Wuthering Heights and Daz 4 Zoe - Heathcliff and Daz
Uploaded by robyn_2k on Jan 18, 2002
How do the writers of ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Daz 4 Zoe’ influence their audience’s opinions of the main characters? Discuss with reference to Heathcliff and Daz.
Throughout the history of English novels, authors’ intricate techniques hold the power to entrap and sustain an audience, conveying manipulative messages through, characters, language and setting. This subtly moulds the many interpretations into one powerful impression, which a huge, combined audience can easily follow and enjoy.
The elaborate contradictory structure surrounding the main protagonist, Heathcliff, of Emily Brontë’s tragic romance, ‘Wuthering Heights’, subtly evokes the empathy of those who read, causing:-
“an unreclaimed creature, without refinement, without cultivation: an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone”.
to become heroic, through his passionate devotion to Catherine using the empathetic, Bildungsroman structure of the novel to enhance our admiration for him.
Brontë creates for us, the audience, a deep, entangled romance, twisting our emotions using the views and traits of the many characters to influence the plot, forming an extremely convincing novel. Both Nelly Dean, and Lockwood are key narrative characters in the plot, but their different upbringings and social status allows us to dismiss certain comments and remember others.
Our first encounter with Heathcliff is as a mature adult, and related by Lockwood. The portrayal of Heathcliff is that of a suspicious, rude, unmannered man, with a dark air of mystery and evil. Yet, Lockwood described him as a “gentleman”, saying:
“he has an erect and handsome figure”
As the novel moves on, the plot moves backwards in time, using the unusual, ghostly experiences of Lockwood in the initial chapters, as a page turner, making us, the audience eager to read on.
From the very beginning of the novel, Brontë creates great sympathy for the:
“dirty, ragged, black haired child”
known to the Earnshaws only as “Heathcliff”, as he spent the first years of his childhood as an orphan, wandering alone in the streets of Liverpool. This is already gently forcing the audience to subconsciously, forgive Heathcliff for any following mistakes he may make.
Once adopted into the Earnshaw family, Heathcliff was doted on by his new father Mr. Earnshaw, who strongly favoured him over his daughter, Catherine, and son, Hindley. However, this continual devotion soon sparked anger and jealousy. Hindley grew to despise Heathcliff, taunting, and beating him whenever the opportunity arose. Heathcliff was brought, from this spitefulness, to lead his life, continually planning ways to seek revenge on his new-found enemy:
“he grew bitter with brooding over...