I. The Author - Her life (1818-1848)

Emily Brontë and her sisters grow up in a quite uninhabited region in Thornton, Yorkshire.

Their father, Patrick Brontë, a preacher educates them very religiously.

He is very influenced by John Wesely, who's a creator of the Methodist church and stands for a very strict and religious education, which also destroys the will of children.

Bront teaches his daughters that success through hard work and diligence is a sign of God's gmatter. race.

He sends them to a boarding school, where two of the sisters must die from tuberculosis, until he takes them back home.

After studying in Bruxelles, Emily and Charlotte come back home and foundset up a school.

But after Tthe return of their brother, who's an addict of alcohol and opium pulls the family into great problems

He pulls the family into great problemsHe dies and Emily takes ill at his funerals and dies also.too.

Perhaps her death is one of thea reason too why "Wuthering Heights" became such an immediate popular success.

II.           Book presentation

Genre

Although this novel was written in the Romantic Period, it is not really a romance.

Wuthering Heights was written 1847, the year before E. Brontë's death.

Story

At the beginning of the book, Mr Lockwood, the narrator is received to Wuthering Heights, which he is the neighbour of.

The people who are living there, are unfriendly to him and also to each other.

Because the night and a storm surprised him, hHe has no alternative choice but to spend the night in their company, because the night and a storm surprised him

Fascinated by this hate and inhospitality, he asks Nelly, who worked for them for years, to tell him the story of this place and othosef the people. The following part of the story is the her narrative about the Earnshaws at Wuthering Heights and their neighbours, the Lintons, living at Thrushcross Grange.

One day, the father Earnshaw brings a gypsy boy Heathcliff home, who is going to live with the two children Catherine and Hindley.

Whereas Hindley is jealous and hates him, Catherine falls in love with him and they spend wonderful moments in the Moors. But when Catherine chooses to marry the rich and cultivate neighbour Edgar Linton, Heathcliff wounded by her decision leaves "Wuthering Heights" for two years.

Then he comes back wealthy, civilized and decides to buy Wuthering Heights from Catherine's brother Hindley, who has many gambling debts.

He marries the sister of Edgar Linton and takes revenge on Catherineher for the pain he felt because ofduring Catherine's her marriage.

After her death, he forces marries her daughter, who is also called Catherine, to marry his son Linton, who is dangerously ill and who dies very soon.

Because only the young Catherine junior and the son of Hindley, Hareton, survive, Heathcliff has now the control of the property overof the ancient Linton and Earnshaw family and also over the two survivors.

After his death it can be assumed we can assume that Catherine and Hareton will be happy together, and will perhaps marry too.

Themes

Good versus Evil - (also love and hate or bad against good

Brontë is most very interested in the spiritual feelings for her characters, making contact with an existence beyond this life on earth. The difference between that feeling that Catherine has for Heathcliff and the one she feels for Linton is that Heathcliff is a part of her nature while Edgar is only a part of her superficial love. It is a spiritual love rather than a physical one that binds Heathcliff and Catherine together.For instance the love between Heathcliff and Catherine stays very spiritual and it is the one which causes all the pain during the whole story.

Revenge

This is the most dominant theme of the second half of the novel, although in the last chapter Heathcliff abandons his plan for revenge. Heathcliff first believes that if he can avenge the death of Catherine that he will somehow grow closer to her. However, the exact opposite occurs. When Heathcliff gives up on his plan for revenge, he is soon reunited with Catherine in eternal bliss

Crime Revenge and Punishment

All the characters have sinned in one way or another and in the end they are all punished for their crimes. However, Cathy and Hareton are not corrupt in any way and they are the ones who finally destroy the evil between their families in the next generation. Brontë punishes the sin by slow and painful death (Catherine, Heathcliff) and leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction that the characters deserved what they earnedmerit Heathcliff tries also himself to punish the sins Catherine committed by marrying Edgar, but he does nothing but sinning too he stays unhappy and sad until his death. Bronte shows throughby him that it is not a men's duty to a human being but God's punishment is not a matter of men but of god!

Passion versus Rational Love

Passion is what alienated Catherine from Edgar. Catherine's passion for Heathcliff destroyed the stability of every relationship between the people of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The whole story revolved around the passion that Catherine and Heathcliff felt for each other. Edgar, on the other hand, felt a more reasonable love for Catherine. Catherine was devoted to Edgar, yet was in love with Heathcliff. Heathcliff is the symbol of the dangers of passion, condemned by the Victorian society: TEXT B

''And I pray one prayer- I repeat it till my tongue stiffens- Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you- haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe- I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always- take any form- drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!'' (153)

Selfishness

The selfishness was first introduced when Mr. Earnshaw brought home Heathcliff and presented him to the family. Because he took a fancy to this young gypsy, the rest of the generations following Mr. Earnshaw's life will suffer. Heathcliff was probably the most selfish person in all of Wuthering Heights. He ruined Catherine's life when he disappeared for a long time. He also ruined Isabella's life by marrying her only for revenge Heathcliff forced young Cathy to marry Linton and then later killed the poor sickly boy through neglect. These are only the major actions that show Heathcliff's selfishness. Catherine's selfish character was depicted when she wanted both Edgar and Heathcliff at the same time. Catherine wanted Edgar for his life and Heathcliff for his soul. She didn't want to choose between the two of them, and therefore she never did. Thus, she caused pain for both Heathcliff and Edgar.

