Study Questions &
Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Many of the
names in Wuthering Heights are strikingly similar.
For example, besides the two Catherines, there are a number of Lintons,
Earnshaws, and Heathcliffs whose names vary only slightly. What
role do specific names play in Wuthering Heights?
Names have a thematic significance in Wuthering
Heights. As the second generation of characters gradually
exhibits certain characteristics of the first generation, names
come to represent particular attributes. The Earnshaws are wild
and passionate, the Lintons tame and civilized; therefore, young
Catherine Linton displays a milder disposition than her mother,
Catherine Earnshaw. Linton Heathcliff becomes a mixture of the worst
of both his parents. In other words, he possesses Heathcliff’s arrogance
and imperiousness, combined with the Lintons’ cowardice and frailty.
Names in Wuthering Heights also serve to emphasize
the cyclic nature of the story. Just as the novel begins and ends
with a Catherine Earnshaw, the name of Hareton Earnshaw also bookends
an era; the final master of Wuthering Heights shares his name with
a distant ancestor, whose name was inscribed above the main door
in 1500.
2. In many
ways, Wuthering Heights structures itself around
matched, contrasting pairs of themes and of characters. What are
some of these pairs, and what role do they play in the book?
Matched and contrasting pairs form the apparatus
through which the book’s thematic conflicts play out, as the differences
between opposed characters and themes force their way into action
and development. Some of the pairs include: the two manor houses, Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange; the two loves in Catherine’s life,
Heathcliff and Edgar; the two Catherines in the novel, mother and
daughter; the two halves of the novel, separated by Catherine’s
death; the two generations of main characters, each of which occupies
one half of the novel; the two families, Earnshaw and Linton, whose
family trees are almost exactly symmetrical; and the two great themes
of the novel, love and revenge. By placing these elements into pairs,
the novel both compares and contrasts them to each other. The device
of pairing serves to emphasize the book’s themes, as well as to
develop the characters.
3. Analyze
the character of Edgar Linton. Is he a sympathetic figure? How does
he compare to Heathcliff? Is Catherine really in love with him?
Edgar Linton is a kind, gentle, civilized,
somewhat cowardly man who represents the qualities of Thrushcross
Grange as opposed to the qualities of Wuthering Heights. Married
to a woman whom he loves but whose passions he cannot understand,
Edgar is a highly sympathetic figure after Heathcliff returns to
Wuthering Heights. The man finds himself in an almost impossible
position, seeing his wife obviously in love with another man but
unable to do anything to rectify the situation. Still, he proves
weak and ineffectual when compared to the strong-willed Heathcliff,
and thus can exercise almost no claim on Catherine’s mind and heart.
While the reader may pity Edgar and feel that morality
may be on his side, it is hard not to sympathize with the charismatic
Catherine and Heathcliff in their passionate love. It is impossible
to think that Catherine does not really love Edgar with some part
of herself. Although she marries him largely because of her desire
for his social status, she seems genuinely drawn to his good looks,
polished manners, and kind demeanor. But it is also impossible to
think that her feelings for Edgar equal her feelings for Heathcliff—compared
with her wild, elemental passion for Heathcliff, her love for her
husband seems frail and somewhat proper, like Edgar himself.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Discuss the novel’s narrative
structure. Are the novel’s narrators trustworthy? Why or why not?
With particular reference to Nelly’s story, consider what might
be gained from reading between the lines of the narration. What
roles do the personalities of the narrators play in the way that
the story is told?
2. What role does social class
and class ambiguity play in Wuthering Heights?
To what extent is Heathcliff’s social position responsible for the
misery and conflict so persistent in the book?
3. Discuss revenge in Wuthering
Heights. In what ways is it connected to love? What is
the nature of love in the novel, that it can be so closely connected
to vengeance?
4. Think about the influence
of the physical landscape in the novel. What role do the moors play
in the development of the story, and in the presentation of the
characters? How does Catherine’s abiding love of the moors help
us to understand her character? What do the moors come to symbolize
in the novel?
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