Welcome to Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (Unit AS 2)

Welcome to your comprehensive study guide for Emily Brontë’s 1847 masterpiece, Wuthering Heights. This text is studied as part of CCEA Unit AS 2: The Study of Prose Pre 1900.

Studying 19th-century prose can sometimes feel intimidating, especially with complex family trees and multi-layered narration. Don't worry if it feels challenging at first! This guide breaks down the core narrative methods, context, themes, and critical interpretations into manageable steps to help you excel in your exam.

Exam Snapshot: Unit AS 2 at a Glance

• Exam Format: Closed-book examination lasting 1 hour.
• Assessment: You will answer one essay question from a choice of two.
• Weighting: Worth 40% of your AS Level and 16% of your full A Level.
• The Assessment Objectives (AOs) Tested:
- AO1: Clear argument, fluent expression, and appropriate literary terminology.
- AO2: Analysis of narrative methods, form, and structural choices.
- AO3: Understanding of historical, social, and cultural context.
- AO5: Engagement with different interpretations and critical readings.
Important Note: AO4 (comparison) is NOT assessed in Unit AS 2. Focus all your energy on a deep, single-text analysis of Brontë’s prose.

1. Narrative Structure and Form (AO2)

One of the most distinctive features of Wuthering Heights is how the story is told. Brontë does not use a standard omniscient (all-knowing) narrator. Instead, she uses a complex multi-layered structure.

The Frame and Nested Narrative

Think of the novel's structure like a set of Russian nesting dolls:

• The Outer Frame (Lockwood): The story begins and ends in the present with Mr. Lockwood, a wealthy, vain gentleman from the South of England who writes in his personal diary.
• The Inner / Nested Narrative (Nelly Dean): Inside Lockwood’s diary is the oral history told by Nelly Dean, the housekeeper who witnessed the events of both the Earnshaw and Linton families across two generations.

The Unreliable Narrators

Neither narrator gives us an objective, completely trustworthy view of events:

• Lockwood’s Unreliability: Lockwood is an outsider who frequently misjudges social situations. For instance, in the opening chapters, he mistakes a pile of dead rabbits for pet cats and assumes Heathcliff is a refined gentleman. His vanity and superficiality blind him to the harsh realities of the Heights.
• Nelly Dean’s Unreliability: Nelly is deeply involved in the plot. She carries secret letters, moralises, takes sides, and actively interferes in Catherine and Heathcliff's lives. Her account is shaped by her personal biases, jealousy, and desire to justify her own actions.

Key Takeaway for AO2: Always remember that everything we learn about Catherine and Heathcliff is mediated (filtered) twice—first through Nelly's memories and prejudices, and then through Lockwood's diary!

2. Key Literary Terms and Gothic Conventions (AO1 & AO2)

The Byronic Hero

Heathcliff is a quintessential example of the Byronic Hero (a character type popularised by the Romantic poet Lord Byron). A Byronic Hero is typically:

• Dark, brooding, and magnetically attractive yet menacing.
• Highly intelligent, passionate, and driven by fierce emotions.
• Tormented by a secret past or unrequited love.
• Outcast from conventional society and fiercely vengeful.

Gothic Elements in the Novel

Brontë incorporates key elements of the Gothic genre to explore extreme psychological and emotional states:

• The Revenant: A spirit or ghost that returns from the dead. We see this vividly when Lockwood experiences Catherine Earnshaw’s ghostly apparition at the window, and later through Heathcliff’s torment as he claims to be haunted by Catherine's spirit for eighteen years.
• The Liminal: The idea of being on a "threshold" or boundary between two states (such as life and death, civilization and wildness, innocence and corruption). Windows, doorways, and the boundary wall between the moors and the houses act as crucial liminal spaces.
• The Sublime: An aesthetic concept from Romanticism where nature is so vast, wild, and powerful that it evokes both intense awe and terror. The Yorkshire moors embody the sublime—untamed, atmospheric, and reflecting the unrestrained passions of Heathcliff and Catherine.

Structural Parallelism: The Two Houses

The novel is structured around a stark geographical and symbolic contrast between two contrasting locations:

• Wuthering Heights: Situated high on the exposed moorland; associated with storm, raw nature, primal energy, physical cruelty, and the Earnshaw family.
• Thrushcross Grange: Situated in the sheltered, lush valley; associated with calm, culture, social convention, wealth, restraint, and the Linton family.

Key Takeaway: The novel tracks the clash between the values of the "Heights" (storm) and the "Grange" (calm), moving from disruption to eventual harmony.

3. Plot Architecture: The Two Generations

To keep the plot clear in your mind, divide it into the First Generation and the Second Generation.

The First Generation: Passion, Class, and Revenge

• Focuses on the destructive, boundary-breaking bond between Catherine Earnshaw and the foundling Heathcliff.
• Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton for social status and wealth, betraying her spiritual connection to Heathcliff.
• Heathcliff disappears, returns wealthy, and embarks on a calculated, twenty-year campaign of revenge against both Edgar Linton and Hindley Earnshaw (Catherine's abusive brother).
• Catherine dies giving birth to young Cathy, leaving Heathcliff consumed by grief and vengeance.

