Exploring narrative voice

An exploration of the use of narrative voice within the novel 'Wuthering Heights'.

1. The Narrative Structure Why play with time?

2. Critical view 1 W hat happens if we take away the frame? To pension off the narrators and straighten out the time scheme might tumble us more quickly into the ‘main’ plot, but it’s doubtful whether we should then make any more sense of what would be left in the novel – or even be prepared to bother with it at all. It has often been pointed out how a summary of the plot proves totally inadequate to the effect of the novel as a whole, the extreme and frequently violent incidents reducing to a catalogue of melodrama and sensationalism. So we must conclude that the narrative structure in Wuthering Heights – the constant movement between contrasting alternatives of extremity and ordinariness – is in fact not merely perverse, a surface (dis) organisation that gets in the way of the ‘real’ story. I’d like to suggest that this movement should itself be seen as a part of the story – or, more accurately, of the way we make sense of the story.... the intricate ordinariness within which events and characters are gradually pieced together, the mosaic of dates and narrators, provides a familiar and manageable context; a means by which we can begin to grasp the scale, and gain access to the significance, of what is going on. (Paul Norgate , ‘The Almanac and the Window; Narrative,Time and Viewpoint in the Structure of Wuthering Heights’)

3. Critical view 2 Time in the novel is interestingly treated. Emily Brontë does view it as an imprisoning influence... but also as a valid means of structuring experiences.This shows in her reliance on retrospect; a means of revealing the past identity of her characters....To Heathcliff of course, time is the main enemy after Catherine’s death. His view of the past is central to understanding his final state of mind. In the crucial chapter 29, he begins by recounting the previous night’s bargain with the sexton, during which the years of anguished memory are crystallized:‘She has disturbed me, night and day, through eighteen years incessantly – remorselessly – till yesternight ’.We can now make the link between Heathcliff’s account of his visit to Catherine’s grave on the night of her burial, and Isabella’s alternative account of those events, made over one hundred pages earlier. Her unsympathetic version is now balanced by Heathcliff’s expression of his suffering,‘to beguile me with the spectre of hope, through eighteen years!’ – the hope that her spirit might continue to exist by his side. (Jenny Oldfield, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights: A Study Guide)

4. Critical View 3 One of the most fascinating aspects of Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë’s handling of time.The present or ‘now’ of the novel is a little under a year from November 1801 to September 1802. During this period the story passes through thirty-one years of chronological time .... Once the chronological story is under way we are quickly drawn into its atmosphere; however, lest we should forget that it is a tale being told to an independent observer who has by chance become involved in the final stages of the events, we are constantly referred back to Lockwood... Each of these interruptions occurs at a point when there is a powerful build-up of emotions in the reader; they serve momentarily to lower the tension, thus allowing the next build-up to begin from a slightly lower point. (Hilda D. Spear, Macmillan Master Guide:Wuthering Heights)

5. Exploring Narrative Voice

6. 1. Introducing Lockwood – the ‘Frame Narrator’ The narrator is a creation of the author used to: o rganise s elect present information. The narrator may also: comment and judge directly address the reader be a participant in the story be a detached observer be ‘transparent’, appearing to speak with the voice of the author.

7. 1. Introducing Lockwood – the ‘Frame Narrator’ Lockwood is not the only narrator in Wuthering Heights . His narrative contains all the other stories and narratives told in Wuthering Heights . Critics term this kind of narrator the ‘frame narrator’. We are going to explore three extracts taken from early in the novel. All three extracts are narrated by Lockwood. 1. Read the extracts, annotating them with anything you can tell about the narrator and the way he is telling the story. 2. Based on these extracts, what sort of narrator would you say Lockwood is? Use the descriptions on the following slide to help you define the type of narrator Emily Brontë has created in Lockwood.

