Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë | Summary & Analysis
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Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth analysis of the plot, characters, symbols, and themes of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights.
Download the free study guide and infographic for Wuthering Heights here: www.coursehero.com/lit/Wuther...
A story of intergenerational conflict based in class struggle set against the atmospheric backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, the novel tells the tale of thwarted love. It is between Heathcliff, a working class boy taken into a wealthy family, and Cathy, his adoptive sister.
Close in childhood, they are ultimately separated by Cathy's marriage to Edgar, a neighbor closer to her own station. Heathcliff leaves, only to return years later after he has transformed into a wealthy, attractive man with the manners and appearance of a gentleman.
Heathcliff and Cathy grow close again and have one last passionate meeting in which they berate each other for not staying together.
However, Heathcliff's toxic resentment of his treatment by Edgar and Hindley persists, even after Cathy's death, leading him to enact his revenge on the next generation. He takes over the Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights estates and uses their children as pawns in his game of revenge.
Rife with imagery and torrid declarations of both love and hatred, this novel is among the most studied in this era of English literature.
English author Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was first published in 1847. The only novel she ever published, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights defies genre categorization with its sui generis combination of gothic, Romantic, and realistic elements. She grew up alongside her sisters Charlotte and Anne who also became famous writers.
The novel Wuthering Heights contains many powerful symbols, including weather representing the passionate emotions of the characters, ghosts representing memory and obsession, hair representing the intertwined lives of the characters, and moors symbolizing the passion and danger of Heathcliff and Cathy’s love. Important themes include revenge, belonging, and love and obsession.
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Even a simplified summary of Wuthering Heights like this one is still pretty confusing especially if you're not already familiar with the characters.
Hareton and Catherine represent hope. Heathcliff and Cathy represent the evils of class society; they love each other but cannot be together. Hareton is Heathcliff 2.0, raised like Heathcliff was but is ignorant and innocent. Catherine is what Cathy could have been if class was not an issue. Cathy has to marry within her class and rejects love. Heathcliff rejects love for vengeance. Or at least they pretend to. Hareton, in his simplicity is not affected by Heathcliff’s anger they way Heathcliff had been. He is what Heathcliff could have been. Catherine is what Cathy was before she was tainted by being forced into accepting her aristocratic nature. Although she at first mocks Hareton she later sees who he is because she is not blinded by class.
Heathcliff and Cathy are the products of the belief in inequality where some are believed above others. Hareton and Catherine are what can happen when equality is realized and people are judged by who they are and not what they are.
Emily Bronte was raised in an England where there were clear demarcations between Masters and Servants and you must know and accept where you belong. Even though Heathcliff becomes wealthy and owns Wuthering Heights he can never be considered upper class. He will always be a gypsy. Cathy will always be an aristocrat even if she has no money. Only in death can they achieve equality. Catherine is not a true aristocrat as she is brought up in both worlds. Hareton is not a true servant as he was born into the upper class. They can find happiness because they are equal.
I like your analysis
Thanks for adding a new perspective on this story.
What I don't understand is the abuse but now that I think about it, was it normalised? It's such a horrendous cycle, I find it this book for some reason reminded me of Hamlet in multiple ways
Slay
❤
No one:
Lockwood coming out of nowhere saying that he should be with Catherine: Its my time to shine
Lolololol so true
im still lost as to lockwood's role in this whole thing...
@@itseda8426 Girl its been 2 yrs & i'm still confused.
@@itseda8426He's just a narrative device.
ive been reading wuthering heights for a month now and i never understood ANYTHING about it, ( i just dont get the victorian eras style of writing) this video really helped cuz i have an exam on it tommorrow
Nigerian literature student? 😂 its the same thing I'm facing oo, it's even GCE I have tmao
you are a senior at my school lmaooooooo🤣🤣🤣
@@lazycloud9993 😂😂
@@farafaramissfara did you pass ?
Am tired tbh
Very hard to understand 😂
Sameee case here
This book was so confusing in AP English, I could have used this lol
3:24 actually Heathcliff is alive the entirety of Lockwood's first visit, it is when he returns a year or so later when he discovers that Heathcliff has died
In the book I have, Catherine and Cathy are the other way around. Catherine is Heathcliffs lover and Cathy is her daughter with Linton?
