WUTHERING HEIGHTS - Structure & Narrative Technique | Emily Brontë WUTHERING HEIGHTS novel analysis

[@DrOctaviaCox]

What do you think about the anachronic structure of Wuthering Heights?

[@renatanovato9460]

I think this structure makes, an othernwise commom story, something really interesting as we are interreupted by Mrs Dean reminding us it is her story and that it is a story since the present is different.

[@markteltscher9746]

@Dr Octavia Cox Is there a genuine inference that Heathcliff got rich as a slave trader? I love how Austen named Mrs Norris after the slaver Robert Norris in Mansfield Park:) It seems only fitting as she treats Fanny like A slave.

[@louiseislam1194]

I like how the beginning of the novel starts with the first 2 visits of Mr Lockwood in 1801. It sets up the whole mystery and intrigue about the place. In the first place why is there so much animosity between all the inmates? Why are they all so uncivil to Mr Lockwood on both visits? Why so much hatred between Mr Heathcliff and his daughter in law Cathy Heathcliff, nee Linton? Why were they so unhelpful to Mr Lockwood when he was snowed in for the night. During the night in the bedroom when Mr Lockwood is visited by the ghost of dead Cathy this sets up more mystery and intrigue for the reader. Who was Catherine Eàrnshaw/Linton? Why does she come back to haunt the place? Why was Heathcliff so distraught to miss this apparition and why in his anguish he called after her? These are some of the questions raised in Mr Lockward's account which spurs the reader on to learn more about the place, its inhabitants and the history which led up to the present state of affairs in 1801. Readers are then eager to read Ellen Dean's account of the history of events up until then. I don't think it would have worked so well if the novel began with Mr Earnshaw returning from Liverpool with the gypsy boy. As to much later when Mr Lockwood returns to wuthering heights in sept 1802, when Ellen Dean tells him of Heathcliff's death BEFORE the readers read her account of the events that lead up to it does indeed make his death an anti climax. The reader is then robbed of all the mystery and intrigue as they already know what is going to happen and are left dissatisfied. I find interesting your reflection of this dissatisfaction of that of Heathcliff and of Catherine enough for them to not want to go on living. It all makes sense.

[@louiseislam1194]

@@markteltscher9746 I like your explanation of Mrs Norris' name in Mansfield Park. As to how Heathcliff got rich abroad, I always guessed it was through gambling as he managed to clean Hindley out of property and wealth good and proper. He probably found a way of cheating at cards without being found out, as luck always seemed to be on his side when playing against Hindley. Howevet slave trading is also a possibility which may explain why Heathcliff kept it all a dark secret and took it with him to the grave. As to slave trading, it also may be possible Heathcliff as a child may have been captured by slave traders and brought to Liverpool sea port and some how escaped. He was seen initially by the Earnshaws as being foreign. In the latest film of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is black. It was certainly make Ellen Dean's fantasy story to Heathcliff about him being an oriental prince captured by Pirates most ironic.

[@janethompson9390]

@@markteltscher9746 I didn't know that and I think it's perfect.

[@rociomiranda5684]

Heathcliff rages across the novel like a storm and fades away like one. He just ceases to be.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Beautifully put. He's kept alive by hatred, and a desire for revenge, and then when that ceases to be he can't find the energy to stay alive any more: "“It is a poor conclusion, is it not?” he observed ... “an absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives: I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don’t care for striking: I can’t take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity. It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing." (ch.33)

[@ophilliaophillia5918]

HC has matured. He sees the futility of revenge. He has lost the reason to exist. So he dies. HC was actually barely alive- he "died" when Cathrine died. Shell of a man

[@user-qj9en1kp1m]

@@DrOctaviaCox Hello! Are you planning on making more videos about this novel? As much as I love Jane Austen's characters, the characters of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw have a raw, elemental force about them that I haven't seen in Jane Austen's writings. I find it funny how some movie adaptations completely drop the story of the second generation, even though that part is actually longer, I think. I would love to see your take on the rest of the characters and story elements.

[@moonw5814]

I can think of another reason for the deadpan way in which Heathcliff's death is made known to the reader. Heathcliff is a fascinating character - to the reader, to himself, to Catherine Earnshaw, to Hindley and to Isabella. But not to Nelly Dean. She has some sympathy for him during his unhappy childhood, but very little afterwards. She doesn't understand the way he is driven by the desire for vengeance. In Nelly's eyes Heathcliff is a servant like herself and his histrionics lead to a mixture of irritation and bafflement. To her as a servant 'the master' naturally means the current master of the house. Who is a person she does regard with affection and whom she has always considered the natural master of Wuthering Heights - Hareton Earnshaw.

[@phemyda94]

Heathcliff's death is what I remember most about Wuthering Heights. For me, the style of the revelation only heightened my sense of relief. I literally felt as if a weight had been lifted off of me! It was as if the exhausting, gut-wrenching melodrama of the story had suddenly died with Heathcliff, bringing us back into the lighter, gentler, "real" world.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I can see that.

[@paulacarolina1409]

This was a very good point. As my native language is Spanish a lot of details are lost in translation

[@emmaphilo4049]

So so true, we get tired of Heathcliff constant self torturing and torture of others. It's very much like certain people of real life. You just can't breathe next to them. Peace simply doesn't exist and they weigh heavy on others. I have a couple of family members just like that (although not violent and mean, but tortured, demanding, unstable, and with important attachment issues like Heathcliff seems to have) . It's very difficult. Wuthering heights provides a bit of solace to my plight with these people. I am grateful this novel exists. There are no other character like Heathcliff I know of in any book or film. Except maybe Brando as Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar named desire for the violence and wild nature. So thank you Emily Brontë for writing such a character.

