As I started reading Wuthering Heights I immediately noticed how the story was being told. The story is initially told from the perspective of Lockwood. Lockwood has very little contact with the actual events of the story and he also seems slightly uninterested. The way the story is told is through the diary of Lockwood. He recounts all that happens to him, including the story Nelly tells him. However, based on what we know of Lockwood, there is the possibility is that he is biased. He might not be the most reliable narrator as he is not directly involved in these events, and therefore he might not fully grasp what is going on as well as the significance of it. This wrong understanding could then be translated in his retelling of it, creating an even less reliable recounting of it to the reader. Do you think this could be the case? Is Lockwood an unreliable narrator and does it affect the story?
I also wanted to discuss what happened briefly in these chapters. We are introduced to the narrator, Lockwood, and then told of his connection to Wuthering Heights. He has an interesting event, a meeting with the ghosts of past residents, happen at the manor and he immediately returns to his home. Here he is told the story of Wuthering Heights and its residents. He is told the past of the three children of the manor, and the rejection of one of them in particular, the owner’s natural son. The owner loves his practically adopted son, Heathcliff, more, and his natural son, Hindley, is sent away. Heathcliff and the owner’s daughter, Catherine, become very close. Eventually the owner dies and Hindley obtains control of Wuthering Heights and makes Heathcliff a servant. This causes Catherine to ultimately marry someone else, and Heathcliff to run away and become a gentleman. His return spells bad news.
I think that the beginning of “Wuthering Heights” is easy to understand and get caught into because it is well written and explained. Regarding your thoughts about Lockwood maybe being biased; I think that is a good theory as that stood out to me as well. He seemed to be adding a little twist here and there when he was telling the story. I would not necessarily call him an “unreliable narrator”; I just think that he is biased. It might affect the story if he continually feels this way to the story but for now, I do not think that it will do much harm to the story at all.
ReplyDeleteThe first chapters are very important because Nelly is getting to know who the main characters are and where they come from. She is understanding the reactions of all the characters and why they are the way they are and that is very important. What do you think about the way Mr. Earnshaw prefers Heathcliff to his own son, Hindley? What about Heathcliff and Catherine’s earlier feeling for each other? I think that since she went off and married a richer man, that made everything worse for Heathcliff, causing his want/need for revenge.
Chapters 12-23
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Mr. Earnshaw is right in the way he treats Hindley. He seems to have no patience for his son, yet he has eternal love for an orphan. There is nothing wrong with loving an orphan, but to then go and reject your son is unjust. He creates a divide between the two boys by doing this, making Hindley ultimately jealous of Heathcliff. This jealousy and desire for revenge ultimately brings out many of the events of the book. It creates a monster out of Hindley and then Heathcliff. This ultimately affect a happy relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine which could have worked out.
It is in these chapters that we are really introduced to a new version of Heathcliff. He has changed from his former happy and kind self, and has become violent and revengeful. This is ultimately inspired by his desire for Catherine. However, this leads to the beginning of his deterioration as Catherine dies. When this happens, he loses all respect for people. He desires only to exact revenge on everyone. However, this desire is caused by deeply rooted problems. He was deprived of everything and betrayed. He was rejected based on social status and his position at that time was only caused by the revenge of Hindley, as the book states, "He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm." It is hard to not be sympathetic for Heathcliff at this time. Do you feel any sympathy towards him? Why do you think he desires revenge so much?
In the following chapters there is an obvious sense of revenge for Heathcliff. He wants revenge on multiple people for many reasons. In the beginning of the story when Mr. Earnshaw was alive, Heathcliff did not seem to have any plans for revenge on anybody, but that is because Mr. Earnshaw took care of him and loved him so he did not have any reason to seek revenge. After Mr. Earnshaw died, Hindley took control and began to treat Heathcliff terribly. He treated him this way because he was always jealous that his own father preferred the previous orphan to his own blood. I can see where this would cause problems. We both agree that Mr. Earnshaw was in the wrong by the way he treated the two boys, but why do you think that it bothered Hindley so badly?
ReplyDeleteAnother obvious person that he was seeking revenge against was Catherine. He did this because she somewhat betrayed him by running off and marrying Edgar (even though her and Heathcliff used to make fun of him and his sister for being snobby). What do you think changed her mind about him? She used to think that he was stuck up, but her thoughts began to change as she described him as “handsome” and “pleasant to be with”, along with “rich”. It was because she had a stronger desire for a better social status than for true love.
Chapters 24-34
ReplyDeleteI think his revenge was less against Catherine, and more against Edgar. He loves Catherine, and desires to be with her. I believe that the only reason Catherine chose to marry Edgar over Heathcliff was because of the difference in social position between the two at the time. However, now that they are both on equal footing, she is put into an awkward spot as she loves Heathcliff, but she is married to Edgar. Heathcliff plays with these feelings in order to strengthen them so that she will come with him instead of Edgar.
In response to Hindley's condition, it is caused because of a strong jealousy over the way his father treated Heathcliff, an orphan, over him, his son. The almost uninteresting Mr. Earnshaw had for Hindley angered him, especially when Mr. Earnshaw cared for an orphan he just brought in from the street. There is unfair treatment going on, and there also might be the fact that someone of such high social position such as Hindley, is receiving lesser treatment then someone of much lesser social position, Heathcliff.