The Second Generation: Healing and Resolution

• Focuses on the children: Cathy Linton (daughter of Catherine and Edgar), Linton Heathcliff (son of Heathcliff and Isabella), and Hareton Earnshaw (son of Hindley).
• Heathcliff attempts to repeat the cycle of abuse by disinheriting Hareton and forcing young Cathy to marry the sickly Linton to seize Thrushcross Grange.
• The Resolution: After Heathcliff's death, the destructive cycle is broken. Hareton is educated by young Cathy, and their mutual affection and planned marriage unite the two houses (Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange) in peace.

Quick Memory Aid: Generation 1 tears the world apart through passion and pride; Generation 2 repairs the world through education, forgiveness, and love.

4. Historical and Social Context (AO3)

To achieve high marks in AO3, integrate your contextual points directly into your literary analysis rather than bolting on random historical trivia.

Publication and Victorian Reception

• Published in 1847 under the male pseudonym Ellis Bell (the Brontë sisters used ambiguous pen names to avoid Victorian gender prejudice).
• Victorian Reception: Early reviewers were shocked by the novel’s moral ambiguity and raw violence. Contemporary publications such as The Spectator (1847) described the work as "coarse," "disagreeable," and "improbable." Victorian critics expected novels to provide clear moral instruction, which Brontë refused to supply.

Social Class, Property, and Coverture

• The Law of Coverture: In 19th-century Britain, a married woman had no independent legal identity; her property, legal rights, and wealth were subsumed by her husband.
• This legal reality is central to Catherine Earnshaw’s dilemma: she knows marrying Heathcliff would degrade her socially and leave them destitute, whereas marrying Edgar Linton gives her wealth, status, and the social power to assist Heathcliff.
• Heathcliff manipulates these exact property and inheritance laws to legally strip both Isabella Linton and young Cathy of their property.

Romanticism

• Emily Brontë was deeply influenced by the Romantic Movement, which prioritised raw emotion, individual freedom, and the spiritual power of the natural world over Enlightenment rationalism and Victorian industrial convention.
• The Romantic ideal of the natural child is evident in Catherine and Heathcliff’s wild, uncivilised childhood on the moors.

Key Takeaway for AO3: Always connect context to Brontë's authorial intention. Ask yourself: How does the law of coverture or the Romantic view of nature explain the characters' choices and conflicts?

5. Critical Interpretations (AO5)

To address AO5, show an awareness that Wuthering Heights can be read and interpreted in multiple ways:

• Gothic / Romantic Reading: The novel is a metaphysical exploration of transcendent, eternal love that defies death, social boundaries, and conventional morality.
• Marxist / Social Class Reading: The text dramatises the brutal class struggles of 19th-century England. Heathcliff represents the oppressed, landless proletariat fighting back against the inherited privilege and economic power of the landed gentry (the Lintons and Earnshaws).
• Feminist Reading: The novel exposes the oppressive confines of patriarchal Victorian marriage. Catherine’s fragmentation ("I am Heathcliff!") represents her psychological resistance to being forced into the submissive role of a Victorian wife at Thrushcross Grange.

6. Examiner Pitfalls to Avoid

Examiner reports highlight several frequent mistakes made by AS Level candidates. Make sure you avoid these common traps:

1. Treating Characters as Real People (AO2 Error):
Do not write about Heathcliff or Catherine as if they are living human beings or historical figures. Always treat them as constructs crafted by Brontë to explore specific themes (e.g., "Brontë constructs Heathcliff as a Byronic figure to interrogate Victorian class anxieties...").

2. Trusting Nelly Dean Unquestioningly:
Never present Nelly’s moral judgments as undisputed facts. Always acknowledge that her narrative is filtered, partial, and self-serving.

3. Contextual "Bolting" (AO3 Error):
Avoid writing biographical paragraphs about Emily Brontë's childhood or life at Haworth Parsonage unless it directly answers the specific essay prompt. Context must be woven into your analysis of the text.

4. Formulaic Writing (PEEL / PETAL traps):
Overly mechanical paragraph formulas often make essays disjointed. Aim for a fluid, coherent analytical argument that naturally blends textual evidence, narrative methods (AO2), context (AO3), and alternative perspectives (AO5).

5. Closed-Book Inaccuracies:
Because AS 2 is a closed-book exam, students frequently confuse the family trees or misattribute quotations between the first and second generations. Take time to revise the lineage of the Earnshaws and Lintons thoroughly!

Quick Review Checklist

Before stepping into your AS 2 exam, make sure you can:

• Explain the purpose and effect of the frame narrative (Lockwood) and nested narrative (Nelly).
• Identify key Gothic concepts: revenant, liminality, and the sublime.
• Contrast the symbolic values of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
• Explain how the second generation resolves the chaos and vengeance of the first generation.
• Integrate historical context regarding 1847 Victorian reception, coverture/property laws, and Romanticism.