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Wuthering Heights’s Narrative Structure
Wuthering Heights has a fairly unorthodox narrative structure. Although there are only two obvious narrators, Lockwood and Nelly Dean, a variety of other narratives appear throughout the novel. The whole action is presented in the form of eyewitness narrations by people who have played some part in the narration they describe. Lockwood’s narrative is the outer framework of the story. He is the recipient of Nelly’s story and she in turn is the recipient of other narratives. Nelly and Lockwood are fundamentally different personalities and, therefore, each contribute to the reader’s understanding of events and characters differently.
Lockwood is the outsider, coming into a world that he finds intimidating. He’s a city gentleman who has stumbled on a primitive, uncivilized world that he doesn’t understand, but which fascinates him. His fascination with Wuthering Heights leads to the beginning of Nelly’s narrative. In the novel Lockwood presents the situation as he sees it, the reader is thus brought closer to the action, seeing it through the eyes of the narrator himself. The format of Lockwood’s narrative is that of a personal diary, which allows an easy intimacy with an impartial character whose personality (self-conscious, a little amusing) raises sympathy. Lockwood is intelligent and perceptive, and his precise detailed descriptions are used to create subtle changes in situation and character. Changes in character are hinted at by Lockwood’s sense for detail. He has noticed changes in both Cathy and Hareton - Cathy once described by Lockwood as "the little witch", now has "a voice as sweet as a silver bell". Hareton, described in the opening chapters as a boor and a clown, has by the end of the novel become "a young man respectably dressed" with "handsome features". Therefore, Lockwood plays the role of a detached outsider and observer whose objective personality gives the reader a trustworthy source. This brings a dimension to the novel that is quite different from the perception provided by Nelly.
Nelly Dean’s narrative, although detailed, has a certain childish energy. She narrates as if she were describing events that she had witnessed an hour ago. She sounds excited, like everything she speaks of is vividly present to her. Nelly’s narrative makes the past alive in the present. Because much of Nelly’s narrative is unfolded in the words of the actual characters, the reader feels that the narrative is shaped by the events that happened, not that the interpretation of events were shaped by the narrator. Nelly’s sureness in relating her narrative seems to arise out of an astonishingly clear memory. Nelly’s value is that she brings us very close to the action and is in one way deeply engaged in it. The intimate affairs of the Grange and the Heights have taken up her whole life. However, a value that she lacks is objectivity. Her position as a professional housekeeper means that her interest in events is largely practical and that she is often biased. She provides the inner frame of the narrative and we see this world of the [next page]