EMILY BRONTE

Wuthering Heights

Born July 30, 1818, one of six children and lived in a desolate area of Haworth, Yorkshire, England which inspired the setting of this novel

Mother died when Bronte was 3, two sisters died of TB before Bronte’s 10th birthday-disease and death were a constant in her family

Raised by an aunt who, though very religious, also allowed the children to use their imaginations and create their own worlds

EMILY BRONTE

Bronte died December 19, 1848, a year after this novel was published. She caught a cold at her brother’s funeral and it progressed to tuberculosis.

The Bronte sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne, published their own book of poetry with male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. They only sold 2 copies, but soon began novels

Each sister published a novel at about the same time. Charlotte’s Jane Eyre was the most critically and financially accepted. Wuthering Heights is now considered by critics to be the best of the sisters’ novels.

THE BRONTE SISTERS

THE NOVELAt the time the novel was written, capitalism and the Industrial Revolution were the mainstay of the British economy.

Cash became more important than land, so many of the middle class had more economic power than those of the upper class.

Relationships between the classes are a part of the novel with each group featured:• Hareton-farming class• Lintons-the gentry• Heathcliff-rich capitalist

The new wealthy capitalist wanted the same standing as traditional gentlemen and two marriages in the novel are possible because of these changes in class and status

Novel is a frame narrative-story within story within story. This form allows reader to go deeper into the story

Married women could not own property until 1882

Daughters did not automatically inherit property unless provided for in the will

Heathcliff uses knowledge of women’s property rights to exact his revenge

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

ROMANTICISM

Movement in response to the rationality of the Restoration Period and the issues surrounding the Industrial Revolution

This novel considered Romantic because of the following elements• Nature as a powerful spiritual force• Descriptions of countryside• Elevated level of emotion and passion• Strong interest in death• Portrayal of opposites: escape/pursuit, calm/turbulence, classes,

suffering/peace• Isolation both emotional and geographical• Elements of supernatural

Heathcliff referred to as Byronic hero because of these elements

• Conflicting emotions and moodiness

• Self-criticism• Mysterious origins• Distaste for social

institution and norms• Self-destructive

tendencies• A loner

BYRONIC HERO

GOTHIC NOVELThe form began in Britain in late 1700s. Elements of

• A castle, ruined or haunted• Extreme landscapes and weather• Death and madness• Omens• Ancestral curses• Terrifying events• Taboo topics• Supernatural• Villain or villain-hero driven by

passion• A hero whose true identity is

unknown until the end• A curious or persecuted heroine• Revenge