Ellis Bell & "Wuthering Heights"

For a summer reading assignment, my AP English teacher had us choose from a list of classic English novels of the 19th century. The list included unforgettable pieces like Frankenstein and more, however I felt that I should broaden my horizon and put something new in front of my eyes; something I would not typically read. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is something I would not typically read, being that it is an enduring romance or "sob" (as I would call it) story written from a woman's perspective of the time period. This is not to say that I have anything against these facets or female writing. I would just never think to pick up this particular book and begin reading it, of personal choice. But they say, "don't judge a book by its cover." And in this case I did not want to literally judge this book by its cover. So I began reading and mid-way through I found myself pleasantly surprised.

First of all, I would like to point out Bronte's excellent use of language and vocabulary in this book. Her language actually augmented what would have already been a great story to begin with. I was very fascinated by the fact that Bronte (also know by her pen name Ellis Bell) was so well-spoken and written as a young lady coming from her social background and time period. Born into a middle class family, she was given sufficient educational opportunities but it was her personal pursuit that gained her great knowledge in linguistics. For example, she would do things like teach herself German out of books while maintaining a job primarily solely because she was interested in the language. A curious young girl, much of Bronte's education was based out of her house where she was taught by her father and aunt. Her interest in writing stories and poem began around the age of eight when her and her sisters wrote stories about their toy soldiers and the Duke of Wellignton. With that little literary background, I would like to give an example of her writing taken from Wuthering Heights:

"Fortunately, the beasts seemed more bent on stretching their paws and yawning and flourishing their tails, than devouring me alive; but they would suffer no resurrection, and I was forced to lie till their malignant masters pleased to deliver me: then, hastless and trembling with wrath, I ordered the miscreants to let me out--on their peril to keep me one minute longer--with several incoherent threats of retaliation that, in their indefinite depth of virulency, smacked of King Lear. The vehemence of my agitation brought on copious bleeding at the nose, and still Heathcliff laughed, and still I scolded."

As seen in this passage and throughout the book, vocabulary serves as a large foundation in Bronte's writing and comes off the page as a very evident aspect in each and every sentence.

Another facet that makes Bronte a unique storyteller is her ability to immerse the reader within the story, as if they are really there. Take this passage for example.
"The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed. "'Let me in--let me in!'" "'Who are you?'" I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. "'Catherine Linton,'" it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of Linton? I had read Earnshaw twenty times for Linton). "'I'm come home: I'd lost my way on the moor!'" As it spoke, I discerned, obsurely, a child's face looking through the window.

Her detailed descriptions are so emotionally driven and thought based from the narrators point of view that they have the affect of placing the reader within the scene where they are standing next to the narrator, thinking the same thoughts.

Another thing I would like to point out that brings Bronte's story to life is her usual use of the emotional, exclamatory interjection. Taking a look at a passage in the book, this technique is evident.

"If I imagined you really wished me to marry Isabel, I'd cut my throat!"

"I cannot love thee; thou'rt worse than thy brother. Go, say thy prayers, child, and ask God's pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee!"

"I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!"

"Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend--if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own. That will be a prompt way of finishing all, when I am pushed to extremity!"

Something as simple as the repeated and proper use of the interjection is brilliant in a novel that is meant to provoke emotion. It serves as a tool to intensify the scenario and makes the story much more realistic.