We Welcome you to the Official Wuthering Heights Communist Book Circle

By: Captain Cory, Brisilda, Heather, Bernadette, and Allison

Discussion Log

Family Tree

Analysis of Major Characters:

     Heathcliff- He is the man at the center of this story. He is introduced into the Earnshaw family when Hindley and Catherie's father comes home from a trip. Hindley's father is the only one that accepts Heathcliff for who he is while everyone else seems to have a preconcieved notion of him, since he is of gypsy decent.   Everyone and everything revolves around him. He lives for Catherine and their love is what keeps him going. Ironically the most beautiful, transcendant love drives him to the most evil revenge and suffering with catherine's death. Heathcliff can be characterized as having negative "parts" that come with such passionate and deep love that are almost dark. He is deeply conflicted and knows his own evil that he endorses. Heathcliff lives for Catherine. She is his motivation to do anything so he leaves to make himself a better person and make money for her.

     Catherine Linton (Earnshaw)- the sister of Hindley and mother of Catherine Linton. Her love for Heathcliff transcends everything else even marriage which is socially a serious life long commitment. She wants Linton and Heathcliff because she cannot live without him but Linton is good for her. Sometimes she can be very selfish and act only with her own happiness in mind. When Heathcliff leaves her in her illness she dies while he is gone.

     Hareton Earnshaw-Hareton grows up in a conflicted house with no one to guide him. He is especially loyal to Heathcliff despite his poor treatment toward him.

     Young Catherine Linton- She is a combination of her calm father and fiery mother. She is left at the end with Hareton. Her identity changes throughout the story as she is impacted by her experiences.

     Nelly Dean- acts as the housekeeper/ maid for the younger Catherine. She grew up with the Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw.  Athough her role in the family is minor, she seems to directly impact the outcomes of everyones lives. She watches and observers everything that happens. She has her own thoughts and opinions that come through in her telling of the story. Her loyalty to Hareton is very strong and she does not favor Catherine Earnshaw who she believes to be a selfish girl. 

      Lockwood- He is an outside listener who hears and then tells the story.

Themes:

• Conforming to Society:  Society has its limits and what everyone believes is right, and this is what affects a person’s personality.  The characters all mostly conform to themselves or their lives to because they have no outer influence to associate with.  When Heathcliff is first introduced to the family, he is shunned and treated as an outcast.  At the end, he changed, and tried to fit into society by gaining money and moving up the social ladder.
• Upbringing:  Heathcliff has brought up feeling inferior to everyone and that had a bad effect on his character.  Upbringing shapes your character when you’re really young and that sets your base for your future.
• Revenge:  They never get what they want and then they seem like they are lost in the expanses of their brains.  When you are always conflicting with everyone that is near you, they try to pass each other’s achievements, and when that does not occur, they want to take revenge on the others; just as Heathcliff did when he seemed to marry Isabella in spite of Catherine’s marrying of Edgar Linton.
• Power:  Heathcliff looks for power and everyone always wants power, and that is what turned out to bite him in the end.  They all believe that in order to succeed they need more power.
• Love:  Marriage between the couples was important, yet they married people they did not truly love.  They love what small world they are already associated with. Love drives them to ironically be vengeful, angry, revengeful, and hateful, even though it should cause the opposite of it all.

Images and Metaphors:

    Windows

     - The window sills are like the eyes of the characters. They cannot empathize with others but mostly feel their own feelings without putting themselves in other people's shoes. They look out to the world but they never go out to and explore and escape from their own minds. when Catherine Earnshaw is sick Nelly Dean closes the window but Catherine wants to keep it open. she is trapped in her house at Thrushcross Grange away from Healthcliff. Her life and mind holds her back and she has no more life left. Heathcliff dies with the window open. He is freed in death and can join Catherine above reality and a human state. He is finally able to leave. the windows were closed throughout the book except when the ghost visits Lockwood. windows can also be seen as the connection or path to life after death and transcendent being.

     Houses

      - How Heathcliff now lives in fancy house not fancy inside. Wuthering Heights is broken, run down, dark and scary. It is a prison to everyone that lives there. houses represent confinement. ironically they cling to their prisons and wrapped in their thoughts even as they hinder them and hold them in one place. Thrushcross Grange is nice, sunny, well kept and neat. ironically their

     Storms

     - The storm that is happening when Heathcliff is brought to the house by Hindley represents a kind of birthing. The rain coming through the window at the end is washing everything away and rain helps bring about growth and newness. Heathcliff finds happiness and dies with a new beginning. He went to be with Catherine at last. he suffered so that he could be happy.

     Moors

     -The ghost of Catherine says she was lost on the moors. Nelly speaks and acts less controlled by her feelings and emotions than everyone else does. everyone creates their own reality of dream world. They need to live in the physical world they are in so that they can really know their dreams.

     Ghost

     - Catherine's ghost came to Lockwood so someone outside of their world would know the story. She came to him instead of times when she could have visited Heathcliff. Lockwood may represent Heathcliff in some ways because he has fallen for the young Catherine as well.

     Colors

      -Light/ dark.- Wuthering Heights is Gothic and Thrushcross grange is not. Love and happiness colors things with hope even when evil, sadness and suffering reach those places. Linton is changed when he goes to Wuthering Heights, he could have been different and understood life differently if he had lived elsewhere.

Key passages/text analysis:

The first appearance of Heathcliff in the book, when he was brought into the Earnshaw family -Children's reaction not present

Pg 42:

"This was Heathcliff's first introduction to the family. On coming back a few days afterwards (for I did not consider my banishment perpetual), I found they had christened him 'Heathcliff': it was the name of a son who died in childhood, and it has served him ever since, both for Christian and surname. Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him: and to say the truth I did the same; and we plagued and went on with him shamefully: for I wasn't reasonable enough to feel my injustice, and the mistress never put in a word on his behalf when she saw him wronged."

-When Catherince confesses to loving Heatclifff to Nelly- Catherine says she is one with Heathcliff but cannot be with him because of status and wealth.  She tells Nelly that she knows it is wrong for her to marry Linton, but she still does and by doing so shapes all of the characters lives.  This passage lets the reader look into Catherines head and somewhat understand her motives and decision.

Ironies:

-None of the characters get what they desire at the end- they were somewhat selfish - self gain for all except Hareton ; those who go against the grain get burned, those who go with the flow prosper

-Hareton is still loyal to Heathcliff despite Heathcliff taking advantage of him and not respecting him.

-Catherine, who arguably might have been trying to do what she believed was right or accepted at the time, ruined all of the other characters lives.  Catherine had so much influence in the outcome of everyone elses lives through her decision, but ironically she does not care for other people, she is selfish.

-Love-it is ironic that love can free us in so many ways yet also confine us.

Clips from the movie:

 Movie Trailer from 1992

Catherine is sick

Links for more information:

Psychological Interpretations of Wuthering Heights: FREUDIAN, JUNGIAN, MONOMANIA Perspectives

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/wuthering/psych.html

Life of the Author, Emily Bronte

http://www.biography.com/articles/Emily-Bront%C3%AB-9227381

Information about the Wuthering Heights Movie (1992)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104181/