Timelines in Emily Brontës «Wuthering Heights». Michael Weber

on the chronology (1952)

       Goodridge’s time structure (1964)

       Power’s commentary (1972)

       Daley’s almanacs (1974)

       Daley’s revision of Sanger’s chronology (1995 and 2003)

       IV. A Practical Chronology

       Mr. Earnshaw (c. 1712–1775)

       Mrs. Earnshaw (?–1772)

       Heathcliff Earnshaw (?)

       Ellen (Nell, Nelly) Dean (1754–)

       Hindley Earnshaw (1756–1783)

       Frances Earnshaw (c. 1757–1778)

       Edgar Linton (1761–1800)

       Mr. Heathcliff (probably 1763–April 1801)

       Isabella Linton (1764–July 1796)

       Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw (1765–20/3/1783)

       Hareton Earnshaw (June 1778–)

       Mr. Lockwood (probably 1778–)

       Catherine (Cathy) Linton (20/3/1783–)

       Linton Heathcliff (1783–1801)

       V. The Ghost

       VI. The Genealogies of the Earnshaw and Linton Families

       The Critical Genealogy

       The Alternative Genealogies

       The Traditional Genealogies

       VII. The Chronology as Practical Narratology

       Playing with Two Eyewitnesses

       Playing with the Temporal Structure

       Playing with Time

       VIII. Answers and Solutions

       Bibliography

Preliminary Notes

      Citations:

      Quotations are taken from Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights, The World’s Classics 10, Oxford University Press, London, 1972 (abbreviated ‘WH’). The chronologically relevant time references and grammatical tenses of this edition are identical to those of the two critical editions, that is the 1976 Clarendon Edition edited by Hilda Marsden and Ian Jack (Clarendon Press, Oxford), and the 2003 Fourth Edition of the Norton Critical Edition edited by Richard J. Dunn (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, London), as well as the English and North American First Editions (Wuthering Heights by Ellis Bell, Thomas Cautley Newby Publishers, London, 1847, and Wuthering Heights by the Author of “Jane Eyre”, New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 82 Cliff Street, 1848). The 2009 Oxford University Press Edition of Wuthering Heights has not been used because, according to the editor, “some […] minor typographical errors in Clarendon have been silently amended” (Small, p. XXIV). These modifications include the length of the dashes on the first page of the novel.

      Chapter references:

      References to chapters in Wuthering Heights are written in Arabic numerals (e.g. Chapter 32); references to chapters in this book are written in Roman numerals (e.g. Chapter II).

      The term ‘time reference’:

      The term ‘time reference’ is used to refer to all expressions of time, both concrete and relative, and include references to days, months, years, dates, ages, time spans, festive occasions, seasons and weather connected to those seasons.

      Character names:

      Because several characters have the same name, certain precautions must be taken to avoid any confusion. What is more, it should be noted that certain names are liable to sway value judgements, and this applies not least to their use by the narrators in the novel itself. To avoid these problems, the following neutral names are used.

      Heathcliff: He has no surname. From the year 1782, after his return to Wuthering Heights, Ellen Dean addresses him as Mr. Heathcliff, though she continues to call him Heathcliff when narrating the story. In order to counteract the widespread though unjustified disdain for his person, her example is not followed ←11 | 12→here, even if this deviates from philological practice. From 1782 he is called Mr. Heathcliff, and indeed Mr. Lockwood only ever speaks of him in this way.

      Catherine Linton: Edgar Linton always calls his daughter Cathy and his wife Catherine. By doing so, he not only distinguishes between mother and daughter, he avoids calling his wife by the name that Mr. Heathcliff has used for her since their childhood together: Cathy (WH, 228). Catherine Linton (the daughter), however, is frequently called Catherine, not Cathy, by others. In order to distinguish between mother and daughter and to avoid misunderstandings, here the daughter is called Cathy – as Daley suggests (1974, p. 340). Stevenson (1985, p. 165) does the opposite, even though it is more plausible to refer to the daughter by the name usually used to address her. Mr. Heathcliff calls Catherine Linton “Miss Linton” or “Catherine Linton”. After he marries her to Linton Heathcliff, he either calls her Catherine or he uses insults. Unlike Edgar Linton, he never calls her “Cathy”, the name he called her mother.

      All other main characters: As children and youngsters, they are called by their first names only, as adults by their first names and surnames.

      Married female characters: After marriage, their maiden names continue to be used to aid identification and to avoid the use of double surnames.

      Textual style:

      Book and journal titles, technical and literary terms and terms defined in the text are in italics. Emphasis, especially chronologically important information, is letterspaced. Direct quotations are in double quotation marks.

      ←12 | 13→

      LITERARY AND CULTURAL STUDIES,

      THEORY AND THE (NEW) MEDIA

      Edited by Monika Fludernik and Sieglinde Lemke

      VOLUME 6

I. Questions and Contradictions

When reading Wuthering Heights, sooner or later – and always when it is too late to orientate oneself chronologically – the question arises as to the timing of events at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The reason for this is the legendary “confusion of minds” which inevitably sets in during reading.¹ This confusion is due to the year 1801 given at the beginning of the novel, which suggests that events can be dated from this point on, and that Mr. Lockwood arrives at Thrushcross Grange in the winter towards the end of 1801 when Ellen Dean then begins her story. After this, the novel is filled with an abundance of time spans with reference to the second absolute year named in the text, 1778, the year of Hareton Earnshaw’s birth (Chapters 7 and 8). Confusing forward and backward references also appear, along with a plethora of indefinite time expressions. The third and last absolute year named in the text, 1802, appears surprisingly late towards the end of the novel at the beginning of Chapter 32.

      Based on these time references, literary criticism has contended, for example, that the wedding of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton takes place three years after the death of Edgar’s father when Hareton is nearly five years old, and that Cathy is eighteen and Hareton twenty-three when they become lovers. These claims suggest that the major episode – the short, highly dramatic period with the near-fatal fall of Hareton, the disappearance of Heathcliff and the illness