• Ironic [Heathcliff catches the baby] -- person Earnshaw hates the most

• Hindley -- spoiled (not much character development)

  • Hindley jealous of Heathcliff

  • lost everything important to him in life (wife, children)

    • “He had room in his heart only for two idols—his wife and himself: he doted on both, and adored one, and I couldn’t conceive how he would bear the loss.” (Ch 8)

    • Form of karma for his treatment of Heathcliff?

• Dad pays more attention to orphan than own children

• Main Characters:

  • Hindley

  • Heathcliff

  • Catherine

• Expectations of the novel were a lot different

• At first -- main character, girl

• Lockwood -- At first -- main character, girl

• Almost a mechanism to tell the story -- clever way to relate the other story

• Paranormal Scene

  • Heathcliff living with Catherine daughter (Catherine) with Edgar -- and Catherine’s brother’s son

  • What are Heathcliff’s origins?

• Priorities shifted after returning from the Lintons

  • Might have good intentions, actions are not positive

• Psychoanalytic

  • esp. in terms of Catherine & her inner & outer desires

  • emphasis on dreams, inner desires -- the ID vs. Superego

  • Psychoanalysis - hindley

• Marxist -

  • juxtapose Catherine’s materialism with Joseph’s spirituality

  •     Class conflict? Catherine is fixed on what other people think of her status focused on improving her status “degrading”

• Bildungsroman

  • Catherine as a Bildungsroman - does she ever come to a positive realization?

    • Double sided nature

  • Heathcliff as a bildungsroman - orphan, finally returns to Wuthering Heights w/ unfinished business

• Archetypal

  • Heathcliff as an outcast - set up for failure

    • Left for pride

  • If only he hadn't left , heard the end of Cathy’s speech on her feelings

  • Initiation- “teenage angst”

• Traditional History

  • Reflect the culture in which it was written?

    • gothic novel

  • Contrast the culture?

    • Language? G

    • Not the picture of “Victorian society”

• Formalism

  • Ironic or cynical aspects in a romance

    • Hindley & Heathcliff relationship

    • Vengeful, revenge relationship

  • Shift in narrative point of view

  • Flashbacks

    • Story within a story

  • Denotation - studying the old fashioned language

    • Joseph

    • Arrogance without high position

 

 

 

Reading Thus Far:

 

• Thought Catherine was going to have a more interesting death -- more dramatic death?

• No winning for Catherine, cannot sympathize with her, especially for her death

• dies and takes everyone with her, took the easy way out

• Resent her for dying

• Had the willpower to live

• felt bad for Isabella

• definitely used & abused

• revenge on Catherine

• Theme of Revenge

• Heathcliff messing with Catherine

• Hindley & Isabella

• Came back loaded

  • How did Heathcliff get his money?

    • gambling

    • cunningly tricking people out of their money…

• Hindley allows Heathcliff to stay @ WH only for the money

  • Hindley’s gambling problem

LITERARY LENSES

Bildungsroman:

• Heathcliff & Catherine

• Catherine -- doesn’t mature or grow throughout the novel

  • takes the easy way out, takes people down with her

  • wild, flaunts her feelings to Heathcliff in front of Edgar

  • Dynamic vs. Static Character?

    • Catherine = static character because she doesn’t change in the novel, always remains the shallow person, no closure upon her death

• Heathcliff

  • Change after coming back

    • not for the better -- opposite typical direction

    • setback before good change?

  • Comes back civilized in appearance and status, but more animalistic with emotions and actions

  • Coming of Age emotionally? Not so much (At all?)

    • Economic status changes, appearance changes (looks to be a gentleman)

  • Interesting how kind of seems to be a “reverse” bildungsroman

  • Heathcliff begs for her spirit to haunt him

    • Search for closure

    • Last discussion: basis for the supernatural in the novel unrevealed

      • now: Heathcliff begs for Catherine’s spirit to return to him = supernatural theme

  • Will young Cathy become the moral person Catherine chose not to be

Formalism

• Speaker: Narrator Changes

  • Mr. Lockwood

  • Mrs. Dean

• Spring

  • Catherine & Mr. Lockwood both become better

  • Spring as a new beginning

  • Setting as an influencer on the story

• Eyes

  • describe Hareton’s compared to Catherine’s

  • “family” eye

  • During Catherine’s illness her eyes change from passionate to melancholy

  • Mrs. Dean = identifies Heathcliff when he returns by his eyes

• Theme: inner vs. outer beauty

  • Two nice appearances -- nice appearances

  • Edgar -- stays by Catherine

  • How Heathcliff looks the part but does not act like a gentleman

• Heathcliff places hair in the locket & Mrs. Dean twists in Edgar’s hair

• Catherine is not buried with the rest of the Lintons - facing the Moors

• Cathy - when she meets Hareton, likes him at first -- finds out not the master’s son

  • remnant of her mother

  • Same focus on status

• Heathcliff wants his son

  • tyring make Cathy & Linton // Cathy & Hareton to marry - makes Heathcliff inheritor of Thrushcross Grange

Archetypal

• Catherine as “a Temptress”

  • a female who uses males biggest desire against them (either intentionally or unintentionally)

  • male? Does with Isabella as well

  • Uses people’s status and emotions against them

  • Does she do it intentionally or not?