8. A narrator can: Either: belong to the same reality as the characters (‘diegetic’) participate in the story be perceptive play a role in the story ( reader is aware of the narrator as a character) be reliable (reader believes what the narrator relates) Or: stand outside the story (’ extradiegetic ’) tell the story without any involvement misread events be ‘invisible’ (reader is unaware of any narrator or narrative voice) be unreliable (deliberately deceitful) or inadequate (unperceptive)

9. Extract One 1801 – I have just returned from a visit from my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist’s Heaven – and Mr Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name. (p45/ p3/p1)

10. Extract Two I obeyed; and hemmed, and called the villain Juno, who deigned, at this second interview, to move the extreme tip of her tail, in token of owning my acquaintance. ‘A beautiful animal!’ I commenced again. ‘Do you intend parting with the little ones, madam?’ ‘They are not mine,’ said the amiable hostess more repellingly than Heathcliff himself could have replied. ‘Ah, your favourites are among these!’ I continued, turning to an obscure cushion full of something like cats. ‘A strange choice of favourites ,’ she observed scornfully. Unluckily, it was a heap of dead rabbits – I hemmed once more, and drew closer to the hearth, repeating my comment on the wildness of the evening. (pp52-53/pp10- 11/p7)

11. Extract Three ‘It is strange,’ I began, in the interval of swallowing one cup of tea and receiving another, ‘it is strange how custom can mould our tastes and ideas; many could not imagine the existence of happiness in a life of such complete exile from the world as you spend, Mr Heathcliff; yet, I’ll venture to say, that, surrounded by your family, and with your amiable lady as the presiding genius over your home and heart –’ ‘My amiable lady!’ he interrupted, with an almost diabolical sneer on his face. ‘Where is she – my amiable lady?’ ‘ Mrs Heathcliff, your wife, I mean.’ ‘Well, yes – Oh! you would intimate that her spirit has taken the post of ministering angel, and guards the fortunes of Wuthering Heights, even when her body is gone. Is that it?’ Perceiving myself in a blunder, I attempted to correct it. I might have seen that there was too great a disparity between the ages of the parties to make it likely that they were man and wife. (pp54-55/ p13/p9-10)

12. 2. Experimenting with Voice The next two extracts are taken from early in Wuthering Heights . In groups of four, read the two extracts and talk about the following questions: Of the two extracts which narrative voice appears more subjective ? Which narrative voice seems more reliable and accurate ? Which narrative voice do you find most engaging, or powerful, or affecting?

13. Extract One: Lockwood 1801 – I have just returned from a visit from my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist’s Heaven – and Mr Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name. (p45/ p3/p1)

14. Extract Two: Nelly We crowded round, and, over Miss Cathy’s head, I had a peep at a dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk – indeed, its face looked older than Catherine’s – yet, when it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish that nobody could understand. I was frightened, and Mrs Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors: she did fly up – asking how he could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house, when they had their own bairns to feed, and fend for? ( pp77-78/pp36- 37/p31 )

15. 3. Two Narrative Voices – Nelly and Lockwood Individually, annotate the following extracts with any differences you notice in terms of their style and language. Discuss your notes in pairs. As a group decide on a difference in each of the following categories: vocabulary (for example, is it high or low frequency? colloquial or Standard English? ) sentence structure and length (simple, complex, compound? punctuation (varied, or restricted to commas and full stops? ) tone (for example confident or hesitant?) The effect of these linguistic choices on the narrative voice . How does the language the characters use help to create a particular impression of them or influence the reader’s view of what they are like?

16. Nelly Extract 1 ‘Why, sir, she is my late master’s daughter; Catherine Linton was her maiden name. I nursed her, poor thing! I did wish Mr Heathcliff would remove here, and then we might have been together again’ ... . ‘Very old, sir, and Hareton is the last of them, as our Miss Cathy is of us – I mean, of the Lintons . Have you been to Wuthering Heights? I beg pardon for asking; but I should like to hear how she is?’ (p75/pp34- 35/p29) Extract 2 ‘Rough as a saw-edge, and hard as whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better.’ ... ‘It’s a cuckoo’s, sir – I know all about it; except where he was born, and who were his parents, and how he got his money, at first – And Hareton has been cast out like an unfledged dunnock – The unfortunate lad is the only one, in all this parish, that does not guess how he has been cheated!’ (p76/ p35/pp29-30)

17. Lockwood Extract 1 Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door, above which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins, and shameless little boys, I detected the date ‘1500’, and the name ‘ Hareton Earnshaw ’. I would have made a few comments, and requested a short history of the place, from the surly owner, but his attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience, previous to inspecting the penetralium . (p46/ p4/p2) Extract 2 I, who had determined to hold myself independent of all social intercourse, and thanked my stars that, at length, I had lighted on a spot where it was next to impracticable, I, weak wretch, after maintaining till dusk a struggle with low spirits, and solitude, was finally compelled to strike my colours , and, under pretence of gaining information concerning the necessities of my establishment, I desired Mrs Dean, when she brought in supper, to sit down while I ate it, hoping sincerely she would prove a regular gossip, and either rouse me to animation, or lull me to sleep by her talk. (p74/ p33/p28)

