irony
Irony, "an event or result that is the opposite of what is expected," as defined in Webster's New World Dictionary. Irony is often times used in novels to raise the reader's interest by making the novel more unpredictable. This literary phenomena is employed frequently in many novels, especially frequently in Emily Brontė's, Wuthering Heights. Though the novel is full of irony, in fact it seems to be bursting through the cover of the book itself, there are three instances that are particularly important. Those cases include Earnshaw's kindness in bringing Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights and accepting him as one of his own children, Catherine's changing her feelings towards Heathcliff as she matured from an abusive and cruel sister to a kindred spirit, and third and final ironic situation is appeared towards the end of the novel when Hindley's son Hareton became Heathcliff's servant rather than the expected opposite. Those three situations in Wuthering Heights are the ones that show the strongest presence of irony in the novel, and they were all linked together because these ironic situations took Heathcliff from a homeless boy to having the most power in Wuthering Heights. The first example of irony occurred in the opening
The second instance of irony in Wuthering Heights was Cathy's changing of her feelings for Heathcliff. Nelly, while talking about Heathcliff's arrival at Wuthering Heights, said, "Cathy, when she learnt the master had lost her whip in attending on the stranger, showed her humour by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing." (p.39) That quote shows Catherine's initial attitude towards Heathcliff was a bad one, and she sided with Hindley in an effort to put their new sibling down. It was ironic that Cathy, then a young girl, loathed Heathcliff, but grew to love him more and more as their kinship grew stronger despite the influence of Hindley. Catherine's love for Heathcliff has another ironic side because she married Edgar Linton while Heathcliff was away. The case is ironic because the marriage shouldn't have taken place due to Catherine's love for Heathcliff and not Edgar. However, Heathcliff never had the chance to win back the woman he loved, for Cathy died. It was also ironic that as Catherine had married Edgar, Heathcliff had eloped with Isabella, that is that the true lovers married a brother and sister, while longing to be with each other. Heathcliff's rise of both social class, and economic power was key throughout the entire novel, and was the main goal for the protagonist. This along with his love for Catherine are the forces tha
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 918
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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