Task 6
Consider the motivating factors of love, greed and revenge
1. Heathcliff’s presence at Wuthering Heights makes it a place of brutality and revenge- give some textual evidence for this. (Use PEEL)
The very first time that Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights after his mysterious three-year odyssey is a symbolic moment in the book – a grim foreshadowing of what is to come after his return. Catherine tells Nelly that Heathcliff was accepted back at Wuthering Heights because he proved a good gambling player to Hindley who has found refuge in alcohol and gambling after his wife’s death. She states that Hindley is ‘too reckless’ and ‘greedy’ for money to realise that allowing his old enemy back into his home may lead to problems. It is interesting that gambling and money – with which Heathcliff is mysteriously ‘plentifully supplied’- are the main reasons that Heathcliff is allowed to stay. Both things are symbols of corruption and addiction and the reader cannot help but feel tense and apprehensive, seeing that Heathcliff is already taking advantage of his brother’s addiction to these unhealthy things to get his own way. This is already essentially a red flag – a warning that Heathcliff’s living in Wuthering Heights is tied to corruption and manipulation from the outset.
In addition to this, all the people dwelling in Wuthering Heights under Heathcliff’s ownership become depressed, haggard and negative beings. Nelly contrasts its bleak state to its more cheerful state before Heathcliff became the master: ‘There never was a dreary, dismal scene as the formely cheerful house presented!’. We have the impression since Heathcliff’s arrival, the house has lost all its charm with Isabella pointing out the ‘once brilliant pewter dishes, which used to attract [her] gaze when [she] was a girl’ are now dark, covered in ‘tarnish and dust’ (the reference to childhood here is interesting – when she was a girl – could it be that adulthood and the lack of innocence has also made this house a darker place?). This physical degradation of the house reflects Heathcliff’s own descent into further darkness: he is becoming more and more intent on revenge and fierce in his hatred and cruelty, neglecting the house and hardening its occupants. Living under these circumstances, with the ‘kitchen – a dingy, untidy hole’ and the furniture ‘damaged’ ‘deformed’ and ‘obliterated by dust’, it is no surprise that all of the people living with Heathcliff show signs of self-neglect and degradation – as if they are decaying along with the house themselves. Hareton is ‘a ruffianly child’ ‘dirty in garb’ who threatens and swears at people; Hindley is a ‘tall, gaunt man’ ‘extremely slovenly’ with ‘features lost in masses of shaggy hair’ who walks around ‘glaring like a hungry wolf’ with a gun, planning to shoot Heathcliff, ‘clearly on the verge of madness’; Joseph the servant is a rude, unfriendly man who shows ‘sovereign contempt’ to just about everyone, and now Isabella, who after a few days, ‘already partakes of the pervading spirit of neglect, which encompassed her’. Earlier, she was described as a lively, ‘charming young lady of eighteen; infantile in manners’ with ‘dainty elegance’ but now, ‘her pretty face is wan and listless; her hair uncurled; some locks hanging lankly down and some carelessly twisted round her head’. We can see the dramatic effect of living with Heathcliff on her. She herself admits how dreadful it is to live in the house, asking Nelly: ‘how did you contrive to preserve the common sympathies of human nature when you resided here?’.
Furthermore, one can argue that Heathcliff made Wuthering Heights a place of violence and brutality from the very first time he stepped foot inside the dwelling as a poor orphan. His presence ruptured family relationships and caused violent, furious reactions from everyone, especially Hindley, who later was the reason for all the brutal floggings Heathcliff received growing up. This was not necessarily Heathcliff’s fault yet he carried on the acts of violence himself, even more brutally than his ancestors, making Wuthering Heights a place of even worse abuse and cruelty. He beats Isabella and Cathy, young and defenceless women and incites violence when he is annoyed by them: ‘“Drag her away!” Heathcliff cried savagely’, ‘Heathcliff had caught hold of her’, ‘he had his hand in her hair’, ‘he seemed ready to tear Catherine in pieces’ ‘he seized her with the liberated hand, and pulling her on his knee, administered with the other a shower of terrific slaps on the side of the head’. It is also important to remember that Catherine was also a violent person, slapping Nelly and hitting Edgar with utter savagery. You could narrow down both people’s violent tendencies as reactions to their own abuse as children, notably by their jealous brother Hindley and the servant Joseph who would beat them - a terrible primitive violence that continues to haunt Wuthering Heights till Heathcliff’s death.
