Wuthering Heights is one of the most popular novels in english literature. It was written by Emily Brontë and published in 1847.
The book itself didn't sell very well as victorian readers found the book shocking and inappropriate in the way that it portrayed love and cruelty.
The Brontë sisters also disapproved of the novel Emily wrote. They couldn't understand why she would create such a character like Heathcliff.
However, although at the time the book wasn't very popular, Emily Brontë is known as one of the finest writers of the nineteenth century.
Wuthering Heights is partly based on the gothic tradition of the late eighteenth century which is a style of literature that includes supernatural encounters (ghosts) and grotesque imagery as well as passion or love.
The story of Wuthering Heights is told through the eyes of Mr Lockwood in the style of a diary entry, however some parts of the book are written through the voice of how Nelly Dean (servant at Wuthering Heights) told Mr Lockwood the story.
The main characters in the story are Heathcliff an orphan adopted by the Earnshaw family who own Wuthering Heights and Catherine Earnshaw who is the daughter of the owner of the heights. She finds herself falling in love with Heathcliff the more time they spend together growing up.
The storyline is about an orphan (Heathcliff) who has been adopted by a wealthy family. Growing up he becomes close to the daughter (Cathy) and they eventually fall in love with each other. However, Cathy feels like she cannot be with Heathcliff because he is of a lower class than her family and if she were to marry into the opposing higher class family who live at Thrushcross grange then she will be the most important lady of the town. She eventually marries Edgar Linton, however they both know that she doesn't really love Edgar and will always love Heathcliff.
The main argument about this novel is whether it is a novel about love, portraying Heathcliff as a hero and it being a romantic story about Cathy's lust for Heathcliff or is it a novel about revenge, portraying Heathcliff as a horrible character who seeks revenge on both Edgar, Cathy and to an extent the people around them because of Cathy's betrayal to Heathcliff.
There are a few themes in the book that i wanted to focus on. The main two being Love and Revenge which have been explained above. Another being Social class, this plays a big part in the novel as the whole reason behind Cathy not wanting to marry Heathcliff is because he is of a lower social class than her and she won't be considered the 'lady of the town' if she doesn't marry Edgar. Heathcliff is treated as a 'servant like' character throughout the whole novel and this is then shown again when Heathcliff's son is born and the 'under class' role has been passed onto him. Another theme is repetition which was also present in the example i have just mentioned. This is shown in the novel when Heathcliff demands young Cathy to marry Linton Heathcliff (son of Heathcliff) almost as a way of getting satisfaction from the fact that he was unable to marry Cathy. He tries to repeat the love that he shared with Cathy to Linton and young Cathy.
References:
1. Brontë, E., Bronte, E. and Bront, E. (1992) Wuthering heights. United Kingdom: Wordsworth Editions.
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