Emily
Brontë, Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a very "visual" novel. What scene sticks
most vividly in your mind?
Some people have commented that the Yorkshire moors are the central
character in the novel. How important is the setting? Do the moors add
or distract? What does the setting suggest about man's place in the natural
world? A term often applied to Wuthering Heights, because
of its ardent faith in nature as both the revelation of deity and
deity itself, is "pantheism." What descriptions or events would
tie in to the concept of pantheism?
Like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Little Women,
this novel was originally written for adults but is now most commonly read
by adolescent girls. I this novel more likely to appeal to women than men?
Why?
Like Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights is considered both a Romantic
and a Gothic novel. How do we see these
categories applied? Are there differences in the way they are applied
to Frankenstein and the way they apply here? Is Heathcliff
a Byronic hero? Why? Why not?
Are there any issues presented in this novel that are primarily women's
issues? Are general issues handled from an identifiably female perspective?
What is the effect of the enclosed narrative structure in Wuthering
Heights? What is Lockwood's function? Why is it important
to remember that it is Ellen Dean telling him the story? Why would
Brontë create such a convoluted structure?
To many critics Isabella's letters are the weak point of the novel.
Do you agree? Why? Why might Brontë have chosen to move the plot (and
the story) in that way?
How are readers supposed to react (pity, sympathy, hate) to Heathcliff?
Lockwood? Catherine? Hereton?