AP English Lit/Mr. Kirby
Name: Franki Hubbard
LITERARY ANALYSIS DATA SHEET
Significant biographical details about the author:
Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
Date of Publication: December 1847
Sources: Sparknotes
Wuthering Heights was her first and only published
novel: she died the following year, at age 30. The
decision to publish came after the success of her
sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's
death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering
Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be
published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.
Information about the period (literary, historical, artistic,
philosophical, etc.):
Identify the genre and specify how this work fits its
characteristics:
The literary period in which Wuthering Heights
was written is known as the Victorian era, socalled according to the reign of Queen Victoria.
The Victorian era (1837-1901) was the time in
which the novel become the leading form of
literature in the English language. Popular
genres of the time include Romanticism,
Realism, and Gothic.
It has many elements of a Gothic novel, but the
characters are more complex than average Gothic
protagonists and antagonists. And instead of a ruined,
crumbling castle, we have Wuthering Heights. It has
plenty of spooky Gothic qualities, like imprisonment,
dark stairways, stormy weather, nightmares, extreme
landscapes, melancholy figures, moonlight and candles,
torture and excessive cruelty, necrophilia, a supernatural
presence, communication between the living and the dead
– you get the point.
Provide a brief synopsis (include exposition, main conflict(s), climax, resolution, and major plot points):
The story follows the life of Heathcliff, a mysterious gypsy-like person, from childhood (about seven
years old) to his death in his late thirties. Heathcliff rises in his adopted family. He grows bitter as he
grows older falling in love with and losing Catherine. He is reduced to the status of a servant, running
away when Catherine decides to marry another. He returns later, rich and educated, and sets about
gaining his revenge on the people(Hindley and Edgar Linton) that he believed ruined his life. He believe
that Hindley caused his loss of Catherine by degrading him. Through her marriage to Edgar Linton,
Catherine becomes introduced to a world of materialism. She dies and her death fuels Heathcliff’s rage
against Hindley and Edgar. However, soon after, Hindley also dies and the Earnshaw estate and
Hareton fall into the hands of Heathcliff. Later, Heathcliff wins the custody of his son, Linton. He
forces Cathy to marry Linton and plans to steal the Grange from Edgar through Linton. Both Linton
and Edgar die and the Grange goes to Heathcliff who now owns both Wuthering Heights and
Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff marries Hareton to Cathy trying to make Hareton fit his image. Cathy
is loving to Hareton and when Heathcliff dies, both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights go to
them.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 2
Identify and explain the use and effect of three literary techniques:
1.
The symbolism of the oak paneled bed represents a place
of protection and safety.
2.
In many ways the ghosts symbolize a lack of closure for
lovers. Heathcliff wants to believe in ghosts and the
afterlife because that means Catherine will still be around.
When Catherine dies, he begs to be haunted.
3.
Bronte organizes many elements in her novel in pairs such
as Catherine and Heathcliff.
Cite and quote one example of each:
1.
"secure against the vigilance of Heathcliff and
everyone else" (3.6)
2.
"I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be
with me always – take any form – drive me
mad!" (16.25)
3.
"he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls
are made of, his and mine are the same… Nelly,
I am Heathcliff.” (9.92)
Significant Quotes
Cite and quote three significant passages:
1.
“It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall
never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s
handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am.
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the
same, and [Edgar’s] is as different as a moonbeam from
lightning, or frost from fire.” (chaper 9)
2.
“But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode
and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gypsy in aspect, in
dress and manners a gentleman, that is, as much a
gentleman as many a country squire: rather slovenly,
perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence,
because he has an erect and handsome figure—and rather
morose. Possibly, some people might suspect him of a
degree of under-bred pride; I have a sympathetic chord
within that tells me it is nothing of the sort: I know, by
instinct, his reserve springs from an aversion to showy
displays of feeling—to manifestations of mutual
kindliness. He’ll love and hate, equally under cover, and
esteem it a species of impertinence to be loved or hated
again—No, I’m running on too fast—I bestow my own
attributes over-liberally on him.” (chapter 1)
3.
“I got the sexton, who was digging Linton’s grave, to
remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I
thought, once, I would have stayed there, when I saw her
face again—it is hers yet—he had hard work to stir me;
but he said it would change, if the air blew on it, and so I
struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up—not
Linton’s side, damn him! I wish he’d been soldered in
lead—and I bribed the sexton to pull it away, when I’m
laid there, and slide mine out too. I’ll have it made so, and
then, by the time Linton gets to us, he’ll not know which
is which!” “You were very wicked, Mr. Heathcliff!” I
exclaimed; “were you not ashamed to disturb the dead?”
(chapter 29)
Explain the significance of each passage or explain how it
relates to the work as a whole:
1.
It is at this point that Heathcliff leaves
Wuthering Heights, after he has overheard
Catherine say that it would “degrade” her to
marry him. Catherine’s decision to marry Edgar
Linton out of a desire to be “the greatest woman
of the neighbourhood” exemplifies the effect of
social considerations on the characters’ actions.
2.
This passage, spoken in the voice of Lockwood,
constitutes the first of many attempts in the
book to explain the mysterious figure of
Heathcliff, his character and motivations.
Outside of the novel, when critics and readers
discuss Wuthering Heights, the same question
arises repeatedly. How is Heathcliff best
understood? We see here that the question of his
social position—is he a gentleman or a gypsy?—
causes particular confusion.
