Compare and Contrast the Work of two Novelists who have Outsiders as their Main Characters - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Jaiman Parekh

“Compare and Contrast the work of two novelists who have outsiders as their main characters”

Introduction

Reading Wuthering Heights a book written by Emily Bronte and Brighton Rock a book written by Graham Greene is two very different experiences but both novels have one obvious similarity, which is that they have an outsider as their main characters.

When we look at both novels we see that there is over a century between them when they were written. Wuthering Heights was written in the Victorian era in the 1800’s and Brighton Rock was written in the modern times in 1938.

Looking at Wuthering Heights the novel is set in an isolated region as Emily Bronte wrote the novel from her own background experience. The novel has been set in the Yorkshire Moors where there is a rugged terrain. Emily Bronte loved to go to the moors. Often it is very cold, harsh, and unwelcoming especially to outsiders. In the story two households are in contrast which are Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Wuthering Heights would be described as wild and harsh reflected in the inhabitants. Thrushcross Grange would be described as calm and orderly just like its occupants. Between them are the moors, which link the two households together, which are separate from the village and others.

Brighton Rock compared to Wuthering Heights is however very different. It is set in Whit-sun in Brighton, a popular seaside resort. It is bustling and busy with seemingly happy holidaymakers. There are smoky and very noisy pubs. There is also a racetrack and there is the Cosmopolitan, which is grand hotel for the rich people. There are also Pinkie’s seedy and rented lodgings.

When we look at the structure of Brighton Rock the opening line immediately tells us the readers that there is murder going to happen. “Hale knew before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him”. The story has omniscient narration, which is in 7 parts each split up into chapters. It also has split narratives, which bring up two centres of consciousness, which are Pinkie and Ida. On one hand there is Pinkie hiding the fact that he has done the murder and on the other hand we have Ida who is trying to do a bit of detective work of hers to find out who has done the murder. This keeps the readers attentive throughout the story. In the story you could compare two places, which are the Cosmopolitan, and Pinkie’s lodgings. When we look are the Cosmopolitan it is a large grand hotel. It has a lot of luxury décor and artwork. It has statues and paintings. It has a drinks cabinet and bowls of fresh fruit and vases of exotic flowers. The owner of the Cosmopolitan is Colleoni. He is obviously wealthy and servants surround him. He wears a smart suit and always has a cigar with him. Pinkie’s lodgings however are the complete opposite. It is the meeting place for Pinkie’s gang. It is a run down place with a broken banister. Pinkie’s bedroom is seedy, dark and drab. It has dirty washbasin and crumbs on the bedcover. It is cold as there is no fire. Pinkie looks cheap and he wears a shabby, shiny suit. We can see immediately that Pinkie could never attain the grandeur of the Cosmopolitan

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Compared with Brighton Rock the structure of Wuthering Heights is very different. It has various narrators but mainly double. It has a paired point of view from Lockwood who frames the initial story and the ending of the story. Within the framework Nelly narrates the majority of the action. As readers we are eavesdropping in what Nelly is narrating to Lockwood. Within Nelly’s narration there are the chapters. The chapters are split up into two volumes each with seventeen chapters. In the first volume it describes the two households, which are Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange and how different they are. Wuthering Heights in bleak and dark, it is basically like hell. It has got the basic furnishing nothing fancy. Only certain people can survive there which are the insiders. The insiders would be Nelly, The Earnshaw’s and Joseph. That’s why it has barred gates which means it is like a prison. Thrushcross Grange however is full of light and it has lots of luxuries, it is like heaven. Whenever you would go there, there would be music, dancing or laughter. If we take Thrushcross Grange we can see that this is a place that Heathcliff could never attain. It also tells us about the relationship of Cathy and Heathcliff, which is significant to this story as it is the main focus of the story. In the second volume what it basically is, is a renewal and rebirth of the first volume. In this volume it tells us about the children. There is Cathy who is the daughter of Edgar Linton and the older Cathy. There is also Linton who is the son of Heathcliff and Isabella and also Hareton. The volume also tells about what happened to the children as they grew up. Cathy falls in love with Linton, which was a mistake she made because Heathcliff wanted this relationship to happen because he wanted revenge on Edgar Linton for taking Cathy (older) away from him. He made a cunning plan to imprison Cathy at Wuthering Heights and the only way to be let out was Cathy to marry Linton. As Heathcliff was cruel to Cathy, she was forced to marry Linton and because of the marriage Edgar Linton couldn’t bear anymore pain because he was already sick and so he died. But the marriage thankfully doesn’t last very long as Linton dies later on. Not long after his sons death Heathcliff dies as well. So now the focus is on the love between Cathy and Hareton. This relationship reflects the relationship of Cathy (older) and Heathcliff.

As soon as Heathcliff enters the story we see him as an outsider. Mr Earnshaw found Heathcliff on the streets of Liverpool. He was a gypsy and he had a very unhappy childhood and he was very lonely. When he comes to Wuthering Heights he sees Catherine and immediately falls in love with her. When Heathcliff grows up he is a handsome, vigorous and rugged person “ A dark skinned gypsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentlemen… yet not looking with his negligence, because he has an erect and handsome figure”. As the plot unravels there is the turning point for Heathcliff. This is when Heathcliff overhears a conversation between Cathy and Nelly. Cathy said to Nelly “ It would degrade me if I married Heathcliff.” Hearing this Heathcliff ran away from Wuthering Heights.

