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Heathcliff Vs Nelly Dean

581 Words3 Pages

The story in Emily Bronte 's gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, is told from the perspectives of Catherine’s servant, Nelly Dean, and tenant of Thrushcross Grange, Mr. Lockwood. These two characters give the reader descriptive and potentially biased accounts of events throughout the story. As the reader comes to their own conclusions about their opinions of the characters traits and personalities, the basis of this information relies on the beliefs of two unreliable narrators. Nelly Dean envies Catherine and feels mistreated by both her and Heathcliff. Mr. Lockwood arrives at Wuthering Heights after the drama regarding Catherine and Heathcliff occurred, thus missing out on key events only recounted to him by Nelly. Wuthering Heights can also be …show more content…

Coming from a tumultuous and difficult childhood, he has developed traits of solemn and antisocial natures. His undying love for Catherine causes intolerable pain spanning from his youth until the day he dies. Catherine’s obsession with social status and her superficial nature causes her to be in a limbo between choosing to love Heathcliff or Edgar Linton. One day in the midst of an emotional conversation between Nelly and Catherine, Heathcliff hears a snippet of what they are talking about. Catherine hisses, “It would degrade me to love Heathcliff...so he shall never know how I love him”, and Heathcliff cannot believe his ears (59). After years of friendship and flirtation, Catherine decides that he is not sufficient for her, thus, breaking Heathcliff’s heart. A tidal wave of rage and fervor washes over him as he replays the words in his head, trying to comprehend. Shifting his body weight to his right side, the floorboard beneath Heathcliff creaks, causing Nelly to turn and catch a glimpse of him before he slips away. As quickly as Catherine broke his heart, Heathcliff runs, in a feeble attempt to escape this gnawing feeling of rejection. Years of happy memories between the lovers flash before his eyes. As he sprints past Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff can only curse its resident, Edgar, for charming his dear Catherine. A few years pass and Heathcliff learns of the marriage between Catherine and

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I have not broken your heart- you have broken it- and in breaking it, you have broken mine” (Bronte). This perfectly sums up a vicious cycle created in this novel. These characters are putting themselves I situations that will cause them to suffer, and as a result of their suffering, they inflict the same sensation on others. A perfect example being Heathcliff’s treatment of Hareton and Cathy, who, despite the abuse, are the few characters that are able to break out of this cycle. Similar situations can be found in Grendel.

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833 Words | 4 Pages

Compare the ways in which the writers of your two chosen texts make use of different voices. You must relate your discussion to relevant contextual factors. Bronte in Wuthering Heights and Hosseini in A Thousand Splendid Suns aim to give a voice to their oppressed female characters in their respective patriarchal societies (the Georgian/Victorian period and ISIS ruled Afghanistan) through utilising narrative voice and perspective. Both authors use interchangeable and unreliable narrators to distort the truth of the women's stories, giving the reader a subconscious bias. Lockwood is the main narrator within 'Wuthering Heights', he is written by Bronte as an ignorant character, constantly making mistakes about peoples character.

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In Chapter 10, Heathcliff wants to get revenge by marrying Isabella Linton to steal Edgar's land. Catherine states, "you are too prone to covet your neighbour's goods" (99, Brontë). The Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange scenes are integral to Heathcliff's goals. The weather in Wuthering Heightsforeshadows certain events and keeps the viewer engaged in the story.

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Nelly’s dislike of Catherine contrasts sharply with Edgar’s nearly unconditional positive regard for his wife. Nelly’s role in Catherine’s life was different from Edgar’s, and she got a more unrestricted view of Catherine. This difference contributed most greatly to the disparity in the attitudes that the two characters possessed. Both Edgar and Nelly experienced hardship at the hand of Catherine, Edgar perhaps more so, but even as Catherine’s personality changed, neither would give up their conceptions of Catherine. The only major similarity between Edgar and Nelly’s attitudes, then, was their unwillingness to recognize change in Catherine of any sort.

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870 Words | 4 Pages

Mr Earnshaw refers to Heathcliff as “It” this could become very degrading for Heathcliff as he wasn’t treated like a human, in contrast to this, this was on the first night of him being in the Earnshaw residence which means that they hadn’t got to know him yet. Heathcliff’s relationship with Mr Earnshaw would of been one of the things that made his childhood more bearable as we are told that Heathcliff became Mr Earnshaw favourite child, we are told by Nelly Dean that she considered the relationship sinister as he become more loved by Mr Earnshaw than Hindley. Moreover we are also told that Mrs Earnshaw was wary of the child and didn’t want to keep him, this could of made Heathcliff childhood bitter by knowing that not everyone wanted him there. His relationship with Hindley Earnshaw may have made his childhood very bitter as he was physically and verbally abused by him. We are told that after a few days, “Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him” this show us that Hindley started hating him from the start, this would later continue into adulthood.

