Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Investigating Chapter 1 In the opening paragraph note down any contrasts between Lockwood’s impressions and the language used to describe what he actually sees. Do you see any significance in the names Lockwood and Heathcliff? What is your overall impression of Wuthering Heights? Find some key words and phrases which are used to give this impression. Investigating Chapter 2 Make a list of the misunderstandings that Lockwood has in this chapter What do you make of ‘Mrs Heathcliff’s’ reference to ‘Black Art’ and ‘modelled in wax and clay’? Is she serious, or just taunting Joseph? Investigating Chapter 3 Catherine’s diary provides another, second-hand, narrative voice. What is the effect of this technique? What is the effect of the blurring of dream and reality in this chapter? Can the reader tell where the boundary lies? Investigating Chapter 4 Find the description of Heathcliff as a boy and list the terms that Brontë uses to describe him. What overall themes do you notice? The endings of chapters are often significant. What is your response to the final sentence of Chapter 4? To help avoid confusion about the various names and relationships, draw up a family tree of the parallel Earnshaw and Linton families. Investigating Chapter 5 Pick out the key terms in the description of Catherine in paragraphs four and five of this chapter. Compare this list with the one for Heathcliff in Chapter 4. What picture of religion is given in this chapter, do you think? © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Investigating Chapter 6 This chapter describes the first contact between the two houses. What initial contrasts can you find? Make a list. Hindley returns a changed man. Characters who leave the moors and return are usually changed in this novel. Why do you think Brontë does this? What role does Frances play in the story? Why has Brontë included her? Investigating Chapter 7 Are your sympathies with Heathcliff at this point? What factors have affected your view? What effect does the background of Christmas have on our response to the events of Chapter 7? What is the reader’s reaction to Heathcliff’s desire to ‘punish’ Hindley? Would a Victorian reader react differently? (See Critical approaches > Iinitial reactions.) Lockwood comments on the people of the area: ‘They do live more in earnest, more in themselves, and less in surface change, and frivolous external things.’ Does this statement help the reader to believe in the behaviour of the characters? Investigating Chapter 8 Nelly says of Catherine: ‘She never had power to conceal her passion.’ Is this the key to Catherine’s character? What three words would you use to describe Catherine at this point? The image of the cat and mouse in the penultimate paragraph is another natural image used by Brontë. Explain why this is a particularly appropriate comparison here. © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Investigating Chapter 9 Note Catherine’s dream about [3heaven3]. Several dreams are mentioned in the novel. Why do you think they are important? The sudden storm is seen in biblical terms. What extra power or significance might this give it? If you can, read the conversation between Nelly and Catherine aloud with a partner, reading only the dialogue. You should notice the flow of the exchange, and be aware of the person overhearing. Investigating Chapter 10 Draw up two columns and list comparisons and contrasts between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Use this chapter and any previous ones that are useful. Compare Catherine’s description of Heathcliff to Isabella with Nelly’s description of him when she shows him in. How has Heathcliff changed, and how has he stayed the same? Find examples of animal imagery in this chapter, and comment on each one. In particular, what is the effect of the image in the final sentence of the chapter? Investigating Chapter 11 How does Heathcliff gain influence over each of the following characters? Hareton Hindley Isabella Catherine Edgar Notice how Edgar is described as ‘cold’. What is the significance of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ in this novel? Nelly is more than an objective observer in this chapter. Make some notes on her role in the novel so far. © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Investigating Chapter 12 Are Edgar’s reactions to Catherine and Isabella evidence of his ‘coldness’, or just the responses of a rational man? List what Catherine says in her delirium and note how each statement links to any/all of Heathcliff / her childhood / her current identity Nelly dismisses much of what Catherine says, but what important information does Brontë convey us in this chapter? Investigating Chapter 13 Isabella is ignored by Edgar, ill-treated by Heathcliff, and scorned by Joseph. Do you feel sorry for her, or has she brought this on herself? Investigating Chapter 14 Which characters prove able to forgive in Wuthering Heights? Is it only Hareton? Make a list of the violent images used in this chapter. Comment on the detail of each one. Some critics think that Brontë has gone too far in stretching the reader’s credibility regarding Heathcliff’s language and actions. What is your view? On a new sheet of paper go through the novel so far and make a note of how Nelly’s actions affect the plot for good or bad. Use the sheet to add notes from your subsequent reading. What evidence is there to regard Nelly as a ‘villain’ of the novel? Investigating Chapter 15 Read the description of