Although Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a great novel with revolutionary ideals and an incredible plot, Emily Brontё's Wuthering Heights has more value in the classroom. Wuthering Heights is a novel that not only captures the attention of its audience with plot twists and mystery, but one that causes one to gain a new perspective of love through the plight of its characters. Pride and Prejudice is a very simplistic piece of literature that, without much effort, is fairly easy to grasp. Goldstone states in his comments about Wuthering Heights, that Emily Brontё "does not oversimplify nor make reality so complex as to be almost meaningless." This to be very true when comparing the two novels. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice has a reality so complex that it is virtually meaningless. Though Pride and Prejudice does give a revolutionary perspective of women as independent beings who do not really need men to achieve happiness, it contains a plethera of superfluous details that do not serve any meaningful or underlying purpose.Wuthering Heights contains much more meaning far deeper and more valuable because of the complex writing form used in completely explicating the extreme emotional range and elaborate plot. While the purpose of Austen's novel is blunt, Brontё's message is more difficult to find. Also her use of a byronic hero adds to the complexity and emotionally rich plot of the novel. Austen's work is much too simplistic to be considered for educational purpose when compared to that of Brontё.

Exerpt from "Wuthering Heights Revisited" by Herbert Goldstone from the English Journal, April 1959, Vol XLVIII, No. 4.

C. McCool Final Argument

Although both Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte are excellent novels, Pride and Prejudice would be better suited to be taught in the classroom because of its controversial social criticism, beautiful use of humor and sarcasm, and revolutionary view of women. While Wuthering Heights may have, as Herbert Goldstone says, great “insights into human feelings,” Pride and Prejudice’s strong analysis of society cannot be ignored. The novel is full of ideas to be discussed in the classroom such as the effects of marriage and social class on society. So controversial are her proclamations that Ralph Waldo Emerson even said that the book was “vulgar in tone” and “imprisoned in their wretched conventions of English society.” Obviously the book caused uproar. Not only would the social criticisms in this book be interesting to discuss, but also would be the way Austen uses humor and sarcasm to show these criticisms. She exaggerates her characters to show just how absurd the culture of society is becoming. Finally, Pride and Prejudice attempts to provide the women of her time with an example of a strong and intelligent character. Austen’s novel is complete with embarrassing women who represent those of society in that day. However, she also includes Elizabeth Bennet who proves to be logical in thinking. Pride and Prejudice would definitely be the better choice to teach in class because its criticisms would be interesting to discuss and her writing style would be fascinating to study.

Word Count: 248

Goldstone, Herbert. "Wuthering Heights Revisited." The English Journal XLVIII (1959): 4.

"Jane Austen's Critics."

Allie Pryor: Final Post

Although Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, is a riveting story about the pressures of society and the power of a young woman, Bronte's novel, Wuthering Heights, should be studied more in schools. Pride and Prejudice teaches a clear lesson about the empowerment of women and the absurdities of society in the 1800's but Wuthering Heights is written in such a complex writing style that it is a little harder to grasp. As Goldstone states, Wuthering Heights "has an almost monumental simplicity…that makes it a very moving novel". This "simplicity" that is Wuthering Heights makes this novel a complicated story to follow. Through the frame story, the points of view change and the stories and details told by the different people must be put together to fully understand the depth of this book. Pride and Prejudice on the other hand is a fairly easy book to comprehend. Austen clearly portrays her thoughts about the emphasis of marriage in her time through satire and makes it easy for the reader to understand the character of Elizabeth Bennet and her quest to break free from the mold that society gives women. Bronte does not come out and state the lessons and important values of Wuthering Heights as easily as Austen does. In order to understand the meaning of Wuthering Heights, you have to dig deeper than the novel itself. Also, the use of a Byronic hero as the main character makes this novel even more interesting to study and it builds onto the already intriguing and dark plot.

word count: 256

works cited:
Goldstone, Herbert. "Wuthering Heights Revisited." The English Journal XLVIII (1959): 4.

Lauren Echlin's final post

After reading both Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice this summer, Charlotte Bronte's Wuthering Heights seems to be the better choice for reading this year in the classroom. While Austen's Pride and Prejudice may be a classic favorite to most students, Wuthering Heights will give the classroom a better study for complex literature. The novel is written with a frame structure, which many have not read with before, making this study of the novel more interesting and new. Although the frame story seems to make the reading more difficult, it is all the more reason as to why we should study the novel together. Whereas with Pride and Prejudice, it can be read without a teacher's help, so we should not really waste that time doing so in the classroom. Bronte's novel also has an errie gothic feel to it, making the read more exciting than that of a normal love story. Bronte builds up passionate relationships in her novel with a different sense of love between her characters than that of Austen's. Bronte also does an excellent job of keeping the two different settings of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange separate, while still contrasting them as light and dark. There are also many other contrasting views displayed in the novel for us to discuss in the classroom. Overall as described above, Wuthering Heights should be chosen for our classroom to study, because of its writing style and complex storyline.