Society problems:

There are many conflicts in this novel. Much of them result from a distinct division of classes and are portrayed through such ways as personal relationships, appearance of characters, and even the setting. The division of classes is based on cultural, economic, and social differences, and it greatly affects the general behaviour and actions of each character. The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights were that of the working class, while those of Thrushcross Grange were high up on the social ladder.

TEXT C ''It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same'' (Bronte 73)

Sub theme: Ignorance versus Education

From the beginning, the reader can deduce that the Lintons are at a higher social status than the residents at Wuthering Heights. This is partly due to the fact that the Lintons are better educated than the labourers at the Heights. Young Cathy's love for reading has a direct effect on Hareton Earnshaw's pursuits at becoming literate.

Characters

Brontë gives every character a duality within their personalities.

There are no true heroes or villains, only a revealing of what people truly are.

With Catherine, her heart and mind are divided: she loves Heathcliff, but marries the more stable Edgar.
'My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff' (81)'

'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.'TEXT D )

At one side she loves the Highlands and at the other she adores to play the lady when the Linton are visiting her. She is torn between two ends, which are symbolized by the persons of Heathcliff and Edgar Linton. She symbolises the innocent women who can't change her situation and whose life is ruled by Victorian society, its prejudices and its conceptions But on the other side she is not so innocent, because she doesn't want to marry Heathcliff because he belongs to a lower social class. That shows her selfishness.

Heathcliff loves Catherine more than his life (which is shown by his vision of her as a ghost before his death), yet he is a cruel and harsh man. Although Heathcliff could have simply run away, his decision to endure the physical pains shows his limitless unlimited devotion to Catherine. He is a cruel person who nobody likes, but in his black heart there is a small room of love for Catherine. When he realizes that his life is coming to an end, he carries through his will to be buried in the same grave as the woman he loved so fervently. The pain he felt during Catherine's marriage with Edgar Linton leads him to retaliate: he forces Catherine's daughter Catherine to his dead-ill son, who was ironically called "Linton", to obtain Linton's property, Thrushcross Grange. He symbolizes freedom without restrictions from society and religion because of his origin as gypsy without home and parents. That's why the other people, the Victorian society, hate him, who is an allegory of liberty. He's also the reason why "Wuthering Heights" was treated immoral by the contemporantsry authors of BrontE

Edgar is a child born to upper class. He loves Catherine and she marries him despite her love for Heathcliff. He is a good father to Cathy. His behaving is completely different to Heathcliff's one: he is cultivated, has no emotions and is also quite boring.

Nelly is an 'impartial' storyteller, yet she clearly influences events and their outcomes. She is more a story-telling device than a really developed character.

Hareton is the son of Hindley. He is graised rew up under the influence of Heathcliff, and that's the reason why he is a coarse, taciturnintroverted man. He tries to better himself improve by learning to read and making himself more presentable is a coarse, taciturn man who wants to become civilized but does not know how until Cathy enters his life.

Atmosphere

The setting, the landscape of the Moors and the houses Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange is described as a spooky, rough, dangerous and vast environment.

This atmosphere is very similary to the one conveyed by the people: Emily Brontë shows in an quite expressive way, how life in the Victorian society can be.

She sdraws hows us with this novel all the problems, all the fears and misunderstandings she had to fight against.

She portraits an authoritarian tyrannising father and brother, like she had in her own life.

We can deduceimagine how difficulthard her existence was, by the very dense and oppressing atmosphere, which can be also be deduced by the title of the work "Wuthering Heights".

I can say that I had some difficulties to "breath" during some passages of this book and at that time it made the reading a little bit boring and bothering.

At the beginning of the novel, the reader finds a kind of ghost appearance, the appearance of the ghost of Catherine who can't rest in peace and isn't able to detach herself from her world. This appearance and the reunion of both souls at the end give the novel a mystic touch

The direct consequence of this ambience are the ghost-visions of for instance Mr Lockwood at the beginning of the novel and Heathcliff previous to his death.

Narrative technique

i)           The narrative structure

The narrative structure of Wuthering Heights is quite unique.

The narrator, Mr. Lockwood, who is being told this tale by another narrator, Nelly Dean, his housekeeper, is a quite unimportant character in the story, who is being told this tale by another narrator, Nelly Dean, his housekeeper.

