Assignment Questions - Reading, Writing, and Research for Literature | EH 301 | Assignments English Language

Research questions… A Selection of Responses from Exercise #5.

1. One major theme of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is overwhelming love. Other

than the narrators, each character’s actions are influenced by sometimes unhealthy or

impossible love for another. Until the end of the novel, most of the relationships in

Wuthering Heights result in the building up of frustration, tension, and sometimes death.

Love drives these characters nonetheless. In what way is love tied to vengeance in the

novel, and is this vengeance justifiable?

2. In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is one of the most bizarre and complex

characters. Early in his life, he shows redemptive qualities in his interactions with

Catherine Earnshaw. In fact, he is likable until Catherine decides to marry Edgar Linton.

After this marriage, what (if any) redeemable qualities does Heathcliff portray? Is he

innately villainous or are his actions justified by his abandonment by his biological

parents, the treatment he received from Hindley after Mr. Earnshaw died, and his final

abandonment by the woman he loves?

3. Heathcliff of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is indeed an enigma among literary

characters. He commits outrageous acts of cruelty that earn him a monstrous reputation.

He remains in Catherine Earnshaw’s affection as well as many readers despite like

tormenting his wife and swindling the Wuthering Heights estate out of its owner’s hands.

People account Heathcliff’s steadfast determination and steel will, among others, as

admirable and attractive traits as they’re reason to like him. He is as big of a villain as

there is in Wuthering Heights yet he does not get labeled with iconic literary villains like

Fernand Mondego, the primary antagonist in The Count of Monte Cristo, who frames his

friend for a crime and steals his wife to be. What exactly does Brontë do in writing

Heathcliff’s character to make him appealing?

4. Wuthering Heights takes place almost exclusively within the estates of Wuthering

Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The two places and the two families within them seem

to mirror eachother with several key contrasts. Some of the book’s audience speculated

that the book made a statement about the relationship between civilization and nature

while others made case for the parallelism to the time period in England where

agriculture started giving way to urbanization. From a simple storytelling view, what

could the purpose of setting up such opposing forces to mirror eachother?

5. More often than not, movie renditions of novels are cast with the popular actors of the

time, whether the actor actually fits the description of the character they play. Evidence

of the artistic license producers and casting directors take with this movie-making

practice is blatant in the 1939 movie version of Wuthering Heights. In Emily Brontë’s

novel Wuthering Heights, some of the words used to describe the character Heathcliff’s

physical appearance are curly, dark-haired; dark skinned; ruffian; gypsy; rough-looking

and of questionable lineage. This description of Heathcliff adds a mystery to him, not to

mention a certain darkness in his character. In Samuel Goldwyn’s production of the 1939

film Wuthering Heights, the character of Heathcliff is played by Sir Laurence Olivier, a

very popular British actor. Olivier was considered one of the most handsome and sought

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Research questions… A Selection of Responses from Exercise #5.

One major theme of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is overwhelming love. Other than the narrators, each character’s actions are influenced by sometimes unhealthy or impossible love for another. Until the end of the novel, most of the relationships in Wuthering Heights result in the building up of frustration, tension, and sometimes death. Love drives these characters nonetheless. In what way is love tied to vengeance in the novel, and is this vengeance justifiable?
In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Heathcliff is one of the most bizarre and complex characters. Early in his life, he shows redemptive qualities in his interactions with Catherine Earnshaw. In fact, he is likable until Catherine decides to marry Edgar Linton. After this marriage, what (if any) redeemable qualities does Heathcliff portray? Is he innately villainous or are his actions justified by his abandonment by his biological parents, the treatment he received from Hindley after Mr. Earnshaw died, and his final abandonment by the woman he loves?
Heathcliff of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is indeed an enigma among literary characters. He commits outrageous acts of cruelty that earn him a monstrous reputation. He remains in Catherine Earnshaw’s affection as well as many readers despite like tormenting his wife and swindling the Wuthering Heights estate out of its owner’s hands. People account Heathcliff’s steadfast determination and steel will, among others, as admirable and attractive traits as they’re reason to like him. He is as big of a villain as there is in Wuthering Heights yet he does not get labeled with iconic literary villains like Fernand Mondego, the primary antagonist in The Count of Monte Cristo , who frames his friend for a crime and steals his wife to be. What exactly does Brontë do in writing Heathcliff’s character to make him appealing?
Wuthering Heights takes place almost exclusively within the estates of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The two places and the two families within them seem to mirror eachother with several key contrasts. Some of the book’s audience speculated that the book made a statement about the relationship between civilization and nature while others made case for the parallelism to the time period in England where agriculture started giving way to urbanization. From a simple storytelling view, what could the purpose of setting up such opposing forces to mirror eachother?
More often than not, movie renditions of novels are cast with the popular actors of the time, whether the actor actually fits the description of the character they play. Evidence of the artistic license producers and casting directors take with this movie-making practice is blatant in the 1939 movie version of Wuthering Heights. In Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights , some of the words used to describe the character Heathcliff’s physical appearance are curly, dark-haired; dark skinned; ruffian; gypsy; rough-looking and of questionable lineage. This description of Heathcliff adds a mystery to him, not to mention a certain darkness in his character. In Samuel Goldwyn’s production of the 1939 film Wuthering Heights , the character of Heathcliff is played by Sir Laurence Olivier, a very popular British actor. Olivier was considered one of the most handsome and sought

