Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

Thesis:

Emily Bronte's, Wuthering Heights is narrated from the view-point of two characters, resulting in a plot that tells a story within a story. The story is told through the pen of Lockwood, as a journal of his experiences with the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, while the inner story is that of Nelly Dean, housekeeper of the Grange. The events told in the novel are eye-witness accounts of either Nelly or Lockwood, which, due to the nature of the narrator, leads to a story that is both unreliable and heavily biased. Both Nelly and Lockwood prove to be partial narrators, subject to altering the course of the novel by both interfering with the actions of and imposing their personal views on the characters. The narrators are also subject to tunnel vision, only recounting the events in which they were present to witness, effectively altering the "truth" of the novel. Both narrators of the novel prove subjective in their views, and subsequently alter the readers perception not of the characters, as intended, but of the narrators themselves.

Annotated Bibliography:

Berlinger, Manette. "'I Am Heathcliff ': Lockwood's Role In Wuthering Heights." Bronte Studies 35.3 (2010): 185-193. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.

Berlinger analyzes Lockwood's role in the story, arguing that the view that Lockwood is incapable of understanding the full significance of the story, and furthermore the characters of the story is only partly correct. He argues that in fact, Lockwood is the alter ego of Heathcliff, evolving alongside the character "toward fulfillment." He argues that although Lockwood is seen as emotionally flat and unmoving, while Heathcliff is passionate and unstable, Lockwood's story is mirror to Heathcliff's. Although this paper provides no direct link to my thesis, the comparison between Lockwood and Heathcliff is one that proves incredibly interesting, and Berlinger's comparison between narrator and character could prove effective in proving the narrators unreliable in their story.

Brick, Allan R. "Wuthering Heights: Narrators, Audience, and Message." College English. 21.2 (1959): 80-86 National Council of Teachers of English. Web. 8 Nov 2011.

Brick analyzes Bronte's narrative techniques and how her narrative choices are "infused with her essential message."(80) He evaluates the choices and story of Lockwood and Nelly, their personalities and their lack of growth throughout the novel. By highlighting key events in the novel, Brick leads the reader to his own conclusions regarding the flaws of the narrators, saying "some make the leap [away] entirely, some remain with Nelly, but other flounder in between." (84) This article will