The Frame Narrative
Beginning Wuthering Heights
The Marriage of the Virgin (1504)
Raphael
Twilight
The reader is unobstructed from the narrative by the
first-person perspective of Isabella Swan (we are
however also limited to Bella’s knowledge).
My mother drove me to the airport with the windows
rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the
sky a perfect cloudless blue. I was wearing my favourite
shirt - sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a
farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.
Las Meninas (1656)
Diego Velázquez
Wuthering
The reader is limited to the first-person perspective
of Lockwood but disallowed direct access, is distanced
from the main narrative (Heathcliff).
1801 - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This
is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not
believe that I could have fixed on a situation so
completely removed from the stir of society...
“Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,” he interrupted,
wincing.
Unlocking the Woods
We, Emily Bronte’s readers, enter Wuthering Heights through Lockwood - our principal
narrator - or what is suggested to be his diary.
Frame Narrative
A story within a story, within sometimes yet another
story, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In Mary
Shelley's work, the form echoes in structure the
thematic search in the story for something deep, dark,
and secret at the heart of the narrative. The form thus
also resembles the psychoanalytic process of uncovering
the unconscious behind various levels of repressive
narratives put in place by the conscious mind. (Purdue)
In WH, Lockwood and the reader’s search for truth
parallels Heathcliff’s search for love, acceptance and
peace.
Narrative Modes
First-person subjective (To Kill a Mockingbird, Twilight)
First-person unreliable (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
Third-person subjective (Harry Potter)
Third-person omniscient (Lord of the Rings)
Multiple-person subjective
Multiple-person unreliable
Frame
Emily Bronte’s novel
Frame
Lockwood’s Diary
Lockwood’s ‘unreliable’ observations and understanding
Nelly Dean’s third-person account
Observations
Interpretation
Dialogue
- The Earnshaws
- The Lintons
- Heathcliff
Reliable narrator?
- She is a marginal character
Dialogue
Heathcliff
Hareton
Cathy
Joseph
Nelly Dean
Catherine’s Diary
Isabella’s letters
Frame
Frame
The Narrative Structure of Wuthering Heights
Chapter One & Two
Understanding Bronte ceaselessly reminds us that we, the
reader, are approaching a frame narrative by highlighting
the fallibility of Lockwood’s narration.
Establishing Lockwood’s ‘unreliability’
- Speculative language
- Faux-pas
- Comic misjudgments
- Circumlocution / excessively elaborate language
(compared to J & H’s monosyllabic, direct “truthfulness”)
Nicholas Marsh
“The narrator is openly uncertain, and only a small
amount of reliable material filters through him from the
story to us. We are constantly reminded of how little we
know and how speculative all our interpretations must be.”
“The explicit.. lack of information.. creates the opposite
effect. As we are reminded how thin our information is, we
are at the same time reminded continually of the fullness
of vague distances which contain more but unknown
information” that lies beyond the reader.
Why Endure Lockwood?
“Lockwood’s elaborately precious style enhances the
directness, the realism of these scraps (from Nelly,
Heathcliff, Joseph) so that they stand out powerfully.”
Conclusion Bronte’s reader urged to be active, rather than
passive, seeking out the truth amidst Lockwood’s
befuddling style, Lockwood’s fumbling in the story and
the mystery yet to be uncovered.
Plot vs. Story
The ‘flashback’ is frequently used in the television
series Lost. The plot of an episode is introduced in the
order the writers / director want us to view them. You
may for instance, see Jack panicking over Kate’s
condition, before cutting to a flashback of him in the
operating theatre... and then returning to the ‘present’,
where he is attempting to save her.
The question then: how is story different from plot?
Does the viewer ‘figure things out’ when the plot is so ‘messy’, non-linear?
Plot vs. Story
Plot (syuzhet)
Story (fabula)
As told by writer
Constructed by reader
A perceptible progression
A ‘mental’ progression
In the order within novel
Chronological
Volume 1 Chapter 1, 2, 3... Volume 2 Chapter 20
Mr E adopts Heathcliff ... Heathcliff dies and C-H marry
Only one plot (Bronte’s)
Different (subject to reader)
Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights, learns about..
The Catherine-Heathcliff story, the Cat-Hare-Lin story