Olivia Marchbanks Final Argument

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is the novel that should be taught in class because it is such a complex book requiring much discussion of plot motifs, story frames, and the Gothic hero. The motifs of death and isolation are seen quite frequently throughout the novel. The contrast of each character’s death in the novel becomes a focal point, for instance how Edgar dies peacefully and Cathy dies with ferocity. Wuthering Heights also dwells constantly upon death. Heathcliff longs for death after Cathy passes away then with his own death, Heathcliff and Cathy are united. The motif of isolation is also seen in many aspects of the novel. Not only are there very few characters in the novel but also most are completely separate in there ideals as Wuthering Heights is separate from civilization. The frame of the story would also yield an animated discussion because it becomes quite confusing when Lockwood tells a story he heard from Nelly who heard her story from Zillah. This would be a very beneficial aspect of Wuthering Heights to discuss in class because understanding the story’s frame is essential to understanding the book and knowing how biased some aspects are. Finally we should discuss this novel because the story is about a Gothic hero. Gothic heroes are seen throughout literature and Heathcliff is a classic example. This quite unlike Pride and Prejudice, which though it was an enjoyable read, contains more realistic, concrete character emotions which do not need to be studied in depth in an eleventh grade classroom because we have already explored irony and would benefit more from pursuing the less straight-forward aspects of Wuthering Heights.