It traces a fierce bond between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and the revenge that follows when that bond is broken.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a novel set for IGCSE and International GCSE Literature (Cambridge International 0475). The board decides the set texts and the years they are examined, and your school confirms them. Our teachers teach whichever text your child sits.
What it is
Mr Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange and visits his strange landlord, Heathcliff, at the farmhouse called Wuthering Heights. The housekeeper, Nelly Dean, then tells him the history of the two houses. Mr Earnshaw brings home an orphan boy, Heathcliff, who grows close to his daughter Catherine but is mistreated by her brother Hindley.
Catherine marries the gentle Edgar Linton, and Heathcliff leaves, returning rich and set on revenge against both families. The second half follows their children, and the ending suggests that the cycle of cruelty may finally ease.
Themes and ideas to track
Passion and obsession
The love between Catherine and Heathcliff is wild and almost destructive. Brontë presents it as a force that ignores social rules and even death.
Revenge and its cost
Heathcliff spends years punishing those who wronged him, and their children suffer too. The novel asks whether revenge ever brings real satisfaction.
Class and social status
Catherine's choice of Edgar is shaped by wealth and position. Heathcliff's low status at the start drives much of his later anger.
Nature and wildness
The stormy Heights and the calm Grange stand for two ways of living. Landscape and weather often mirror the feelings of the characters.
How the writer builds it
The story reaches us through layered narrators, mainly Lockwood and Nelly, so readers must judge how reliable each one is. This frame creates distance and mystery around Heathcliff. Brontë pairs settings and generations, so later scenes echo earlier ones with key differences.
Gothic touches such as ghosts, dreams and storms raise tension. Notice how dialect and violent imagery give the Heights its harsh, untamed feel.
How to write about it in the exam
Always ask who is telling a scene and why that matters. Track how characters change across the two generations instead of retelling events in order.
Link settings and weather to mood and theme. Use brief, precise references and explain the effect of Brontë's choices on the reader.
Studying Wuthering Heights? The paid trial lesson can start with a key moment from the text.
An exam-style question to practise
How does Brontë present Heathcliff as both victim and villain?
Plan three points before you write, with a short quotation for each. Then check your plan against the mark scheme section below.
More question angles
- Explore how Brontë contrasts Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
- How does Brontë use Nelly Dean as a narrator?
- In what ways does Brontë present the second generation as different from the first?
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark Literature answers against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards. For Cambridge International 0475, the objectives are summarised on our qualification page.
- AO1: Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms (drama, poetry and prose), supported by reference to the text.
- AO2: Understand the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.
- AO3: Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects.
- AO4: Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.
- The four assessment objectives carry equal weight, about 25% each.
For Wuthering Heights, build your argument around “Passion and obsession” and “Revenge and its cost”. Support each point with a short quotation. Then analyse the writer's method, using the section above.
Keep context about Emily Brontë brief and tied to the words on the page.
Read the text alongside these notes. This page is our own analysis and original teaching material. Where we quote this public-domain work, it is a short, attributed phrase.
Where to go next
Plan your essay with our guide to planning a literature essay, then see a worked answer in our literature essay structure model response. Browse more set-text notes or read about Literature in English tuition.
When you have written an answer on Wuthering Heights, a paid one-hour trial lesson lets the teacher who would continue mark it with you.