Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte, 1847
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Mr Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange in 1801 and visits his landlord Heathcliff at the bleak Wuthering Heights. A ghostly dream leads him to ask the housekeeper Nelly Dean, who tells the story of the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Heathcliff, brought home as a foundling, grows close to Catherine Earnshaw, but she marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff leaves, returns rich, and takes revenge on both families. The second generation, Cathy and Hareton, finally find a gentler path.
Where it happens
- Haworth, West Yorkshire Village whose dialect and landscape are tied to the Brontë novels.1
- Top Withens Ruined farmhouse near Haworth suggested as the model for Wuthering Heights.1
- Ponden Hall House said to inspire Thrushcross Grange, which Brontë visited often.1
- Liverpool Mr Earnshaw returns from here with the child Heathcliff.12
Through time
- 1847Thomas Newby publishes the novel under the name Ellis Bell, with Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey.1
- 1848Harper & Brothers of New York publish the first American edition.1
- 1850Charlotte Brontë edits a second edition with her foreword, after Emily's death.1
- 1925Virginia Woolf affirms the greatness of the novel.1
- 1926C. P. Sanger's study of the chronology shows Emily's careful planning.1
Who is in it, and behind it
Charlotte Brontë author
Edited and added a foreword to the second edition of 1850.1
Thomas Cautley Newby printer
Published the first edition of 1847 together with Agnes Grey.1
Catherine Earnshaw character
Heathcliff's childhood companion, who marries Edgar Linton.1
Edgar Linton character
Lives at Thrushcross Grange and marries Catherine.1
Mr Lockwood character
The 1801 tenant at the Grange who frames the story.1
Nelly Dean character
The housekeeper who tells Lockwood the story.1
Hareton Earnshaw character
Hindley's son, raised as a servant, who reclaims Wuthering Heights.1
What it is about
Two houses, two worlds
The wild Wuthering Heights and the genteel Thrushcross Grange mirror their occupants.2
Revenge over forgiveness
Heathcliff's long campaign against both families drives the plot until the next generation softens it.12
Stories within a story
Lockwood frames the narrative and Nelly tells it, so the reader hears everything second hand.1
Love as possession
Love and possession are central themes of the first volume.1
In its own words
“Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.
“My name is Hareton Earnshaw,” growled the other; “and I’d counsel you to respect it!” “I’ve shown no disrespect,” was my reply, laughing internally at the dignity with which he announced himself.
I tell you, I have such faith in Linton’s love, that I believe I might kill him, and he wouldn’t wish to retaliate.” I advised her to value him the more for his affection.
But it is utterly impossible I can ever be revenged, and therefore I cannot forgive him.
I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
The shape of the book
34 chapters, 115,922 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
Emily Brontë published her only novel in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell. Thomas Newby printed it with her sister Anne's Agnes Grey as a three-volume set. Reviewers were divided. Charlotte edited a second edition in 1850, smoothing punctuation and the servant Joseph's dialect. Virginia Woolf praised the book in 1925. Readers have linked its settings to the moorland around Haworth, including the ruined farm at Top Withens and Ponden Hall.
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Sources
Text: PG 768. CC0 (Standard Ebooks).