Finally, Heathcliff’s death reveals the power his presence has on Wuthering Heights through the house’s incredible, almost magical transformation. Indeed, Lockwood’s description of the house as he approaches it at this point in the novel contrasts strongly with his first one at the beginning of the novel. Earlier, he described it as a ‘perfect misanthropist’s heaven’, implying it was a solitary, lonely place, and paints it as bleak and lifeless, talking of how ‘little sun’ there is and how the ‘gaunt’ vegetation seem to ‘crave alms of the sun’. He also makes a point about the lack of activity: ‘I observed no signs of roasting, boiling or baking about the huge fire-place’. However, when he returns after Heathcliff’s death, there is a fresh, pleasant ‘fragrance of stocks and wallflowers wafting on the air from amongst the homely fruit-trees’ (the connotations of flowers – sweetness, life and beauty – painting a romantic, almost magical picture of the place) and a more welcoming, free look to the house with ‘both doors and lattices open’ and ‘a fine, red fire illuming the chimney’. He also hears ‘softened’ voices ‘as sweet as a silver bell’ instead of the sullen silence from before and observes Hareton’s ‘handsome features glowing with pleasure’ and Cathy’s ‘smiling beauty’, quite different to their previous scowling and haggard appearances. The personification of the gate ‘yielding to his hand’, as if warmly welcoming him, emphasises the renewed cheerful and friendly atmosphere of Wuthering Heights, freed from the grip of a tormented and evil Heathcliff who died and took his darkness with him to the grave.
2. Catherine is forced by Edgar to choose between himself and Heathcliff- how does she respond?
She reacts by ‘furiously’ insisting he leave her alone and throwing a tantrum, ‘stamping her foot’ like a child. The lexical field of violence used to describe her behaviour emphasises her lack of control and the intensity of her rage as she ‘rings the bell till it breaks with a twang’, ‘dashes her head against the arm of the sofa’ and ‘grinds her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splinters’. Her destructive, childish rage suddenly then escalates into an eerie physical sickness as she ‘stretches herself out stiff’ and ‘her cheeks’ become ‘blanched and livid’ and ‘assume the aspect of death’. The dark abstract noun ‘death’ here plays a vital role in this scene, as a symbolic metaphor that demonstrates her inability to chose between the two men – a choice so difficult or even impossible for her to make it is almost killing her. In addition, there is an underlying paranormal element to her fit, highlighted in the chilling and unnatural description of ‘her hair flying over her shoulders’ ‘her eyes flashing’ and ‘the muscles of her neck and arms standing out prenaturally’ – the adverb ‘prenaturally’ really emphasising the unnatural paranormal reaction she is having. This scene, made powerful through the intensity of its violence and terror, conveys Catherine’s torment to the reader and makes them feel both unnerved and compassionate – the division she feels for the two men is obviously a huge burden on her and she is starting to suffer under its weight.
3. Describe the outcome of Isabella’s elopement with Heathcliff.
Isabella’s elopement with Heathcliff sets off a chain-reaction of bad events, which have huge and devastating impacts on numerous characters.
Firstly, it severs off her relationship with her brother Edgar. After she runs off with Heathcliff, despite her older brother’s warnings against such an action, Edgar solemnly declares that ‘she has disowned him’ and that they are ‘eternally divided’. After she elopes, they never see each other again. This is a tragic end to such a close relationship and a cruel victory for Heathcliff who therefore manages to get back at the two for all the mockery and ridicule they bestowed upon him as children with Isabella once calling him a ‘frightful thing’ and calling for him to be ‘put in the cellar’ and Edgar making fun of his hair, calling it a ‘colts’ mane over his eyes’.
Furthermore, it worsens Edgar’s attitude towards Heathcliff and causes Catherine’s mental illness to worsen as she feels trapped – her husband now openly and bitterly detests the man for his villainy yet she needs Heathcliff even more as her passionate love for him grows stronger. Edgar reaches his limits and forces Catherine to choose between the two men (‘I absolutely require to know which you choose’), resulting in her having a fit and spiralling into both mental and physical illness which ends up killing her. Isabella’s elopement essentially triggers Catherine’s death – the latter is left heart-broken as Heathcliff is cruelly betraying her (deliberately replicating her own decision to marry Edgar instead of waiting for him, her true lover, to come back) and Edgar starts being more firm with her driven to his wits’ end, which makes her feel imprisoned and helpless. The difference between the two people becomes a barrier now, with Catherine pointing it out using powerful heat-related imagery: ‘your cold blood cannot be worked into a fever: your veins are full of ice-water; but mine are boiling, and the sight of such chilliness makes them dance’. She is openly telling him that his passion is not strong enough to match hers – basically, he is not good enough for her. So Isabella’s elopement also destroys their marriage and relationship with both reaching a mental breaking point.