[@heritagehuntress9553]

I really love that in a discussion so preoccupied with time you wore a necklace made of watches.

[@Madmarsha]

I didn't even notice. How eclectic and interesting!

[@paillette2010]

I couldn’t take my eyes off of it! So creative

[@lynneperrigo7551]

agree!

[@Laura332]

So creative!

[@GriethDay]

Love it! 🥰 Beautiful, Meaningful Jewelry (my favourite).

[@sharragamez1318]

Is it weird that I found all the dissatisfaction in this novel immensely satisfying? Thanks for breaking all of this down. My professor when we studied it seemed to believe reader response was the only critical lens suitable for undergraduates, so we didn't discuss anything about the novel's structure or why the author might have chosen what she did...the whole class really felt like a missed opportunity. What I'm saying is, if you want to do a whole series on Wuthering Heights, I am here for that.

[@Lemonaiden02]

For me, the structure emphasises the fact of the past will always haunt the present. The past haunts the present in the novel through Cathy’s ghost for example or the inter-generational trauma portrayed. The structure simply emphasises the prevalence of the past and how it is so intertwined and inextricable from the present.

[@ebrozo]

Wonderful analysis. I have always thought of Wuthering Heights as first and foremost a ghost story, and ghost stories are always told from a comfortable distance of time, only to come up and grab you in the present!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Oh, thank you! Well, certainly the novel ends on a note that the 'sleeping' Cathy and Heathcliff might reanimate and haunt future generations (and perhaps haunt the mind of the reader's imagination too): the final line ends with Lockwood wondering, as he looks on their graves, "how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth" (ch.34).

[@ophilliaophillia5918]

WH- captures the cruelty of family life- who belongs- who is the outsider- who rules

[@user-qj9en1kp1m]

@@DrOctaviaCox I always thought that WH is a Gothic/Romantic story, perhaps with the exception of characters like Lockwood and Nelly Dean. Nelly sems to be more balanced than the violent, passionate Hindley, Cathy and Heathcliff or the inconsolable Linton. Nelly's character seems to be leaning towards Realism compared to the majority of the characters. And perhaps the ending of the novel ia the "triumph" of Realism over Romanticism? Am I reading too much into it?

[@heatheralice89]

Yes, I agree🙏👏

[@komal146]

It's nice to finally find someone who's discussing this masterpiece on KZbin without bashing it

[@floraposteschild4184]

Never mind. In a few years, probably after a Netflix series, it will be back in fashion again. And all the YT influencers will say they "always" loved it.

[@kelliryan464]

All WH bashers should try to write a better one. This would humble them all. I read WH in bed on boxing Day night every year.

[@Marlaina]

It’s because 21st century humans think they we have progressed so much farther in human behavior than those of the past. They refuse to see that humans are the same throughout the whole course of our history and often repeat the same offenses of those who have gone before.

[@becbrown212]

I think the objections are now that W/H was always portrayed as a romance. I think it has elements of romance but its a dark and dysfunctional relationship. I think the novel can withstand some critical analysis and if that means its no longer sold as a love story as a consequence so be it.

[@KarenSDR]

@@becbrown212 Yes! I have read it roughly once a year for over fifty years. The first time I was 12, and read it the day after seeing the 1939 movie. At age 12 I thought it was a romance (probably because the movie was), but now I realize it's more a psychological thriller with a psychopath as the central character. And at my age now I find that much more interesting than a romance.

[@bernardperron9798]

What an interesting lecture, and what a privilege to attend it! I never got to go to university but this gives me a taste of the pleasures I missed - a taste RIGHT NOW, it's not too late! And I had a front-row seat in a lovely setting; I wasn't stranded in the midst of two hundred students in some big old anonymous lecture hall. It was like receiving private tutoring! Plus, I was having a tea while I watched, in a real china cup! We ARE so privileged nowadays, what with the Internet and KZbin. (But no, on second thought, I'm sure I would have grown FOND of some lecture halls if they'd become the regular scene of such lectures!)

[@gartonb2]

After watching this video I was struck by how similar Cathy and Heathcliff are to Daisy and Gatsby. Both stories are told by a narrator, and in both stories I find my empathy with Gatsby and Heathcliff far more than with Cathy and Daisy. That's a whole other topic, but its something I wouldn't have considered without your insight.

[@froyocrew]

They do feel very similar, both men despite success will never be accepted by society and the woman they love because they weren't born into high society

[@GrandOldMovies]

Thank you for this analysis of WH's time structure, it was illuminating and really gave me insight into a difficult novel. I would definitely be interested in a further analysis on the dual narrative in terms of the 2 narrators in this novel - the unreliable narrator is such a fascinating construct.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Excellent! - glad to have added some illumination about the structure. I agree - the unreliable narrator (and its challenge to ideas of representing narrative truth & perspective) are so interesting. How do we know what's 'real' or not if we can't trust the character telling us about it?

[@janethompson9390]

I think that the frame of Lockwood drowsing over Cathy's books and then seemingly encountering her ghost serves to show Heathcliff's wild grief in such a way as to force empathy from the reader before we hear Nelly's negative view of Heathcliff or read about the terrible things he does. It's a little similar to the way we read Nelly's retelling of Cathy's "I am Heathcliff" speech although Heathcliff does not, and before her self-destructive actions that are somewhat explained by her self-identification with Heathcliff. (I paused the video to type this, so I hope it isn't just repetition of what you are going to say.)

