Chapter 3

Bronte creates tension within the beginning of Chapter three through creating a sense of mystery; Zillah warns Earnshaw to “hide the candle, to not make a noise” as her “master” had an “odd notion” regarding the room he is about to enter.  Naturally, the reader will begin to question Heathcliff’s feelings regarding the room, why will he not let “anyone sleep there willingly?” Zillah even states that there were “so many queer goings on” at Wuthering Heights- through this Bronte hints at the many secrets held within the house’s history, exposing the sense of the unknown, creating an ominous tone, typically Gothic.

Earnshaw describes the furniture in the room as “old fashioned”, describing old “musty” books, again, Bronte resonates the same sense of mystery, the unknown. The reader begins to question why the room has been left to age, to become “musty” and worn; realizing that the furniture dated ‘a quarter of a century back” Bronte evokes the Gothic theme of “looking back” into the past, again creating an ominous tone, building more tension as we begin to find clues regarding the ‘Catherine’ character.

 Lockwood enters Catherine 1’s bed chamber and discovers within the closet a window ledge on which are scratched her various identities; written in the order “Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, Catherine Linton”, we could argue that, as Heathcliff comes before Linton, Heathcliff was Catherine’s ‘first love’. He was there prior to Linton, so in a sense will always be there, triumphing over Linton.

Lockwood notes that Catherine doesn’t use the books for their ‘legitimate’ use, instead of reading them young Catherine chose to write her diary in the margins around the printed work. Symbolically, we can see Catherine as having to write around the ‘male’ print. As literature was a male dominated trade, Catherine is restricted in writing her own prose, instead having to write around the boundaries of the male patriarchy. This relates to the Bronte sisters themselves, having to use a male pseudonym as male patriarchy would their novels to be ignored if they were to use their feminine identity.

Hindley is as a ‘Tyrant’, this links to the conventional gothic character of the oppressive male figure, symbolic of male supremacy within a patriarchal world.

Catherine’s degrading caricature of Joseph acquires the support of the reader, Bronte portrays the character as overly pious, and hypocritical in his religious ways: he forces his beliefs onto Catherine and Heathcliff, sending the pair to “congregation in the garret… groaning and shivering”. He uses his religion to criticize others (over Catherine 2 in chapter 2) rather than enforcing the Christian ways of forgiveness. Bronte’s account of the Joseph exposes her negative attitude towards the “overly zealous” religious figures. This could be a reference to her own childhood, growing up within a strictly religious household.

Bronte begins to explore the Victorian notion of class structure by introducing Hindley as the “master” of the house; in giving the character the title Bronte visualizes the class divide between Hindley, the ‘master’, who resides in “paradise on earth” – as Catherine says mockingly – and Heathcliff who is described as a ‘Vagabond’, a gypsy/beggar figure. Catherine notes that, because of Heathcliff’s lower class, Hindley “wont let him sit with us, nor eat” threatening to reduce him to his “right place” which Hindley believes, because of his social class, not to be within his company. Here Bronte is displaying the Victorian Era’s attitude towards social class, believing in a ‘rigid’ class system set to keep classes from clashing. The wealthy dined with the wealthy and the poor with the poor. Although modern readers may sympathize with Heathcliff’s character, believing he marginalization to be unnecessary, Bronte is portraying the generic attitude towards social class from a Victorian’s perspective; meaning the original reader would share the same values regarding social class as Hindley, rendering his treatment of Heathcliff somewhat justified.

Lockwood’s first dream consists of him visiting a chapel, marginalized by society it resides next to a swamp and is used “embalm corpses” (Gothic). He then sits in on a sermon discussing sin, (more gothic) to which he finds tedious, exposing his distaste in it being split ‘490 times’. Bronte uses the Gothic technique in ‘blurring boundaries’ here; using a dream sequence, Bronte blurs the boundaries between consciousness and Lockwood’s subconscious. Some of the books Lockwood read before falling asleep begin to feature within the dream ‘seventy times seven’. Furthermore, The first and second dreams become connected by sound. Branderham’s ‘shower of loud taps on the boards of the pulpit’ in the first dream become the tapping of the fir-bough on the window pane, which in turn becomes the tapping of ‘fingers of a little, ice cold hand’. The entire time Bronte neglects to specify exactly what is real and what isn’t, again creating a Gothic sense of ‘mystery’ by leaving the reader unknown to what’s exactly going on.

In the second dream Lockwood ‘awakes’ (ambiguous, does he really wake up?) in his room, incorporating a sense of ‘realism’ this dream becomes ultimately more disturbing than the first. The tapping on the window becomes the tapping of the ‘fingers of a little, ice-cold hand” which grabs his arm, making Lockwood shriek out in fear. Again Bronte blurs the boundaries between Lockwood’s consciousness and subconscious as it appears the young girl is “Catherine Linton”, the same character we were just introduced to in the form of a diary entry moments before. The scene becomes more disturbing when Lockwood chooses to sever the young girls wrist on the broken window pain, ‘blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes’, yet another generic Gothic convention of using graphic images of blood and gore to create a sense of unease. Furthermore, Catherine Linton appearing as a spectre, a lonely ‘waif’, incorporates another example of ‘the blurring of boundaries’; we can see that Catherine appearing as a spectre blurs the boundaries between life and death, existing in a state between the two, transgression. 

