering Heights. She employ’s many terrifying concepts within these poems such as “shadows of the dead” which eyes can’t see “surrounding her bed”. She also uses many references to the weather, and creating settings where she is confined by the natural world.
We then completed an activity whereby we had to arrange some quotes taken from various points of the story and we begin to realise that Wuthering heights is very much a novel which is cyclical and events seem to reoccur. The main points which we were able to distinguish were:
A refusal to entrapment- In the story all the men (with the exception of Linton Heathcliff) physically and metaphorically refuse to be confined. For example Heathcliff when trapped in thrushcross grange by Edgar he breaks out, similarly when Mr. Lockwood is trapped outside Wuthering Heights he breaks in. However when little Cathy Linton gets trapped inside the Heights she is unable to make her escape without succumbing to the demands of Heathcliff and Isabella is also yielded to a similar situation. It could be argued that this thus represents patriarchal oppression from the male characters of the book.
Nature- Catherine’s descriptions connect closely with Nature. For example when she describes her love for Heathcliff and describes her love for Edgar. (“I am Heathcliff” quote)
Supernatural- Elements of the super natural because of the ghosts etc.
Oppositions
Rich vs. Poor /The Heights (nature) vs. The Grange (culture)/ Religion vs. Atheism /Life vs. Death /Heathcliff- A man or Monster.
Finally to end the lesson we began to read the first chapter of the novel. It was discussed how Gothic narrative structures are very complicated and how this could be seen to add to a sense of TERROR for the reader. It was mentioned how humans have a “dare to know" desire henceforth a structure such as Wuthering Heights causes terror as the narrative gives us a sense of the unknown. The story has bypassed a variation of different narrators before it gets to the reader fundamentally leaving us unaware with reliability of the passing events. It is “a novel that warns against easy judgements and intentionally so”
Elizabeth Gregory says as someone closely involved in the story, Nelly’s account is inevitably coloured by her own opinions about the characters. Having grown up with Heathcliff, Catherine and Hindley, her residual feelings of fondness and of family duty cause her to be more lenient towards them than their behaviour sometimes deserves.
Similarly, it is natural that she should remain fond of the children she has been instrumental in bringing up: she looked after Hareton for the first years of his life, and frequently refers to Cathy, whom she has acted as a mother towards for all of the child’s life, as her “angel” – although her behaviour often suggests she is anything but! Nelly is just as quick to show her disapproval of those characters she dislikes: Linton Heathcliff merits particular scorn – “the worst-tempered bit of a sickly slip that ever struggled into his teens” (chapter 23). Nelly is unable to tell us of his marriage to Cathy, as she finds herself locked up safely out the way while it is taking place.
So while readers may enjoy Nelly’s lively and gossipy narrative style, they would perhaps be best advised to take it with a pinch of salt.
See the following for more information:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/romantic.html- About Romance in the novel
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/love.html- About Love/ostensible love.
Chris A
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