In Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë employs a complicated narrative structure in which characters' stories are passed down through a chain of narrators until they are finally recorded in a diary through the tale of an outsider's perspective. This outsider is Lockwood, a character who, just like readers, encounters the mysterious inhabitants of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange for the first time. An anxious Lockwood begins to hear the first-hand account of what happened in these two houses from Nelly Dean, who may not be the most reliable narrator due to her loyalty to some characters and her hatred towards others. To make up for the holes in Nelly's story, Brontë introduces other narrators, who recount parts of the narrative that Nelly did not witness. Brontë uses this complicated network of narrators to present multiple perspectives of each character so that readers get the most objective and believable version of the events that occurred in Wuthering Heights. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The perspective that Lockwood gives readers of the characters in Wuthering Heights is confusing and confusing. Error in describing the people he meets, calling Heathcliff "a great fellow" and confusing Cathy with his daughter (1). Eventually, Lockwood notes that he "began to feel unmistakably out of place in [the] pleasant family circle" of Wuthering Heights (9). However, Lockwood's inability to convey factual information does not distance him from the reader; rather, it makes it more relatable because Lockwood's feelings of perplexity and confusion mirror the readers' feelings at this point. By putting Lockwood and readers in the same situation (both are introduced to the characters at the same time), Brontë is creating a narrator that readers can trust and rely on to tell them an honest story. Through Lockwood, Brontë also influences the reader's emotions. When Lockwood begins to listen to Nelly's story, he doesn't want her to stop and begs Nelly to "stay still, another half hour" when she decides to take a break (44). By showing how eager Lockwood is to continue the story, Brontë is also making readers curious about what Nelly will say next. After Lockwood becomes entranced by Nelly's tale, Nelly becomes the main narrator of Wuthering Heights. Nelly witnesses most of the events she describes, which would make her seem reliable at first glance, but because Brontë tells Nelly's story the way she tells it to Lockwood, Nelly is able to choose which details to tell Lockwood. and, therefore, readers depending on what fits their agenda. Nelly makes it very clear where his allegiances lie. Before he begins his story, he says that "Miss Cathy is [the last] of us, I mean, of the Lintons" (24). Because Nelly takes the side of the Lintons, she tries to distort the audience's perception of the characters so that they see the Lintons positively and anyone who opposes them negatively. This is where the other narrators that Brontë introduces into the novel come into play. These other narrators add dimensionality to the characters in Wuthering Heights by providing readers with a different perspective than Nelly's. This allows readers to form their own opinions about the characters based on more than what Nelly has to say. By introducing Heathcliff as the narrator, readers are exposed to some of the negative qualities of the Lintons. Heathcliff describes peering through the window into Thrushcross Grange and seeing the Lintons "[arguing] over whoshould keep a lot of warm hair" and "look for entertainment by screaming and sobbing and rolling on the floor" (35). This image evoked by Heathcliff's description makes the Lintons seem snobbish and superficial, qualities that Nelly would not have highlighted about Edgar and Isabella and which present a much richer picture of the Lintons. Furthermore, other narrators are also needed to provide a more objective perspective on Heathcliff and the Earnshaws. Towards the beginning of the novel, Nelly implies that he does not agree with the way they Earnshaw treated Heathcliff upon his arrival at Wuthering Heights. After leaving Heathcliff to sleep on the stairs because Catherine and Hindley did not want to share a room with him, Nelly sarcastically states that she was banished from the house for her "cowardice and inhumanity" when, in reality, he saw Earnshaw's treatment of Heathcliff as such (27). Nelly's sympathy for Heathcliff and contempt towards the Earnshaws, particularly Hindley, become more evident after Heathcliff is forced to work as a servant. To balance Nelly's mostly negative portrayal of the Earnshaws, Brontë introduces Isabella as narrator. Through her narrative, Isabella shows Hindley as, just like her, a victim of Heathcliff's cruel tricks. He emphasizes the fact that Hindley will do anything to get back what Heathcliff took from him by saying that “'[Hindley] can't resist going up [to Heathcliff's room] with [a gun] every night and trying his door. If [Hindley finds] it open once, he's finished!'” (103). This perspective of Hindley makes him a character that readers can pity. Isabella's narration also serves another function: to provide Lockwood with information about events that Nelly did not witness. Heathcliff's cruelty towards Isabella is a key point in the story that would have been left out if Brontë had not chosen to include Isabella as the narrator. Much the same could be said of the other characters who have a minor narrative role in Wuthering Heights. Cathy and Zillah, for example, both give Lockwood and readers a glimpse of what life was like in Wuthering Heights with Heathcliff in charge through their narratives. Furthermore, Heathcliff's description of how he dug up Catherine's grave was a part of the story that only he could tell. When Heathcliff says, "'I was sure I would see [Cathy] there, I was sure she was with me, and I couldn't help but speak to her,'" he is describing feelings that none of the other characters could feel or initiate. understand (212). If readers want to fully understand how hard the loss of Catherine is affecting Heathcliff, it was appropriate for this segment of the story to be told in Heathcliff's own words. The fact that Nelly chose to recount events she shouldn't have witnessed using the exact words of the character whose experiences she was recounting rather than simply summarizing what she was told makes these second-hand stories immediately more reliable and credible. If Nelly had summarized the experiences of the other characters, it would be difficult to say whether there was more to the story that Nelly was withholding to achieve his own purpose. However, the use of exact words erases any doubt that something is missing from the story. Ultimately, Lockwood also uses this tactic to prove himself as a reliable narrator. After a few weeks in Wuthering Heights, he admits that he will continue the story in “[Nelly's] words, just a little condensed. Overall she is a very correct narrator” (115). This statement makes it clear that he is presenting the events that occurred at Wuthering Heights in the same way they were told to him. Please note: this is just an example. Get.
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