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03-04-2007, 01:28 AM

Wuthering Heights

http://www.fdungan.com/heights.jpg
Wuthering Heights (1847) - the story is narrated by Lockwood, a gentleman visiting the Yorkshire moors where the novel is set, and of Mrs Dean, housekeeper to the Earnshaw family, who had been witness of the interlocked destinies of the original owners of the Heights. In a series of flashbacks and time shifts, Brontë draws a powerful picture of the enigmatic Heathcliff, who is brought to Heights from the streets of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw. Heathcliff is treated as Earnshaw's own children, Catherine and Hindley. After his death Heathcliff is bullied by Hindley, who loves Catherine, but she marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff 's destructive force is unleashed, and his first victim is Catherine, who dies giving birth to a girl, another Catherine. Isabella Linton, Edgar's sister, whom he had married, flees to the south. Their son Linton and Catherine are married, but always sickly Linton dies. Hareton, Hindley's son, and the young widow became close. Increasingly isolated and alienated from daily life, Heathcliff experiences visions, and he longs for the death that will reunite him with Catherine.
http://www.online-literature.com/bronte/wuthering/
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Plot summary
The narrative is non-linear, involving several flashbacks to events in the past, and involves two narrators - Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean, whose stories are interwoven with each other. The novel itself opens in 1802, with Lockwood arriving at Thrushcross Grange, a grand house he is renting from Heathcliff, who at this point resides at the titular Wuthering Heights. After attempting - and failing - to win over his surly, unwelcoming landlord, and intrigued by the curious state of affairs he finds at Wuthering Heights, when confined to his sickbed after catching a cold Lockwood curiously asks his housekeeper, Dean, of the story of Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights.

At this point, Dean takes over the narration (although Lockwood occasionally breaks in during her narrative). Dean's story begins thirty years earlier, when Heathcliff - then an orphaned foundling living on the streets of Liverpool - is brought to Wuthering Heights by the then-owner, Mr Earnshaw and raised as his own. Earnshaw's own children, Hindley and Catherine, initially detest Heathcliff; over time, however, Catherine is won over by Heathcliff and the two eventually become inseparable childhood friends. Hindley, however, continues to resent Heathcliff, seeing him as an interloper in his father's affections, and the two boys become bitter rivals.

Upon Earnshaw's death three years later, Hindley comes home from college to take over the estate, surprising everyone by also bringing home a wife, a woman named Frances. As the new master of Wuthering Heights, Hindley brutalizes Heathcliff, spitefully forcing him to work as a hired hand. Despite this, Heathcliff and Catherine remain firm friends. Although initially something of a wild child, an accidental dog bite forces Catherine to stay at the nearby Linton family estate, Thrushcross Grange, for six weeks. During this time, she matures and grows attached to the refined and mild young Edgar Linton. When she returns to Wuthering Heights, she goes to some trouble to maintain her friendship with both Edgar and Heathcliff, in spite of their having an instantaneous dislike for each other.

A year later, Frances dies soon after the birth of Hindley's child Hareton. Destroyed by her death, Hindley turns to alcohol. Some two years after that, Catherine accepts a marriage proposal made to her by Edgar; when Dean confronts Catherine about her engagement, which will undoubtedly crush Heathcliff, Catherine explains that it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff - unaware that he is in the next room, listening. Heathcliff leaves at this point, never hearing her continuing declarations that Heathcliff is as much a part of her as the rocks are to the earth beneath. Catherine is mortified when she realizes that Heathcliff has overheard her, but by that point he has left Wuthering Heights, furious at the fact that he can no longer be with Catherine and unaware of the true bond that she feels towards him. Nevertheless, she marries Edgar, and the two initially live happily.