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Yes, fabulous point, beautifully articulated. One of the questions that the novel poses, I think, is 'Is the love of Cathy and Heathcliff enough to justify their actions?' To themselves, if not to readers. And your point about showing Heathcliff's continuing wild grief (Cathy's been dead for nearly 18 years by this point) early in the novel ties into this question that hangs over the rest of the book.

[@janethompson9390]

@@DrOctaviaCox I heard the novel described as "psychopaths in love" and it seems a fairly accurate description. Cathy feels her own behavior makes sense; Heathcliff's makes sense to himself. But when he breaks into her bedroom to confront her when she's near death, he makes clear that her behavior doesn't make sense to *him*.

[@elizabethbrink3761]

This is fascinating. I just finished Wuthering Heights for the first time, and I was struck by how the generations interact. This analysis brings it to a whole new level. Thank you!

[@paulaperez4736]

OMG! I finished wuthering heights on wednesday and I searched for a vidoe of yours about it, and now you have one! I love ur channel, love from Ecuador :3.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Greetings! Ha - well in that case the two 'presents' should be very fresh in your mind! I'm very happy that you like my channel. Thanks for watching.

[@damescholar]

Thank you once again for an excellent literary lecture! I think that the curious coexistence of ordinary and extraordinary is the reason for the uniqueness of the Wuthering Heights - and of Emily Bronte’s personality. Her work is like no other, at first sight wild and chaotic, but as you so clearly demonstrated, created by a well-ordered mind quite conscious of the wide technical apparatus of a first-class writer.

[@montanalilac]

Watching this yet again on 9/11/22 and missing you so much Dr Cox! Hoping your new adventures are bringing you joy and will eventually lead you back to making more wonderful, informational videos about literature. 💜💜💜

[@allanbrown564]

I stumbled on this video and decided to watch for just a couple of minutes. Instead, I watched it all the way through, totally engrossed. So interesting, so informative! Thank you so much.

[@theladyfausta]

Another really enlightening video! I'll admit I did get a little lost with the description of how prolepsis & analepsis was being used simultaneously, but I think I understand it enough to get Emily's purpose for using it. Wuthering Heights isn't really my favorite (more of a Jane Eyre person) but I appreciate it more as I come to understand the craft of it better! ^-^

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Many thanks for watching (especially given that WH isn't a favourite of yours! - you're not alone, lots of readers find it quite hard work). I'm sorry if I was confusing - I meant that the simultaneous analepsis and prolepsis mean that 'past', 'present', and 'future' come into play in the same scenes. I hope that explains my point, in as succinct a way as I can put it.

[@theladyfausta]

@@DrOctaviaCox Oh! That paints a much clearer picture to me. I was imagining some sort of pretzel of time and meaning when it's a lot simpler. ^-^' Thank you!!

[@tintaly]

Please, make a video about the unreliable narrator!

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Noted!

[@patriciatolliver4057]

Patty- I have never been able to get past the halfway mark of this book. I've tried 3 times and failed. I think your analysis has helped me get a better grasp. I will try once more to finish the book. Thank you!

[@nastyaissor7825]

Almost an hour of exellente material. May I ask you to examine "The turn of the screw"? I studied it at university, but still don't get it! And my teacher made it as difficult and boring as possible.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Thank you! Much appreciated. I shall add James' The Turn of the Screw to my list. Ugh - difficult AND boring - a terrible combination!

[@SouthCountyGal]

Isn't it awful what dry teaching can do to Henry James' work? He's marvelous, and "The Turn of the Screw" is his most exciting and accessible piece, in my opinion. A suspense story that is still effective in a time when people are practically raised on psychological thrillers and ghost stories? It should be easy to engage students in it! I was lucky enough to have a high school literature teacher who loved Henry James. My interest in and appreciation of "The Portrait of a Lady" was entirely due to her marveling over the scene in which Isabel realizes her husband is unfaithful because he does not stand up when his mistress enters the drawing room. It's a tiny, but so significant moment; a lack of etiquette that speaks of familiar intimacy with their visitor, and it turns Isabel's world upside-down. Anyway, seconding the request. I'd love to hear what Dr. Cox has to say about "The Turn of the Screw." Or pretty much any piece of classic literature, with the exception of "Moby Dick." I am surrounded by Melville Scholars, including my dad, so I'm all set on that.

[@michellerhodes9910]

What a wonderful analysis. What strikes me (and I am very fond of folk-lore and also had a large extended Yorkshire family when young) is that this is how Emily Bronte received her own information within her local environment, as it were through reported interactions, and she turned it into a literary device. Incidentally I always loved the use of dialect in some of the characters. The wild passionate scene between Cathy and Heathcliff when he visits her secretly at Thrushcross Grange after her illness (when her husband is conveniently at church) is with hindsight, besides being one of the most powerful interchanges in literature, a touching description of a brain injured person.

[@anaisulfs5469]

Thanks for offering us such an insightful analysis of Wuthering Heights ! I studied it both in high school and at university, and it's always been one of my favorite classic, and really enjoyed learning more with your video. Please make another one on the unreliable narrator(s)s !

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Many thanks for watching! - I'm glad you found it illuminating.

[@saraw7812]

I just found your channel and now I am obsessed.

[@lpetitoiseau9146]

You opened my eyes. I will now 1. Listen to your analysis again & take notes 2. Reread WH. What a gift you give me. I was always half-irritated with the novel. I think I will enjoy it now.

