Emily brontĖ (1816-55)

Emily BRONTĖ (1816-55)

Life and works

Emily Brontė She did not have close friends or much need for social contact. She was fiercely independent and had an intense inner life and a profound. In 1846 she, charlotte and Anne published, at their own expense, a volume of poems under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.

Focus on the text: Wuthering Heights

The plot

The structure is complex because it is not based on a chronological sequence of events. The book starts when MR LOCKWOOD, the new tenant of Trushcross Grange, pays a visit to Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights and he's obliged to sleep there because of a sudden storm. At night Mr Lockwood is disturbed by the scratching of a branch on the window but, when he opens it to remove the branch, his hand is touched by mysterious cold fingers, while a voice begs to let in. So he cries out and then Heathcliff comes and begs the ghost of Catherine to come in. The day after Mr Lockwood comes back to Trushcross Grange and asks NELLY, the housekeeper, to tell him the story of Heathcliff. Nelly's narration is the bulk of the novel, in which all the events of the plot until the present time are narrated: Heathcliff is living with Cathy and Hareton (both of whom mistreated) because everyone else is dead. The book restarts when, a year later, Mr Lockwood comes again at Wuthering Heights and finds that Heathcliff is dead and that Hareton and Catherine want to marry.

Features

USE OF TIME: it moves backwards and forwards through memories

DIVISION IN 2 SECTIONS, in each of them is narrated a generation. The two parts are linked by the presence of Heathcliff, who is in both sections: 1. the first section is centred on Heathcliff and Catherine. The story is romantic and imaginative; 2. The second one is centred on Hareton and Cathy: the approach to love is now more mature and more natural.

INDIRECT NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE: there are two story tellers: the first is Mr Lockwood, who tells the story at the beginning and at the end, the other is Nelly, the housekeeper, who tells the main part of the story.

ROMANTICISM the romantic elements are: the LOVE THEME, the role of NATURE, the character of HEATHCLIFF (defined as a Byronic hero: dark-haired, wild and demoniac)

REALISM, it consists in the SOCIAL ASPECT (conflict between 2 cultures and 2 social classes), the description of the SETTING and the complexity of the CHARACTERS' PERSONALITY.

GOTHICISM the gothic elements are: the NIGHTMARISH DREAMS, the country folk's belief in GHOSTS, the superstitions, the prophecies, the presence of something SUPERNATURAL and the relationship between the human and the alien sphere.

ANALYSIS OF PASSION: it is strong and uncontrollable as a force of nature, it continues after the death (Heathcliff and Catherine). It is DESTRUCTIVE and CREATIVE at the same time: it is an impulse which binds the two lovers to each other: they become one.