Literature Analysis #3: Wuthering Heights

GENERAL:
1. We learn that the story of Catherine and Heathcliff is told through the housekeeper of the Wuthering Heights esate. As young children, Catherine and her brother have to welcome in their newly adopted brother, Heathcliff. He soon takes up the job of their stableboy. Catherine grows extremely close with Heathcliff but her brother keeps him at an icy distance. As they grow older, Catherine and Heathcliff begin a romantic relationship, but soon Catherine decides she cannot marry Heathcliff because of his temper and attitude. Heathcliff overhears and leaves the estate without saying anything to anyone. Catherine soon enough marries Edgar Linton and lives with him. All is well until Heathcliff returns and starts to have a love affair with another younger girl. Catherine is outraged and starts to get sick while learning she is pregnant. She dies in childbirth and Heathcliff takes Cathy(her daughter) in and raises her. Isabella soon dies as well as Heathcliff.
2. When Heathcliff cannot have the woman he loves, he turns his attention to revenging his childhood tormenter, his adoptive brother Hindley. Because Hindley never lost an opportunity to demean Heathcliff, the "gypsy" grows up determined to destroy Hindley and become master of the two houses. The fact that Hindley already has a tendency to drink and gamble to excess makes Heathcliff's vengeance all the easier. Without this desire for revenge, Heathcliff would have had nothing to do but pine after Catherine, so revenge becomes a major motivator for his character. On paper, he succeeds in his revenge: thwarting property and inheritance laws, he manages to become owner of the two houses. But by his own admission, revenge loses its thrill in the end.
3. The attitudes of our narrators help shape the tone as the drama unfolds, so that Lockwood's initial curiosity and fascination convey a lighter feeling than after he realizes how sinister Heathcliff is. Whenever Heathcliff is around, the tone tends to grows darker. Likewise, you can tell Nelly Dean really enjoys storytelling, so she tries to sustain a tone of suspense and mystery – that way she keeps Lockwood's, and by extension the reader's, attention. This is what keeps Lockwood up late and what keeps us reading.
4. Symbolism: The old beaten down furniture is a symbol for the dark setting.
Imagery: The dark and stormy setting is an image for the dark tone and evil theme of the story.
Irony: It's ironic how Catherine marries Edgar for his money and status when she has feelings for Heathcliff before and now he has aquired lots of money.
Dialect: The speech of every character is rigid and dark just like the whole setting and story.
Frame story: This story the reader is reading has another story within it as the housekeeper is telling it.
Setting: Setting is very dark which describes the theme of revenge and is evil.

CHARACTERIZATION:
1. Direct: When the narrator first speaks of Heathcliff, she describes exactly how he is and how she feels about him; When the younger Catherine is explaining how much she loathes living with Heathcliff.
Indirect: Catherine is explaining to another character how she feels about Heathcliff and how she cannot marry him; The housekeeper describes the whole story and every character through her words to the traveller.
2. When talking of Heathcliff, the author's diction and syntax is evil and hard. When speaking of Catherine(both younger and older), the author's diction and syntax is sweet and sort of naive in a way.
3. The protagonist is definitely dynamic. At the beginning as a child, Catherine is in love with Heathcliff and only sees him as perfect. As she grows older, she becomes a lot more wise and actually sees Heathcliff for who he is.
4. I felt the complete hatred towards Heathcliff by the end, yet, I also felt sorry for him. Although he did some pretty mean and hateful things, he also did lose the love of his life-his "soul". After Catherine's death, his inner core was wripped out of him. Even though he was so easy to hate by the end of the book, deep down I felt the deepest hurt for him.