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Summary Wuthering Heights- Chapter 2 Revision Notes
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A detailed summary of the chapters in Wuthering Heights, including key quotes for each character and the development of key themes and ideas.
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Chapter TwoSparkNotes summary: On a chilly afternoon not long after his first visit,
Lockwood plans to lounge before the fire in his study, but he finds a
servant dustily sweeping out the fireplace there, so instead he makes the
four-mile walk to Wuthering Heights, arriving just as a light snow begins to
fall. He knocks, but no one lets him in, and Joseph, an old servant who
speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent, calls out from the barn that
Heathcliff is not in the house. Eventually a rough-looking young man
comes to let him in, and Lockwood goes into a sitting room where he finds
a beautiful girl seated beside a fire. Lockwood assumes she is Heathcliff’s
wife. He tries to make conversation, but she responds rudely. When
Heathcliff arrives, he corrects Lockwood: the young woman is his
daughter-in-law. Lockwood then assumes that the young man who let him
in must be Heathcliff’s son. Heathcliff corrects him again. The young man,
Hareton Earnshaw, is not his son, and the girl is the widow of Heathcliff’s
dead son.
The snowfall becomes a blizzard, and when Lockwood is ready to leave, he
is forced to ask for a guide back to Thrushcross Grange. No one will help
him. He takes a lantern and says that he will find his own way, promising
to return with the lantern in the morning. Joseph, seeing him make his way
through the snow, assumes that he is stealing the lantern, and looses the
dogs on him. Pinned down by the dogs, Lockwood grows furious, and
begins cursing the inhabitants of the house. His anger brings on a
nosebleed, and he is forced to stay at Wuthering Heights. The
housekeeper, Zillah, leads him to bed.
Key events:
Lockwood returns to Wuthering Heights- he meets Cathy
and Hareton
The death of Heathcliff’s wife and son is revealed after
Lockwood becomes confused about the relationships
A blizzard means that Lockwood must spend the night
Key themes/ideas:
Supernatural
Evil
Isolation- Joseph is also an outsider due to his dialect
Lockwood:
, Intrusive- through his unwanted visit and detailed
descriptions- “I don’t care- I will get in!” “hanging loose on
her delicate neck; and eyes”
Unreliable observer- “cushion full of something like cats… it
was a heap of dead rabbits”
Fickleness is emphasised through his change of opinion- “I
no longer felt inclined to call Heathcliff a capital fellow”
An ignorant outsider- “I thought, if I had caused the cloud, it
was my duty to make an effort to dispel it”- he does not
understand the tense relationships. “I began to feel
unmistakably out of place”
Compares his appearance to that of Hareton’s-
vain/judgemental?- “(Hareton was) bordering on repulsive…
I was tolerably attractive”
Rude, cannot tolerate- “laughing internally at the dignity
with which he announced himself” “I might be tempted to
box out his ears” “with rising irritation” “with an intention
of kicking him out the door” “uttered an expression of
disgust and pushed past him”
Effeminate- “I was sick exceedingly; and dizzy and faint”
Heathcliff:
Seems to be superior- “the superiority observable in Mr and
Mrs Heathcliff”
Seemingly unkind- “could you spare me one?... No, I could
not” “uttered so savagely” “diabolical sneer” “a look of
hated (towards Cathy)”
Unwelcoming- “stern voice” “I don’t keep accommodation
for visitors” “unmannerly wretch”
Mean- “a copious bleeding at the nose, and still Heathcliff
laughed”
Offended by the idea of Hareton being his son- “Unhappy in
your conjectures, sir!... Not my son assuredly!”
Cathy:
Unwelcoming- “She looked at me, leaning back in her chair,
and remained motionless and mute” “more repellingly than
Heathcliff himself could have replied” “she snapped”
“between scorn and a kind of desperation”
A contrastingly feminine description to her rude
introduction- “little face… flaxen ringlets… delicate neck”
Immature- ”her red underlip pushed out, like a child’s, ready
to cry”
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