Wuthering Heights

A widely acclaimed classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights is the one and only novel written by Emily Brontë under her pseudonym Ellis Bell. Although celebrated as a tragic love story, Wuthering Heights is actually a story of revenge. While Wuthering Heights begins with the narration of Mr. Lockwood, Heathcliff’s tenant at Thrushcross Grange, the story is told mostly from the point of view of Nelly, the faithful servant of the Earnshaws of Wuthering Heights.

Lockwood initially reveals his decision to move there as stemming from his desire to escape society. After a series of unfortunate events, including a ghostly visitation, Lockwood asks Nelly about Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights. Nelly then recounts what transpired in Wuthering Heights between the Lintons, the Earnshaws, and the Heathcliffs, including how Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw adopted the foundling Heathcliff. As Nelly’s storytelling progresses, she reveals the complicated relationship between Heathcliff and his step-siblings, Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw.

After listening to Nelly’s tale of his landlord’s turbulent past, Lockwood eventually grows weary of the moors and ‘returns’ to society. During its publication in 1847, Wuthering Heights was considered controversial because of how it vividly depicts mental and physical abuse, bringing to question the beliefs and social mores of the time.