Chapter 1-3

Question 1

Where is this novel set? CONTEXT OF THIS.

Answer 1

• Set on Yorkshire Moors
• Bronte’s view from her house was The Moors.

Question 2

Give a very brief summary of what happens in chapter 1.

Answer 2

• It’s 1801:Lockwood (new tenant at Thrushcross Grande) meets Heathcliff at WH.
• Lockwood is attacked by the dogs at WH.

Question 3

How is it clear that Lockwood is an unreliable narrator?

Answer 3

• Bad judge of character: “felt interested in man more reserved than myself.” (Ch 1)
• Mistakes heap of dead rabbits as cushion full of cats: only sees what he wants to see. (ch 2.)

Question 4

How is Heathcliff presented as closed off/ unfriendly?

Answer 4

• “fingers sheltered themselves” in his coat –> not shaking hands/ conforming to Victorian Gentleman expectation.
• “dark-skinned gyspy” but in dress a “gentelman.” Repetition of gypsy throughout novel. Racism.
• “habitual moroseness.” (Ch 2) –> sadness engrained.

Question 5

How does Bronte show that Lockwood is an outsider to Yorkshire Moors/ the world the characters are in right from beginning of novel?

Answer 5

• City life: retorts the unkempt nature of Wuthering Heights (ch1)/ wants to dine at 5 at WH.
• Joseph’s language = not understood by Lockwood/ Yorkshire dialect –> emphasising his outsider status.
• Structural/ social differences.

Question 6

Natural setting outside Wuthering Heights description.

OPENING DESCRIPTIOn

Answer 6

• “gaunt thorns stretching their limbs one way.” Ch1 Personification: wild nature of WH/ mirroring characters’ wild lifestyle. “limbs”–> grotesque imagery, location associated with violence.
• “stormy weather” Ch1

Question 7

Internal description of The Heights.

Answer 7

• “clusters of beef, mutton, ham.”
• “silver jugs” Ch1 : Medieval/ primitive atmosphere –> primitive behaviour of characters; unrefined by Victorian decorum.
• “sundry villanous old guns.” Ch1 –> violence/ danger at Heights.

Question 8

How are the dogs at Heights described? Significance?

Answer 8

• “four-footed fiends.”
• “fiends”- devillish aspect associated with The Heights/ supernatural imagery.
• Shows Lockwood’s priveledged nature (not wanting to be approached)/ perhaps attack WAS quite serious - threat at The Heights.

Question 9

Significance of time throughout novel.

Answer 9

• Constant reminders of time throughout: by mentioning seasons, age of characters, ch 1 = the date.
• Shows that the novel is set in reality, making it shocking for readers.

Question 10

Why have many critics argued Bronte set WH in the past?

Answer 10

• WH published: 1847
• Set 1801/ flashbacks = Georgian Era.
• Set in past to showcase the change in ideas/ culture from when book set to when it was published.

Question 11

Broad overview of events of chapter 2.

Answer 11

• Lockwood visits WH AGAIN. Meets Haerton/ Cathy.
• Lockwood = repulsed by everyone.
• Lockwood forced to spend night at WH due to blizzard.

Question 12

Cathy opening description (Ch 2)

Answer 12

• “malignity into her beautiful eyes.”
• “tying apron” Conforming to societal expectations of female delicacy but seems to be something wild beneath surface.

Question 13

Supernatural imagery examples. Was Bronte’s supernatural imagery considered conventional for her time?

Answer 13

• “ghosts” mentioned several times (ch 1/2/3.)
• Lockwood claims that Heights is “swarming with ghosts and goblins.” (Ch 3.)
• Many critics have said her use of supernatural isn’t like that used in convential Gothic literature of her time, more like later works - Bronte = ahead of her time!

Question 14

Shakespeare references.

Answer 14

• ” King Lear” (Ch 2) - when Lockwood being attacked by dogs. Linking to themes of madness throughout the novel (similar to in King Lear.)
• “I never told my love” – Lockwood when describing his pathetic love story (ch 1.)
• Establishing Lockwood as an educated character.

Question 15

How does Lockwood describe the weather in ch 2?

Answer 15

• “bitter whirl of wind and suffocating snow.”
• Rough/ dangerous –> like inhabitants at The Heights.
• Oppressive description: “suffocating” –> threatening conidtions.

Question 16

Brief overview of events in chapter 3.

Answer 16

• “Chapter of dreams ans ghosts.”
• Housekeeper takes Lockwood to a secret room (where he can stay for the night.)
• Lockwood has 2 dreams. Lockwood cries out after “seeing” Catherine as ghost, Heathcliff hears = is distressed.
• Heathcliff takes Lockwood back to Grange the following day.

Question 17

Significance of Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, Catherine Linton “scratched on the paint.”

