As readers we feel confused by the events of the first chapter

From the outset, Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ creates an air of mystery in both the characters and setting that contributes to the confusion felt by the reader. Many of the ideas and symbols used in the first chapter of the book epitomise the technique utilised by Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ throughout the novel. â€Å"Wuthering Heights† has been described as a ‘Chaotic novel'1and many believe that it is intended to confuse and bewilder the reader. After reading the first chapter, the reader is confused about the situation and questions are left unanswered. We are unsure about many of the facts. We know the date is 1801 and that Lockwood is a tenant of Heathcliff's at Thrushcross Grange, but we are unaware of any of the characters' significance in the novel. We are introduced to the servant, Joseph, and briefly encounter Zillah, although we are not told her name. The reader is not informed of the relationships between any of the characters. Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ purposefully keeps the facts ambiguous, which emphasises the feelings of confusion. Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½'s tone and style is mysterious and foreboding from the beginning. In particular, the use of descriptions such as ‘gaunt', ‘defended', ‘jutting', ‘crumbling' and ‘grotesque' add to the grim feel of the novel from the start and the seemingly impenetrable facade of the characters. As readers, we are intended to feel an affinity with Lockwood, who is portrayed as completely alien to the situation. Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ uses many symbols which continue throughout the novel to suggest this. When Lockwood first arrives at the Heights, the atmosphere is unwelcoming, ‘a perfect misanthropists Heaven.' His entrance to Wuthering Heights is made difficult and uncomfortable, ‘he did pull out his hand to unchain it, and then sullenly proceeded me up the causeway' and the greeting is morose from Joseph, ‘looking meantime in my face so sourly that I charitably conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner'. Heathcliff's abrupt attitude towards Lockwood, ‘appeared to demand (his) speedy entrance or complete departure'. The doorway into â€Å"the house† is then guarded by ‘grotesque carvings' that reiterates that Lockwood is unwelcome. The famous essay, ‘The Window Image in Wuthering Heights' by Dorothy Van Ghent puts across the point that doors and windows are used symbolically in â€Å"Wuthering Heights†. Characters are unable, or find it difficult, to enter or leave Wuthering Heights. In the first chapter, we see a glimpse of this reality in Lockwoods uncomfortable entrance into Wuthering Heights. Phrases such as, ‘gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun' give the impression of people being trapped, an idea expressed by Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in the novel as a whole. Wuthering heights at first appears to be a place trapped in time, almost, ‘completely removed from the stir of society.' The building, dated â€Å"1500† is 300 years old, which suggests a history to the building. Later in the novel, the perception that Wuthering Heights and its characters are trapped is extended. The idea is epitomised by the ghost of Catherine that appears to Lockwood. The repeated use of doubles throughout the book also adds to this effect. â€Å"Hareton Earnshaw† is inscribed on the entrance to Wuthering Heights and is also a character currently living at the Heights when Lockwood visits. The two Cathy's in the novel notably add to the confusion and mystery created in the book. This heightens the effect of Wuthering Heights as a place which seems to defy time. There are many more examples of this in the novel. Frank Kermode has pointed out that the names on the windowsill when read left to rights show the elder Catherine's life, but left to right, the younger's. This gives an example of how the characters lives are confusingly entwined during the course of the novel and adds to bewilderment in the reader. In the first chapter, we are introduced by Lockwood to the vast importance of weather in â€Å"Wuthering Heights†: ‘†Wuthering† being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather' Here, Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ prefaces one of the most major symbols used in â€Å"Wuthering Heights†. Depiction of the novel, from modern films to old paintings inevitably includes the imagery of the moors and ‘tumultuous sky and wild landscape.'2Even in the opening paragraphs, the connotations suggested by words such as ‘wilderness' and ‘jutting' suggest a feeling of defencelessness to the reader. The landscape and weather is portrayed as all-present, frequently reoccurring in metaphors and in the characters themselves, such as the ‘stormy'3Catherine. The reader feels overpowered and confused by the depth of thought in the novel as a whole and the vagueness of the first chapter. ‘Tumult', ‘gaunt', ‘crumbling' and ‘craving' when used to describe the surroundings at Wuthering Heights, also, simultaneously describes the feeling of confusion and helplessness that the reader