Summary of Wuthering Heights

Plot summary The events of the novel are mediated through two narrators: Lockwood opens and concludes, and we rely on Nelly Dean for the rest. The novel spans a period of forty years or so, charting the histories of three generations of the Earnshaws and Lintons. The central characters are Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Their frustrated and passionate relationship affects all around them, being the force driving the story forward, and continuing to dominate the …

…that it is an intrinsic part of Heathcliff and Cathy accommodates the display of love and hate shown by them both, undermining in turn the idea that these emotions are paradoxical. However, the imagery surrounding the courtship of Catherine and Hareton suggests that Bronte is showing how such violence must be moderated in order for lasting happiness to be achieved. A compromise between the unrefined Wuthering Heights and the refined Thrushcross Grange must be sought.