True. I have the same question in mind
they are both named catherine, in truth. however, in order to avoid confusion while analysing the book, one or the other is often named cathy to distinguish both. In this video, he called the mother cathy and her child catherine to simplify. but, generally, in analysis, people do the contrary and call the child cathy instead. you can decide which way you call each, but you have to specify it at the beginning of your anaylsis (unfortunately, the video didn't do this)
Both are Catherine and Cathy.
@@super_vampire_princess in our own summary at school, the mother is called (Catherine) and the daughter is called (Cathy)
@@domzzy6432 Yes, mother is actually Catherine but sometimes called Cathy by Edgar and Heathcliff. And Catherine's daughter is Cathy.
this deserves more appreciation. thank you for this
Am I the only one who actually does not believe Mrs. Dean is a good person? She twarted the love between Heathcliffe and Catherine so much...
I think she was the morality itself. She saw straightaway that their love was purely obsession and not true love. And besides that she didn't seem very fond of the way Heathcliff treated her ("A not so capital fellow anymore").
She was always trying to help, but never did anything actually. Only good intentions, like the road to hell.
@@jurioish yes I mean, she did try, ofcourse. She is kind of the "morality compass" throughout the book. But in the end, you can also see how she is herself pretty hypocritical imo. She also sometimes lies for example but always "justifies" it by way of saying it's better for someone else while it's actually just better for her
My whole class agrees with you, so you're not alone lol
Didnt she advise cathy that her reasons for choosing Edgar were ill founded?
These videos are really helpful for my A level English Literature course, thank you !
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!
Wonderful analysis, helped me understand much of the subtexts.
Russel: mentions Joseph the first time at 10:36
Me, first time hearing about the story and characters: visible confusion
Joseph is a pious, finger-pointing pain in the neck. A servant at Wuthering Heights, he seems to resent doing any real work. No one really likes him, but he keeps popping up in the background. He spouts all sorts of religious curses and threats, many of which are hard to understand because of his thick Yorkshire accent. And he makes religion look pretty bad.
He doesn't seem to lead a very compassionate life; he is harsh and self-righteous and his strict judgments about everybody going to hell seem like an unappealing alternative to the mystical beauty of the supernatural to which Catherine and Heathcliff are drawn. His only decency is toward Hareton, and probably only because he knows that Hareton will be master of the Heights someday.
source: www.shmoop.com
@@fyodrat2543 thank you!
I skipped all Joseph’s parts when I was reading hahahaha he’s not important and quite a headache to read his words.
Thanks♡♡
You really helped me to understand this novel
I joined while watching all the videos
Thank you so much♡♡
Took me three days to read ! I’m in love with this story 🥺
Thanks alot this is what i was looking for 👍👍👍
Just became familiar with WH recently. I'd consider this avant garde, coming out in the middle of the 19th century! I'm now so curious about Emily Bronte to have written such literature that seems to violate all types of norms in its day. Eat your heart out, mrPynchon!
❤😊 thank you for helping me understand this book
Excellent analysis.
Amazing !
thanks i needed this
Thank you so much sir ...this summary helped me prepare for an exam when I have not read the book
Did you pass?
Time has passed. But did you?
Thanks 🙏🙇
the movies were so innacurate! most just ignored key symbols like the hair or skin color and centered on sex/passion. I love this video
there was no centered emphasis on sex...
@@berg_8322 that's what I meant. The movies sexualized the book
Tbf racism is best left out of the movies
Woow...amazing explanation👍👏👏
Fantastic 🙏🏽😍❤️
can’t watch this. too mesmerized by the width of his suit jacket arms
Am I the only one here because I enjoy the novel and not because of school and exam?
Update: please stop saying yes lol
yes
Yes you are
No
Did find it a great novel, but yes
Yes,you are lol
Wait, so cathy and linton are cousins? And they fall in love with each other?
Yeah lots of the relationships are incest honestly hahah. But I guess it’s just not as taboo during that time period? It’s definitely suspect but you just kind of have to suspend your judgement I guess.