[@debbiegreen6706]

WH is one of my favourite books and it is precisely because it is more about how and why things happened than the event itself. Due to the reader already having the knowledge that the characters are going to die, you can just ‘sit in’ the story.

[@amherst88]

Thank you as always for sharing your expertise ❤️ I honestly think we have not yet begun to fathom what she did in this text . . .

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Absolutely my pleasure!

[@laurainman3244]

Maybe you would find my article published in Bronte Studies several years ago of interest: "The 'Awful Event' in Wuthering Heights." The title is the clue to the thesis of the article that Bronte's novel is more an exploration of death and mourning than a love story or anything else, expressed in many ways including numerology.

[@debbieforhim7800]

Thank you Dr. Cox for your brilliant analysis. To me this tragic story clearly shows the unnecessary suffering we humans endure when we make bad choices in life. To CHOOSE revenge, hatred, and unforgiveness over and over again by several of the characters, it just illustrates how destructive those choices are and in the end no sense of satisfaction or joy - ever. In the end it's just useless pain and suffering - when quite the opposite can occur when we chose forgiveness.

[@juliamacdonald3767]

Wow. That is so complex. I could never pick that out without your help. One time I would like to hear you talk about Emily’s personality and why she wrote in this convoluted way.

[@tsilsby888]

Good Heavens! I had completely forgotten about that Kate Bush song and didn't even know that was what it was about!

[@gisawslonim9716]

I loved all your videos about the novels of Jane Austen but absolutely cannot put up with any of the Brontes. Although I have read them all at various stages of my life and have tried time and again to go back to them and see if I cannot like them a tad more, this has not worked and I find them so very unpalatable that I have given up even trying. What I love about Austen is the clarity of her vision which is never clouded by heaving romanticism for even when romantically inclined, reason wins the day. It is one of her most appealing features but the Brontes live in a vortex of heaving emotions that alienates them from me completely.

[@tomaswhelan9375]

This video has made me appreciate this novel so much more. When I first read it I felt very let down by the lack of climax but now I now see the beauty in this unconventional style. Thank you!

[@SL-qu3rx]

Thank you for the wonderful discussion! And thank you for minimizing the ads so I could really get into it. As a classic literature obsessive I've always thought something must be truly defective in me in that I really don't like Wuthering Heights! I actually love the structure, but the main protagonists are just such awful people, with no redeeming qualities, in my opinion. I only felt compassion for Hareton and Linton Heathcliff. I also wondered if perhaps the anti-climax of Heathcliff's death is retribution for all his evil deeds. He cared for no one except Kathy, and even then he wanted to punish her. His death is almost an afterthought. No one spared a moment to mourn him. No one (aside from Hareton--which is so tragic) will miss him. I would love for you to do an analysis of Vanity Fair! Thank you for the great content!

[@nhmisnomer]

I hung on til the end of the video to hear the reason & omigoodness, I never thought of that! You have a point, Dr. Cox. When I was a young woman I thought WH was a love story. That's only a small fraction of it.

[@BRStormysea]

Heathcliff is not a sibling, he's a changeling, a ghoul disguised as a vulnerable child that beguiles the master of Whutering Heights and begins his course of destruction of a formerly balanced community, coming from outside, settling above as some kind of supernatural, unnatural and unhuman power. He doesn't study but becomes more intelligent, an eloquent silver tongued man, he comes from misery but becomes stronger, he is dirty and toils the land but is ultimately more handsome, exerting almost irresistable fascination on females. He earns seemingly endless riches in a rather short period of time, in some mysterious way. The mystery of his vampire-like figure is beyond comprehension, represents the impending chaos from the outside world that rattles and shakes every himan sense bringing utter anarchy.

[@Rocking_the_Mimi_life]

Time for the truth, Kate Bush’s song came first for me. I read the book after I heard the song so that was back in the 80s. But I didn’t really “get” the book until I started listening to you.

[@Anna-zo2tv]

English literature is something that I have never wanted to study formally/get a qualification in. I'm a philosophy, languages, law, and chemistry person. I love to learn, though, and Wuthering Heights is one of my all time favourite novels. Thank you so much for making this available for those of us who love English literature but don't have access to academic materials

[@YuVen3487]

Just finished Wuthering Heights as part of my studies. A masterfully written story. Nelly's account sweeps you up with her emotions to a point where you want to avenge everyone that Heathcliff has wronged, fancying Lockwood to be Cathy's saviour when he gives her Nelly's correspondence, only to be disappointed and reminded of how much of a buffoon he is around women. His rebuke of Heathcliff "Should you wish it, I'll settle with you now". Was about as close as we get to satisfaction, which Heathcliff quickly diffuses ""No, no" he replied cooly". Leaves you quite deflated. Heathcliff's deterioration and subsequent death comes with it a sense of calm that makes you chastise yourself for essentially mirroring his intentions while reading. Pure genius.

[@SpanishEclectic]

I've read Wuthering Heights four times. I love the dark aspects of it, specifically the examination of obsession, and the consequences thereof. I do think Lockwood's encounter with the ghost of Cathy sets the tone of the novel, then the analepsis puts the reader in a more comfortable place with Heathcliff's introduction into the novel. I agree with the comment that after the stagnating horrors of Heathcliff's trail of revenge, his death brings relief to the reader as well as the surviving characters in the novel. I used to watch the Olivier/Oberon film with my mom when I was a teen, but didn't understand how dark the story was until I read the novel. I love aspects of the Fiennes/Binoche version, but after comparing it with the Hardy/Riley film, I find the younger Cathy with the Northern accent to be my favorite. I do find it interesting how the narrative order is handled with these two films. I love your presentations, Dr. Octavia!

