EDEXL
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Quote Bank
Chapter 1
(Lockwood )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:
Setting/Loss
(On Heathcliff) I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously
under their brows,
Appearance vs reality
Joseph was an elderly, nay, an old man: very old, perhaps, though
hale and sinewy. ‘The Lord help us!’ he soliloquised in an
undertone of peevish displeasure while relieving me of my horse:
looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably
conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner,
and his pious ejaculation had no reference to my unexpected
advent.
Appearance vs reality
Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times,
indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over
the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of
the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs
one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had
foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in
the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.
Setting
One end, indeed, reflected splendidly both light and heat from
ranks of immense pewter dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and
tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the very
,roof. The latter had never been under-drawn: its entire anatomy lay
bare to an inquiring eye, except where a frame of wood laden with
oatcakes and clusters of legs of beef, mutton, and ham, concealed
it. Above the chimney were sundry villainous old guns, and a
couple of horse-pistols: and, by way of ornament, three gaudily-
painted canisters disposed along its ledge. The floor was of
smooth, white stone; the chairs, high-backed, primitive structures,
painted green: one or two heavy black ones lurking in the shade. In
an arch under the dresser reposed a huge, liver-coloured bitch
pointer, surrounded by a swarm of squealing puppies; and other
dogs haunted other recesses.
Setting
He is a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a
gentleman: that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire:
rather slovenly, perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence,
because he has an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose
Conversation
I was thrown into the company of a most fascinating creature: a
real goddess in my eyes… I have gained the reputation of
deliberate heartlessness; how undeserved, I alone can appreciate.
Dogs/Setting/Love/Loss
My caress provoked a long, guttural gnarl.
‘You’d better let the dog alone,’ growled Mr. Heathcliff in unison, checking
fiercer demonstrations with a punch of his foot.
Dogs
I unfortunately indulged in winking and making faces at the trio,
and some turn of my physiognomy so irritated madam, that she
suddenly broke into a fury and leapt on my knees.
Dogs/Setting
‘No, thank you.’
‘Not bitten, are you?’
‘If I had been, I would have set my signet on the biter.’ Heathcliff’s
countenance relaxed into a grin.
Violence/dogs/embarrassment
,He—probably swayed by prudential consideration of the folly of
offending a good tenant—relaxed a little in the laconic style of
chipping off his pronouns and auxiliary verbs
Education/isolation
He evidently wished no repetition of my intrusion. I shall go,
notwithstanding.
Isolation
Chapter 2
On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black
frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb.
Setting
Vinegar-faced Joseph projected his head from a round
window of the barn.
Appearance/Religion
‘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
Nature vs Culture/Class/Education/Women
Meanwhile, the young man had slung on to his person a
decidedly shabby upper garment, and, erecting himself
before the blaze, looked down on me from the corner of
his eyes, for all the world as if there were some mortal
feud unavenged between us. I began to doubt whether
he were a servant or not: his dress and speech were both
rude, entirely devoid of the superiority observable in Mr.
and Mrs. Heathcliff; his thick brown curls were rough
, and uncultivated, his whiskers encroached bearishly
over his cheeks, and his hands were embrowned like
those of a common labourer: still his bearing was free,
almost haughty, and he showed none of a domestic’s
assiduity in attending on the lady of the house.
Appearance/Class/Education
I no longer felt inclined to call Heathcliff a capital
fellow.
Class/Appearance
One was about forty: a period of mental vigour at which
men seldom cherish the delusion of being married for
love by girls: that dream is reserved for the solace of our
declining years.
Marriage
Here is the consequence of being buried alive: she has
thrown herself away upon that boor from sheer
ignorance that better individuals existed!
Class/Women/Education
He turned, as he spoke, a peculiar look in her direction:
a look of hatred; unless he has a most perverse set of
facial muscles that will not, like those of other people,
interpret the language of his soul.
Appearance vs reality
‘Ah, certainly—I see now: you are the favoured possessor
of the beneficent fairy,’ I remarked, turning to my
neighbour.
Women/class
He fixed his eye on me longer than I cared to return the
stare, for fear I might be tempted either to box his ears
or render my hilarity audible
Class
