Another interesting think about this book is that it starts at the end, goes back in time (when nelly tells her story) then finishes at the death of Heathcliff, because of the narrator changes and intricate plot , the reader might get confused when reading wuthering heights, even so, I think it is the complexity of the novel that makes the reader read on. In chapter one, there is quite a lot going on, the reader has just met 3 of the main characters in this book and one of them has been attacked by some of the owner of wuthering heights dogs, because there is a little bit of action in the first chapter the reader will want to know more, and also the way chapter one ends when it seems that Lockwood wants to return to wuthering heights and heath cliff doesn’t seem keen on that idea then the reader will want to know more about these characters that Lockwood has met, just as much as the character Lockwood.
In the first chapters of wuthering heights there are not many references to 19th century life, there is the character Joseph, who has the extreme catholic views that a lot of people had in the 19th century, he actually seem more or less fanatically religious. Joseph is an old servant at wuthering heights, by the way he speaks and acts the reader can imagine what he might look like, Joseph is strange, stubborn, and unkind, and he speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent, I would think he would be very wrinkly and as Lockwood described him ‘an old man: very old, though hale and sinewy’. back to 19th century life, the only other thing that I have noticed in the chapters that indicate something to do with the 19th century is that the inside of the heights has a parlour, I think parlours were mainly in the 19th century as many bigger houses or manors would have a parlour. In the 19th century people did not live that long, 30 would be scene as old, in this book all the characters are described as older, wiser people. Catherine Linton was about 18 when she died, but the reader would think she was older, which is the same with Heathcliff, because of his character and how evil he is throughout the book that he is also quite old, but when he dies he is only 37. This actually shows that because of Emily Bronte not being very sociably herself she did not no how other people her age, and younger people behaved in society.
In Wuthering Heights, the outside setting is quite astonishing, In the first paragraph of chapter one, the external setting is being described by Lockwood, he describes a beautiful country, by which he means the moors, ‘so completely removed from the stir of society’, even though the reader can probably imagine this beautiful countryside it does bring to mind that the setting of wuthering heights can be so surreal, and horrifying at times, ‘completely removed from the stir of society’ could mean that the moors which wuthering heights are set on are lawless and isolated. Throughout the book the outside setting e.g., the weather, changes a lot, from sunny to cold and wet, however even in sunny weather wuthering heights still seems to have a gothic and creepy element surrounding it.
When lockwood visit’s the heights for a second time when he is forced to stay there the night, there are more gothic related things inside wuthering heights, in chapter Mrs. Heathcliff threatens Joseph with what she says is witchcraft, then lockwood has a weird supernatural dream which I mentioned earlier in the essay about the ghost of Catherine Linton. The dream starts of with something that has no real relevance to the book, at the end of the first part of Lockwood’s dream there is someone making a tapping noise, Lockwood wakes up, or seems to wake up to find that the knocking is a tree branch against the window, he tries to stop it only to realize that it is not a branch but a hand now, the hand grabs him and tells him that she is Catherine linton, the ghost wants to be let in but lockwood wont let it. The ghost is Catherine Linton, 'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shivering (why did I think of LINTON? I had read EARNSHAW twenty times for Linton), Lockwood does not know anything about the people who have lived in wuthering heights or who are connected to it so it will make him extremely curious to why he dreamed about Catherine Linton. He is so scared by this dream that he screams out loud, and wakes up properly to the noise of footsteps approaching his bedroom, Heathcliff runs in. Heathcliff is angry at Lockwood because as the reader is told at the beginning of the 3rd chapter by Zillah “she recommended that I should hide the candle, and not make a noise; for her master had an odd notion about the chamber she would put me in, and never let anybody lodge there willingly.”. Heathcliff gets even more distressed when Lockwood starts telling him about the ghost in his dream, he says this about Catherine Linton, 'If the little fiend had got in at the window, she probably would have strangled me!'. Heathcliff takes a big offence towards this, which shows a lot about his character, he says the next sentence with savage vehemence “God! he's mad to speak so!'’’ And he struck his forehead with rage.’
From the first time the readers of Wuthering Heights are introduced to Heathcliff the opinion most people would of formed about him would be a cold, heartless man, in the first chapter as Lockwood rides up to the heights Lockwood writes in his journal how his “black eyes” withdraw suspiciously under his brows at Lockwood’s approach. Also in the copy of wuthering heights that I read there was a short biography by Charlotte Bronte on her sister Emily and her book Wuthering Heights. Charlotte Bronte’s views on Heathcliff are that he is on ‘an arrow straight course to perdition’, and as most people thought of the character Heathcliff at the time that he should never of been imagined by Emily, which means most people thought Heathcliff was pretty evil. Also during the book when Heathcliff is first brought the Heights the main thing the other residents of Wuthering Heights thought of him was ‘the little black haired swarthy thing, as dark as if it came from the devil’.
However in the first three chapters no one could even try to imagine the whole character of Heathcliff, he is so dark and mysterious. At first he seems very unsociable, which he is, until the end of chapter two where he lightens up slightly. For some strange reason Lockwood is very intrigued by this man he has just met, even though he has shown no signs of hospitality towards him, ‘I felt interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself.’.
The ending of chapter one does not end dramatically, but it does leave the reader wondering about all the characters they have just been introduced to. Although at the end of this chapter it seems as though Lockwood is not going to return to Wuthering Heights he is just as intrigued as the reader of the novel. In the next chapter there is a bit more action, however it is caused by Lockwood being a fool like in the first chapter. The chapter ends with Lockwood being forced to stay overnight, so now he will be able to get to know the house and characters better, therefore so will the readers, which will certainly mean they will carry on reading the book.
The novel is quite interesting but I do not think the three chapters I have read are really that effective, the first chapter did not interest me at all, I thought it was just to vague and didn’t have anything that would really grab my attention. What did intrigue me was the use of language because I have never read anything set in the 19th century before Wuthering Heights. I think it is only the third chapter that really gets the readers attention, because some interesting has happened and that there is more to the heights than meets the eye. In this day and age what I think make people actually read the book is because it is a classic, people want to know what is so great about wuthering heights, and I know that this book is totally different to other books written at the same time, the characters in the novel are very intriguing and elaborate, therefore I think that is the main reason that people will read on to the end of Wuthering Heights.
