Wuthering Heights

:For the song by Kate Bush please see Wuthering Heights

Plot

Brontë's novel tells the tale of Catherine and Heathcliff, their all encompasing love for one another, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them both.

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Beginnings

The novel begins with the introduction of Lockwood who is new to the dark Yorkshire moors where Heathcliff resides. He is to be a tenant of Heathcliff, and through Lockwood's recounts of his meetings with his dark and brooding landlord we are told the tale of how the foundling Heathcliff came to reside with the wealthy Earnshaw family; how Heathcliff's friendship with Catherine Earnshaw developed to a point of mutual dependence and infatuation, much to the distaste of her brother Hindley; how Heathcliff's bitterness developed after the death of old Earnshaw and marriage of Catherine to Edgar Linton (a man of similar social standing to herself) and how being separated from Catherine set Heathcliff on a path of destruction fueled by bitterness and hatred.

Related Topics:
Yorkshire - Moors

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Half-way through the novel the narrator changes and we are told the conclusion of the story by Nelly Dean, housekeeper to Wuthering Heights and its current residents and longstanding servant to the Earnshaw family.

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Repercussions

Through Nelly Dean we gain more insight into how the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine was to have far reaching repercussions for their families and children. Heathcliff's passion for Catherine is so dark and sinister that he has become hellbent on destroying the happiness of her sister-in-law, her child and indeed the happiness of his own child. This mission of destruction, whilst fervent during Cathy's lifetime, becomes more empassioned after her death.

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Demise, Difference and End

Only through the union of young Hareton and young Catherine can the pattern of hatred and darkness be broken and of course this can only come with Heathcliff's eventual demise at the end of the novel. The difference between young Hareton and young Catherine and Cathy and Heathcliff is, of course, that they are matched in social status and experience and therefore have more in common than just their love for one another.

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