After Catherine has been married to Edgar for two years, Heathcliff returns, and it is soon revealed that he is intent on destroying those whom he blames for preventing him from being with Catherine. In the interim, he has amassed significant wealth (by means that are not revealed) and has duped the alcoholic, self-destructive Hindley into owing him Wuthering Heights. He is also intent on ruining Edgar, and when he learns of an infatuation Edgar's sister Isabella has developed towards him, Heathcliff elopes with her, much to Edgar's despair; not only does this ruin his relationship with his sister, but it also places Heathcliff in a position to inherit Thrushcross Grange upon Edgar's death. After his marriage, Heathcliff's true contempt for Isabella emerges and he treats her in a cruel and abusive fashion.

Back at Thrushcross Grange, Catherine - whose physical and mental health has been ruined by the ongoing feud between Heathcliff and her husband - dies in childbirth, giving birth to a daughter also named Catherine. Her death, however, only intensifies Heathcliff's bitterness and determination to continue his vendetta. Isabella flees Heathcliff's cruelty a month after Catherine's death, and later gives birth to a boy, Linton. At around the same time, Hindley dies, and Heathcliff takes ownership of Wuthering Heights. He also takes control of Hindley's son, Hareton, determined to raise the boy with as much neglect as he had suffered at Hindley's hands years earlier; despite this, Hareton remains intensely loyal to Heathcliff, viewing him as a surrogate father. Despite his grief over his wife's death, Edgar devotes himself to raising the younger Catherine, who grows into a gentle-natured girl who shares the flighty nature her mother had once possessed.

Twelve years later, Isabella is dying and sends for Edgar to come retrieve and raise her and Heathcliff's son, Linton. However, Heathcliff finds out about this and takes Linton from Thrushcross Grange back to Wuthering Heights. The boy is sickly and spoiled, and his father has nothing but contempt for him, but nevertheless delights in the prospect of his own son ruling over the property of his enemies. To that end, Heathcliff forces young Catherine and Linton to marry. Soon after, Edgar Linton dies, followed shortly by Heathcliff's son, Linton. This leaves young Catherine a widow and a virtual prisoner at Wuthering Heights, as Heathcliff has gained complete control of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Chronologically, it is at this point in the narrative that Lockwood arrives, taking possession of Thrushcross Grange, and that Nelly Dean tells her story. Shocked and horrified at the sordid details of what has transpired, Lockwood leaves for London.

During his absence from the area, however, events reach a climax; young Catherine, at first repulsed by and contemptuous of Hareton's rough, uncouth and uneducated nature, gradually softens towards him—just as her mother grew tender towards Heathcliff. In her lonely state of existence at Wuthering Heights, Hareton becomes her only source of happiness, and the two fall in love. Heathcliff, on seeing their love for each another, appears to no longer care to pursue his life-long vendetta. Having been haunted for years by what he perceives as the elder Catherine's ghost, Heathcliff finally dies, a broken and tormented man, and Catherine and Hareton marry. Heathcliff is buried next Catherine (the elder), and the story concludes with Lockwood - who has learnt of these events from Nelly Dean - visiting the grave, unsure of exactly what to feel.

