Wutheering Heights

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Whuteering Heights

The author Emily Bronte
Emily Brontë was born on July 30, 1818 in Thornton, England on the Yorkshire moor. In 1920 the family moved to Haworth and soon after the six children got motherless. Emily spent much of her life at home in Haworth and had few friends. She did enjoy walking on the moors, and she took care of an older servant and her brother.´

Emily and two of her sisters began writing mythology when they were children, and in 1846 the three sisters financed and published a book of poems. Wuthering Heights, Emily’s only novel, was published in December 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. The book did not gain immediate success. The book has been criticized for all the different class levels witch she is prescribing. It means that if you are in a higher class your worth more then a person in the labour class for example. She’s also been criticized for the gender perspective she writes about. According her opinion the women’s duty is to cook, take care of the house and the children. But that was what she had learned from her surroundings, the school, her friends and parents But you can’t blame her, that’s the way girls were raised, and still is unfortunately.
A year after Wuthering Heights was published, 1848, Emily Brontë died in tuberculosis.


Summary
The book starts in 1801 when Mr Lockwood is on his way to visit his landlord, Mr Heathcliff, who lives at Wuthering Heights. Mr Heathcliff is not at home but his wife and Hareton Earnshaw is and they are very unpleasant to him. It starts to snow and it’s beginning to blow a gale outside, so Mr Lockwood couldn’t get home and has to stay for the night. No one is willing to help old Mr Lockwood home and no one is willing to have him staying over for the night either. When he is on his way to leave he gets attacked bye a dog. Mr Heathcliff change his mined and allows him to stay anyway.

He shows him to a small room upstairs, there he falls asleep. It doesn’t take long before he starts to dream mysterious dreams about a girl named Catherine Linton. Suddenly he starts to scream out loud in his sleep and wakes Heathcliff up. Heathcliff gets tired on the old man who says that a ghost came in to the room and helps him home in the middle of the night. The old man Mr Lockwood got a bad cold and stayed in bed for several weeks.
Nelly Dean, his servant woman were sitting furthest down on the bed and watching over him. When he lies sick in his bed he asks Nelly if she could tell him the history about his neighbors. Ones she’s been their housekeeper and a housekeeper hear a lot. She tells him all the long stories about the strange people that lives/lived there.

Mrs. Heathcliff, who was married to Heathcliff´s son, is the daughter of Nelly’s latest master, Edgar Linton. Hareton Earnshaw, the nephew of Mrs. Linton, is Mrs. Heathcliff´s cousin. Mr. Heathcliff was married to Mr. Linton´s sister, who gave birth to Linton, Catherine´s husband. Heathcliff was an orphan Mr. Earnshaw found on the streets. Hindley, the oldest child, was very jealous of him. When Mr. Earnshaw died, Hindley made Heathcliff work in the fields. Catherine and Heathcliff became close friends. One day, while they were spying on Thrushcross Grange, they saw two children, Isabella and Edgar. One of the Linton´s dogs attacked Catherine when they tried to run from there. She stayed for several weeks to heal, and when she returned from the Lintons, she was well mannered and nicely dressed, which annoyed Heathcliff a lot.
A few years later, Hindley´s wife gave birth to Hareton, then died soon after. Hindley, became crazy and couldn’t take care of Hareton by him self. Despite this Edgar and Catherine married and Cathy said to Nelly that Heathcliff was to inferior for her. Heathcliff heard this, and disappeared without a word for many years. Cathy and Edgar was happy a while before Heathcliff came back. Edgar´s sister Isabella fell in love with Heathcliff, but he rejected her at the same time he kissed her to make Catherine jealous. Cathy became very jealous as Heathcliff thought and they had a big fight. During the fight, Edgar came in and ordered Heathcliff to leave the house. Catherine became so angry thus she shut herself in her room for three days.
Isabella ran off and married Heathcliff, but she hated her new life at Wuthering Heights.
One night, Catherine gave birth to Catherine Linton, and died. Soon after Catherine´s death, Isabella escaped to the Grange. She moved to London and had a child, named Linton, and died a few years later. Hindley died six months after his sister.

Upon Isabella´s death, Edgar tried to keep Linton, but Heathcliff sent for him. A few years later, Cathy met her cousin. But Cathy´s father forbids the relationship. She starts a secret love correspondence with Linton.

Mr. Earnshaw finally agreed the two cousins may visit if they do not go to the Heights land. Linton forced Nelly and Cathy to enter the house. Once inside, Heathcliff imprisoned them until Cathy agreed to marry Linton. With her father dying and escape impossible, Cathy relented. After her father died, Heathcliff moved his daughter to the Heights. Linton died soon after the wedding, and Catherine took care of Hareton, and learned him to read.

After a while Mr. Lockwood returns to the Heights. He learns from Nelly that Heathcliff died unexpectedly after a strange and restless madness. He was buried next to Catherine, but several people believed they still see him and Catherine wandering the moors. At last Cathy and Hareton planned to marry each other, then move into the Grange.

Own thoughts
Throughout the novel characters are prejudged by their race, class or education. When Heathcliff is first introduced he is described as a dark skinned boy with dark hair. He is called a ‘gypsy’, and the Lintons treat him badly and send him away from their house because of his appearance.

There was a class hierarchy in Bronte´s England, and this can be seen in the novel as well. The residents of Wuthering Heights seems to be of a lower class than the Lintons at Thrushcross Grange. The Lintons are of a higher class both because they have more money and don’t seem to have to work, and because they are better educated.

Revenge is a major theme of the novel. Early in the novel Heathcliff is described as plotting revenge, and the second half of the novel is dominated by Heathcliff´s revenge against Hindley. Heathcliff...