At certain points in the book, different characters become narrators who tell their story to Nelly, who then tells Mr. Lockwood.

It's impossible to find passages in her story that may be untrue, because she's the only source of information in this novel.

ii)         Her language

Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights as a poet constructs a poem.

This work is sometimes considered a great lyric poem.

It is unavoidable to miss something integral to the story, when every line is not read carefully.

so condensed that one must read every line carefully, otherwise missing something integral to the story is unavoidable. Her word choice is impeccable; she paints panoramic images of characters and events which clearly define tone and mood.

Sometimes some of the characters like Heathcliff and Hareton speak in a difficult to understand Southern-English dialect, which is written in a phonetic-like mixture of sounds.

iii)       The time and organisation of the novel

Brontë also uses techniques which would now be considered modern-day.

Within the first chapter the reader is pulled into the action and suspense instead of having many pages of introduction.

Added to the complex language, this complex organisation of the Novel makes it a little bit more poetic.

The interaction of Nelly and Mr. Lockwood create suspense between sections of story: When Nelly breaks off of her story one wonders what will happen next.

There are some events which stay obscure and unexplained.

The rhythm is confusing because of the time structure which moves backward, forward and sometimes stays also still.

There are also gaps, highlighted events and evasions in the narrative - you have to piece together the truth!

III.         Concluding

Conclusion:

o             With so many distortions, the readers at her time frowned upon Brontë's book.

o             She takes common elements and greatly exaggerates them.

o             She turns love into obsessive passion, contempt into lifelong vindictive hatred, and peaceful death into the equivalent of burning in hell.

o             In doing so, she not only loaded the book with emotions, but vividly clearly illustrated the outcome if one were to possess these emotions in such a society

Imagery: especially concerning the natural world.

Heathcliff: 'Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!' (148).

Symbolism: wild/tame, fierce/gentle, dark/fair.

Mike's opinion

I found this book quite interesting in some points: the Victorian atmosphere dominated by authority and restrictive rules is really fascinating.

I found also the language is very enriching because of its poetic aspects.

But there were also things that I didn't really appreciate.

First, it was very difficult to understand because of the complex narrative structure and organisation.

Then the story was not really so interesting than a modern thriller.

For conclusion I must admit that it was a good scholar exercise which was very enriching by its language and depicting of the Victorian society in England, but whichI must say that Wuthering Heights was also a difficult to understand and but easy to be fascinated of story about appalling people in a forlorn place in England.

Isabelle's opinion

I thought to  find a romantic love-story but it seemed  a little bit too unreal to me, because of his strange and mysterious end.

It was also a book that was hard to understand because of the long and difficult description and the language of the ^th century .

LESESTELLEN:

TEXT A : CHAPTER XXXIV (66-69)

The following evening was very wet: indeed, it poured down till day-dawn; and, as I took my morning walk round the house, I observed the master's window swinging open, and the rain driving straight in. He cannot be in bed, I thought: those showers would drench him through. He must either be up or out. But I'll make no more ado, I'll go boldly and look.'

Having succeeded in obtaining entrance with another key, I ran to unclose the panels, for the chamber was vacant; quickly pushing them aside, I peeped in. Mr. Heathcliff was there -- laid on his back. His eyes met mine so keen and fierce, I started; and then he seemed to smile. I could not think him dead: but his face and throat were washed with rain; the bed-clothes dripped, and he was perfectly still. The lattice, flapping to and fro, had grazed one hand that rested on the sill; no blood trickled from the broken skin, and when I put my fingers to it, I could doubt no more: he was dead and stark!

I hasped the window; I combed his black long hair from his forehead; I tried to close his eyes: to extinguish, if possible, that frightful, life-like gaze of exultation before any one else beheld it. They would not shut: they seemed to sneer at my attempts; and his parted lips and sharp white teeth sneered too! Taken with another fit of cowardice, I cried out for Joseph. Joseph shuffled up and made a noise, but resolutely refused to meddle with him.

'Th' divil's harried off his soul,' he cried, 'and he may hev' his carcass into t' bargin, for aught I care! Ech! what a wicked 'un he looks, girning at death!' and the old sinner grinned in mockery. I thought he intended to cut a caper round the bed; but suddenly composing himself, he fell on his knees, and raised his hands, and returned thanks that the lawful master and the ancient stock were restored to their rights.

TEXT B : The Passion of Heathcliff

''And I pray one prayer- I repeat it till my tongue stiffens- Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you- haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe- I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always- take any form- drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!'' (153)

TEXT C:

''It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same'' (Bronte 73)

TEXT D:

'My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff' (81)'

'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.'

+: Sehr ausführlich. Intelligente Analyse des Werks, die über den Horizont eines durchschnittlichen Referats hinausgeht.