[@Janillo2782]

EXTRAORDINARILY WELL DONE AND AN EXTRAORDINARY VIDEO!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! FOR ME, WUTHERING HEIGHTS IS THE MOST POWERFUL NOVEL REGARDING LOVE, BECAUSE HEATHCLIFF AND CATHERINE ARE LIKE TWO SOULMATES WHO HAVE LIKE ONE HEART DIVIDED IN HALF IN TWO BODIES!!!! ONE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT THE OTHER!!!!

[@patteeemac]

Watch necklace to illustrate the lecture on the importance of time in the novel. For the win. 💪🏽

[@literaryebooks]

Yes please do another video on the dual narrative as a literary device. Thanks 😊 🌹♥🇺🇸🇬🇧💙

[@marizhan]

Brilliant! I love your ways of breaking down some of my favorite books!! And I just love your necklace, love this small nod to the theme of time.

[@portalomus]

Thank you for another great video. I really enjoy listening to your insights, it makes me appreciate these novels even more!

[@PennyBluebottle]

I loved this book.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Wonderful book! Challenging & thought-provoking - as all good books are.

[@Templeborough]

Regarding the title question I think it is because the mutual passion of Heathcliff and Cathy #1 represents the storm. When Hareton and Cathy #2 get together the storm blows itself out. Calm returns as in the poetically stunning last sentence. Calm after storm is by definition an anticlimax.

[@hannahgmmr4181]

I just finished the book! And whilst I did enjoy it, this helps to appreciate it even more :) Thank you!

[@tangiblethursday]

Dr. Cox would you ever consider making a literary analysis podcast?

[@nolanhollisvonesch3960]

I think your discussion helped me understand more about the reason why an author would deploy anachrony. As you stated, the standard narrative form is successful because the audience is concerned with what happens next (and caught in a cycle of anticipation and satisfaction). How anachronic stories shift away from the "what/how" to the "how/why." Some of my favorites stories have been prequels and/or tragedies where the end is already provided to the audience (and, thus "anti-climatic"). Nevertheless, knowing an end can heighten the importance of each character's actions or reactions as we slowly start to see the present we know emerge, i.e., the proverbial dominos put in place before they fall. I haven't read Wuthering Heights in many years, but I enjoyed its ending, because to me it was not a romance--it is a tragedy--wherein Heathcliff passed on his pain and suffering to the next generation who in turn seem to be on the path of spiritually healing the past mistakes of the prior generations.

[@DeeWaterlily]

Out on the wily, windy moors We’d roll and fall in green You had a temper like my jealousy Too hot, too greedy How could you leave me? When I needed to posses you I hated you, I loved you too ( insert weird but equally haunting interpretive dance) 💃 Sorry, really feeling the Kate Bush vibe for some reason..

[@annafife9094]

Those illustrations are wonderfully brooding and stark, and so like the characters I have in my mind when I read. Who is the artist please?

[@katherinehageland5009]

These illustrations are almost as famous as Wuthering Heights itself. They are by a wonderful illustrator named Fritz Eichenberg. He did them to illustrate a gorgeous boxed set of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights published in 1943 by Random House Publishers.

[@katherinehageland5009]

I have an original copy of the set given to me by my mother. It is 88 years old and still glorious! I took some pictures of a few of the illustrations, but there seems to be no way for me to upload one to a UTube reply.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

They're wonderfully evocative! And, yes, they're by Fritz Eichenberg.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@katherinehageland5009 Yes, indeed.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

@@katherinehageland5009 Oh wow! How wonderful. What a lovely, glorious book to be able to hold in your hands.

[@orlamckeown4917]

Loved this lecture. Fascinating.

[@titili]

I honestly was so confused while reading this novel in middle school. I didn’t know whether head was down and tail was up because of the constant jumping of timelines.

[@Valentina-ly6bu]

I just want someone to break down the mix of emotions this novel has let me with....

[@tamarabedic9601]

Thank you for defining anachrony, prolepsis and analepsis all new to me! But I must disagree with your statement @13:41 that “first time we encounter Catherine Earnshaw as readers is when she is a ghost.” Not so-Cathy speaks rather directly to us (albeit briefly) through her diary which Lockwood reads. This is the only time Cathy isn’t being described by Nelly, who “owns she did not like her (Cathy) after infancy.” Chap. 8

[@autodidact2289]

I'm so happy to have watched you this morning because I watched the new movie version of Little Women this evening.

[@mzarate6288]

Dr. Cox you are so right the style of narrating the story was not satisfying. Still though I found WH a haunting unforgettable story of forbidden love(perhaps they were brother and sister)Catherine and Heathcliff though loving each other intensely in their weakness made bad choices breaking each other’s heart. I wonder about Emily Bronte to have written this story. She grew up with her dear sisters and brother in Yorkshire. She must have been a very sensitive soul, her one love lost to her when he chose her sister Charlotte instead. She kept all in her heart and never showed unkindness to her beloved sister. She really gave us a wonderful story with a very hopeful ending. I really enjoyed listening to you; thank you.

[@the_kick_inside]

I love this, just recently discovered this channel and it is a great one! Would love to hear you talk about Charles Dickens and his characters. Especially from Great Expectations. Thanks for doing this!

[@betttrbeth]

As for the anticlimax of Heathcliff’s death, it occurred to me that Heathcliff is an evil character, and evil is best forgotten.

[@ann-jz7bz]

I don't see him as evil, but a deeply wounded human. His vengeance was always about his love for Cathy. He is tortured and tortures others, in turn. That is very human.

