University Literature: EN1004 Analysis of Wuthering Heights

This essay delves into the narrative structure of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, focusing on the use of focalization, also known as free indirect discourse, and dual narration. It examines how the author employs multiple narrators, including Lockwood and Nelly Dean, to present the story from different perspectives. The analysis explores the complexities of the narrative, highlighting the criticisms and the unique style that made the novel popular. The essay further discusses the themes of harshness, cruelty, religious hypocrisy, and social discrimination present in the novel, emphasizing how Bronte's approach to portraying love, vengeance, and the patriarchal society of the time contributed to the novel's enduring impact. The analysis includes references to specific passages and literary scholars to support the arguments regarding the narrative techniques employed by Bronte.

Running head: EN1004 THEORIES AND CONTEXT IN LITERATURE
EN1004 THEORIES AND CONTEXT IN LITERATURE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

EN1004 THEORIES AND CONTEXT IN LITERATURE
Wuthering heights is a novel written by Emily Bronte, and was published in the
year 1847, the publishing was under her pseudonym “Ellis Bell”. It has originally published in
the year 1850 as a second version, which was edited and arranged by her sister Charlotte
(planetebook.com, 2020). The book is considered a classic, but was criticized for its complex
structure, and the ideas the write has represented were considered a taboo in the patriarchal
society. The main themes included harshness and cruelty, religious hypocrisy pertaining in
Victorian ideals, social discrimination especially faced by women and gender inequality.
Therefore, it is mainly considered as Gothic fiction, inculcating dramatic changes in the lives of
the characters. The narrative structure of the story was also considered very distinct,
unrecognizable by other literature scholars as it had a complex structure. The thesis of the study
is to analyze the use of focalization also known as free indirect discourse, within the story
Wuthering Nights, and the first page of the story will be considered in making various
speculations about the indirect discourse used in the passage chosen.
Emily Bronte has specifically used dual narrative style, and is considered
incomprehensible to many readers, and even writers who belonged from Victorian times. The
multiple use of narration, as well as the structure in which it has been framed was full of
complexity, and it was very much criticized by the literature critics (Fletcher and Monterosso
2016). Although, the use of dual narration, was structured by Emily Bronte in such a manner,
that the story was liked by majority of young people.
The first passage on page 3, it has been depicted that in the year 1801, Lockwood,
who was a very young and wealthy person belonging from South England, was looking for a
house which can provide him peace and calmness. Therefore, rents Thrush cross Grange in
Yorkshire. The property owner of that place was known as Healthcliff, had a stature of a well
behaved man, who kept a mistress, an old servant called Joseph and a man being the member of
the family, but looked like a servant by his dressing sense. The Wuthering Heights is a love
story, which happens between Heathcliff and Catherine, but Health cliff or Catherine does not do
the narration of the story. It has been observed that in this narrative, there is a usage of “I”, but
its neither Catherine or her daughter or not even Healthcliff, which normally would have been
chosen by the writers. In here, Emily Bronte has chosen a unique and different person, to narrate
the heartless and true love story of the Catherine and Heathcliff, which was Lockwood. He is

EN1004 THEORIES AND CONTEXT IN LITERATURE
chose by the writer who as outsider and a tenant in their house observes the family and their
communications, which made him known about the story of Catherine and Heathcliff. Lockwood
being the first framing narrator of the story, the second framing person doing the narration is the
Housekeeper Nelly Dean, from whom the first narrator has acquired all the information about the
family (Miles, 2016). These two narrators have told the story, which makes it incomprehensible
while reading the story, as the narration is done according to both the people perspective and
knowledge. There was a subtle relation between the two narrators, as they exchange, this
narrative accounts, while depicting the whole story, sometimes Nelly Dean would take account
of being the first framing narrator, and sometimes it was passed on to Mr Lockwood. It has also
been mentioned that, in expressing the feeling portrayed in letters, remembering old moments,
and even portrayal of feelings and moments of past was collectively narrated by both the
narrators. The author depicted both the person mentality to be conservative and both believer of
the patriarchal society, but still chose them to depict the story of love story and create a picture
of woman lives. The writer intended to show the male mentality for women at that times, and the
process they depicted the up and downs of women life. Emily Bronte was considered the
feminist women, being one of the writers who depicted the male dominated patriarchal society,
and the way they dominated the life of female and even their choices in life.
The Wuthering Heights was a novel who suffered tough criticism, but this proves as a
striking factor, which became the reason for its popularity. The use of double narrative is a
unique process by which it became popular, and therefore got attention in a huge manner from
reader and critics, which compelled many researchers and literary scholars to research into the
complexity, and that compelled the scholars to be amazed by the works of Emily Bronte
(Bensoussan, 2017). Emily Bronte adapted the use of dual narration, which is quite different
from the conventional style of writing a novel. It has also been depicted that dual narration was a
much-advanced style, which were understood by other novelists after many decades of learning
and has been used by very few novelists.
The use of dual narration is quite effective in case of presenting a character, and even
providing a feel to the readers of being an active participant within the story. It has also been
demonstrated that the environment created by the author very well creates place for fitting the
characters inside the story (Chitwood 2016). Many literary scholars argue that the themes

EN1004 THEORIES AND CONTEXT IN LITERATURE
presented in Wuthering heights in such a manner that, it makes it different from as natural
portraying of love consists of passion, care, devotion, pain. Emily Bronte has clearly depicted the
concept of love as brutal, with the sense of vengeance and even included the hypocrisy that was
done to the women in those times.
The novel has many poetic facets, which are quite complex from other novels, which
carried in a traditional methods. Therefore, by this, factors provided and the main thesis of the
study is served, by exploring the factors that creates a vivid understanding of the use of
focalization or free indirect discourse used in Wuthering Heights. From the above discussion, it
has been clarified by providing reference to a stanza extracted from the story; the analysis of free
indirect discourse usage type has been analyses. It has been analyzed that the author Emily
Bronte used dual narrative style, making the story quite popular even after it has criticized by lot
of literary scholars.

EN1004 THEORIES AND CONTEXT IN LITERATURE
References
Bensoussan, N., 2017. The Narrative Structure of Wuthering Heights: An Examination of Nelly
Dean and Lockwood. Ellipsis, 44(1), p.24.
Chitwood, B., 2016. Mixed Signals: Narrative Fidelity, Female Speech, and Masculine Spectacle
in Adapting the Brontë Novels as Films. A Companion to the Brontës, pp.513-527.
Fletcher, A. and Monterosso, J., 2016. The science of free-indirect discourse: An alternate
cognitive effect. Narrative, 24(1), pp.82-103.
Lee, S., The Indeterminate Self in Wuthering Heights. Journal of English and American Studies,
p.39.
Maier, E., 2015. Quotation and unquotation in free indirect discourse. Mind & Language, 30(3),
pp.345-373.
Miles, P., 2016. Wuthering heights. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Mingming, L., 2019. The Unique Narrative Structure of Wuthering Heights.
planetebook.com (2020) Planetebook.com. Available at: https://www.planetebook.com/free-
ebooks/wuthering-heights.pdf (Accessed: 20 April 2020).
Simpkins, C.S., 2016. REPETITION WITHOUT REPLICATION: A STUDY OF HOW MODERN
ADAPTATIONS ALTER THE SOCIAL ARGUMENTS IN THE BRONTË SISTERS’NOVELS
JANE EYRE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, AND THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL (Doctoral
dissertation, Radford University).