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In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist’s heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us.
This quote from Chapter 1 comprises the novel’s opening lines, relayed as a letter from Lockwood on the subject of his stay in the country. A somewhat supercilious man, Lockwood claims to want peace and quiet but immediately sets about interacting with the inhabitants of nearby Wuthering Heights, including his landlord, Heathcliff, whom Lockwood amusingly assumes to be a kindred spirit, though Heathcliff wants nothing to do with him.
Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. ‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather…Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.
In this Chapter 1 description of Wuthering Heights, Brontë highlights the Gothic aspects of the novel’s setting—howling winds and recurrent storms are hallmarks of Gothic fiction, as tumultuous weather often reflects the turmoil of its plot and characters.
He hailed me to follow him . . . we at length arrived in the huge, warm, cheerful apartment where I was formerly received. It glowed delightfully in the radiance of an immense fire, compounded of coal, peat, and wood; and near the table, laid for a plentiful evening meal, I was pleased to observe the ‘missis,’ an individual whose existence I had never previously suspected . . . She looked at me, leaning back in her chair, and remained motionless and mute.
In Chapter 2, Lockwood’s perspective contributes to his unreliability as a narrator. From his description of the room as “warm” and “cheerful” to his delight upon meeting Cathy, whom he incorrectly assumes to be Heathcliff’s young wife, it’s clear not all is what it seems at Wuthering Heights.
While leading the way upstairs, she recommended that I should hide the candle, and not make a noise; for her master had an odd notion about the chamber she would put me in, and never let anybody lodge there willingly. I asked the reason. She did not know, she answered: she had only lived there a year or two; and they had so many queer goings on, she could not begin to be curious.
The housekeeper at Wuthering Heights, Zillah, leads Lockwood to a room where he can pass the night in Chapter 3, though she confesses she’s not supposed to if she can help it. When asked why, Zillah says she doesn’t know; she only knows that Heathcliff prefers not to keep guests there, which is just one of many odd things about the house. These details contribute to the novel’s Gothic tone.
‘Well, Mrs. Dean, it will be a charitable deed to tell me something of my neighbours: I feel I shall not rest if I go to bed; so be good enough to sit and chat an hour.’
With these words in Chapter 4, Lockwood encourages Nelly Dean to tell him about the Earnshaw family and she begins her tale, which will make up the majority of the rest of the novel. From here, we switch from one narrator (Lockwood) to another (Nelly Dean), both of whom possess biases in the way they relay events and so are unreliable in their own way.