Catherine in the third paragraph of the chapter. What do you think Bronte’s intention is here? © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Investigating Chapter 16 There is plenty in this chapter that has symbolic or suggestive meaning. Look at the following, for example, and comment on them. The time of baby Cathy’s birth The description of light in the second paragraph How Heathcliff is compared to animals in his reaction to Catherine’s death Nelly twisting the two locks of hair together The position of Catherine’s grave. Compare Heathcliff’s words after Catherine’s death with Catherine’s dream in Chapter 9. Investigating Chapter 17 Make notes on Isabella’s description of Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff, especially in terms of the style and language used. Compare Hareton’s hanging of the puppies with Heathcliff’s similar action in Chapter 12. What does this similarity suggest? Investigating Chapter 18 Create a table that compares Cathy with Catherine, her mother. Do you think that Bronte is making the daughter more likeable than the mother? If so, why? Investigating Chapter 19 In what ways, and how, does Bronte influence the reader in our first view of Linton in this chapter? Investigating Chapter 20 Much of this chapter is told through dialogue. What does Bronte achieve as a result of this approach? © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Investigating Chapter 21 What reaction do you think Brontë wants us to have when Cathy and Linton mock Hareton? Make brief notes on Cathy as Brontë describes her character, ideas and feelings in this chapter. Investigating Chapter 22 What use does Bronte make of the ‘little flower’ that Nelly and Cathy see on their walk? What could it symbolise? Investigating Chapter 23 Nelly describes Linton as ‘the worst-tempered bit of sickly slip that ever struggled into its teens’. Is this a fair assessment of him, or is there more to him, do you think? Much of this chapter is told through dialogue (as noted in previous chapters). Make a list of the adverbs and other phrases which describe how characters are speaking. What do you notice? Investigating Chapter 24 The pictures of their perfect days are different for Cathy and Linton. Draw up two columns and list the words used to describe each ideal. Which senses are used? Do you find the attraction of such opposite people convincing? Investigating Chapter 25 Does Lockwood’s admiration for Cathy make him more or less convincing as a character? Draw a spider diagram (mind map) to show the relationships between the main characters at this point. © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Investigating Chapter 26 It is often difficult to sympathise with Linton, but does the reader feel sorry for him in this chapter? Investigating Chapter 27 List words and phrases which show Heathcliff’s character in this chapter. Words he uses Words which describe his actions Other characters’ words about him Is Heathcliff worse than ever? Has he lost the reader’s sympathy altogether? What do you think Brontë is trying to achieve here? Investigating Chapter 28 What do you think is the significance of the means by which Cathy escapes from Wuthering Heights? What does the fact that Heathcliff has gained control over the lawyer add to our picture of him and his revenge plan? Investigating Chapter 29 Cathy challenges Heathcliff with ideas about love and hate. What effect does this outburst have on the reader? What effect do you think it has on Heathcliff? Is this the point at which Heathcliff gives up on his plans, and on life itself? Heathcliff talks of Catherine having ‘disturbed’ him for years, causing him endless torment. Would you, therefore, describe his feelings for her as ‘love’? Are there other strong emotions involved? © 2014 crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel refers to links on www.crossref-it.info Wuthering Heights : Investigating the novel Investigating Chapter 30 How successfully do you think that Brontë covers parts of the story which Nelly cannot know about, such as in this chapter? ‘He’s safe and I’m free’. From what does Cathy see herself as free? Read the paragraph beginning, ‘That were a great advance for the lad.’ Pick out five key words or phrases. What impression of the two characters and their relationship do these key words give you? Investigating Chapter 31 Lockwood, as earlier in the novel, tends to assume what other people are thinking or feeling. Find some examples of this. For each example, say whether you agree with his assumptions. Investigating Chapter 32 Re-read the paragraph which describes what Lockwood sees when he looks in on Cathy and Hareton (beginning: ‘The male speaker…’). List the words used to describe the two young people. Why do you think that Emily Brontë uses these words here? Investigating Chapter 33 In this chapter, both Cathy and Hareton are compared with Catherine (in the paragraph beginning, ‘They lifted their eyes together…’). Heathcliff comments on this about a page later. Why are these similarities important as we approach the end of the novel? Investigating Chapter 34 Trace references to heaven and [3hell3], and to [3devil3]s, [3fiend3]s etc in this chapter. What final view of Heathcliff do these references give? Re-read the final sentence of the novel. Is this a peaceful, romantic ending, suggesting a calm future, or does the phrase ‘wondered how anyone’ suggest ambiguity, coming as it does from the mouth of the [3unreliable narrator3] Lockwood? © 2014 crossref-it.info
© Copyright 2024 ExpyDoc