In addition, through eloping, Isabella loses her comfortable life of luxury at Thrushcross Grange only to fall into the trap set for her by Heathcliff. The marriage was another of Heathcliff’s ways at getting further revenge on the Lintons by luring Isabella out of her comfortable high-class niche into a life of abuse and hardship. Nelly describes the girl’s haggard look when she visits her at Wuthering Heights: ‘she already partook of the pervading spirit of neglect, which encompassed her. Her pretty face was wan and listless; her hair uncurled; some locks hanging lankly down and some carelessly twisted round her head’. This is a stark contrast to her previous appearance at Thrushcross Grange when she was described as a lively, ‘charming young lady of eighteen; infantile in manners’ with ‘dainty elegance’. Isabella’s romantic feelings for Heathcliff evaporate as he reveals his true nature (she ends up ‘weeping to go home’ the day after their wedding) and she admits that ‘he is ingenious and unresting in seeking to gain her abhorrence’. Heathcliff treats her brutally, calling her a ‘mere slut’ (the use of vulgar language emphasising his strong dislike of her) and ridiculing her former love for him: ‘I can hardly regard her in the light of a rational creature, so obstinately has she persisted in forming a fabulous notion of my character and acting on the false impressions she cherished’. Her elopement has therefore trapped her in this toxic relationship in this dismal, lonely house and ensured her downfall from grace and wealth.
Finally, the elopement also places Heathcliff in the inheritance succession line of Thrushcross Grange, another vicious stab at Edgar who has to live with the knowledge that after his death, his property will pass into the hands of the evil man who he looks down on as an immoral gypsy. The idea crossed Edgar’s mind earlier when he noticed his sister’s infatuation with Heathcliff: ‘leaving aside the degradation of an alliance with a nameless man, the possible fact that his property, in default of heirs male, might pass into such a one’s power’ already ‘revolted’ him then.
Therefore, we can see that Isabella’s elopement caused several relationships to break off, triggered Catherine’s descent into illness and eventual death and helped Heathcliff triumph largely in his desire for revenge.
4. What is the role of Nelly Dean in this section of the novel?
Nelly Dean plays an important role in this section of the novel. She interferes quite a bit in the storyline, thus having a big influence on the events that transpire, and often acts as the messenger between various characters.
For example, she is the one who sees Heathcliff kissing Isabella in the gardens and points it out to Catherine, bitterly asking her: ‘I wonder will he have the art to find a plausible excuse for making love to Miss, when he told you he hated her?’ This could be an important moment as the sight of Heathcliff physically embracing Isabella would have been devastating to Catherine –both because she loves him and also because she is seeing his ‘fierce, pitiless, wolfish’ nature really exceed itself in slyness and cruelty this time, probably shocking her how vicious he is in his desire for wealth and revenge. Nelly showing her mistress the scene could have been a mistake on her part – deepening Catherine’s hurt and perhaps contributing to her later descent into illness.
Furthermore, Nelly attempts to encourage Edgar to respond to his sister’s request for communication to no avail (‘“And you won’t write her a little note, sir?” I asked imploringly’) and briefly acts as a messenger between the two. This is important because she shows how firm Edgar’s decision to cut off communication with his sister – none of her attempts at encouraging him are successful: ‘My communication with Heathcliff’s family shall be as sparing as his with mine. It shall not exist!’. This conveys to the readers just how important social class is to Edgar: he cannot accept the fact that his sister has married a lower class ‘gypsy’, especially such a brutish and vulgar one. His stubbornness results in him losing his little sister for good as he refuses her to have any communication with her.