One thing that interested me is the decline of Heathcliff. As his revenge is brought to completion when his son marries the young Catherine, he continues to torture the characters of Catherine and Hareton. However, this begins to fade as he grows closer and closer to death. He states, "It is a poor conclusion, is it not . . . An absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready, and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! My old enemies have beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives: I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don't care for striking. I can't take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time, only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity. It is far from being the case—I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing." It is an interesting conclusion since he has ultimate control over the children of his enemies. Do you think he realized the vainness of revenge? I think that now that he has clearly exacted revenge, he realizes that is did not bring happiness. What do you think of Heathcliff giving up his desire for revenge?
Yes, I agree that is exactly what Heathcliff is doing. He is trying to ruin the relationship between Edgar and Catherine because he will always love her and he won’t ever stop trying to be with her. I believe that he is fully obsessed with what he cannot have and that is why he is seeking revenge not directly on Catherin (because he does not want to hurt her) but her relationship with Edgar. Do you think that there is a difference?
DeleteI fully agree with what you are saying about the reasoning to Heathcliff’s anger. It is because of the social standings, and I think that society plays a big role to the characters in this book.
I agree that the ending was interesting. Heathcliff did begin to stop trying to make Hareton and young Catherine’s lives terrible as he continually approached his death, but I am not sure of his reasoning behind it. Could Lockwood’s narration have any effect on the ending? If I had to make a guess, I would say that it was because as he came closer and closer to his fate, he realized that he might not want his own son to suffer the way he did with his love for the older Catherine. I think that a very important part in the ending was when Nelly said, "The crown of all my wishes will be the union of these two; I shall envy no one on their wedding day. There won't be a happier woman than myself in England!" I think that this was important because she was learning from Heathcliff and his actions. What are your thoughts on the quote?
Review Entirety of "Wuthering Heights"
ReplyDeleteI agree that he does want to destroy the relationship between Edgar and Catherine. I would also agree with you in a sense that he is obsessed with what he can not have, however I do have some thoughts on that topic. Catherine is ultimately unacceptable to Heathcliff because she dies (furthering his obsession for revenge), however, had she not died, I believe Heathcliff would have won her over. I believe that they had a stronger relationship then Catherine had with Edgar.
I do not think Lockwood's translation has too much of an effect on the ending, as the emotions come off very clearly. As for the quote, I believe it is very significant, and it is exactly what I wanted to talk about. Hareton and younger Catherine are in a similar position as Heathcliff and older Catherine were. Hareton is a nobleman lowered in social position, just as Heathcliff was lowered by Hindley. However, in this instance, Catherine looks past that social position and begins to love Hareton as the book states, "The intimacy thus commenced grew rapidly; though it encountered temporary interruptions. Earnshaw was not to be civilized with a wish; and my young lady was no philosopher, and no paragon of patience; but both their minds tending to the same point—one loving and desiring to esteem, and the other loving and desiring to be esteemed—they contrived in the end to reach it." The main difference between Hareton and young Catherine's love, and Heathcliff and older Catherine's love is that younger Catherine has suffered along side Hareton. They were oppressed together. They learned together the deep roots of why they were treated so poorly, and those reflected in their life as learned lessons. They have learned from the experiences of others. What do you think is the main difference in their relationship then the one preceding them? Also, to give you a final answer for your quote, it symbolizes the torture Nelly has been through watching all these events happen, however, not there is hope as she is glad that past mistakes are not being repeated.
The question is why young Catherine and Hareton’s relationship worked out, and Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship didn’t, even though it was very similar. I think that the upbringing of all the people were different and that had a huge effect on the characters’ relationships. I strongly agree with what you said about the struggle of the characters’ as couples changed the outcome. There was no possible way for Catherine to struggle alongside Heathcliff because she had gone and married somebody else; therefore filling a void that Heathcliff could not. Even after Heathcliff married Isabella and had Hareton with her, he still felt empty. I believe that after Catherine died, she had an even greater effect on Heathcliff; he even went so far as to beg for her ghost to haunt him, as long as she was with him.
ReplyDeleteThere is one quote that I think is important to the story because Heathcliff is talking about Catherine after she has died. “That, however, which you may suppose the most potent to arrest my imagination, is actually the least, for what is not connected with her to me? and what does not recall her? I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped on the flags! In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day, I am surrounded with her image! The most ordinary faces of men and women—my own features—mock me with a resemblance. The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!” I believe that this is one of the most important quotes of the story because it properly describes the frustration Heathcliff had throughout the majority of the story.
Good structural considerations of Lockwood's narration. Note that "unreliable narrator" basically means "biased"...only the most extremely unreliable narrators will actually alter events in the telling. The normal way for a narrator to affect the story is through tone and interpretation. It sounds like you ultimately decided Lockwood is mostly reliable? You spend a long time discussing Mr. Earnshaw's treatment of the two boys and a good bit analyzing Heathcliff's relinquishing of revenge at the end...can you tell what influences in the middle of the book prepare him to give up his revenge? What might Bronte's deeper meanings be? Remember to use quotes in every entry. Grade on PP. Thanks!
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