experiences at the beginning of the novel. The confusion and feeling of being trapped in the novel is likely to be directly linked to Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½'s own confusion and withdrawal from the world. Many of the Gondal poems Emily wrote as an escape included situations in which characters were trapped, often in prisons from which they could only escape through the imagination. Scholars such as Mary Visack have noted a progression in Emily's work from the poems to the novel in this way. This poem by Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ shows uses of nature and weather, as well as very powerful language, ‘descending', ‘drear', ‘darkening', to describe the same feeling of loneliness and isolation depicted in Wuthering Heights. ‘The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare boughs weighed with snow, And the storm is fast descending And yet I cannot go. Clouds beyond clouds above me, Wastes beyond wastes below; But nothing drear can move me; I will not, cannot go.' The reader feels not only an affinity with Lockwood and his own confusion and isolation, but also with Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½'s own feelings at that time. Also, these feelings are symbolic of Cathy's loss of power and helplessness later in the book. The reader feels isolated at first from the events of the text and unaware of what it means. Lockwood does not inspire confidence as a narrator during the first chapter. He frequently misjudges things, leading the reader to mistrust his initial opinions and views, adding to the confoundment felt at the start of the novel. The ‘homely, northern farmer' that Lockwood would expect is deeply contrasted by the ‘rather morose' reality of Heathcliff. The contrasts themselves within Heathcliff are another cause for confusion. Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ frequently utilises Lockwood's judgements in this way to further cloud the readers mind. ‘He is a dark-skinned gypsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman.' Heathcliff's description constantly contradicts itself. Lockwood then goes on to judge Heathcliff very quickly, ‘by instinct'. However, the overconfident manner in which he announces his opinions then dismisses them, ‘No, I'm running on to fast', puts the reader on guard. In his description of Wuthering Heights, Lockwoods view of what should be is opposed by the reality: ‘I observed no signs of roasting boiling or baking, about the huge fire-place.' Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ uses dark imagery in phrases such as ‘heavy black ones lurking in the shade', ‘swarm of squealing puppies' and ‘other dogs haunted other recesses' to re-emphasise the foreboding and unwelcoming feel to Wuthering Heights once again. The signs in Wuthering Heights appear to be unreadable. What Lockwood thought were ‘cats' were in fact dead rabbits. The dogs are ‘four-footed fiends'. The contrasting descriptions of Heathcliff are also perplexing and later Lockwood, and the reader, are unable to decipher relationships between the characters. We are unsure if Hareton is a servant or a master and we cannot understand Catherine's relationships with other characters. This is mirrored, later, when the reader is confused about the names on the windowsill. We are unsure whether the Catherines are the same person or not. Later still, the reader is confused again when the civilised Lockwood horrifically rubs the young girl's wrist against the broken glass 'till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes'. The eclectic mix of styles and qualities of the book in general add somewhat to it's confusion. There is a frequent use of ghosts and spirits, yet as Patsy Stoneman denotes, it has qualities of a ‘very down-to-earth book'4. In the first chapter we see a reflection of this mix in the grim descriptions, which contrast with both Lockwood and the ‘lusty dame'. The violence hinted at with the dogs contrasts again with these styles and is a direct precursor to events later in the book. â€Å"Wuthering Heights† is an extremely well-structured novel, in which Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is able to control the readers thoughts and emotions to add to the powerful effect of the novel as a whole. In the first chapter, she is able to create an air of mystery, confusion and intrigue which is enhanced and expanded as the story unfolds. Still many critics find â€Å"Wuthering Heights† ‘a preposterous text'5 that is ‘back to front'and refuses to make sense by ‘normal' standards. There are certainly many levels the book can be read and enjoyed on. However, I think the most profound message in the book's confusion is the affinity it creates between Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ and the reader. This message is also mirrored later in the similarities between Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½'s own character and Heathcliff's and the parallels drawn between Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½'s own religious crisis and the character of Joseph. Essentially, â€Å"Wuthering Heights† is the only insight into the mysterious and reserved Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½.