Wuthering Heights

by Sheba Blake, Emily Brontë

Overview

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell"; Brontë died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850. Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, contemporary reviews for the novel were deeply polarised; it was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day regarding religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, although an admirer of the book, referred to it as "A fiend of a book - an incredible monster [...] The action is laid in hell, - only it seems places and people have English names there." The novel has inspired adaptations, including film, radio and television dramatisations, a musical by Bernard J. Taylor, a ballet, operas (by Bernard Herrmann, Carlisle Floyd, and Frédéric Chaslin), and a 1978 song by Kate Bush.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781548768409
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	07/09/2017
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.52(d)

About the Author

Emily Brontë was born on 30 July 1818 in the village of Thornton, West Riding of Yorkshire, in Northern England, to Maria Branwell and an Irish father, Patrick Brontë. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children, though the two oldest girls, Maria and Elizabeth, died in childhood. In 1820, shortly after the birth of Emily's younger sister Anne, the family moved eight miles away to Haworth, where Patrick was employed as perpetual curate; here the children developed their literary talents.

After the death of their mother on 15 September 1821 from cancer, when Emily was three years old, the older sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, where they encountered abuse and privations later described by Charlotte in Jane Eyre. At the age of six on 25 November 1824, Emily joined her sisters at school for a brief period. When a typhoid epidemic swept the school, Maria and Elizabeth caught it. Maria, who may actually have had tuberculosis, was sent home, where she died. Emily was subsequently removed from the school, in June 1825, along with Charlotte and Elizabeth. Elizabeth died soon after their return home.

The three remaining sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell were thereafter educated at home by their father and aunt Elizabeth Branwell, their mother's sister. Their father, an Irish Anglican clergyman, was very strict and during the day he would work in his office while the children were to remain silent in a room together. Despite the lack of formal education, Emily and her siblings had access to a wide range of published material; favourites included Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Shelley, and Blackwood's Magazine.

Read an Excerpt

 

In order to enjoy the many audio excerpts on this site, please download a of the RealPlayer.

 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     viii
About Longman Cultural Editions     ix
About This Edition     xi
Introduction     xv
Table of Dates: The Life of Emily Bronte     xxvi
The Chronology of Wuthering Heights     xxx
Wuthering Heights     1
Volume 1     3
Volume 2     141
Contexts     299
Biographical     303
Biographical Sketch     303
Emily Bronte in Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857)     308
Writings   Emily Bronte     313
from "Diary Papers" (1834-1845)     313
"The Cat" (translation) (1842)     319
Charlotte Bronte's Selection of Poems by Ellis Bell (1850)     320
Charlotte Bronte on Ellis Bell     329
from "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" (1850)     330
from "Editor's Preface" (1850)     335
Historical, Social, and Legal     339
Heathcliff and the Unsettled Classes     339
Nomads of City and Country     341
Henry Mayhew, from London Labour and the London Poor (1861)     341
Self-Made Men and Luddites     343
Samuel Smiles, from Self-Help (1859)     343
Women's Rights and Roles     348
Ellis Bell and Sarah Stickney Ellis     348
Sarah Stickney Ellis, from The Women of England, Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits (1839)     349
Harriet Martineau, from "On Female Education" (1823)     352
Wills, Women, and Property     355
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, from A Brief Summary, in Plain Language, of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women (1854)     355
A Tale of Two Houses: Interiors and Servants     357
Interiors     358
John Ruskin, from "The Nature of Gothic," The Stones of Venice (1851-1853)     359
Domestic Servants     361
Isabella Beeton, from The Book of Household Management (1861)     362
Regional and Popular     366
Where Are the Brontes From?     366
Ireland, Heathcliff, and the Brontes     367
William Wright, from The Brontes in Ireland (1893)     368
Yorkshire: Regionalism, Dialect, and Ballads     374
Regionalism     374
Elizabeth Gaskell, from The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857)     375
Dialect     377
Richard Blakeborough, from Wit, Character, Folklore and Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire (1898)     377
Ballads      380
Anonymous, "The Ghaist's Warning" (1812)     382
Pilgrims to Haworth     387
Matthew Arnold, from "Haworth Churchyard, April 1855" (1877)     387
Claude Meeker, from "Haworth; Home of the Brontes" (1895)     390
Virginia Woolf, from "Haworth, November 1904" (1904)     393
Shifting Literary Honors and the Beaten Track     395
Critical and Artful     398
Reviews of Wuthering Heights, 1848-1851     399
from Douglas Jerrold's Weekly Newspaper (January 1848)     399
from Atlas (January 1848)     400
G. W. P[eck], from "Wuthering Heights," The American Review (June 1848)     401
[E. P. Whipple], from "Novels of the Season," North American Review (October 1848)     403
[George Henry Lewes], from The Leader (December 1850)     404
[Sydney Dobell], from Eclectic Review (February 1851)     405
Early Criticism     406
Algernon Charles Swinburne, from "Emily Bronte" (1883)     406
Angus M. MacKay, from The Brontes: Fact and Fiction (1897)     407
Mary A. Ward [Mrs. Humphry Ward], from "Introduction," Wuthering Heights, Haworth Edition (1900)     409
May Sinclair, from The Three Brontes (1912)     410
Virginia Woolf, from "Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights" (1916)      412
Sites and Resources on the Brontes     413
Exhibits     413
Selected Web sites     415
Adaptations and Translations     415
Performances     415
Film/Television Adaptations     417
Some Translations     418
Some Sequels, Pendants, and Biographical Fiction     422
Further Reading     425
General Resources and Biographical Studies     425
Popular Reception and Travels to Bronte Country     430
Selected Criticism Since 1995     430

