Blog Post Number 4: Wuthering Heights

This week my mum and I finished the book! I am also happy because we are a bit ahead of what we planed out so it's been working out well! This week we discussed the themes through the whole book.

Theme in this book:

I guess I would go with something like "Vengeance is empty"The book itself is not a romance novel, like people seem to think it is. It's a story of revenge. The entire story is about Heathcliff's vengeance upon these two families. The "love story" of him and Catherine is not the actual theme of the book...it's actually just the catalyst for the story of this man's obsessive determination to bring down these two families. It's the *cause* of his actions and need for revenge. At the end of the novel, he has completely succeeded in achieving all he set out to do, but it hasn't made him happy, it hasn't made him feel better, it hasn't satisfied him. It has left him empty and tired. By the last few chapters, he doesn't even care anymore. He dies a miserable man.

Summary of the novel: (Chapter 10 since it's one of my favorite chapters) 

Lockwood becomes sick after his traumatic experience at Wuthering Heights, and—as he writes in his diary—spends four weeks in misery. Heathcliff pays him a visit, and afterward Lockwood summons Nelly Dean and demands to know the rest of her story. How did Heathcliff, the oppressed and reviled outcast, make his fortune and acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange? Nelly says that she does not know how Heathcliff spent the three years that he was away and that it was at this time that he apparently acquired his wealth. But she agrees to continue with her tale. About six months after Catherine’s marriage to Edgar Linton, Heathcliff returns home, surprising Nelly at Thrushcross Grange. When he comes indoors, Catherine becomes almost giddy with happiness at the sight of him, and their obvious affection for one another makes Edgar uncomfortable and jealous. Heathcliff has grown into a polished, gentlemanly, and physically impressive man, though some hint of savagery remains in his eyes. He announces that Hindley has invited him to stay at Wuthering Heights. This surprises both Catherine and Nelly, but Heathcliff tells Catherine that when he sought Nelly at Wuthering Heights earlier that day, he came across Hindley in a card game with his rough friends. Heathcliff joined them in the gambling, and, because his reckless bids seemed to bespeak a great wealth, Hindley excitedly invited him to return.

Catherine and Isabella begin to visit Wuthering Heights quite often, and Heathcliff returns the favor by calling at the Grange. Isabella begins to fall in love with Heathcliff, who, despite his obvious love for Catherine, does nothing to discourage her sister-in-law’s affections. Nelly suspects that he harbors wicked and vengeful motives, and vows to watch him closely.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is in chapter 10 and this is it: 

"I never say to him to let this or that enemy alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them, I say ­ "Let them alone, because I should hate them to be wronged"; and he'd crush you, like a sparrow's egg, Isabella, if he found you a troublesome charge." (103)