In addition, she is one of the only characters who actually confronts Heathcliff and points out his unkindness: ‘Somebody’s love comes short in her case, obviously: whose, I may guess; but, perhaps, I shouldn’t say’ ‘“Mr Heathcliff,” I said, “this is the talk of a madman;’. Heathcliff responds to her honestly, freely confessing his hatred of Isabella: ‘She degenerates into a mere slut’ ‘I [do] not lover her’. This allows us as the readers just to see how hardened Heathcliff is and how aware he is of his cruelty, yet without regret. He openly, even proudly, admits to the trap he set for her: ‘She abandoned them under a delusion’ ‘You’d hardly credit, but the morrow of our wedding, she was weeping to go home’.
Finally and most importantly, Nelly’s most important interference is when she keeps Catherine’s illness a secret from Edgar and pretends to Catherine that Edgar is more concerned about his books than her, not paying attention to her tantrum. Catherine insists she is ‘dying’ and Nelly decides to ‘keep it to herself’ as she doesn’t believe her and think it’s just an act to get Edgar to sympathise with her. When Catherine asks why Edgar hasn’t been to see her, Nelly lies, pretending that the man is ‘tolerably well’ and ‘occupied with his studies’. Also there is an element of truth in her response as Edgar is indeed locked up in his study, this is an obvious lie – he is not ‘tolerably well’, instead ‘ready to choke for her absence’ and ‘yearning to hear her lady’s name’ and Nelly knows this very well. Yet she withholds this information and lets Catherine believe he is not bothered by her state. This not only angers Edgar when he finds out: ‘You knew your mistress’s nature and you encourage me to harass her. And not to give me one hint of how she has been these three days! It was heartless!’ but also makes Catherine’s health worsen as she laments over the fact that he is ‘utterly indifferent for her life’ and eventually ‘her feverish bewilderment increases to madness’. So here Nelly’s intervention causes more damage to Edgar and Catherine’s madness and locks Catherine in her mentally ill state, eventually leading to her death. Unknowingly she has made the situation worse, forcing a rift between Edgar and Catherine. She also plays spectator and unwilling enabler of Heathcliff and Catherine’s secret meetings, being forced by Heathcliff to carry a letter from him to Catherine: ‘He forced me to an agreement. I engaged to carry a letter from him to my mistress’. This also worsens Catherine’s health – as her love for Heathcliff finally sees the light as the two reunite in secret and her passion increases, confusing and burdening her mind even more.
Chapters 12, 13 & 14
5. Nellie assumes that Catherine’s illness is invented by her to manipulate others, and so she is using frailty as a strength- what is your view of Catherine’s illness?
I agree with Nelly to a certain extent. Catherine is still a child and an impetuous one at that, ‘stamping her foot’ when she doesn’t get her way. Therefore it seems clear that she is exaggerating her illness greatly to get Edgar to sympathise with her. She dramatically insists that she ‘is dying’ when there is no real proof she is sick. However her childish ranting quickly escalates into mad raving and eerie hallucinations (‘I see a face in it!’ ‘Oh, Nelly, the room is haunted!’ ‘“Look!” she cried eagerly, “that’s my room with the candle in it”’) with ‘the expressions flitting over her face, and the changes of her moods’ beginning to ‘alarm’ Nelly ‘terribly’. There is no doubt she is mentally ill here – even if she has exaggerated the seriousness of it to try and get Edgar to come crawling back to her. However, she is the one who decided to lock herself up in her room and refuse all food, therefore worsening her condition and making it easier for illness to grip her. In my opinion, the madness is almost self-inflicted – she knows she cannot live without Edgar or Heathcliff and she cannot bring herself to make the choice her husband insists on, therefore she finds refuge in her insanity, as if it’s the only route that will prevent her from having to make that choice.
Task 7
Look at the passage in Chapter 12, where Catherine plucks the feathers from her pillow and connects the fate of the birds to Heathcliff.
1. How does she link the feathers to her life and also to Heathcliff?
She lists various birds whose feathers have been used as stuffing: ‘a turkey’ ‘wild duck’ ‘pigeon’ ‘moor-cock’ ‘lap-wing’ and talks about Heathcliff, how she remembers him promising her he would never to shoot a lap-wing after they observe one ‘wheeling over their heads in the middle of the moor’. This links the character of Heathcliff to the connotations of a bird: freedom, wildness, flight. These things constitute her relationship with Heathcliff: the two spent their childhood wildly roaming the vast moors together in the wild, with unclipped wings, able to be together without social divisions, alone in Nature’s harmony. Perhaps she is thinking of all the different aspects of Heathcliff each bird seems to encompass: his wild, uncivilised side represented by the wild-duck’s feathers, his gentle, loyal side represented by the feathers of the lapwing he promised never to shoot and most interestingly her burning passion for him represented by the pigeon’s feathers. Indeed, when she says “Ah, they put pigeons’ feathers in the pillows - no wonder I couldn’t die!”, she is referring to a widely-believed superstition at the time that no one could die in a bed stuffed with pigeon feathers. By saying this, she is implying her death is being hindered by something. One could guess it is Heathcliff and her love for him, which is preventing her from being at peace, just like the pigeon feathers in her pillow would prevent death. She will not rest without seeing him one last time: her hallucinations would suggest this as she sees Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff and speaks to him, telling him she ‘won’t rest till he is with her’.
