Historical Context (AO4) 22/11/10

In this lesson we analysed many aspects of historical context for Wuthering Heights that we can include within future essays. These aspects included:

- The fear of otherness/all things foreign, this was due to the expansion of the British Empire and the fear of 'other' coming into society.

- The Victorian idea of order such as; Social order, there was a clear distinction between the higher and lower classes, something which Bronte exploits through Heathcliff. Also, the gap between men and women, women were seen in the role of 'The Angel of The House' (Coventry Patmore). The Great Exhibiton of 1851 is an example of the Victorian's order. (shown below)

- The Victorians were also fearful or cautious of the effects of the Industrial Revolution and scientific advances.

- Wuthering Heights belonging to the Gothic mode and acts as a 'cultural parasite' as Bronte uses most or all of the above.

We then read the 'Homely Gothic' article, and were asked to highlight this sheet and then note some important details of the article. Here are some of my notes;

- Victorians came disaffected with the present, which led to a 'cultural sense of spiritual desolation and aimlessness'.

- These fears and disaffection were perhaps down to advances in technology and the development of theories, due to the Industrial Revolution and scientific advances.

- The Victorian Gothic texts act/serve as an escape from society.

- 'The extravagant effects of the Gothic and Romantic elements tended, in 19th century fiction, to refracted through the domestic world central to realism'.

- The home however could also be considered a 'prison' aswell as a refuge. Something which Bronte uses, 'Uncanny movement between past and present are Gothic elements signalling an untamed and wild invasion of the home rather than comfortable domestification'.

We were then set an essay question and started by writing our own thesis statements, which we then revised into one class statement;

'Wuthering Heights' challenges ideas central to Victorian society- home/gender, class, an escape from capitalism and modernity. It also acts as a mirror/parasite playing on societies fears, as such it belongs to the Gothic mode.

Our homework was to then write this essay question which was 'how far do you agree that 'Wuthering Heights' challenges social norms and is as a result a Gothic text?'

Lesson: 19/11/2010

Analysing the Language and Style of ‘Wuthering Heights’:


This lesson, our starter encouraged us to think about the language features that we could use in an essay about ‘Wuthering Heights.’ All of the ideas we came up with as a class were big, grand, “Hollywood features” (to quote Mr Sadgrove) – features that always stand out and are generally the first things we write about in an essay.
We chose things like:
• Josephs Yorkshire dialect
• Names (Heath – cliff vs. Lock – wood)
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Semantic fields/lexical clusters

We were then given a grid of linguistic features that are much more hidden within the text, and are perhaps not noticed by us at first glance, but still have a huge impact on the way we read the novel. We also looked at a passage from the novel and tried to identify some of the features used in it.

Here are some examples of the features we looked at in detail:
• Pronoun use --> Use of different types of pronouns (e.g. personal, inclusive, removed) have a different effect on our reading and interpretation of the characters and text as a whole – For example; when Nelly is talking about Catherine she repeatedly uses “I” and “She” to separate both of them and remind us that she is the narrator.
• Dynamic verbs --> These are verbs that express action. They give the text a more energetic and realistic/tangible effect. For example; Cathy’s actions are often described using dynamic verbs such as “bounding” which shows she is at the centre of the action and is an energetic character, whilst Nelly describes herself using verbs like “watching” and “listening” which shows that she takes a step back from the action.
• Modification --> This is when adjectives, adverbs or verbs are added before or after a noun to make the text richer – it used for descriptive passages or phrases. For example; “sweet, warm, sunshine”
• Nouns --> Nouns used on their own (without modification) tend to make the text seem more real and less exaggerated.
• Sentence length --> Writers will use a combination of short, simple sentences and long, complex sentences. Sentences of a shorter length are commonly used to deliver powerful messages or ideas or increase the pace of the text whilst sentences of a longer length are good for descriptions and can reflect a characters disorganised state of mind (e.g. Lockwood and Heathcliff)
• Semantic fields --> We may find groups of words with similar meanings or connotations in a certain passage – Remember the exercise we did in a previous lesson to compare the semantic fields in the descriptions of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
• Figurative Language --> This includes the use of metaphors, similes and personification which can make the text richer, poetic and romantic. They help the writer to get across a picture of how they imagine the character being or acting. They also exaggerate important characteristics in a character or place.
• Dialogue V narration --> Dialogue (reported conversation/speech) can make a text seem more realistic and also introduce the views or different characters apart from the narrator and the course of the narration.


