Wuthering Heights topics
As always, your paper should answer the “So What?” question. Why is a close reading of the novel and the discoveries you made on your topic valuable today?
Themes:
1) For the overachiever:
In 2005 the BBC reported that the Romantic Novelists’ Association (700 strong) voted
Pride and Prejudice #1, Jane Eyre #2, and Wuthering Heights #5 as the “Most Romantic
Novel of All Time.” Do you agree or disagree with this ranking? Use specifics from
Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre or both VS specifics from Wuthering Heights as well as outline the criteria by which you judge both or all three books.
2) In August of 2007 a poll taken in the UK of 2000 readers voted Wuthering Heights as the greatest love story of all time. What still attracts readers to the main couple,
Heathcliff and Catherine, in Wuthering Heights. What makes their story romantic? Are they lovers to be emulated or codependents to be cured? Are they models of healthy love or codependency or both?
3) Many works focus on the struggle between head and heart/reason and emotion/duty vs passion. How is this conflict illustrated in the Catherine/Heathcliff/Edgar triangle? Who was the better husband for Catherine—Edgar or Heathcliff? Why?
4) How do the relationships between Heathcliff and Isabella, Linton and Cathy, and
Hareton and Cathy compare to the “main couple”—Catherine and Heathcliff? Which of these couples is Bronte’s model for an ideal relationship/marriage?
5) What does Bronte show about hate and revenge?
6) Some have stereotyped Heathcliff as a fiend, others as a victim. Prove he is a round, complex character.
Many characters are extremely similar. Compare and contrast the following. How does
Bronte use each to construct plot and convey meaning.
7) Catherine and Cathy
8) Heathcliff and Hidley
9) Heathcliff and Hareton
10) Cathy and Isabella
11) Catherine and Heathcliff
Discuss the following pairs of foils. How does Bronte use them to construct plot and convey meaning.
12) Edgar and Heathcliff
13) Linton and Heathcliff

14) Point of View:
How effective is the point of view? Why use Lockwood and Ellen Dean as narrators?
Are they more romantic or classical in their thinking? How do you know? How does this affect their understanding of/feelings toward the characters?
15) Setting
How does Bronte use Wuthering Heights/moors and Thrushcross Grange to illustrate the contrast between the Romantic and Classical/Victorian temperaments. Which characters are more Romantic, thus feel more at home at the Heights? Which are more Classical and at home at the Grange? Where does the final couple decide to live? Why?
16) Autobiographical Approach/Tone
How might Bronte’s life influenced her work? Consider her family life and historical context. What evidence do you find in the book of her temperament/views of
Romanticism and life in general. (Remember: Nelly’s voice is not Bronte’s voice.)
17) Compare/contrast Wuthering Heights to Age of Innocence.
(Consider the tension between living from one’s heart or head/duty vs responsibility, etc.)
18) Explain and evaluate the Marxist approach to the novel by Arnold Kettle who said,
“The contempt Heathcliff feels for the Lintons is a moral contempt, not a jealous one.”
Read the article and respond.
Potential English Majors:
See me about other critical articles on the novel.