ENGL 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Edgar Linton, Hareton Earnshaw, Lightning
Other Literary Devices:
Melodramatic Style: great deal of emotion in the novel
Symbolism : moors, windows, dogs
Structure:
• CHAPTERS 1-3 Novel starts off in present time when Lockwood asks Nelly to inform
him about the Wuthering Height’s family.
• CHAPTERS 4-17 tells the story of Catherine and Heathcliff’s childhood, Heathcliff’s
return as a wealthy gentleman, and through the death of Catherine
• CHAPTERS 18-31 The story of Cathy and Linton; death of Edgar
• CHAPTERS 32-34 returns to present time; Lockwood returns to Thrushcross Grange and
hears the rest of the story-- Hareton and Cathy get close, Heathcliff dies and is buried
next to Catherine
Plot/Quote Overview:
• “Terror made me cruel; and finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its
wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the
bedclothes.” (Bronte, 39)
• “We crowded round, and over Miss Cathy’s head I had a peep at a dirty, ragged, black-haired
child; big enough both to walk and talk: indeed, its face looked older than Catherine’s; yet when
it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish that
nobody could understand.” (Bronte, 57)
• “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to
keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.” (Bronte, 65)
• “I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked
man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade
me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he's
handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his
and mine are the same, and [Edgar's] is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from
fire.” (Bronte, 127)
• “You teach me how cruel you've been—cruel and false. Why do you despise me? Why did you
betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed
yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry, and wring out my kisses and tears; they'll blight you—
they'll damn you. You loved me—then what right had you to leave me? What right—answer
me—for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation and death, and
nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have
not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” (Bronte,
258)
• “My son is prospective owner of your place, and I should not wish him to die till I was certain
of being his successor. Besides he's mine, and I want the triumph of seeing my descendant fairly
lord of their estates: my child hiring their children to till their father's land for wages. That is the
sole consideration which can make me endure the whelp: I despise him for himself, and hate him
for the memories he revives!” (334)
• “I got the sexton, who was digging Linton's grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I
opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there, when I saw her face again—it is hers yet—
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Document Summary
Melodramatic style: great deal of emotion in the novel. It would degrade me to marry heathcliff now; so he shall never know how i love him; and that, not because he"s handsome, nelly, but because he"s more myself than i am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and [edgar"s] is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire. (bronte, 127: you teach me how cruel you"ve been cruel and false. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry, and wring out my kisses and tears; they"ll blight you they"ll damn you. Because misery, and degradation and death, and nothing that god or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. Besides he"s mine, and i want the triumph of seeing my descendant fairly lord of their estates: my child hiring their children to till their father"s land for wages.