2. A Marxist view would argue that madness itself is ideologically determined- who is sane? Is her madness a rebellion against society and its rules?
In my opinion, her madness is at first a rebellion against the patriarchal system, against Edgar’s forceful insistence that she choose between him and Heathcliff (symbolic of the dominant roles of husband at the time) and also against the social divisions separating her from the lower-class ‘gipsy’ Heathcliff who ‘would degrade’ her if they were to marry. Her self-realisation is being hindered by all these restraining factors. If left to follow her real passion, she would be able to experience life and love freely and would have been spared this torment. Later, it escalates into something even personal – not so much a rebellion but an inability to cope with her love for Heathcliff that she knows is impossible.
3. Feminist readings may interpret Catherine’s madness as a condition of feminism- her madness is caused by her restrictive role as a wife and mother… what do you think?
Those could indeed be factors contributing to her madness but I would argue that the main reasons for her madness are mainly the painful separation from her true love Heathcliff, the hurt of being betrayed and abandoned by both men (Heathcliff elopes selfishly with Isabella and Edgar occupies himself with reading books in his library while she suffers) and the loss of her home Wuthering Heights and the freedom of the moors which she fantasises about: ‘I’m sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills’ ‘I wish I were out of doors!’. Of course, she is restricted by her role as a wife and mother to a certain extent with Edgar insisting she decide between the two men but it was her own choice to pursue her social ambition instead of her true love, by marrying Edgar. She knew that when she entered the marriage, she would have to live with the role of a wife in the traditional noble marriage.
4. How do you interpret Edgar’s preoccupation with books while Catherine is so ill?
He ‘never’ actually opens the books, ‘wearying with a continual vague expectation that Catherine, repenting her conduct, would come of her own accord to ask pardon and seek a reconciliation’. And he’s not studying, instead he is ‘sighing’, ‘yearning to hear his lady’s name, since he might not hear her voice’. I think he’s using his studying as a distraction, to keep him from running to Catherine: ‘pride alone held him from running to cast himself at her feet’. The books are also symbols of education and nobility and represent the things he hides behind, as a product of high-class society. He rejects the idea of Catherine actually being ill and tries to force her to conform to society’s view of a woman’s role in a marriage – the submissive, apologetic wife. This only highlights the difference between him and Catherine. She is a wild child at heart, desiring only to roam the moors and be free, while he wants to abide by the rules of society and fulfil the characteristics of the perfect gentleman, husband and family man.
Teacher's notes:
Really excellent work, so detailed.Very impressed with your effort.
What's good:
- use of sophisticated vocabulary
- use of literary devices
- K&U of the text
- links to critics (this is really imp!)
Remember to link to authorial intentions, remember this from the Key Concepts sheet:
• When we say imaginative literature, we are referring to the texts as literary, imaginative constructs.
• By form, we mean the main characteristics of prose, drama, and poetry, and how these contribute to meaning and effect.
• Structure refers to the organisation of a text or passage, its shape and development and how this contributes to meaning and effect, for example, the structure of a poem created by the number of lines, line length and rhyme pattern.
• Genre encompasses the characteristics of different genres: for example, tragedy, comedy and satire.
• Conventions are the rules or traditional features which are characteristic of, for example, a play (dialogue and action), or a romantic novel (narrative point of view), or sonnet (length, shape, argument, counter-argument and conclusion).
• Context is the relationship between a text and its background – historical, social and cultural.
• Audience and readership implies the interaction of texts with the reader or audience (audience in the case of drama).
• Language and style covers the variety and use of language and style in different forms, genres and periods, and for different audiences and readerships.
• Interpretation involves the appreciation and discussion of different critical readings of a text (Cambridge International A Level only). Use these words throughout responses :-)