What People are Saying About This

Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights was hewn in a wild workshop, with simple tools, out of homely materials... And there it stands colossal, dark, and frowning, half statue, half rock; in the former sense, terrible and goblin-like; in the latter, almost beautiful, for its colouring is of mellow grey, and moorland moss clothes it; and heath, with its blooming bells and balmy fragrance, grows faithfully close to the giant's foot.

Reading Group Guide

1. To what extent do you think the setting of the novel contributes to, or informs, what takes place? Do you think the moors are a character in their own right? How do you interpret Bronte's view of nature and the landscape?

2. Discuss Emily Bronte's careful attention to a rigid timeline and the role of the novel as a sober historical document. How is this significant, particularly in light of the turbulent action within? What other contrasts within the novel strike you, and why? How are these contrasts important, and how do they play out in the novel?

3. Do you think the novel is a tale of redemption, despair, or both? Discuss the novel's meaning to you. Do you think the novel's moral content dictates one choice over the other?

4. Do you think Bronte succeeds in creating three-dimensional figures in
Heathcliff and Cathy, particularly given their larger-than-life metaphysical passion? Why or why not?

5. Discuss Bronte's use of twos: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange; two families, each with two children; two couples (Catherine and Edgar, and Heathcliff and Isabella); two narrators; the doubling-up of names. What is Bronte's intention here? Discuss.

6. How do Mr. Lockwood and Nelly Dean influence the story as narrators? Do you think they are completely reliable observers? What does Bronte want us to believe?

7. Discuss the role of women in Wuthering Heights. Is their depiction typical of Bronte's time, or not? Do you think Bronte's characterizations of women mark her as a pioneer ahead of her time or not?

8. Who or what does Heathcliff represent in the novel? Is he a force of evil or a victim of it?How important is the role of class in the novel, particularly as it relates to Heathcliff and his life?

Foreword

1. To what extent do you think the setting of the novel contributes to, or informs, what takes place? Do you think the moors are a character in their own right? How do you interpret Bronte's view of nature and the landscape?

2. Discuss Emily Bronte's careful attention to a rigid timeline and the role of the novel as a sober historical document. How is this significant, particularly in light of the turbulent action within? What other contrasts within the novel strike you, and why? How are these contrasts important, and how do they play out in the novel?

3. Do you think the novel is a tale of redemption, despair, or both? Discuss the novel's meaning to you. Do you think the novel's moral content dictates one choice over the other?

4. Do you think Bronte succeeds in creating three-dimensional figures in
Heathcliff and Cathy, particularly given their larger-than-life metaphysical passion? Why or why not?

5. Discuss Bronte's use of twos: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange; two families, each with two children; two couples (Catherine and Edgar, and Heathcliff and Isabella); two narrators; the doubling-up of names. What is Bronte's intention here? Discuss.

6. How do Mr. Lockwood and Nelly Dean influence the story as narrators? Do you think they are completely reliable observers? What does Bronte want us to believe?

7. Discuss the role of women in Wuthering Heights. Is their depiction typical of Bronte's time, or not? Do you think Bronte's characterizations of women mark her as a pioneer ahead of her time or not?

8. Who or what does Heathcliff represent in the novel? Is he a force of evil or a victimof it? How important is the role of class in the novel, particularly as it relates to Heathcliff and his life?

Editorial Reviews

Gr 7 Up

This audio version of Emily Bronte's classic is narrated by Ann Flosnik. Initially, her narration makes it difficult to distinguish between characters, but as the tale progresses, her vocal characterizations become more dramatic and unique for each character, drawing listeners deeper and deeper into this dark and brooding love story. The first disk of the set also contains a PDF ebook of the full text of the novel which can be downloaded. Some students will want to read along with the narrated version, while others can use the ebook as a reference tool for class assignments. A nice addition to classic literature collections and a good way to enhance the English curriculum.-Anita Lawson, Otsego High School, Otsego, MI

School Library Journal

This abridged presentation of a classic brings to life Bronte's gothic romance and provides a powerful reading by Martin Shaw, whose voice perfectly captures this dark story of the moors. Those reluctant to read the full classic will find this audio version compelling and hard to quit listening to.
—Internet Book Watch

Internet Book Watch

"It is as if Emily Brontë could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality."
—Virginia Woolf

From the Publisher