after men of his day. He looks more like a model, with very refined features, smooth pale skin, straight hair and a very genteel appearance. Goldwyn’s Heathcliff was more the antithesis of Bronte’s Heathcliff rather than resembling him. The question raised here is: Is it important to have accurate movie versions of characters according to the novel the movie is based on? Does Heathcliff’s character get “lost in translation” when producers and casting directors take liberty with casting as they stray from the original descriptions of characters?

In the 1939 film version of Wuthering Heights, there is no mention of Catherine’s daughter Catherine or Heathcliff’s son Linton, both of whom appear in Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights. In the movie, neither Heathcliff nor Catherine have children whatsoever. What happened between the novel’s characters and the movie interpretation? The characters of “Catherine 2” and Linton round out the ending of the novel. With this being so, why would the directors and producers of the film leave out characters that are essential to the novel?
Trying to understand a character as complicated a Heathcliff can be trying. There are many different questions to ask and more than enough evidence for just about any theory both in text of Wuthering Heights and in separate publications. Most would wonder why he is the way he is, and how did he get there. Which would inevitably bring up the question of Nature V.S. Nurture. But to truly understand what is going on in someone brain you must first track down, understand, and then analyze the major events (mainly during childhood), which have shaped Heathcliff’s perspective on both the world and himself. Everyone’s childhood experiences shape who we are as people. If we take the experiences noted in Heathcliff’s formative years and put them beside psychological theories then we begin to understand what is going on. These studies are not trying to condone or judge, but instead to understand someone else’s perspective on the world.
The two homes, Thruhcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, are interesting and seem to stand out to many people when reading and studying Wuthering Heights. The two homes are so incredibly different, yet they are the only two homes within a half days riding distance from anywhere or anyone. Their placement is also interesting, you have the extremely nice Thrushcross in the middle of a bog and Wuthering Heights sitting higher on the dry grassy hill yet is no where near as nice as Thrushcross. Even the people who live in them seem to shadow a particular meaning about the buildings themselves. It is no secret that a particular kind of architecture can demand a particular attitude and decorum with its inhabitants. For instance, you don’t notice many coal miners walking in to the White House without dawning clean duds or at least removing their shoes, and conversely it is unusual for a factory owner to wipe his feet before walking into a hovel. So dose the home breed the inhabitance or do the inhabitance breed the home?
Wuthering Heights is regarded as so much more than just a romantic novel, in part, because of the attention given to the afterlife. The characters offer different perspectives on the subject, and the question of the existence of heaven and hell is hinted at, but never fully explained. Could Emily Bronte’s upbringing have had an effect on the way the afterlife was portrayed within her novel?

Catherine starts to fall in love with Linton. Young Catherine falls in love with Hareton. Hinley goes mad. Heathcliff goes mad. Does the story come full circle or do Catherine and Hareton start a new circle?

Emily Bronte paints a very murky landscape in her novel Wuthering Heights. Separating Heathcliff’s domain from Thrushcross Grange are the English moors, a rather hilly and wide open area. This boundary marker between the two estates is host to the only action that takes place outdoors. Many of the occasions where the plot unfolds in this setting are instrumental in developing the personalities of the characters. Perhaps the influence to become the way each character ends up is rooted in their relationship to the moors. How does the naturally gloomy setting of the surrounding moors reflect the inner thoughts and actions of the characters?
The character of Linton is a very troublesome creation because he is so very helpless, yet receives no pity from the audience. He is the epitome of weakness and whine. Yet he has done nothing to warrant the treatment he receives from his rotten father and is constantly battling his early destiny with death. His relationship to Heathcliff is a special one, however, as he became the embodiment of his father’s opposite. When observing Heathcliff, one can notice his strength and resiliency, but his son is constantly in a state of illness and has no success at all in pursuing his own desires—he simply retreats into his complaints. Furthermore, Linton was created in a plot of revenge utilizing the pregnancy and marriage of his mother to his father and should have perhaps been the son of Catherine, who was Heathcliff’s first love. Is it possible that this poor and sickly boy is the outcome of a number of misplaced affections resulting in his pathetic existence.

Assignment Questions - Reading, Writing, and Research for Literature | EH 301, Assignments of English Language

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