    • in some ways she does, manipulation tactic to get attention

    • also her nature

    • But also manipulative in nature

• Actions temptress leads to “downfall” of another character

  • through her actions, especially manipulation Heathcliff and Edgars intentions and their emotion → dooms to emotional struggle

  • Emotional Limbo

    • Catherine dies without providing closure

    • neither of them can be happy

    • cause of illness - her choice

• That you could say that intentional flaunting of their emotion → chose to make her sick

  • for some reason - feel as though she choose death, gives up as the easy out

  • Her as “temptress” -- flaunts her love and leaves them with nothing

Genre

• Gothic Fiction novel

• interested in what that meant:

• Death? -- YES

• associate with mansions

  • Oppressive bleak setting

  • House of Usher

  • Gothic literature as well (Edgar Allan Poe)

• Supernatural Occurance - her spirit returning

• Curses

  • Heathcliff’s plea for her to return?

  • Lockwood -- Heathcliff sees Cathine and she leaves & Heathcliff is begging her to return

    • curses her spirit to return - she is waiting for the moment of her death

    • “I won’t rest until he’s with me”

  • He dooms Catherine to come back to provide closure for him

• Damsel in Distress

  • Absolutely not Catherine

    • Catherine never seeks salvation asks for it

    • knew what she was doing

  • Isabella -- helps herself by leaving

• Interesting piece for the website -- Look at Feminism / Marxism

• Research: time period, Bronte sisters

Feminism

• Heathcliff is a misogynist

• especially in the way he treats Isabella

  • abusive relationship

  • uses her for revenge

• she gives up A LOT for Heathcliff

• ends up dying alone, with just her son

  • she escapes even in death, she never beats Heathcliff

    • He get her son - she left to protect herself AND her son

    • Heathcliff gets Linton again

Katie’s Notes:

• Psychoanalytic

  • ID’s are the strongest part of their character

  • SuperEgo develop after time @ Grange

    • Diseased SuperEgo

    • Heathcliff brings out her ID side

      • SuperEgo does not have a big impact on her life

• Heathcliff never exposed to a superego - no moral direction

• Edgar & Isabella - caught in cycle of passion

Research:

• Emily Bronte

• Historical Events

• Social expectations

• Beliefs about the supernatural

 

 

 

 

Literary Lens

Archetypal

• Catherine Temptress- using men intentionally or unintentionally

  • Cathering using men for status

  • Catherine manipulates Heathcliff & Linton for personal gain

• Archetypal Situation

  • Sins of Parents (affecting the children)

  • Heathcliff, Mr. Linton, Catherine TORTURED EACH OTHER

  • Cathy and Linton suffering from mistakes parents make

    • cannot have real relation, connection because of father’s hate

• Hareton - archetypal role of the Outcast -- Cause: Heathcliff

  • intentionally separated from society

  • Underdog? In relationship with Cathy…

• Nelly - Mother Nature → takes care of other characters

  • never really advocates her opinion

  • nurturing figure

• Situation -- Marriage == type of initiation, combines Earnshaws and Lintons

• Outcast turned into villain- Heathcliff

Psychoanalytic

• not just simple actions-- past affects them  

• ex. Cathy

  • product of upbringing, sheltered, no contact outside grange

  • affects how she acts when she meets new people

  • going to Wuthering Heights bursted her sheltered bubble

  • wants Linton because it's the only thing she knows

    • in love with the idea of him

  • semi-cruel

  • expects love, and purely run by id

  • hedonistic, does what is best for her

  • All of her behaviors and actions can be traced backed to her upbringing, and can be blamed by her upbringing. It’s a very unconscious thing but very prevalent throughout the story

Linton Heathcliff: Over-attentive/ over coddling mother made him a pansy

• • Linton demanding

Formalism

• Structure

• Heathcliff is the common thread

• Connection

• History repeats itself

• Unchanging qualities of love

• Theme of revenge

• Comes up with the plan for Cathy and Linton to fall in love @ Heathcliff

• Opposition, juxtaposition

suspension of disbelief - Mrs. O

• characters self seeking

• human nature

• Wuthering Heights, and Grange opposites

  • “Wuthering” means stormy, and heights means cliff

  • Thrush type of bird, grange means “rolling hills”

  • Describes people who lives there

  • IN THE NAME

  • Both places isolated

• Doesn’t relate to Bronte’s life, is not taken in account

• ironic that Catherine married Edgar Linton for his position

  • but Heathcliff returns with position and money -- appears a gentleman

Marxism

• explores of ideas of power struggles

  • CATHERINE

    • who has power over the other characters

    • destroys lives of Linton and Heathcliff

    • Does it unintentionally - while knows she is manipulative BUT:

      • Doesn't try to be destructive

  • Heathcliff

    • He manipulates to get what he wants

    • He is purposely tyrannical

    • ABUSIVE relationships -- physically and mentally tortures those around him

      • Linton, Isabella

      • less directly: Cathy, Edgar linton

    • imposes power over others

• Class conflict

  • what Catherine does is to get the lower status

Feminism

• Women hold lower status

• heathcliff = misogynist character

• Cathy USED in plan against Edgar Linton

• ex: scorns Cathy when thought no one was watching -- letters sent to Linton

• Women abide by rules of men in their lives

• W/ exception Cathy/Catherine (defy stereotype)

  • Nelly, Isabella -- portrayed as weak -- never stand up for themselves

  • Isabella v. Heathcliff

 

 

Final Response

 

• it ended positively instead of badly like the rest of the book

• once heathcliff died it became happy. Catherine and hareton could finally choose their destiny

• didn’t like the ending because Heathcliff doesn’t deserve to be with catherine when he dies, because he finally got his happiness

• Heathcliff chooses revenge. He doesnt deserve to end up with catherine in the end

• Its not like heathcliff and catherine are in heaven. I think that they’re in between, which is why theyre here as ghosts

• I liked the ending because all of the loose ends were tied, and it ended calmly and how it should be

• Liked it, because the only characters that were redeemable were Hareton and Cathy, because they pushed off their bad parents and their influence and made a life for eachother.

• Their negative parts of their personality were from their bad experiences, so when the causes of those left they were redeemable

• I said the same as ellie in my response

• Heathcliff, because he was wanted revenge after catherine married edgar, and his sinister personality. But then all of a sudden at the end of the book he doesnt want that, he just wants Catherine. It helps the end of the novel

• Cathy when she first met Hareton she didnt like him, but she overcomes it. Overcomes the social status, something that her mother couldnt do.

• Heathcliff, in order for him to find peace he had to give up the things that were making him stay on earth

• Changes at the end and thats how he got peace.

• Compare him to Lockwood, lockwood as not dynamic, since he doesnt really do anything

• Heathcliff, Hareton, and Cathy. Hareton, core personality didnt change, by the end of the book, his ignorance left and it made a whole new person

• Heathcliff, Hareton, Cathy. Heathcliff on a downward spiral, more animalistic and vengeful spiral. His torture never ends the longer he is away from Catherine. Hareton and Cathy start down the same path, but they are able to escape.

• Formalism

  • different tones, dark and gloomy

  • everything Heathcliff says is scary, dark

  • darkness with his ghost

  • houses are on moors, stagnate, and isolated

  • Pathetic Fallacy

  • another tone: suspenseful

  • keeps Lockwood wanting to know more

  • Cathy taunted Hareton, like Catherine taunted Heathcliff

  • history repeating itself

  • Heathcliff treats Hareton poorly to get revenge on father

• Feminism

  • Heathcliff was creating misogynist characters

  • Heathcliff- no respect for Cathy, especially deathbed

  • Linton- Heathcliff gets to Linton to turn against Cathy

  • Hareton, partially because upbringing Heathcliff’s influence

    • Hareton hit Cathy and then threw book into fire

    • shy but aggressive

• Pathetic Fallacy

  • weather

  • Wuthering Heights

    • when Heathcliff is the owner- dark, isolated, dismal

    • Cathy and Hareton- gate was open, the windows were open, and different vibe

• Physco-analytic

  • see the patterns of the characters’ actions

  • patterns to the actions

  • discusses how everything in the past explains what they do now

  • explains why history repeated itself

  • traits of characters are reflected in their children

  • Hareton when against that lens because he should have been rotten but he had a tender heart

  • went against his background

• Archetypal

  • Catherine is a temptress

    • feelings to personal gain

  • the sins of the parents

  • the physcological torture that CAtherine put the characters through

  • the first generation experienced problems

  • Heathcliff having a need for revenge

• Themes

• revenge

  • Heathcliff felt like he needed revenge

  • took it out on

  • Anti-Hero- start feeling pity

  • look at mad woman in the attack

  • the feminist reading of the novel (take pics)

  • sins of parents are not re-visited in children

  • Hareton and Cathy only redeemable

  • reliable?

• revenge

• love conquers hate

• the one action of Edgar and Catherine getting married caused the whole story and used relatable characters

• love (multiple)

• obsessive

• parental

• immature

• different phases of relationships

• seeing how much it affected plot and characters

• Love vs. status

  • Catherine struggling to chose and Cathy has the same thing

  • Heathcliff strives for social status

• How far will people go?

  • the drive of people in order to get what they want

  • the drive of Heathcliff to get revenge

  • the drive of Linton to end up with Cathy