Word Count: 240

Sims Munn's Final Post

Bronte uses a frame story as well as a Byronic hero to create a gothic romance in Wuthering Heights which enthralls the reader and makes them view love in a whole different way. However after reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the reader can understand the social criticisms Austen makes and relate them to her own day. Wuthering Heights contains social criticisms as well but ultimately Pride and Prejudice brings more to the table. Although some of her critics may argue that Austen’s novel lacks “genius, wit, or knowledge of this world,” they are clearly not looking past the romantic plot of this story. The thought that Pride and Prejudice does not contain any with can be immediately repudiated when one looks at the satire Austen uses to criticize her society. Austen may have more knowledge of the world than any of her critics because she can see the way her society obsesses over marriage and diminishes females to finding their worth in who they marry. The reader can look at these social criticisms that Jane Austen addresses and apply them to her own society. The female reader especially can question what pressures still exist against women in society. During Austen’s time, girls felt pressure from their families and society to find a suitable husband and live a well off life. Today, girls feel pressure from all sides to look or act a certain way. Wuthering Heights is an excellent novel filled with many great literary techniques but ultimately Pride and Prejudice leaves the reader with a longer lasting knowledge and understanding of society that they can carry with them forever.

Word Count: 271

Works Cited:

"Jane Austen's Critics."

C. Greenstein: Final Post

Pride and Prejudice's fascinating social criticism and distinct irony render Austen's novel to remain a personal favorite; however, the dramatic plot, contrasting love stories, and original writing style of Bronte's novel make Wuthering Heights a richer piece of literature to study. Bronte's complexity of a frame story, both challenging and unique, seems perfect to analyze in a classroom as it "delineates the kinds of understanding and misunderstanding of the characters," according to Goldstone’s commentary on the novel. Mrs. Dean’s original perspective shows much depth as a result of the emotions that Nelly senses when experiencing character conflicts and feelings that readers sense toward such characters. The characters of Pride and Prejudice, meanwhile, do not contain the emotional depth that needs to be further analyzed after reading the novel. The concept of a Byronic hero in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, and his "war against everyone else, as well as himself" adds to the gothic romance of a dramatic plot and relationships. The separate generations of Cathy, Linton, and Hareton, and those of Catherine, Heathcliff, and Edgar, are connected by the Byronic hero because of “his love for Catherine which dominates his life and strongly affects that of the other characters.” The undying passion is evident throughout the tale and overwhelms Pride and Prejudice’s simple, civil passion. Pride and Prejudice is merely viewed as a delicate tale of love and society compared to the "enormous vitality and the force of its insights into human feelings" of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, an enriching novel to study.



Word Count: 254

Goldstone, Herbert. "Wuthering Heights Revisited." The English Journal XLVIII (1959): 4.

Mary Jensen Final Post

Although both Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Austen’s Pride and Prejudice deserve immense recognition for their complex plots and deep romances, Bronte’s novel should be discussed in classes more. Pride and Prejudice, however, is an amazing romantic novel full of plot and intriguing character problems; yet, this novel could be read alone, without the help of a mentor highlighting important literary parts of the novel. Wuthering Heights, on the other hand, is not so easy to understand. Bronte is genius in making the novel “through a number of persons’ eyes” as Goldstone points out; yet, this complex plot makes the novel hard to read. Although this novel might be confusing, it is known that it “has an almost monumental simplicity…that makes it a very moving novel.” Although unlike Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights does not extensively teach of challenges to society or how social classes have changed, it is an important literary novel and is essential for students of the novel to understand. Bronte’s novel teaches of different kinds of love, as Goldstone points out, which is very appealing to high school girls to learn more about. Not only is it appealing, but it is crucial for eleventh grade girls to learn about these kinds of love. To the students, it is necessary for this novel to be a “moving novel”, and unlike Pride and Prejudice which already makes an impact on the reader in a romantic way, Wuthering Heights needs an explanation by a professional to fully understand the perfection of difficulty that Bronte creates in this novel.

Word Count: 258

Works Cited:

Goldstone, Herbert. "Wuthering Heights Revisited." The English Journal XLVIII (1959):

4.