Wuthering Heights is a twisted love story and a classic, although I don’t know why it is considered the latter.
The story is narrated by two people. One of them is Lockwood, a man who rented Thrushcross Grange which is owned by the family that lives at Wuthering Heights. He comments on the current situation of the residents and is an extremely confused and nosy man trying to make sense of the cold and odd behaviours of each member of the family. Via his commentary, it is implied that ‘Wuthering Heights’ could not be a more apt name for the residence, given the heights of drama and turmoil present at the estate; as well as the tumult present in the inmates’ minds. The second narrator is Nelly Dean, the housekeeper of Thrushcross Grange who grew up with the main characters of the book, as a maid at the Heights. She sits down with Lockwood to tell him the story of the three families involved from the beginning till the present day situation.
The book seemed to have recurring themes of all the main characters behaving irrationally at some point or the other, either because they were “passionately in love” or due to the “damaging power of love”. For example, Heathcliff was physically and emotionally abused during his childhood and had emerged a wild and independent man who thought that people who performed such actions were the scum on the bottom of his shoes. However, when the love of his life died, he turned around and performed the same actions because apparently, the grief was too much to bear. Another example is his love- Catherine. She had always had a short temper, always had to get get her way and was fierce and passionate; but on account of being deprived of Heathcliff’s company, she starved and isolated herself till she turned mad and essentially willed her body to perish.
The book was confusing from start to finish. The author kept switching from the past to the present without proper indicators of the shifts. Furthermore, there were the shifts between time periods within the past. Additionally, for some reason, the characters just had to name their successors after either themselves or their lovers; which on one hand led to head-scratching; but on the other led to immense relief as the the original namesakes slowly began to die.
The only thing that seemed to be sensible was that the story begins where the family and the individuals began to snarl up and ends where the last two living successors from the messed up family tree fall in love and live happily ever after.
I don’t perceive the purpose behind Emily Brontë writing this book. To me, it doesn’t seem like she had a clear idea of how she wanted the story to unravel. Although, the reason behind the muddle made an appearance when I recalled that Brontë was suffering from tuberculosis when she wrote the book and her sister told the press that she wasn’t right in the head. Overall, I found the read a curious drag.
The story is narrated by two people. One of them is Lockwood, a man who rented Thrushcross Grange which is owned by the family that lives at Wuthering Heights. He comments on the current situation of the residents and is an extremely confused and nosy man trying to make sense of the cold and odd behaviours of each member of the family. Via his commentary, it is implied that ‘Wuthering Heights’ could not be a more apt name for the residence, given the heights of drama and turmoil present at the estate; as well as the tumult present in the inmates’ minds. The second narrator is Nelly Dean, the housekeeper of Thrushcross Grange who grew up with the main characters of the book, as a maid at the Heights. She sits down with Lockwood to tell him the story of the three families involved from the beginning till the present day situation.
The book seemed to have recurring themes of all the main characters behaving irrationally at some point or the other, either because they were “passionately in love” or due to the “damaging power of love”. For example, Heathcliff was physically and emotionally abused during his childhood and had emerged a wild and independent man who thought that people who performed such actions were the scum on the bottom of his shoes. However, when the love of his life died, he turned around and performed the same actions because apparently, the grief was too much to bear. Another example is his love- Catherine. She had always had a short temper, always had to get get her way and was fierce and passionate; but on account of being deprived of Heathcliff’s company, she starved and isolated herself till she turned mad and essentially willed her body to perish.
The book was confusing from start to finish. The author kept switching from the past to the present without proper indicators of the shifts. Furthermore, there were the shifts between time periods within the past. Additionally, for some reason, the characters just had to name their successors after either themselves or their lovers; which on one hand led to head-scratching; but on the other led to immense relief as the the original namesakes slowly began to die.
The only thing that seemed to be sensible was that the story begins where the family and the individuals began to snarl up and ends where the last two living successors from the messed up family tree fall in love and live happily ever after.
I don’t perceive the purpose behind Emily Brontë writing this book. To me, it doesn’t seem like she had a clear idea of how she wanted the story to unravel. Although, the reason behind the muddle made an appearance when I recalled that Brontë was suffering from tuberculosis when she wrote the book and her sister told the press that she wasn’t right in the head. Overall, I found the read a curious drag.