Literature Analysis

Wuthering Heights

1. Wuthering Heights is essentially a love story about Heathcliff, a mysterious man.  Heathcliff ends up falling for a girl named Catherine whom he can't have due to his social status, which is very important to people in this time. He was an orphan, but was adopted into the Earnshaw family. Catherine, Heathcliff's love, ends up dying before he gets a chance to be with her and it isn't until death when they are able to be united.  It is almost like a tragic love story with many twist and revengeful turns along the way.


2. The theme of Wuthering Heights is the power of love. Love can cause you to make irrational decisions and go against the standards of society.  The overwhelming love story that took place in the novel is what drew me in as a reader and kept me hooked throughout the entire, twisted story.


3. Bronte's tone is very ominous or dark with a strange sense of romance. The love between Heathcliff seems doomed at times, but as the novel progresses you see that the author tried to put a little hope in the idea of their romance. Examples of this type of tone are, " I cannot love thee; thou 'rt worse than thy brother.", " If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it." and " He'll never let his friends be at ease, and he'll never be at ease himself!".


4. Imagery, symbolism, diction, tone, and genre all helped me understand the theme of the novel. Bronte used much imagery that allowed me to picture the novel in my head as I read. The genre of story, being gothic and romantic also helped me understand and become more intrigued because of the constant wonder of what was to come next.
-"If he loved you with all the power of his soul for a whole lifetime, he couldn't love you as much as I do in a single day. " (tone)
-"He said the pleasantest manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning till evening on a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming dreamily about among the bloom, and the larks singing high up overhead, and the blue sky and bright sun shining steadily and cloudlessly." (imagery)
-"Treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends; they wound those who resort to them worse than their enemies."