2

Chapter 2

Bronte uses pathetic fallacy in the beginning of chapter two to craft the novels dark, brooding and ultimately ‘Gothic’ atmosphere: the weather surrounding Wuthering Heights appears ‘misty and cold’- the mist signifies the element of mystery surrounding ‘Wuthering Heights’ and it’s residents. The ‘cold’, ‘heath and mud’ that surround the house acts as the elements warning Lockwood away from the premises, reflecting the occupant’s bitter reception to his company; he is obviously not wanted. Lockwood continues to describe the ’hard … black frost’ that falls on the house; Bronte turns the traditionally white snowflakes to ‘black’ to further her Gothic imagery, replacing the notions of ‘innocence’ linked with the colour white with more Gothic, ominous, feelings related to ‘black’- death etc.

Lockwood suggests that he and Heathcliff are similar in their need for social isolation, however, in wishing to attend Wuthering Heights in order to eat with Heathcliff, he contradicts himself; it is Lockwood who searches for company and wishes to indulge in social conventions while Heathcliff remains comfortable in his seclusion. This ultimately shows how Lockwood makes bad judgments, at least not entirely precise, judgments of his own character- rendering him an unreliable narrator.

Lockwood remarks that, although eating between twelve and one, he requested  ‘that I might be served at five’; his preference to dine later than the other characters shows his distance from them, he does not belong to their world. Bronte uses this to show Lockwood as marginalized, and outsider, that his segregation may cause him to misinterpret and misunderstand the characters. – As he goes on to do (assuming ‘Mrs. Heathcliff’ – judging Hareton). This is furthered by Lockwood’s inability to comprehend Joseph’s discourse.

The introduction of colloquial language visually creates a divide between the characters, regarding class and status; as Joseph has a thick, broad, Yorkshire dialect we can assume he would be of low stock, acting simply as a worker/keeper of Wuthering Heights for Heathcliff. Thus, we begin to focus more on the better speaking characters within the novel- particularly on Heathcliff and ‘Mrs. Heathcliff’.

I could argue that Lockwood subconsciously uses animalistic language when describing Hareton: ‘My name is Hareton Earnshaw’ growled the other ‘and I’d counsel you to respect it’. This is because of his appearance and dialect, visually ragged and sporting a thick Yorkshire accent, Lockwood presumes him to be of a lower class. Holding the same views on class as the original Victorian readership, Lockwood then uses animalistic language as he realizes Hareton as an animal, at least lower than his upper class English sensibilities. Earnshaw ‘laughs internally’ at Hareton’s defense; viewing him simply as a ‘common labourer’ he has no respect for him, because of his class, and so mocks him.

Context.

Gothic

designed to both horrify and fascinate readers with scenes of passion and cruelty; supernatural elements; and a dark, foreboding atmosphere; also realist fiction (incorporates vivid circumstantial detail into a consistently and minutely thought-out plot, dealing mostly with the relationships of the characters to one another)

Narrator

Lockwood, a newcomer to the locale of Wuthering Heights, narrates the entire novel as an entry in his diary. The story that Lockwood records is told to him by Nelly, a servant, and Lockwood writes most of the narrative in her voice, describing how she told it to him. Some parts of Nelly’s story are narrated by other characters, such as when Nelly receives a letter from Isabella and recites its contents verbatim

Lockwood the frame narrator

òThe narrator is a creation of the author used to:

òOrganise, select and present information.

òThe narrator may also:

òComment and judge

òDirectly address the reader

òBe a participant in the story

òBe a detached observer

òAppear to speak with the voice of the author

ò

òLockwood is the frame narrator because his narrative contains all the other narratives and other stories told in the novel

Tone

òIt is not easy to infer the author’s attitude toward the events of the novel. The melodramatic quality of the first half of the novel suggests that Brontë views Catherine and Heathcliff’s doomed love as a tragedy of lost potential and wasted passion. However, the outcome of the second half of the novel suggests that Brontë is more interested in celebrating the renewal and rebirth brought about by the passage of time, and the rise of a new generation, than she is in mourning Heathcliff and Catherine.

Major Conflicts

òHeathcliff’s great natural abilities, strength of character, and love for Catherine Earnshaw all enable him to raise himself from humble beginnings to the status of a wealthy gentleman, but his need to revenge himself for Hindley’s abuse and Catherine’s betrayal leads him into a twisted life of cruelty and hatred; Catherine is torn between her love for Heathcliff and her desire to be a gentlewoman, and her decision to marry the genteel Edgar Linton drags almost all of the novel’s characters into conflict with Heathcliff.