The presentation of Mr. Lockwood in Wuthering Heights The novel,
Wuthering Heights, begins in the year 1801.
The presentation of Mr. Lockwood in “Wuthering Heights”
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The novel, “Wuthering Heights”, begins in the year 1801, where we as
readers are firstly introduced to the character Mr. Lockwood. Mr.
Lockwood narrates the entire novel throughout, almost like an entry in
his diary.
Lockwood, a young London gentleman, is a newcomer to the Yorkshire
Moors, Wuthering Heights. The novel opens after he has just returned
from a visit with his landlord and neighbour, Mr. Heathcliff about
Thrushcross Grange.
One of my first impressions of the character after reading the opening
chapter of the novel is that he is enthusiastic about renting out
Thrushcross Grange,
“ Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir- I do myself the honour of
calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that
I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the
occupation of Thrushcross Grange. I heard, yesterday, you had had
some thoughts-“
Mr. Healthcliff, wincing, stops him mid sentence,
“ Thrushcross Grange is my own sir,”
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Here Mr. Heathcliff cuts him off quite abruptly, a command that most
people would understand and would react to, pursuing the questioning
no further. However, Mr. Lockwood responds quite differently, showing
a weak side to his character early on in the novel. Heathcliff seems
to dislike the company of others, he enjoys living in a country place,
where quiet and peace is welcomed. Lockwood seems amused that
Heathcliff is more extreme and ignorant of social graces; he’s amused
that ...
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for his behaviour may be quite different from his own.
Mr. Lockwood, a somewhat vain and presumptuous gentleman deals very
clumsily with the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. He finds himself
at a loss when he witnesses the strange household’s disregard for the
social conventions that have always structured his world. As a
narrator, his vanity and unfamiliarity with the story occasionally
lead him to misunderstand events. His initial visit to Wuthering
Heights, in which the mysterious relationships and lurking resentments
between the characters create an air of mystery, in particular
Lockwood’s ghostly nightmares, during the night he spent in
Catherine’s old bed. I think that many of the events that happen in
the opening chapters of the novel prefigure many of the events that
are to come and show the qualities of the character Mr. Lockwood.
Over a long period of time, an individual’s social status has always had a great impact on relationships between others. Relationships such as friendship, romance and even family relationships are greatly influenced by one’s social status. When people value social status to the utmost importance, it often acts as a barrier to further solidify relations with others. “Wuthering Heights” is a classic novel written by Emily Bronte which illustrates how social status gets in the way of relationships. This story (set in eighteen hundreds) displays the true nature of the people at that time because they excessive had pride. Since they had excessive pride, they often judged people based on their social class; hence changing their relationship between each other. In this novel social class was measured by observing an individual’s wealth, appearance and manners. Heathcliff happens to be the male lead character of this story that lacks social class due to his rebellious relationship with Hindley. Afterwards, Hindley degrades Heathcliff’s status this affects his connections with Catherine and Nelly. Since Heathcliff’s status diminishes, Catherine becomes reluctant to continue her affair with Heathcliff. Nelly also becomes wary of Heathcliff because his personality changes after restoring his own status. Thus, it is clearly seen that social class has an impact on the story by altering Heathcliff’s relationship between Hindley, Catherine and Nelly.
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Although, Mr. Earnshaw tried to make Heathcliff an equal part of the family, Heathcliff never truly fits in. Heathcliff is from a completely different social class than the rest of his “family”. This led to the hatred that Hindley felt towards Heathcliff. Hindley robs Heathcliff of his education, forces him to work as a servant at Wuthering Heights and frequently beats him. Throughout this all, Heathcliff never complains.
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
Heathcliff is a character who was abused in his childhood by Catherine’s brother, Hindley, because of his heritage as a “gypsy”, and Hindley was jealous of the love that Heathcliff got from Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley’s father. This is also selfishness upon Hindley’s part since he only wanted his father’s love for his sister and himself. So to reprimand Heathcl...
Hareton Earnshaw is the only male character in Wuthering Heights who can be called a hero.
On the face of it, it would seem that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is self-destructive to an extreme. Due to the lovers’ precarious circumstances, passionate personalities and class divisions, it seems that fate transpires to keep them apart and therefore the hopelessness of their situation drives them to self destruction. However, although the relationship is undeniably self-destructive, there are elements within it that suggest the pain Heathcliff and Catherine put each other through is atoned for to an extent when they share their brief moments of harmony.
The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.