Also, later on, Cathy and Hareton. They are cousins too. So yes, Cathy married two of her cousins.
Cousins marrying was very common around the victorian era
There was an underlying impression that Heathcliff was Cathy's actual half brother. Hareton and Cathy were cousins, and Linton and Cathy were definitely first cousins. I can't quite work out Linton's family DNA, he was part "gypsy" at any rate. I get the impression that the utter isolation of Catherine and Heathcliff was an underlying problem. If you have no other people in your life, naturally you become attached. They were on an island of sorts, not even in school. Heathcliff was abused like being in a prison camp so he understandably hated Hindley, and Hindley was felt his father had humiliated the family by bringing his bastard home, he never stopped hating Heathcliff.
I just finished this book, and throughout the duration I was thinking the same thing. “Are there any people their age out there?” What they really need is to go out and meet people.
I COULD BE THE REASON WHY
thanks
why is Heathcliff drawn as white if his defining characteristic physically is being dark skinned
i wish if you write descriptions for people whose their first language is not English it's harder to heard words correctly.
"I wish you added subtitles so that people whose first language isn't English could understand better"
Took me a week to read it🥺but it was epic 💕
Same 👌🏼❤️😍
@@nola3963 great what is the next book that you are reading?
Rawwn I haven’t picked up another book yet. I just finished this one. I think I’ll reed How to Kill a mockingbird next.
Same
I have to write a timed essay on this book today. pray for me yall 🙏
Book Summary: everyone dies
Thank you so much
3:19 what is the final blow?? I thought Heathcliff accomplished everything he wanted to, and in part that's why he lost his mind and died because there was no more revenge to keep him going (please help the AP lit exam is tomorrow I am literally begging)
3:14 climax
thank u
I’m here because of home studies
Wait, did Heathcliff name is Don Linton after Edgar Linton?
Heathcliff married Isabella Linton and they had a child, so they named their child with her maiden name.
She named her son (without his permission) Liston on purpose to provoke him because he hates the Lintons.
you are the best
Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window
This song is perfect.
My most suitable playback speed for coursehero videos is .75x
I'm here because of my exam on may 1 2023🌄
How did it go
I am soooo confused...😕.
دهر صابكم وصاب روايه شكد صعبه
i am pretty sure Heathcliff was in love with Catherine and Catherine gave birth to Cathy, not the other way round.
It sounded like wksjsdnwnkmwj to me before watching this.
My final exams is in 4hrs😩
exams coming soon, due to corona virus outbreak it is postpond....
Domzzy how was your exams?
@@fatougaye7508 i passed
Exam Tomorrow 😅
So much drama.
Glad to know that others are suffering with this book, too. This novel is so overly complicated, and the characters are beyond annoying. This book is not an enjoyable read at all...
thanks kate bush.
This novel is full of criticisms against the social norms and ideologies of the 19th century. Moreover, it serves as a harsh criticism against the legal, medical and social systems in the Victorian period. I have watched the whole playlist, and it is in no way close to what Emily Bronte is trying to present through the novel. The novel appears to be written for the purpose of criticising the way women were dealt with at that age. Furthermore, the significance of the narrative within another one is not mentioned, as well as the reasons which pushed the writer to use ghost_texts. You literally missed the majority of what Emily was trying deliver to the readers.
EMILY WAS A FEMINIST, AND THE NOVEL'S MAIN THEME IS FEMINISM.
Why you are telling it while you are excited, relax
Confusing A F!
This book was odd all the characters were so unloveable🙁🙁
Talks too fast.
God this book SUCKS.
Amazing but Heathcliff was black
Heathcliff is described as a "gypsy" in the book, meaning that he most probably would have been Eastern European or Mediterranean.
@@gabbydocog9024 he looked like AN AFRICAN PRINCE
Gabby Docog there have been gypsies for hundreds of years here in England.
Idc the Heathcliff I know and have read is black, I’m pretty sure white people of the time just couldn’t be bothered to make differentiations between minorities. But he’s black
@@babi742 The book literally never says he's black but go off
I greatly dislike this book
Americans should not talk about English literature… sorry
Talks too fast