wuthering heights 读书报告

wuthering heights 读书报告 full title · wuthering heights author · emily

bront? type of work · novel genre · gothic novel (designed to both horrify

and fascinate readers with scenes of passion and cruelty; supernatural

elements; and a dark, foreboding atmosphere); also realist fiction

(incorporates vivid circumstantial detail into a consistently and minutely

thought-out plot, dealing mostly with the relationships of the characters to

one another) language · english (including bits of yorkshire dialect) time

and place written · in 1846–1847, emily bront? wrote wuthering heights in

the parsonage of the isolated village of haworth, in yorkshire. date of first

publication · 1847 publisher · thomas c. newby tense · both lockwood’s and

nelly’s narrations are in the past tense. setting (time) · the action of nelly’s

story begins in the 1770s; lockwood leaves yorkshire in 1802. setting

(place) · all the action of wuthering heights takes place in or around two

neighboring houses on the yorkshire moors—wuthering heights and

thrushcross grange. protagonists · heathcliff, catherine major

conflicts · heathcliff’s great natural abilities, strength of character, and love

for catherine earnshaw all enable him to raise himself from humble

beginnings to the status of a wealthy gentleman, but his need to revenge

himself for hindley’s abuse and catherine’s betrayal leads him into a twisted

life of cruelty and hatred; catherine is torn between her love for heathcliff

and her desire to be a gentlewoman, and her decision to marry the genteel

edgar linton drags almost all of the novel’s characters into conflict with

heathcliff. rising action · heathcliff’s arrival at wuthering heights, hindley’s

abusive treatment of heathcliff, and catherine’s first visit to thrushcross

grange set the major conflicts in motion; once heathcliff hears catherine say

it would “degrade” her to marry him, the conversation between nelly and

catherine, which he secretly overhears, drives him to run away and pursue

his vengeance. climax · catherine’s death is the culmination of the conflict

between herself and heathcliff and removes any possibility that their

conflict could be resolved positively; after catherine’s death, heathcliff

merely extends and deepens his drives toward revenge and cruelty. falling

action · heathcliff destroys isabella and drives her away, takes possession of

young linton, forces catherine and linton to marry, inherits thrushcross

grange, then loses interest in the whole project and dies; hareton and

young catherine are to be engaged to be married, promising an end to the

cycle of revenge. themes · the destructiveness of a love that never changes;

the precariousness of social class motifs · doubles, repetition, the conflict

between nature and culture symbols · the moors, ghosts

foreshadowing · lockwood’s initial visit to wuthering heights, in which the

mysterious relationships and lurking resentments between the characters

create an air of mystery; lockwood’s ghostly nightmares, during the night he

spends in catherine’s old bed, prefigure many of the events of the rest of

the novel. wuthering heights 内容摘要总结 in 1801, mr. lockwood, a rich

man from the south of england, rents thrushcross grange in the north of

england for peace and recuperation. soon after his arrival, he visits his

landlord, mr. heathcliff, who lives in the remote moorland farmhouse called

wuthering heights. he finds the inhabitants of wuthering heights to be a

rather strange group: mr. heathcliff appears a gentleman but his

mannerisms suggest otherwise; the reserved mistress of the house is in her

mid-teens; and a young man appears to be one of the family, although he

dresses and talks like a servant. being snowed in, mr. lockwood stays the

night and is shown to an unused chamber, where he finds books and graffiti

from a former inhabitant of the farmhouse named catherine. when he falls

asleep, he has a nightmare in which he sees catherine as a ghost trying to

enter through the window. heathcliff rushes to the room after hearing him

yelling in fear. he believes mr lockwood is telling the truth, and inspects the

window, opening it in a futile attempt to let catherines spirit in from the

cold. after nothing eventuates, heathcliff shows mr lockwood to his own

bedroom, and returns to keep guard at the window. as soon as the sun rises,

mr lockwood is escorted back to thrushcross grange by heathcliff. there, he

asks his housekeeper, nelly dean, to tell him the story of the family from the

heights. several months after hindleys return, heathcliff and catherine

travel to thrushcross grange to spy on the linton family. however, they are

spotted and try to escape. catherine, having been caught by a dog, is

brought inside the grange to in the summer of the next year, frances gives

birth to a son, hareton, but she dies before the year is out. this leads

hindley to descend into a life of drunkenness and waste. later, catherine

talks with nelly, explaining that edgar had asked her to marry him and she

had accepted. she says that she does not really love edgar but heathcliff.