18. 4. Dual Narration 1 . Read the descriptions of the two main narrators on the handout. Individually, decide which descriptions most aptly fit Lockwood, which Nelly, and any that fit both. Find examples from the novel to illustrate the descriptions you choose for each narrator. 2. With a partner, compare your descriptions of Nelly and Lockwood and share the textual evidence you found to support your decisions. 3. In pairs, attempt to find opposites in the descriptions. What does one narrator do that the other does not? 4. Are there any descriptions which you want to challenge, adapt or qualify in some way? If so, re-write the description so that you are happy with it and explain to your partner the reason you have changed it. For example, you may have identified ‘often suppresses information and deceives’ as best describing Nelly. However, you may want to challenge the description, arguing that ‘sometimes she suppresses information but without the intention to deceive.’

19. The function of the dual narration Now you’ve explored in some detail the main narrative voices in Wuthering Heights and the different roles taken by Lockwood and Nelly, try this ‘what if?’ task: What if Brontë had used a single first person narrator ? What if Brontë had used a single third person narrator ? What if the novel had been ‘written’ entirely by Lockwood What if the novel had been ‘recounted’ entirely by Nelly? What are your thoughts about the reasons Emily Brontë may have used the dual narration in Wuthering Heights ? to highlight the partial and subjective nature of the narrative voice? to show the reader that they must find the truth of the story?

20. 5. A Critical Take on Nelly’s Voice On the next slide is an extract from Stephen Jacobi’s essay ‘The Importance of Not Being Nelly: a Structuralist Approach ’ As we read it through, try to bullet point the main points he seems to be making about Nelly’s narration

21. Stephen Jacobi, ‘The Importance of Not Being Nelly: a Structuralist Approach’ ‘Rough as a saw-edge, and hard as whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better’ (Chapter 4) This is Nelly’s ‘characteristic’ tone. The vocabulary is simple, and the sentences are short, almost breathless, often broken by colons and semicolons, and containing both questions and exclamations. There is also a great sense of the ‘personal’ – the respectful repetition of ‘sir’, the colloquial phrasing and the willingness to give an opinion. However, once Nelly begins her narration, the briefly established characteristic tone quickly becomes diluted, or combined with and punctuated by a series of other modes of narrative voice. A comparison of the different voices will clarify this. First , there is Nelly’s mimetic mode (... the characteristic tone already noted) ... Compare this to another moment of ‘her’ narration (when she is giving information, rather than reporting her own speech), when Master Linton inadvertently insults Heathcliff: ‘... but Heathcliff ’s violent nature was not prepared to endure the impertinence from one whom he seemed to hate, even then, as a rival. He seized a tureen of hot apple sauce, the first thing that came under his gripe, and dashed it full against the speaker’s face and neck; who instantly commenced a lament that brought Isabella and Catherine hurrying to the place.’ (Chapter 7) This passage occurs only two pages after the first example, but here the reader has an objectified, impersonal account of Heathcliff ’s character, not really in the accustomed manner of Nelly at all. The sentences are evenly balanced, with the punctuation being used to control the rhythm, rather than breaking it ... . ... Emily Brontë does actually admit a proliferation of ‘languages’ into her text ... . I have already identified one of these types of language (or modes of discourse) as Nelly’s ‘mimetic mode’, whilst the other, which is a more objective, evenly balanced voice, is the ‘diegetic’ mode.

22. Lockwood on Nelly’s narration The two quotations below are in Lockwood’s voice. What connection can you find between the quotations included here and the critical extract? W hy do you think Emily Brontë has her frame narrator, Lockwood, comment on Nelly’s ‘style ’ ? ‘You’ve done just right to tell the story leisurely. That is the method I like; and you must finish in the same style. I am interested in every character you have mentioned, more or less.’ (p102/ p62/p54) I have now heard all my neighbour’s history, at different sittings, as the housekeeper could spare time from more important occupations. I’ll continue it in her own words, only a little condensed. She is, on the whole, a very fair narrator, and I don’t think I could improve her style. (p192/ p157/p137)