[@wardka]

Not all of us have read this yet. I was thinking about it and I watched videos of what to read for in Wuthering Heights. So KZbin suggested this video with the horrible spoiler in the thumbnail. Thanks a lot.

[@batuffolinabianca]

Dr. Cox, first of all THANK YOU for such a great analysis of WH. I was 17 when I read this novel and I was truly blown away by its intensity. So much that after I finished it, I decided that what I wanted to do in the future was to study English Literature. So for me WH was a pivotal book in my life. Now. Fast forward to 2023. I've recently came across a snippet of a new adaptation of WH where Heathcliff is portrayed as having Afro physical traits and I was quite puzzled by this because I had always imagined Heathcliff like a tall, dark, olive-skinned man (very like Timothy Dalton but with darker skin). So I'd like to ask you: what do you think Heathcliff looked like? More like an "eastern European gypsy" or like a creole/Afro man? Thank you in advance if you'll answer my question.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

The presence of Nellie isn’t very strong in her narrative, the reader really forgets about her, until Mr. Lockwood abruptly brings us back to the actual “present” in the story.

[@udarasenarathne3379]

Thank you in advance for this analysis. I would like to know whether there is any connection between Bronte's poem 'Remembrance' with Heathcliff and Catherine

[@allegory6393]

It is a testament to the genius of its writer that the death of Heathcliff is announced as a mere fact, something that happened "3 months ago", in the middle of mundane life. Thus, both the Gothic theme of revenge and the Romantic theme of human desire, matching, and even surpassing, in ferocity the forces of nature while remaining unsatisfied by anything in heaven and/or on earth, are not allowed the anticipated spectacularisation (i.e., aesthetic form providing a neat and smooth passing from 1801 to 1802 via a chapter or two narrating Heathcliff's deteriorations and demise), resulting in aesthetic pleasure (aestheticised melancholy). Instead of having Lockwood meet with Heathcliff, or having Heathcliff's path to his own death narrated in 'real' time, which would have satisfied the demands of the romantic form (and readers' expectations), Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights continues on the path of disquiet to the very end, denying us the satisfaction of having the romantic hero (Heathcliff) die on his own terms, producing the representation of his death in his own voice and actions. Like his life, his death too is the story of someone else to tell (he is the shadow in the memory of another narrator) and the life of that someone else, a life of ordinary and mundane tasks, is given a voice that interrupts, and cuts through the demands of the romantic form. The announcement of Heathcliff's death in the midst of ordinary tasks is all the more shocking for it.

[@crowphoriic1546]

no this popping up on my feed while i’m reading wuthering heights 😅

[@kelliryan464]

Forgive my anachronism. Heathcliff's end is Hitchcockian in its way of letting the imagination of the reader to run wild. Heathcliff's death will satisfy all readers in that we provide his end commensurate to our own ghastly imagination. This would delight the Victorian reader. We must after all remember how shocking WH was in its day. Thank you for my favorite literary discussions. Kindest regards, Your faithful subscriber

[@heatheralice89]

When I first read Wuthering Heights back 2009, I had the district feeling that I had "been taken for a ride" by Emily Bronte.

[@RobynCoburn]

I would be very happy to hear about the unreliable or trustworthy narrator.

[@alice86142]

Thanks for putting a huge spoiler as the advert for your video.

[@kgrant67]

Haven't read it yet. Was looking at a couple videos before I start it. Thanks for the spoiler, geez

[@SometimesPerplexed]

I read WH (an edition with the Fritz Eichenberg woodcuts, so a double barrel of atmosphere) when I was eleven. It was the first book I read that didn’t follow a sequential timeline and typical “satisfying” plot arc. I found it a bit puzzling as in “Why do these people seek out misery?” but memorable. Maybe it’s what started my affinity for tricky timelines and unsympathetic protagonists, which is still with me after all these years.

[@rebekahcopeland500]

just an aside, that is a very interesting and attractive necklace.

[@yezdnil]

I'm going to make a huge confession. I just don't like Wuthering Heights. My first encounter was for my O' Levels (that dates me!). I thought my dislike might have been due to an aversion to such intense reading. But I didn't have that problem when I did Gaskell's North and South for A' Levels.. I tried WH again about 3 years later. Same response, Tried again 10 years later. Same response. My problem lies with both Heathcliff and Cathy, I'm afraid. I cannot find a connection to either. To me, Heathcliff is just a nasty, revengeful bully and Cathy a spoilt brat. I can understand why people love the book; it's just not for me.

[@heatheralice89]

Reading this novel was definitely like watching a train wreck, it's terrible but you can't turn away.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

Fair enough! You've certainly given it a fair try if you've reread it several times.

[@sapphire7424]

Yezdnil are you my sister? She hates WH but I've made her keep trying again over the years (plus incidentally she loves N&S). Cathy and H are hard to like but then tbf I dont know if we're supposed to. Ty for your honesty 🙂

[@sharragamez1318]

I was tricked for the longest time into thinking it was a love story and just could not even. Then I realized anyone who sees it as a love story has a really sick idea of love, and kind of got really into how horrible everyone is. Heathcliff as a boy is among the most sympathetic characters, but as an adult he laughs in the face of the reader's sympathy. Then probably spits on it, too. I think I like it particularly at this moment when we are breaking free of tropes like being bullied makes someone grow up into an underdog hero, or that there is something noble about suffering in childhood/adolescence. Wuthering Heights was cutting through those tropes before they were even really a thing, and I admire that so much.