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Supernatural elements
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A number of apparently supernatural incidents occur during the novel, although their true nature is always ambiguous. The mystery of Heathcliff's parentage is never solved, and at one point in the novel Nelly Dean entertains the notion that Heathcliff may be some hideous changeling. At the beginning of the novel, Lockwood has a horrible vision of Catherine (the elder) as a child, appearing at the window of her old chamber at Wuthering Heights, begging to be allowed in; not only does Heathcliff, on hearing of this, lend it credence, but when he dies it is noted that the window of his room was left open, raising the possibility that Catherine returned at the moment of his death. After Heathcliff dies, Nelly Dean reports that various superstitious locals have claimed to see Catherine and Heathcliff's ghosts roaming the moors, although in the closing line of the novel Lockwood discounts the idea of "unquiet slumbers for those sleepers in that quiet earth."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights
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Plot Overview
In the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange in the isolated moor country of England. Here, he meets his dour landlord, Heathcliff, a wealthy man who lives in the ancient manor of Wuthering Heights, four miles away from the Grange. In this wild, stormy countryside, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of Heathcliff and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights. Nelly consents, and Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale in his diary; these written recollections form the main part of Wuthering Heights.
Nelly remembers her childhood. As a young girl, she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner of the manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family. One day, Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy whom he will raise with his own children. At first, the Earnshaw children—a boy named Hindley and his younger sister Catherine—detest the dark-skinned Heathcliff. But Catherine quickly comes to love him, and the two soon grow inseparable, spending their days playing on the moors. After his wife’s death, Mr. Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty to Heathcliff, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathcliff nearby.
Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. He returns with a wife, Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathcliff. Once an orphan, later a pampered and favored son, Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields. Heathcliff continues his close relationship with Catherine, however. One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange, hoping to tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish children who live there. Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced to stay at the Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time Mrs. Linton works to make her a proper young lady. By the time Catherine returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar, and her relationship with Heathcliff grows more complicated.
When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton, Hindley descends into the depths of alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff. Eventually, Catherine’s desire for social advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for Heathcliff. Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three years, and returning shortly after Catherine and Edgar’s marriage.
When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who have wronged him. Having come into a vast and mysterious wealth, he deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing that Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency. When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the manor. He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton, whom he treats very cruelly. Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter, and dies. Heathcliff begs her spirit to remain on Earth—she may take whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive him mad—just as long as she does not leave him alone. Shortly thereafter, Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff’s son, named Linton after her family. She keeps the boy with her there.
Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherine’s daughter’s nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange. Young Catherine is beautiful and headstrong like her mother, but her temperament is modified by her father’s gentler influence. Young Catherine grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering Heights; one day, however, wandering through the moors, she discovers the manor, meets Hareton, and plays together with him. Soon afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff. Heathcliff treats his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boy’s mother.
Three years later, Catherine meets Heathcliff on the moors, and makes a visit to Wuthering Heights to meet Linton. She and Linton begin a secret romance conducted entirely through letters. When Nelly destroys Catherine’s collection of letters, the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Linton is pursuing Catherine only because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if Catherine marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange—and his revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be complete. One day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Catherine marries Linton. Soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton. Heathcliff now controls both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces Catherine to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a common servant, while he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.
Nelly’s story ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood, appalled, ends his tenancy at Thrushcross Grange and returns to London. However, six months later, he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further developments in the story. Although Catherine originally mocked Hareton’s ignorance and illiteracy (in an act of retribution, Heathcliff ended Hareton’s education after Hindley died), Catherine grows to love Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff becomes more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine, to the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost. Everything he sees reminds him of her. Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies. Hareton and young Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married on the next New Year’s Day. After hearing the end of the story, Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff.
Chronology
The story of Wuthering Heights is told through flashbacks recorded in diary entries, and events are often presented out of chronological order—Lockwood’s narrative takes place after Nelly’s narrative, for instance, but is interspersed with Nelly’s story in his journal. Nevertheless, the novel contains enough clues to enable an approximate reconstruction of its chronology, which was elaborately designed by Emily Brontë. For instance, Lockwood’s diary entries are recorded in the late months of 1801 and in September 1802; in 1801, Nelly tells Lockwood that she has lived at Thrushcross Grange for eighteen years, since Catherine’s marriage to Edgar, which must then have occurred in 1783. We know that Catherine was engaged to Edgar for three years, and that Nelly was twenty-two when they were engaged, so the engagement must have taken place in 1780, and Nelly must have been born in 1758. Since Nelly is a few years older than Catherine, and since Lockwood comments that Heathcliff is about forty years old in 1801, it stands to reason that Heathcliff and Catherine were born around 1761, three years after Nelly. There are several other clues like this in the novel (such as Hareton’s birth, which occurs in June, 1778). The following chronology is based on those clues, and should closely approximate the timing of the novel’s important events. A “~” before a date indicates that it cannot be precisely determined from the evidence in the novel, but only closely estimated.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/
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