3.
When Heathcliff narrates this ghoulish scene to
Nelly, the book enters into one of its most
Gothic moments. Heathcliff, trying to recapture
Catherine herself, constantly comes upon mere
reminders of her. However, far from satisfying
him, these reminders only lead him to further
attempts. Heathcliff’s desire to rejoin Catherine
might indeed explain the majority of Heathcliff’s
actions, from his acquisition of Thrushcross
Grange and Wuthering Heights, to his seizure of
power over everyone associated with Catherine.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 3
Characters
Record information for each significant major character in the work
Name
Role in the story
Significance or Purpose
Adjectives
1.Heathclif
1.outsider, antihero
1.An orphan brought to live at
Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw,
Heathcliff falls into an intense,
unbreakable love with Mr.
Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine.
After Mr. Earnshaw dies, his
resentful son Hindley abuses
Heathcliff and treats him as a
servant. Because of her desire for
social prominence, Catherine marries
Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff.
Heathcliff’s humiliation and misery
prompt him to spend most of the
rest of his life seeking revenge on
Hindley, his beloved Catherine, and
their respective children (Hareton
and young Catherine). A powerful,
fierce, and often cruel man,
Heathcliff acquires a fortune and
uses his extraordinary powers of will
to acquire both Wuthering Heights
and Thrushcross Grange, the estate
of Edgar Linton.
1.Orphaned, tortured,
brooding, obsessive
2.Catherine
2.prima dona, ghost
2. The daughter of Mr. Earnshaw,
Catherine falls powerfully in love
with Heathcliff. Catherine loves
Heathcliff so intensely that she
claims they are the same person.
However, her desire for social
advancement motivates her to marry
Edgar Linton instead. She is given to
fits of temper, and she is torn
between her wild passion for
Heathcliff and her social ambition.
She brings misery to both of the men
who love her.
2.Free-spirited,
beautiful, spoiled,
arrogant
3.narrator
Nelly grew up essentially alongside
Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw and
is deeply involved in the story she
tells. She has strong feelings for the
characters in her story, and these
feelings complicate her narration.
3. ensible, intelligent,
compassionate
3.Nelly
Dean
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
Describe the setting(s) and explain its/their significance:
It is set in the harsh and isolated Yorkshire moors in
Northern England. Gimmerton is the nearest town and
provides the location for characters like Mr. Kenneth, the
doctor, and Mr. Green, the lawyer. Liverpool is a distant port
city associated with the dark, foreign, gypsy child, Heathcliff.
But more important than any sense of a city center are the
regional markers and sights, such as the "golden rocks" of
Penistone Crags, black hollows, bleak hilltops, bilberry
bushes, moonlit scenery, miles of heath, and winding roads.
It's easy to get lost in this barren landscape, especially in the
snow. The feelings of desolation and confusion provoked by
the setting strongly contribute to the tone of the novel.
Identify and explain key metaphors, symbols, or motifs:
Doubles: Brontë organizes her novel by arranging its
elements—characters, places, and themes—into pairs.
Catherine and Heathcliff are closely matched in many ways,
and see themselves as identical. Catherine’s character is
divided into two warring sides: the side that wants Edgar and
the side that wants Heathcliff. Catherine and young
Catherine are both remarkably similar and strikingly
different. The two houses, Wuthering Heights and
Thrushcross Grange, represent opposing worlds and values.
The novel has not one but two distinctly different narrators,
Nelly and Mr. Lockwood. The relation between such paired
elements is usually quite complicated, with the members of
each pair being neither exactly alike nor diametrically
opposed. For instance, the Lintons and the Earnshaws may
at first seem to represent opposing sets of values, but, by the
end of the novel, so many intermarriages have taken place
that one can no longer distinguish between the two families.
Ghosts: Brontë always presents ghosts in such a way that
whether they really exist remains ambiguous. Thus the world
of the novel can always be interpreted as a realistic one.
page 4
Identify and explain the theme(s) of the work:
Repition: It seems that nothing ever ends in the world
of this novel. Instead, time seems to run in cycles, and
the horrors of the past repeat themselves in the
present. The way that the names of the characters are
recycled, so that the names of the characters of the
younger generation seem only to be rescramblings of
the names of their parents, leads the reader to consider
how plot elements also repeat themselves. For instance,
Heathcliff’s degradation of Hareton repeats Hindley’s
degradation of Heathcliff. Also, the young Catherine’s
mockery of Joseph’s earnest evangelical zealousness
repeats her mother’s. Even Heathcliff’s second try at
opening Catherine’s grave repeats his first.
Social Status: Considerations of class status often
crucially inform the characters’ motivations
in Wuthering Heights. Catherine’s decision to marry
Edgar so that she will be “the greatest woman of the
neighborhood” is only the most obvious example. The
Lintons are relatively firm in their gentry status but
nonetheless take great pains to prove this status
through their behaviors. The Earnshaws, on the other
hand, rest on much shakier ground socially. They do
not have a carriage, they have less land, and their
house, as Lockwood remarks with great puzzlement,
resembles that of a “homely, northern farmer” and not
that of a gentleman. The shifting nature of social status
is demonstrated most strikingly in Heathcliff’s
trajectory from homeless waif to young gentleman-byadoption to common laborer to gentleman again
(although the status-conscious Lockwood remarks that
Heathcliff is only a gentleman in “dress and manners”).