Some Questions for Wuthering Heights
(adapted from A. J. Drake's Teaching Resources)
Wuthering Heights
Norah Ashe, English 28C
1. In the first two chapters, Lockwood tries to read the residents of
Wuthering Heights, trying to decipher their relationships and
personalities, etc. Focusing on one or two of these attempts, consider
what Lockwood's perceptions suggest about his abilities to read a
situation. Given that he is the narrator, how does the opening set us up
as readers of the novel?
2. Defoe gives us a first-person narrator in Robinson Crusoe. Austen
gives us an almost omniscient narrator who is clearly sympathetic to her
main character, whereas Bronte's narrators are neither close to nor
particularly sympathetic towards her two main characters. What is the
effect of filtering Heathcliff and Catherine's story through Lockwood's
and Nelly Dean's accounts?
3. What brings the ghost to the casement window'? Analyze the scene,
which precedes her appearance carefully. Why does the ghost appear to
Lockwood and not to Heathcliff
4. How does Heathcliff first enter into the Earnshaw family? How does
each of the various members of the family respond to him? Discuss his
early relationship with Mr. Earnshaw, Catherine, or Hindley.
5. How do Heathcliff and Catherine, first see the Linton family? What do
they observe the Lintons doing, and how do they respond to the scene?
How does the Linton's behavior change after Catherine is brought into
the house? What are the implications of that shift?
6. Consider all of the scenes of figures looking into windows, or trying
to look into them: Lockwood's second visit to Wuthering Heights,
Heathcliff and Catherine at the Linton's window, Lockwood revisiting
Wuthering Heights at the end of the novel. What is the effect of this
repetition? How does it position the reader of the novel?
7. Compare the structure of this novel to the structure of a novel like
Pride and Prejudice. The two foremost differences are m tone and in the
number of generations involved in resolving the love story. What
differences in significance and thematics do these structural
oppositions indicate?
8. Why are there so many eruptions of violence in the novel'? What do
these repetitions of violence suggest? Discuss one or two scenes in
detail. Or. If you choose, consider this question in light of Charlotte
Bronte's concerned comment: Whether it is right or advisable to create
beings like Heathcliff, I do not know: I scarcely think it is".
9. Consider all of the triangulated relationships in the novel:
Heathcliff, Catherine, and Edgar foremost; but also Mr. Earnshaw,
Hindley, Heathcliff, and the younger Catherine, Hareton, and Linton.
What do they suggest about the structure of desire?
10. What is the relationship between power and desire in the novel?
Consider this question in light of an individual figure—for example,
Heathcliff's miserliness, Edgar's reserve, or Hindley's profligacy.