[@sharragamez1318]

@@i.b.640 Hmm, if it's we're looking at it as a romance, I think it might be more deconstruction than a romance played straight. Unlike Tristan and Iseult, elder-Catherine didn't need to marry Edgar Linton. I think there might also be some commentary on Victorian sexual mores for women woven in there - Catherine doesn't seem to fully grasp that Heathcliff loves her in a sexual way. It's hard to tell whether she's just completely ignorant about sex, or sort of uninterested in it. The way her pregnancy is revealed and dealt with is also...she seems almost unaware of it, and again I'm not certain whether she's ignorant of her body or just completely self-absorbed.

[@MorreHope]

Heathcliff's revenge is a downfall. His lover Catherine is to understand that revenge is a personality; - she refuses to continue with. Revenge is the person; and she sees that Heathcliff is dead; and Revenge is not the replacement of Heathcliff; so, Heathcliff is alive in heaven; to why she WILL NEVER FORGET; AND TO SEE HIM; IS LIKE GOING TO A MEMORY LANE; AT A CEMETARY. The mirror to that: Heathcliff digs up the grave; to make love to his beloved Catherine. Or Catherine's hand comes through the wall; at a disjointed time; unrelated to the grave love making. She finally came alive to scare the living daylights out of you. When you see that she refuses revenge: I had the urge: to stop reading the novel; and say: this is the story. But the way that we see the new person; Mr. REVENGE who replaces Heathcliff; we see that; Catherine is going to have the same change in character; because: she is his twin. How did Catherine lose her Catherine identity? - to become Revenge 2.0; - in a vengeful role for a woman? For a dainty woman it is unpleasant to have her; to be portrayed as an adulteress: a woman with two lovers; and this is the angle of Revenge 2.0. A man's revenge is to kill and to outwit his enemy's riches; and be cutthroat; - when the opportunity arrives. A woman's revenge is not going to be portrayed as killer; instead, as negativity and melodramatic; regarding behaviors associated with romantic relationships.

[@justonefyx]

"Emily Bronte wanted to thwart reader's satisfaction" So basically Emily Bronte was trolling before trolling was even a thing. Based.

[@jordanserchuk7418]

These are my personal thoughts on the ending, which I shared on my Tumblr blog several months ago: princesssarisa.tumblr.com/post/639180754984845312/a-defense-of-the-ending-of-wuthering-heights

[@ljfischer3316]

Where did you find the beautiful black and white drawings of scenes from the novel? Love your channel- keep it up

[@flannerypedley840]

I've never studied narrative structure and there is sooo much I don't know. Any tips for a good text?

[@jenniferneve2723]

Perhaps the literary definition of "hero" is different than what people commonly think of, but imo, Heathcliff isn't even so much as an anti-hero. An anti-hero needs to be somewhat likeable and have actions that redeem him. But Heathcliff is through and through a foul fiend and a vile villain, and I've never been so happy for a fictional character to die.

[@elizae.esteve7973]

Most interesting. Such a good work.

[@SailorMoon-in-Cancer]

I think the entire novel is anti-climactic. The mystery of Cathy’s and Heathcliff’s identities and relationship lasts only a few pages (during the reading of Cathy’s diary), several key deaths and births are known from the start, and, of course, even Heathcliff’s death is treated as old news no one bothers to think about. I don’t see how thwarting the reader’s expectations adds anything to this story, which is relatively straightforward on its own. Someone else mentioned The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as an example of a better narrative, and I agree. In it, we spend a large chunk of the novel trying to solve the mystery of Helen’s background alongside various characters, who all offer their own speculations or muddy up the protagonist’s “investigation.” Then we jump back in time and gradually build up the tension until the big climax, which returns us to the present moment. The reveal makes us reevaluate everything we’ve read before and the story proceeds forward from here, with no one being sure how it’s going to end. This structure allows the author to play with time yet keep the suspense. Personally, I prefer the cut version shown by the 1970 film with Timothy Dalton. They remove the double narrative, start from Heathcliff’s introduction to the Earnshaws and end with Cathy’s ghost coming back after Heathcliff right after her death. It makes more sense to me that someone like Cathy wouldn’t wait for 20 years, but would try to kill Heathcliff right away so that she can always have him by her side.

[@simonestreeter1518]

Well, you've discovered that Wuthering Heights is not a murder mystery. Good job.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

I wonder if the almost constant management of the reader's anticipation in the novel (that is, the thwarting of potential anticipation of future satisfaction) is an echo of the pervasive sense of gloom for the characters within the novel? Heathcliff's ambition is to dispel hope for the future, and the narrative's dampening of potentially climactic moments might create that same sense in the reader too. Until they, and we, are released by Heathcliff's death.

[@simonestreeter1518]

@@DrOctaviaCox Yes! I very much agree, and I like the way you identify Heathcliff's main motive! I also was struck with the choice of quote that repeated the word 'now.' I suddenly saw the novel as potentially allegorical. I am now digging it out of storage for another read.

[@charlenesims9063]

i have seen an adpation of wuthering heights. for me i was confused and a lot of grief in the adaption. but at the end of the adpation heathcliff takes his own life shoots himself in the head and later at the end the children of catherine and heathcliff goes off and leaves wuthering heights, and the ghosts of heathcliff and catherine sees them and then fade away at the end of the adaption. they are both togther forever in the spirit world like romeo and juliet. so that was a bit wierd for me. but i have to read the book to make sense then see an adaption of it.

[@myfreetimearabegum7564]

Thanks for sharing

[@everettgiesbrecht779]

Do you have to put spoilers right in the thumbnail??

[@vinayaklohani9632]

Just Brilliant.

