Narrative Technique of Wuthering Heights
Assignment
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Narrative Technique of Wuthering Heights
A very complex element of Emily Bronte's writing technique is the narrative style she uses when alternating between the two characters of Nelly Dean and Lockwood. Wuthering Heights is a story told through eye witness accounts, first through Lockwood, followed by Nelly. Lockwood's responsibility is shaping the framework of the novel whereas Nelly provides the intricate recount of the personal lives of all the characters having been present first hand. Although, each character does have a different emotion and style.
Wuthering Heights has a very complicated narrative structure. There are two clear narrators, but the novel is almost a drama, that is to say, dialogue plays a great part.
Different levels of narration construct the story, not by the usual way of telling the same events from different perspectives, but the participation of characters helps in understanding what happens. It could be said that, instead of a multi-perspective story, this is a multi-layered story. We need to connect every part to obtain a global comprehension. But, at the end, some points remained unexplained (for example, where Heath cliff was born, how he got his money, if Catherine was really a ghost or not...) and even the narrators are not so reliable as they may seem to be –because they are also characters involved in the plot, not omniscient narrators.
In the novel we find two times of reference:
-a “present narrative”, that is a kind of “present time”, when Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange, meets his landlord, Heath cliff, and asks Nelly Dean to tell him the story of his landlord.
-a “past narrative”, that is a kind of “past time”, where the events told by Nelly Dean took place.
Both are interrelated and got mixed during the novel, since the action extends to the present narrative, and the book opens when it is about to finish. The time reference go backwards and forwards very easily.
The reason why I have
On
Narrative Technique of Wuthering Heights
A very complex element of Emily Bronte's writing technique is the narrative style she uses when alternating between the two characters of Nelly Dean and Lockwood. Wuthering Heights is a story told through eye witness accounts, first through Lockwood, followed by Nelly. Lockwood's responsibility is shaping the framework of the novel whereas Nelly provides the intricate recount of the personal lives of all the characters having been present first hand. Although, each character does have a different emotion and style.
Wuthering Heights has a very complicated narrative structure. There are two clear narrators, but the novel is almost a drama, that is to say, dialogue plays a great part.
Different levels of narration construct the story, not by the usual way of telling the same events from different perspectives, but the participation of characters helps in understanding what happens. It could be said that, instead of a multi-perspective story, this is a multi-layered story. We need to connect every part to obtain a global comprehension. But, at the end, some points remained unexplained (for example, where Heath cliff was born, how he got his money, if Catherine was really a ghost or not...) and even the narrators are not so reliable as they may seem to be –because they are also characters involved in the plot, not omniscient narrators.
In the novel we find two times of reference:
-a “present narrative”, that is a kind of “present time”, when Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange, meets his landlord, Heath cliff, and asks Nelly Dean to tell him the story of his landlord.
-a “past narrative”, that is a kind of “past time”, where the events told by Nelly Dean took place.
Both are interrelated and got mixed during the novel, since the action extends to the present narrative, and the book opens when it is about to finish. The time reference go backwards and forwards very easily.
The reason why I have