Essay/Term paper: Wuthring heights

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

This entire novel takes place in England between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange,
two homes on the English moors. There is a distance of approximately two miles between the two
homes. The moors are vast open lands that may stretch out for miles at a time. Due to location and
climate, there is usually a heavy fog present on the moors during the night. This presence adds
dreariness and confusion to the already complex feud occurring between the two families living in the
homes.
The exact period of time was never precisely established but the general time period is
suggested by the setting. The use of horses for transportation back and forth between the two homes
was maximized as there was a consistent flow of news between the two families. The use of candles
being taken "upstairs to bed" also suggests an early time period. The actual duration of the book
takes many years, approximately sixty, due to the spreading of the story over three generations.
One chief character was Heathcliff. The entire story was written around Heathcliff and yet
he wasn't really the main character. Heathcliff was adopted off of the streets at a very young age.
Neither of his foster siblings cared much for him at first. Eventually, his sister grew to like him and
his brother grew to hate him. As the years passed, Heathcliff's brother Hindley continued to scar him
emotionally and his sister Cathy grew to love him with such a passion that when Cathy and Hindley
died in their middle ages, Heathcliff vowed to take revenge on Hindley's son and to not rest until he
lay in the ground beside Cathy. There were many instances in the story where one was compelled
to feel sorry for the way Heathcliff was constantly barraged by Hindley's acts of contempt. However,
no matter how much damage Hindley did, there was no one to blame for Heathcliff's mannerism but
Heathcliff.
One example of Heathcliff's psychological turmoil was when Cathy died. He bribed the
cemetery caretaker to open Cathy's grave after the funeral services had passed. On doing so,
Heathcliff kicked one side of the coffin in so that the dust and dirt could be free to intermingle with
the body of Cathy. He instructed the caretaker to close the grave and to repeat the same ordeal this
time with Heathcliff's coffin when he died.
Another chief character was Nelly, the secondary narrator. (Secondary because she tells the
majority of the story within the dialogue of the primary narrator. Nelly was the only person that was
present at the beginning of the story and lived to tell the see the end of it. Nelly was an important
character because she was the one that raised most of the children in the story. Although the children
may not have turned out the way Nelly would have liked, she still played an important part in shaping
the lives of the characters and in turn the course of the story.
The most important event of the story, I believe, was when Heathcliff died. With Heathcliff
dead, along with Cathy and Hindley, there was no one remaining who wished to seek revenge upon
another. Hindley's son Haerton eventually married Cathy's daughter, Cathy. And as most stories go,
the two lived happily every after at Wuthering Heights.
I would strongly recommend this book to another reader. The book is well written. It is
easily read due to the manner in which the text flows. There is no need to tear apart the sentences
in order to follow the story as you would in reading, for instance, Lord of the Flies. All in all the
book had a good storyline, a wonderful cast of characters, a pleasant ending, and is definitely a classic
piece of English Literature.