[@brucerichardson893]

An interesting topic, marred by needless repetition. What grade would you give a student with this disjointed a presentation?

[@caraxkins]

wuthering heights is a weird book because i didn’t like reading it, but I’ve been thinking about it long after I finished.

[@LadyTroubadour]

OH BOY WH. I came to actively, vocally, and vehemently despise Wuthering Heights after it being assigned in a college course for my writing degree. I think if it wasn't for that, I would have read it partway, said "boy this is a slog" and put it down and that would be that, or if I had to read it for something else I'd have read it, thought "wow that made me unhappy" and then put it out of my mind. But ohhhhhhboy. I was in a creative writing program with the most uppity and infuriating obsession with "literary fiction" and an outright vendetta against anything that even hinted at popular or (imagine here the utmost disgust dripping from curled lips) "genre fiction." Not an exaggeration. I was in a 900 level course and a grown ass woman turned to me and said "I wish someone would love me enough to hate me that much some day." Like GOOD LORD that's your takeaway?! ARRRRRRRGH. I would never ever argue that Bronte was a "bad" writer, she clearly knew her audience and her prose and development of what's going on and so on and so forth is above reproach but oh my GOODNESS what a miserable story. It made me feel gloomy and unhappy just reading it, I didn't even remotely enjoy it. To then hear it fawned over as some great love story that is so much more "real" than the "airy fairy fluff" of Austen (were you even paying attention to Austen, I think she's a good deal more realistic and practical than the story about a mysterious family of miserable rich shut in weirdoes on the moors whose entire lives are Maury level dramatics) was close to unbearable. I had just lost my sister so that was a rough year of my courses, I had no patience for the circle jerk of manufactured pathos that was going on in all of my critical analysis classes. All I wanted out of fiction was a reason to smile again or feel hopeful about life, not to be constantly told that hope is for babies and life is pain. At another point in my life I might have found it amusing, certainly I can make the whole thing sound hilarious now, but this was just the right time for me to find it infuriatingly insufferable. One prof in particular said that the more you torture your characters the better a story is, and her highest compliment to me that whole year was to cry "oh, if only you weren't a fantasy writer!" about one of my stories, as that was my main interest and certainly the only thing I wanted to write while I was coping with an incredibly raw loss. I mean you can spit on my work all you want but I'd like to point out that J K R is richer than the literal queen, Ms Ew Fantasy Stuff. SO YEAH now I irrevocably associate the book with all that nonsense. Most of my venom for it is not at all the direct fault of the book or author or writing or any of that, it just was not my kind of thing to begin with and then you had... that mess. And as you can see, I'm still salty enough about it years later to type all that just at the mention of this vile and loathsome piece of literature in which not a single character has enough redeeming qualities to make them sympathetic and why on the green earth do I want to read a story about miserable people abusing each other for years until just, they died, story's over, nothing changed and nobody learned anything but they are dead so, there's nothing more to tell you about them. Let alone to hold it up as the most romantic and realistic of love stories, which is not just vomit inducing but also, I'm guessing, exactly the sort of thing the author would have not been thrilled to have someone take away from it. If you're up for the annoyance of having to even think about it, it might be an interesting video to take on this particular flavor of WH fans, actually, could be interesting to see the book redeemed somewhat or at the very least to have the "this is what true love is" people directed to a crisis line or something.

[@kokocurls2119]

Thank you! The same reason I do not Watch thrillers or horror movies or dramas

[@JantineSchimmel]

I am somewhat late to finding your channel. However, if you find the time with your new job, I would love your insights on these unreliable characters too!

[@TheNicolevertone]

I wonder if the downplayed nature of Catherine and Heathcliff's deaths also play towards disarming them being read as a "judgement of God", or a deus ex machina allowing the younger generation to be free of that cycle of revenge.

[@DrOctaviaCox]

That's a great point. And thus stripping the 'morality' of the 'judgement from God' notion from the end of their stories?

[@TheNicolevertone]

@@DrOctaviaCox Exactly, especially as she is playing with gothic conventions, stories that usually do feature acts of God and heavenly judgement smiting wrong-doers.

[@ChauNguyen-ed8hz]

I am currently reading the early chapters of Wuthering Heights and KZbin recommends this video. Accidental spoiler of the book I suppose.

[@Dawg93]

I haven't read this book yet but was hoping to, why would you put what I assume is a massive spoiler in your thumbnail?

[@annstillwell730]

Ann Bronte's Tenant of Wildfell hall uses the same narrative style of starting in the middle and working your way back. I wonder if Emily inspired her to write her story that way. As to the book itself I never liked it. Catherine and Heathcliff are too into themselves and never consider other such as Catherine letter herself get ill as she is pregnant and Heathcliff seeking useless revenage again people who are dead already in the story. He treat Catherine's child horrible when you thing he would have felt some empathy toward her as the last living remenant and child of his great love but instead he seek revenge on her when she had nothing to do with past events. Strange.

[@user-qj9en1kp1m]

I love Wuthering Heights, however what I never understood is why didn't Edgar Linton re-marry and try to produce a male heir? Also, why did Cathy die? Did she go insane simply because Linton and Heathcliff had a fight? Also, for that matter, why did Heathcliff die?

[@ianmyford660]

Heathcliff died of happiness. Emily herself was a creature trapped in this existence.

[@misslbainbridge5162]

A necklace of timepieces! We see what you did there...

[@Celtic2Realms]

Very good thanks

[@annebowman5954]

Brilliant!!

[@davidcoomber4050]

Ya what she said but with less words