Answer 17

• “scratched on paint”: supernatural trying to communicate with world, almost like a cry for help or a warning!
• Shows Catherine was aware of her many identities.
• Order names appear in mark her journey through childhood, passionate years with Heathcliff and marriage to Edgar (from left to right.)
• Read from right to left, tell story of Cathy Linton. Account of movement of book - away from Earnshaw and back (cylical nature.) All movements must be through Heathcliff.
• Mirroring! Repeating cycles!
• One of many repetitions in novel ie. repitions of names IN GENERAL! Ie. Catherine/ Cathy.

Question 18

Significance of Lockwood reading Catherine’s diary entry in ch 3.

Answer 18

• Palimpest: text within another text.
• Creates layers to the narrative, blurs timelines/ creating sense of timelesness of novel.
• Different layers of meaning (lack of sense of a real story, there is no one narrative/ one truth!)
• Allows us to delve into Catherine’s thoughts.

Question 19

How does Catherine describe the moors in her diary entry?

Answer 19

• “under its shelter.”
• Paradoxical: moors out in open but Catherine feels protected by them/ she can do whatever she wants/ feel free without worrying about societal expectations.

Question 20

How does the room that Lockwood stays in mirror the text-within a text (palimpest) structure of chapter 3?

Answer 20

• Bedroom contains a panelled structure which serves as both bed and a little closet.
• Bedroom within a “mini” bedroom, text within texts (of diary entry.)
• Dreams within sleeping.
• Secrets within secrets.
• Structuralist: complex interlocking structure of this text –> called, by, critics: “Chinese box structure.”

Question 21

Significance of Lockwood’s dream of Catherine’s ghost. How is it described?

Answer 21

• Sees her “through glass.” Glass/ window = barrier between living/ dead (throughout novel), barrier = shattered.
• Catherine: “ice-cold hand.”
• “Rubbed wrist to and fro, blood ran down.”
• Lockwood’s aggression/ violence that has been provoked!!

Question 22

Significance of dreams in Ch 3/ novel as a whole.

Answer 22

• Psychoanalytical reading: boundaries between self and world are broken down.
• Dreams show an unpredictable/ disturbing world. Treated with respect/ fear ie. Nelly’s reaction when Catherine tells her she had a dream before deciding to marry Edgar.
• For Bronte, dreams offered way of presenting things which were beyond limits of nineteenth-century novel (ie. explored taboo subjects: death/ love vs passion.)
• In manner of dreams so don’t shock readers as much?

Question 23

Lockwood decided to put a “pile of books” to separate himself from Catherine as well as closing the window, what could these physical barriers represent?

Answer 23

• Barriers between:
• Supernatural/ mortal.
• Id/ ego.
• Male/ female.

Question 24

Weather imagery used in ch 3/ throughout novel.

Answer 24

• “snow” imagery. Chaos of snow –> mirroring chaotic events that unfold.
• “snow/ wind whirled wildly through - blowing out light.” Duality between Lockwood societal convention (light)/ untamed heights.

Question 25

How is Lockwood described when he returns back to The Grange? Significance?

Answer 25

• “feeble as a kitten.”
• Simile: weak nature of Lockwood, serves to identify him as similar to Edgar, who is described as a “cat” - later on in novel.
• Their similarities extend to refined, educated natures and social status.
• Both not able to form real relationships, arguably, as well?? (ie. Lockwood with girl spoken about/ Edgar with Catherine.)

Question 26

What are the two dreams Lockwood has?

Answer 26

1.) Listens to sermon by Branderham.
2.) Catherine’s ghost appears to him by the window.

Question 27

What does J Miller’s (critic) say about the palimpsetic nature of texts in ch 3?

Answer 27

• Catherine’s diary described by Lockwood as commentary written in margins of Branderham’s sermon.
• Sermon is commentary on text of New Testament; where Jesus enjoins followers to forgive seventy-times seven times.
• Jesus’ interpretation of forgiveness doesn’t include just this but ALSO, several readings from Old Testament. His interpretation often accompanied by parable.
• WH can be read as parable as well, Lockwood narrating story that is “in the margins” of mysterious events he is trying to comprehend.
• Miller focussing on role of margins in novel, difficulty in identifying exact beginning/ meaning (one thing within another thing within another thing!!)

Question 28

What kind of reading does J. Miller have of Wuthering Heights?

Answer 28

• Deconstructive reading
• Demonstrates that text is never WHOLE and clear, contains many side-meanings/ ideas.

Question 29

Wuthering Heights can be read as a parable, where Lockwood’s narration is in the margins of the mysterious events around him. What is meant by the term “parable?”

Answer 29

• Parable: a story which explains/ illustrates an abstract concept.