unfortunately she could never marry heathcliff because of his lack of status

and education. she therefore plans to marry edgar and use that position to

help raise heathcliffs standing. unfortunately, heathcliff had overheard the

first part about not being able to marry him and runs away, disappearing

without a trace. after three years, edgar and catherine are married. six

months after the marriage, heathcliff returns as a gentleman, having grown

stronger and richer during his absence. catherine is delighted to see him

although edgar is not so keen. edgars sister, isabella, now eighteen, falls in

love with heathcliff, seeing him as a romantic hero. he despises her but

encourages the infatuation, seeing it as a chance for revenge on edgar.

when he embraces isabella one day at the grange, there is an argument

with edgar which causes catherine to lock herself in her room and fall ill.

heathcliff has been staying at the heights, gambling with hindley and

teaching hareton bad habits. hindley is gradually losing his wealth,

mortgaging the farmhouse to heathcliff to repay his debts. while catherine

is ill, heathcliff elopes with isabella. the fugitives marry and return two

months later to wuthering heights. heathcliff hears that catherine is ill and

arranges with nelly to visit her in secret. in the early hours of the day after

their meeting, catherine gives birth to her daughter, cathy, and then dies.

the day after catherines funeral, isabella flees heathcliff and escapes to the

south of england where she eventually gives birth to linton, heathcliffs son.

hindley dies six months after catherine. heathcliff finds himself the master

of wuthering heights and the guardian of hareton. twelve years later, cathy

has grown into a beautiful, high-spirited girl who has rarely passed outside

the borders of the grange. edgar hears that isabella is dying and leaves to

pick up her son with the intention of adopting him. while he is gone, cathy

meets hareton on the moors and learns of her cousins and wuthering

heights existence. edgar returns with linton who is a weak and sickly boy.

although cathy is attracted to him, heathcliff wants his son with him and

insists on having him taken to the heights. three years later, nelly and cathy

are on the moors when they meet heathcliff who takes them to wuthering

heights to see linton and hareton. he has plans for linton and cathy to

marry so that he will inherit thrushcross grange. cathy and linton begin a

secret friendship. in august of the next year, while edgar is very ill, nelly and

cathy visit wuthering heights and are held captive by heathcliff who wants

to marry his son to cathy and, at the same time, prevent her from returning

to her father before he dies. after five days, nelly is released and cathy

escapes with lintons help just in time to see her father before he dies. with

heathcliff now the master of both wuthering heights and thrushcross

grange, cathy has no choice but to leave nelly and to go and live with

heathcliff and hareton. linton dies soon afterwards and, although hareton

tries to be kind to her, she retreats into herself. this is the point of the story

at which lockwood arrives. after being ill with a cold for some time,

lockwood decides that he has had enough of the moors and travels to

wuthering heights to inform heathcliff that he is returning to the south. in

september, eight months after leaving, lockwood finds himself back in the

area and decides to stay at thrushcross grange (since his tenancy is still

valid until october). he finds that nelly is now living at wuthering heights. he

makes his way there and she fills in the rest of the story. nelly had moved to

the heights soon after lockwood left to replace the housekeeper who had

departed. in march, hareton had an accident and has been confined to the

farmhouse. during this time, a friendship developed between cathy and

hareton. this continues into april when heathcliff begins to act very

strangely, seeing visions of catherine. after not eating for four days, he is

found dead in catherines room. he is buried next to catherine.