Emily Brontefs Wuthering Heights, starts off with confusing opening characters and she uses Wuthering Heights as an introduction for the readers and to show the complex relationships the characters have among each other. Bronte uses a peculiar style of narration, she uses second and third person narration throughout the novel. Nothing is ever associated by a perspective of a single observer. In its place, the story is told through the entries in Lockwoodfs diary; although Lockwood himself did not participate in the events he records. The vast majority of the novel represents Lockwoodfs written memoirs of what he has learned through the data of others. For the distance that this imposes between the reader and the story itself, it is important to remember that this book is not written from the perspective of an unbiased narrator.

The reader can immediately question Lockwoodfs dependability as a conveyer of facts. A vain and somewhat shallow man, he frequently makes mistakes. In other words, he assumes too much. For instance, he assumes that Heathcliff is a gentlemen with a house full of servants, even though it is evident to the reader that Heathcliff is a rough and cruel man with a house full of vicious dogs.

Nelly Dean (known formally as Ellen Dean) serves as the main narrator if Wuthering Heights. Nelly on the other hand is more knowledgeable about events, for she has partaken in many of them first hand for she grew up alongside Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw. Perhaps this makes her somewhat more trustworthy; I feel that it also make her more subjective in others.

She frequently polishes over her own role in the storyfs development, especially when she acted unfairly or crudely. In the novel, she describes a scene where she took young Linton to live with Heathcliff after the death of his mother. She intentionally lies to Linton while they travel that his father is a kind man. After Linton sees what Heathcliff is really like and what Nelly told him was in fact not true, Nelly tries to sheepishly sneak out while Linton is not paying attention. Linton of course notices, and begs Nelly not to leave him, but she ignores his pleas. However, when Nelly recalls this situation to Lockwood, she simply states that gshe had no excuse for lingering longerh. Nelly is generally a dependable source of information. However, with moments such as this one, it reminds the reader that they story is told be a fallible human being. Nelly has strong feelings for the characters in her story, and I feel these feelings complicate her narration.

By Mika Mokko