Wuthering Heights

I. Some critics consider Wuthering Heights to be a typical gothic novel about a demon lover who "possesses" a heroine who is destroyed by his obsessive love.

l. How does Heathcliff's characterization seem to support this idea?

2. How does Catherine Earnshaw Linton's character fit this concept?

3. Why isn't this interpretation sufficient to embrace the whole novel?

II. Some critics evaluate the novel as a "revenge" plot, showing how the pursuit of revenge destroys the revenge seeker.

l. Why does Heathcliff desire revenge on Hindley Earnshaw? How does he get it?

2. Why does Heathcliff desire revenge on Catherine Earnshaw? How does he get it?

3. Why does Heathcliff desire revenge on Edgar Linton? How does he get it?

4. how does Heathcliff suffer because of his pursuit of revenge?

5. How are his attempts at revenge ultimately frustrated?

III. Some critics are fascinated with Bronte's skillful use of multiple narrators to tell her story -- namely Lockwood, Nelly, and Isabella Linton. EAch is interpreted as a representative of Victorian society, limited in understanding and incapable of acceptance of Heathcliff, Catherine, Hindley, and Hareton -- "Wild, unrestrained, natural humanity."

l. How is Lockwood an accurate portrayal of Victorian society with its stiff, judgmental morality? How does he make stupid assumptions, reveal his fear of what Heathcliff and Catherine represent, and reveal his own essentially violent nature?

2. How is Nelly Dean equally representative of Victorian values and standards in conflict with unsophisticated, passionate humanity? How does her lack of understanding lead her to cause indirectly a great deal of harm in the novel, apparently through ignorance rather than design?

3. How does Isabella, the image of the properly raised Victorian young lady, err in her perception of Heathcliff? What is the result of her error?

IV. The interpretation introduced through a consideration of narrators can be extended through a consideration of other characters who represent Victorian society as opposed to the native inhabitants of the moors.

l. What happens when Frances enters life at Wuthering Heights?

2. What happens to Hindley as a result of his treasuring his wife, that product of "society"?

3. What happens to young Catherine Earnshaw when she chooses to embrace life at Thrushcross Grange? How is she changed?

4. Are Isabella and Edgar totally "civilized"? What evidence of a core of violence in them does Bronte reveal?

5. When does Edgar fall in love with Catherine? What is her attraction for him?

6. How does Catherine's decision to marry Linton result in disaster for him?

7. Does Heathcliff's effort to become "acceptable" in society really change his nature?

V. Catherine Linton,Linton Heathcliff, and Hareton Earnshaw represent, in varying degrees, the blending of Victorian standards and natural, uninhibited humanity.

1. How does Linton Heathcliff represent the failure of these two elements to blend successfully?

How is he like his mother? How does he adjust to life at W.H.?

2. How is Cathy a product of Catherine and Edgar? How is she like her father? How is she like her

mother? How does she adjust to life at W. H.? Does she represent a successful blending of the two?

3. How is Hareton like all of the Earnshaws? How is his background much like Heathcliff's? How

does he "modify" his life so he can blend in society's influence?

VI. Some critics believe Bronte intended to be presenting a psychological analysis of humanity that was way ahead of her time. She tried to show that we must learn to accept the 2 sides of our natures in order to achieve unity within ourselves and to be happy.

l. What side of our natures does Heathcliff symbolize?

2. What side of our natures does Edgar Linton represent?

3. How does Bronte use Catherine to demonstrate what happen when the 2 sides of our nature conflict with each other?

4. How does Bronte use the 2nd generation to show a gradual

adjustment to this need to reconcile our internal conflicts?

5. How does she use Lockwood and Nelly to represent our inability to recognize and accept our natures freely?