Wuthering Heights Characters And Themes Essay

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Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte

Summary
Wuthering Heights is a novel told in a series of narratives, which are themselves told to the narrator, a gentleman named Lockwood. Lockwood rents a fine house called Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire and slowly learns more about the histories of the two local families. This is what he learns from the housekeeper, Ellen Dean, who had been with one of the two families for all her life.
The story takes place around 1760, when a gentleman farmer named Earnshaw went from his farm, Wuthering Heights, to Liverpool on a business trip. There he found a little boy who looked like a gypsy who had apparently been abandoned. He brought the child home with him to join his pwn family of his wife, his son, and his daughter. He named the boy Heathcliff. Every member of the family except Catherine, the daughter, opposed the introduction of the strange boy. Then the children grow up together, always picking on Heathcliff who finally wants revenge on Hindley, his ‘brother.’ The story then plays out so that there are mysterious love connections and people are lost and arguments are constant. Will all be resolved in the end?

Character List
Heathcliff: The main character that was orphaned as a child. He is a ‘gypsy’ that Mr. Earnshaw brings home. He is in love with Catherine but he is always on the outside, constantly losing people. Throughout the book he is abusive, brutal, and cruel. Heathcliff wants revenge on Hindley for mistreatment and most of the novel focuses on his evil doings and acts of revenge. He even marries to make the woman miserable and takes property to degrade Hindley. He uses this to his advantage in the end of the book. Without giving out the ending… Heathcliff is a dynamic character that changes his ways of living by the end of the book.
Catherine Earnshaw: The love of Heathcliff’s life. She is wild, impetuous, and arrogant as a child. She was born at Wuthering heights and grows up getting everything she wants. Her selfishness continues throughout life and ends up hurting everyone including herself; she learns to control her selfishness. She favors her son over Heathcliff, unlike her husband. Catherine Earnshaw is a dynamic character that changes internally throughout the book when it comes to seeing herself and her lifestyle.
Edgar Linton- Catherine’s husband and Heathcliff’s rival. He is the master of Thrushcross Grange. He is well mannered and well to do. His love for Catherine enables him to overlook their incompatible natures. After losing someone special to him, he finds happiness with his daughter, Catherine. He wants her to stay away from Heathcliff but does not want her to be alone after the death, so he allows her to spend time with Linton, not realizing how ill-tempered he is. The other characters and events change Edgar for the better, making him a dynamic character.
Catherine Linton- Daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar. She is a mild form of her mother, serving as a reminder of her mother’s strengths and weaknesses. She starts the novel as a sheltered child but soon meats Heathcliff and the others at Wuthering heights. She is forced to marry and becomes crude because of her treatment at the heights, but eventually becomes friends with Hareton, leading to a happier life. She is a dynamic character due to her physical changes towards the other characters and herself.
Linton Heathcliff- Son of Heathcliff and Isabella. He was born a sickly child, weak and whiny (physically and emotionally) he serves as a pawn in Heathcliff’s game of revenge. Marries Catherine Linton and helps her through life makes him a static character that does not change emotionally or physically through the plot.
Ellen Dean- Narrator and Catherine’s servant at Wuthering Heights. She is relates to the majority of the events, but is full of bias. She tells the story relating it constantly to Mr. Lockwood, the tenant at Thrushcross Grange. Ellen is a Static character that does not change physically