Wuthering Heights: Critical Analysis Guide
Instructions
This is a complex novel with a frame narrative containing two narrators, multiple characters, two generations of characters (some with similar names!), and a series of parallel and recurring events. It will take some study.
This guide is organized by literary elements or big ideas. Just as you consider all elements every time you read, you should consider this guide in its entirety each time you read. You should add quotations and analysis in the different big ideas with each reading. Follow these steps to complete your reading and this guide.
Step 1: Begin by breaking the reading into six chunks:
- Opening: Chapters 1-3
- Heathcliff’s growing up years—Part 1: Chapters 4-14
- Heathcliff’s growing up years—Part 2: Chapters 15-17
- Heathcliff’s adulthood—Part 1: Chapters 18-24
- Heathcliff’s adulthood—Part 2: Chapters 25-31
- Ending: Chapters 32-34
Step 2: Read and annotate. Consider using a specific pen or sticky note color to track each big idea. Upon completing a section, review your annotations and choose quotations to include in your analysis in this guide.
Step 3: Record important quotations in their corresponding big idea, including the speaker if applicable and the chapter and page number. Quotations should come from throughout the book.
Step 4: Comment on the function of the text you have identified as significant. Do not merely write, “This shows Heathcliff’s character” or paraphrase the quotation. Instead, explain how the selected lines function within the big idea you’ve selected; elaborate on the purpose and effect.
SAMPLE Entry
| Character
|
||
| Chapter, Page #, Speaker if applicable | Quotation | Commentary |
| Chapter 11, page 101, Heathcliff | “Cathy, this lamb of yours
threatens like a bull!” he said. “It is in danger of splitting its skull against my knuckles. By God! Mr. Linton, I’m mortally sorry that you are not worth knocking down!” |
Heathcliff reveals his complete disdain for Edgar. Even though Cathy has already married Edgar, Heathcliff still behaves as a rival for her attention. Heathcliff addresses Cathy as if Edgar were not there. The animal metaphor develops Heathcliff’s cruel nature and conveys contempt for Edgar, as if he were a dumb animal. By using “lamb,” Bronte makes it apparent that Heathcliff considers Edgar weak and meek. |
| Character
Choose quotations that reveal complexities in the character, develop a relationship between characters, show how the character fits an archetype, or indicate a change in that character.
· Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw (the eldest Catherine): 2-3 entries for each · Hareton, Catherine Linton, and Edgar: 1 or more entries for each |
||
| Chapter, Page #, Speaker if applicable | Quotation | Commentary |
| Narrator
Choose quotations that reveal the point of view and its effect, show how details, diction, or syntax reveal the narrator’s perspective, or portray how the narrator’s reliability affects the narrative.
· Lockwood: at least 2 entries · Nelly Dean: at least 2 entries
|
||
| Chapter, Page #, Speaker if applicable | Quotation | Commentary |
| Setting
Choose quotations that reveal the setting, show the relationship between setting and character, or portray the setting functioning as an archetype or symbol.
· Thrushcross Grange: at least 1 entry · Wuthering Heights: at least 2 entries · Moors: at least 1 entry
|
||
| Chapter, Page #, Speaker if applicable | Quotation | Commentary |
| Structure
Choose quotations that portray significant events or a related set of events that contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole, develop a conflict, employ contrasts, shift the tone, or use structure for effect.
· Significant events that show or develop the conflict: 2-4 entries · Contrasts: at least 2 entries · Structure for effect: at least 1 entry
|
||
| Chapter, Page #, Speaker if applicable | Quotation | Commentary |
| Figurative Language
Choose quotations that contain diction that contributes to tone, convey recurring symbols and imagery that contribute to the larger meaning of the work, and use simile, metaphor, personification, and allusion for particular effects.
· Diction / Tone / Tone shifts: at least 1 entry · Symbols: at least 2 entries · Figurative Language and Imagery: at least 2 entries
|
||
| Chapter, Page #, Speaker if applicable | Quotation | Commentary |
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
OVER
RATING
YEARS