The plot now moves into the marriage of Edgar Linton and Catherine. Catherine could not bear being without Heathcliff but she had to face the facts that Heathcliff had run away.

Later on in the novel Heathcliff makes his return but not how the way he was. He came back as a rich gentleman. As soon as he got back he bought Wuthering Heights without the knowledge of Hindley. He had done this because he wanted revenge on Edgar Linton as he took Cathy away from and he wants revenge on Hindley because of the way he was treated by Hindley when he came to Wuthering Heights. Revenge is Heathcliff’s main motivation.

Isabella falls in love with Heathcliff when he came back. Heathcliff took this opportunity to marry Isabella to start his plan of revenge on Edgar Linton. This marriage was false loveless marriage just like that between Pinkie and Rose because Heathcliff didn’t actually love Isabella. Catherine warned her that you don’t wan to marry Heathcliff because Isabella does not know him and only Catherine truly knows what Heathcliff is like. Even though Heathcliff came back rich and seemingly respectable Edgar and society never accepted him because of his background.

Cathy is 7 months pregnant and before she dies while giving birth she is reunited with Heathcliff. Edgar names the child Catherine in memory of her mother.

Isabella ran off to London after finding out that Heathcliff did not actually love her. Isabella had Heathcliff’s child and she sent him back to Wuthering Heights. Now that Heathcliff had his son he thought of putting the finishing touches to his plan of revenge. He thought that he should get his son married to Cathy. He succeeded with his plan and because Edgar could not the sight of seeing his own daughter married to Heathcliff’s son he died. Soon after the death of Edgar Heathcliff’s son also died, as he was ill. As Thrushcross Grange was empty Cathy had to stay at Wuthering Heights. She fell in love with Hareton Earnshaw who was meant to be the next owner of Wuthering Heights but he was not capable of being the owner as he was illiterate and he didn’t know he was. As Cathy’s and Hareton’s love relationship blossomed Heathcliff died and he was reunited with his true love Cathy.

In Brighton Rock the main character Pinkie is also an outsider. Physically Pinkie is thin and pale. He looks youthful, as he is only 17 years of age. “ A boy about seventeen watched him from the door- a shabby smart suit, the cloth too thin for much wear, a face of starved intensity, a kind of hideous and unnatural pride”. He has had an unhappy childhood and was very lonely just like Heathcliff. Pinkie’s main passion you would say is evil. He was the person who had murdered Kolly Kibber and for no one to find out that he had done the murder he had to become an evil person. He is also a very religious person because he is a Catholic. Pinkie is also a very determined person and a very good leader because he leads his gang very well and always wants set tasks to be completed immediately in that sense he is determined. He is always motivated. He got motivated when Kite got killed and he wanted revenge for the murder. This is his motivation just like Heathcliff’s.

Rose is a girl that Pinkie met in Snow’s Café. She falls in love with Pinkie on the spot. She is also a Catholic and the same age as Pinkie. Pinkie decided to marry Rose not for love but just so she can’t testify against him because a wife cannot go against her husband. They get married illegally as they are both underage. After the marriage they go to the Cosmopolitan to see if there is any places for them. Pinkie was not accepted at the Cosmopolitan because the place is for rich people. At the same time that was happening there was Ida a women determined to find the murderer of Kolly Kibber and she wanted to convict that Pinkie had done this murder. When she had full evidence that it was Pinkie who had done the murder she went to the police. When Pinkie found out that Ida knows about him she tried to convince Rose to kill herself if she loved him. But before Rose could even pull the trigger of the gun Ida found her. The police were chasing Pinkie but before they could get him he killed himself.

Although Pinkie dies more violently it is Heathcliff that is more violent. He throws a knife at Isabella and he has dead animals hanging from hooks in his living room. His language is also more violent and because of that he has been described as either a type of animal or like a devil “ as dark as though it came from the devil”. The overall language in Wuthering Heights is difficult to read because of the extensive vocabulary used and Joseph’s speeches in Yorkshire dialect. “ The Lord bless us! The Lord forgie us! Whear the hell, wold ye gang? ye marred wearisome nowt! Yah seen all bud Haretons bit uf cham’er. They’s nut another hoile lig dahn in i’ th’ hahse!”. The language in Brighton Rock has lots of Gangster related vocabulary. Pinkie’s dislike of women is also revealed in his references to women. He calls Ida a ‘polony’ and a ‘bewer’, which seems to be dated now.

To conclude, the novel I most preferred was Brighton Rock because the language in the book was easy to understand then Wuthering Heights. There was a lot more action in Brighton Rock. I have most sympathy for Pinkie because he didn’t have a family that he could live with when Heathcliff actually got to live with the Earnshaws. These two characters were outsiders because they had lower social status. Their behaviour was corrupt and vengeful as they were violent and they had difficulty relating to others especially women.