Wuthering Heights
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• She had been witness of the
interlocked destinies of the
original owners of the
Heights, the Earnshaw
family, and of the Grange,
the Linton family.
• In a series of brilliantly
handled flashbacks and
time shifts, Emily Bronte
unfolds a tale of exceptional
emotional and imaginative
force.
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
Events are set in motion
by the arrival at the
Heights of Heathcliff,
picked up as a waif of
unknown parentage in
the streets of Liverpool
by the elder Earnshaw,
who brings him home to
bring up as one of his
own children.
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
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Bullied and humiliated
after Earnshaw's death by
his son Hindley, Heathcliff's
passionate and ferocious
nature finds its
complement in Earnshaw's
daughter Catherine. Their
childhood collusions
develop into an
increasingly intense though
vexed attachment.
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Wuthering Heights
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• Heathcliff overhearing Catherine tell Nelly that she cannot
marry him because it would degrade her, and failing to stay to
hear her declare her passion for him, leaves the house.
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• Heathcliff's destructive force is
now unleashed; he marries
Edgar's sister Isabella and
cruelly ill-treats her, hastens
Catherine's death by his
passion as she is about to give
birth to a daughter, Cathy.
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• Heathcliff has lured Cathy
to his house, and forces a
marriage between her and
young Linton in order to
secure the union properly.
• He brings Hareton and
Hindley under his power,
brutalizing the latter in
revenge for Hindley's
treatment of himself as a
child. Edgar dies after doing
his best to prevent a
friendship between Cathy
and Heathcliff's son Linton.
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
Linton, always sickly, also
dies, and an affection
springs up between her, an
unwilling prisoner at the
Heights, and the ignorant
Hareton, whom she does
her best to educate.
Heathcliff's desire for
revenge has now worn itself
out, and he longs for the
death that will reunite him
with Catherine.
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• At his death there is a promise that the two contrasting
worlds and moral orders represented by the Heights and the
Grange will be united in the next generation, in the union of
Cathy and Hareton.
• Love and revenge are
two main themes of the
novel. Through the
tempestuous love story,
the author seems to be
telling us the truth that
love will overcome
hatred.
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• In the theme of revenge, we
may find the influence of
racial discrimination and class
discrimination. Heathcliff's
revolt or revenge is not his
own.
• We may consider him to be one
representative of those people in
a lower social position. Heathcliff,
the hero, is depicted successfully
in that he is a round character,
with changes and development.
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• Of primitive vitality, he is
like lightening, fire and rock
to Catherine. After
Catherine's marriage, he
becomes a conscious rebel
and a spirit of the revolt
against injustice.
• Catherine is contradictory in
herself: she loves Heathcliff the
orphan but chooses to marry
Edgar, who has social status but
is like moon beam and frost.
Thus her tragedy is caused by
her own vanity. She betrays
Heathcliff and kills herself.
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• The story is told in a perspective that is between the first and
the third person narration. In this way, everything seems
more believable and the structure of the book is complete.
• The two narrators are
important: Nelly has seen
the two generations'
growth and gives them
warnings and suggestions
every now and then.
Lockwood is a conservative
gentleman.
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• They are of common
people's viewpoints and
find it difficult to
understand the love
between Heathcliff and
Catherine. This helps to
show the main characters'
feelings.
• The selection here, Chapter
15, is about the last time
Heathcliff and Catherine
meet each other. Their
intense love is vividly
described.
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