To consolidate all of what we had learnt about language features we then split into groups/pairs to look at separate extracts from ‘Wuthering Heights’ and try to find language feature within these and the effect they have.


Homework:

“The language and style of ‘Wuthering Heights’ makes it a Gothic novel” Discuss this view...

Lesson: - Framing and Time shift: -

At first we were told to draw a picture to represent the following statement: - At one point in the novel, Bronte writes about Lockwood’s writing about Nelly Dean’s account of Isabella’s letter that tells of Joseph’s report of what Heathcliff is saying.

This is displayed above. Through out the book Bronte stays the same as the writer, Lockwood and Nelly stay the same, and however the rest of the people may differ according to the event.

Debating on the reason for the numerous narrators and framing, we reached a variety of results. Bronte uses this to make it more exciting. This is not a linear method of telling the story but it seems to be effective in presenting confusion, and providing a sense of ambiguity. If it were linear there would be positive and negative effects.

Positive effects

· Less ambiguity, thus the reader will be able to be more involved into the story. They will be able to feel what the characters feel and be able to sympathetic towards a number of characters.

· It will become easier to understand, this is as the readers will be able to understand the way characters view each other. Readers will have a clear understanding of the novel as a whole.

Negative effects

·Uncanny of the monumental would be lost.

·The lack of confusion will be present. This is because a decrease in the impact of the gothic elements on the reader, as the presence of multiple frames, and the time change is one of the key elements of the gothic features of the novel. Hence the novel can be seen to be more of a romantic novel rather than a gothic one without the presence of the narrative confusion.

·Heathcliff’s mysterious, the lack of timing and by having the events not in linier order we are unaware of Heathcliff as a victim until later on. This idea of Heathcliff as a victim of society’s judging eyes is not shown at first. If it was in linear order then the mystery related to Heathcliff’s actions would be revealed. Hence the main protagonist would have been an open book for readers to judge.

We then looked at the views of Paul Norgate, Jenny Oldfield and Hilda D. Spear.

Paul Norgate: -

·This is what the story actually is “itself be seen as part of the story”. He suggests that with out the confusing narrative structure the story would not be worth “bothering” at all. Hence the narrative structure is what the story is about. Giving it in a linear method would not do it justice as it would have lost its effect.

·He describes the content as to be “manageable” hence implying that the content of the plot in ordinary (intricate ordinariness) and it is only the narrative structure that gives the story a particular meaning and character.

Jenny Oldfield: -

·Time is shown to be very important in the purpose of validating the “structured experiences”. She states that it is a method of giving the past events of the character such as Heathcliff’s as “the past is central to the understanding of his final state of mind”.

·It is through this manipulation of time that we are able to witness Heathcliff’s suffering. “to beguile me the spectra of hope, through eighteen years”

Hilda . D. Spear: -

·The reader often forgets that they are reading the story from the eyes of a different observer; hence they during its chronological part get drawn in to the action present in the novel. Lockwood and Nelly often interrupt in order to reminding the reader that it is a story. This momentarily decreases the “tension” felt in the novel by the readers. “Each of these interruptions occurs at a point when there is a powerful build-up of emotions in the reader; they serve momentarily to lower the tension thus allowing the next build pup to begin from a slightly lower point.”

Homework:- What do the narrative structure and setting of the novel add to our reading of the Wuthering Heights as a whole?