Wuthering Heights
Shaina
Shaina Espinoza
Wuthering Hts Essay
12/3/12
AP Literature
Mr. Dayton
Death that Destroyed
Often times in Literature we find that the meaning of the whole is linked to a character’s death. Many lessons can be learned after there is a loss, because it forces people to reflect on life. Questions are raised and people have regrets. In Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights, the bitter man, Mr. Heathcliff loses a bit of his sanity after the passing of his lover, Catherine. The hauntings of her spirit and the dreams that Mr. Heathcliff experiences proves readers that love/loss can destroy a person. The scene that captures the essence of the theme is in chapter 29 when Brontë evokes sympathy for Heathcliff after he explains how he has been tormented for 18 years after the passing of Catherine’s death. Truly he loved Catherine because she was the only one who loved him and played with him when he was new to Wuthering Heights. Therefore, he yearns to be reunited with her even though she is out of reach. In an effort to be with her Heathcliff opens Catherine’s coffin. " 'I'll tell you what I did yesterday! I got the sexton, who was digging Linton's grave, to remove the earth off her coffin-lid, and I opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there, when I saw her face again - it is hers yet-he had hard work to stir me; but he said it would change, if the air blew on it, and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up: not Linton's side, damn him! I wish he'd been soldered in lead - and I bribed the sexton to pull it away, when I'm laid there, and slide mine out too. I'll have it made so, and then, by the time Linton gets to us, he'll not know which is which!'" (Bronte 275) Heathcliff now realizes that he cannot access Catherine's true presence by capturing people and objects associated with her. Ever since Catherine's death, he has obtained power over everything associated with her memory including Thrushcross Grange and
Shaina Espinoza
Wuthering Hts Essay
12/3/12
AP Literature
Mr. Dayton
Death that Destroyed
Often times in Literature we find that the meaning of the whole is linked to a character’s death. Many lessons can be learned after there is a loss, because it forces people to reflect on life. Questions are raised and people have regrets. In Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights, the bitter man, Mr. Heathcliff loses a bit of his sanity after the passing of his lover, Catherine. The hauntings of her spirit and the dreams that Mr. Heathcliff experiences proves readers that love/loss can destroy a person. The scene that captures the essence of the theme is in chapter 29 when Brontë evokes sympathy for Heathcliff after he explains how he has been tormented for 18 years after the passing of Catherine’s death. Truly he loved Catherine because she was the only one who loved him and played with him when he was new to Wuthering Heights. Therefore, he yearns to be reunited with her even though she is out of reach. In an effort to be with her Heathcliff opens Catherine’s coffin. " 'I'll tell you what I did yesterday! I got the sexton, who was digging Linton's grave, to remove the earth off her coffin-lid, and I opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there, when I saw her face again - it is hers yet-he had hard work to stir me; but he said it would change, if the air blew on it, and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up: not Linton's side, damn him! I wish he'd been soldered in lead - and I bribed the sexton to pull it away, when I'm laid there, and slide mine out too. I'll have it made so, and then, by the time Linton gets to us, he'll not know which is which!'" (Bronte 275) Heathcliff now realizes that he cannot access Catherine's true presence by capturing people and objects associated with her. Ever since Catherine's death, he has obtained power over everything associated with her memory including Thrushcross Grange and