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Heathcliff personifies the role of a savage and a cultured gentleman. Heathcliff’s upbringing was tainted from the begging, he was a parentless gypsy orphan that was adopted by and brought out to the moors. As a child he was very unkempt, but unlike most children he never outgrew this trait. When Catherine returns from Thrushcross Grange, she immediately

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Laws are used and developed in order to provide guidelines, establish authority and to maintain a sense of orderliness in society. However, chaotic and unexpected occurrences can often cause individuals and groups in society to go above the law and perform acts that are seen as unacceptable under the legal system. Therefore, I agree with the article shown, that such occurrences, to a certain extent, can take place in Ottawa in the case of a natural disaster. For instance, although, Canada does not have a higher crime rate compared to the U.S, the country is still vulnerable to such an event occurring since many violent acts occurred during the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot, which was fueled by frustration and anger. Additionally, the natural

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The passage from the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte illustrates the relationships between the characters Jane, John, and her aunt. The relationship that is focused on the most in this passage is the relationship between John and Jane. Through Jane’s point of view the readers clearly see’s her perspective of each characters and their treatment of her. The author’s use of syntax also demonstrates to the reader Jane’s attitude towards John and her aunt. The most detailed relationship in the passage is between Jane and John.

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The amount of anger and frustration expressed to keep their marriage together is emphasized by the rhetorical device. It also shows that hatred is expressed in a family when one is lost for patience, becoming a problem and resolution. In the metaphor, “He’s not a rough diamond-a pearl-containing oyster of rustic: he’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man”(Bronte 101), Heathcliff is described by Nelly Dean to be powerful and potentially hurtful to Isabella. Dean protects Isabella by warning her at the cost of dehumanizing Heathcliff. The metaphor is used to describe and illustrate an image for readers and Isabella.

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Throughout the novel, Nelly acts as the voice of reason to many of her mistresses, although sometimes their actions have consequences. For example, Nelly encourages Isabella to renounce her love for Heathcliff. Nelly knows that Edgar would never approve of him as her husband, but Isabella disregards her advice and seals her elopement with Heathcliff anyway. Their marriage provoked the tension that had remained after Catherine 's decision to elope with Edgar rather than Heathcliff. Brontë scholars believe that Nelly is one of the only characters in Wurthering Heights that has the power to "shape the plot" by the fact that she has been a support to a handful of the characters throughout the novel.

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2102 Words | 9 Pages

Firstly the obsessive love between Catherine and Heathcliff. Catherine claims that her love for Heathcliff “resembles the eternal rocks beneath –a source of little visible delight, but necessary” (73). She tells her housekeeper “Nelly, I am Heathcliff –he’s always, always in my

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848 Words | 4 Pages

Isabella is depressed during most of the book because of her abusive marriage. During the book Wuthering Heights their is an chapter that is a letter written by Isabella and how her time at Wuthering Heights is. “ Is Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad?

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In Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre” Edward Fairfax Rochester plays a contributing role in Janes development and growth as a character and human being in the Victorian time period. Not only does he play a large role in her independency, but in her emotional and spiritual growth as well. She grows around him whether she likes it or not. Due to Edwards manipulative and seductive nature, jane has to grow and develop in a way that has her frequently questioning her own ideals, whether that be spiritually or morally, and strengthening her independence by constantly refusing her feelings for him and adapting to punishing situations. Edward also opens Janes eyes to a world that is bigger than she realized due to his company at the house, wealth, and opportunities at the favorable Thornfeild manor at which she was employed by him.

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Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, published in 1847. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities. Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. Wuthering Heights, which has long, been one of the most popular and highly regarded novels in English literature. In my essay I will write about

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Emily Brontë approaches the idea of sickness and death of the characters in her novel Wuthering Heights in a peculiar way. The characters that are ill are usually mentally ill, and their deaths often result from physical ailments derived from mental illness. The drive for revenge and desire for love that reigns among the characters often lands them in stressful situations that cause them to spiral downward into these mental illnesses. Emily Brontë’s emphasis on the motif of sickness and death in Wuthering Height deepens the drama of the plot and constructs more complicated relationships between the characters.

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