We'll start with our next novel slowly, just reading the first six (or so, get as far as you can) chapters for Friday. This novel is a little trickier to read than Frankenstein, though it has a lot in common with that equally famous work. I think you'll see shades of Wollsonecraft, Austen, and Shelley here, though Bronte offers us an even more complex view of human relationships than we've seen so far in this class (though she's probably more like Wollstonecraft than anyone else).
NOTE: You can also read the Biographical Notice and the Preface by Charlotte Bronte that precedes the novel if you like; it will give you some unique insights into the work by Emily Bronte's sister, who had a difficult relationship with her sister (and the novel itself).
Q1: Like Frankenstein, this novel employs a frame narrative, with Lockwood telling his story, which is also his account of Mrs. Dean's narrative of Heathcliff and company. Why do you think Bronte chooses to have a man introduce the story, but a woman tell the brunt of the tale? Why not simply have her tell the entire story and do away with Lockwood entirely? (note: Shelley does more or less the same thing, but excludes female narrators entirely).
Q2: In Charlotte Bronte's 1850 preface of the novel (Charlotte was her sister, who wrote Jane Eyre), she writes that "Whether it is advisable to create things like Heathcliff, I do not know: I scarcely think it is" (xlix). Based on our previous readings, what might strike readers as shocking about this novel? Why is Heathcliff so objectionable? Other aspects?
Q3: When Lockwood meets Mrs. Heathcliff, he reflects, "she has thrown herself away upon that boor, from sheer ignorance that better individuals existed! A sad pity--I must beware how I cause her to regret her choice" (13). What does this reveal about Lockwood's character and reliability? Is he a Victor-like character, or something quite different? Do we trust him as our principal narrator?
Q4: All of our novelists are interested in the idea of education, particularly the education of children. How does Bronte take up this theme in the novel? Does she believe that children are inherently bad or evil, as Earnshaw and Joseph clearly do? Or is innocence corrupted by cruel experience?
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