Wuthering Heights: Lesson Plan

A.Özkan Bicer and Carol Griffiths, Turkey

A.Özkan Bicer has worked as a tour guide for many years all around Turkey. He obtained his degree in ELT in 2015, and is currently doing his masters in the same field. E-mail: ozkan@constantinopleguide.com

Dr Carol Griffiths has taught in many places around the world, and is currently based in Turkey. She has also published widely and presented at many conferences. E-mail: carolgriffiths5@gmail.com

Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Brontë
Genre: Classic novel

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Teacher’s guidelines
Students’ worksheet: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Teacher’s guidelines

Wuthering Heights is a classic English novel, written by Emily Brontë. At the time, she and her sisters (Charlotte and Anne) wrote under men’s names, because it was not acceptable for women to publish. Although it is likely that this attitude would be condemned by modern readers, it is interesting that JK Rowling (the author of the hugely popular “Harry Potter” books) chose her name because her publisher advised that boys would not read something written by a woman.

Using novels in a language classroom will help students learn language in context and provide insights into the target culture. Wuthering heights is a classic with love, fear, prejudice, and other human feelings and emotions. It is appropriate for young adults and adults. Small children may not grasp it thoroughly.

Speaking

Put students into pairs or small groups and get them to talk about the following questions:

What do you know about Emily Brontë?
What do you know about Consumption?
What do you think about attitudes to women writers?

Listening

Hand out the questions on the worksheet, and ask students to guess the answers before they hear the listening text. You can then read it yourself, or play a recording of someone else reading it

1. Consumption is another name for the disease tuberculosis (T)
2. Consumption claimed the lives of all the siblings of Emily Brontë. (F – not Charlotte )
3. Cave air approach is bound to replace communicative language teaching. (NG)
4. Tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease usually affecting the liver. (F – mainly lungs)
5. Consumption of uncooked meat causes tuberculosis. (NG)
6. Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights in her sickbed. (NG)
7. Emily lost her elder sister Maria to Consumption in 1848. (F – Emily died in 1948)
8. The dramatic weight loss was the main reason for Tuberculosis to be called Consumption. (T)
9. Emily was the only member of Bronte family who did not die of Consumption. (F)
10. Wuthering Heights is the third book written by Emily Bronte. (NG)

Listening script:

Tuberculosis is a constant presence in Wuthering Heights––it claims the lives of many characters. It played a similarly important role in Emily Brontë's life. She lost her older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, to the disease in childhood, and her brother Branwell to it as an adult. It claimed Emily's life in 1848, not long after Wuthering Heights was published, and her sister Anne also died of the disease the following year. This was not uncommon. Charlotte Brontë was the last Brontë sibling to die (and the only one who did not succumb to 'consumption')

Tuberculosis is a highly contagious bacterial infection that usually affects the lungs, but it was not unheard of for it to affect other parts of the body as well––George Eliot's young son died of spinal tuberculosis. Most disturbing to many Victorians was the dramatic weight loss that the disease caused; this is why it was called ‘consumption’ in the nineteenth century. Because the disease appeared gradually, people often didn't notice the symptoms until it was too late to treat them. This was the case with Branwell Brontë, whose laudanum addiction masked the symptoms of tuberculosis until a very late stage in the disease. In Emily's lifetime, it was commonly believed that pure air could help treat tuberculosis. Around the time that Emily was writing Wuthering Heights, the American Dr. John Croghan even set up a tuberculosis hospital in a cave because he believed that the unique air would cure his patients ("Cave Air Approach").

Adapted from Wuthering Heights study guide at www.gradesaver.com

Vocabulary

Match the following words from the text to their meanings.

Answers: A-6, B-1, C-5, D-2, E-3, F-4

Pronunciation

Check the pronunciation of the words above. Check for any silent letters (e.g. in “benign”) and stress. Depending on your students’ level you can ask them to transcribe the words in IPA and then provide the correct version and ask them to self-correct if they make any mistakes.

Reading

The section of the story in the worksheet can be read silently, aloud, or by the teacher depending on what is most appropriate for your class. Or it could be divided into smaller portions and assigned to different groups who could then share what they learned with their friends and work to construct the whole narrative.

Comprehension questions

1. Who is Lockwood? He is the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange and narrator of the story.
2. Where is the perfect heaven for the misanthropist? Wuthering heights
3. Why did Lockwood have to stay the night at Wuthering Heights? Heavy snow made it impossible for him to go back to his home.
4. Where does Catherine get bitten by a dog? The dog bites her in the leg at Thrushcross Grange.
5. How long does it take her to heal from the dog bite? Five weeks
6. Do you think Catherine and Heathcliff will hit it off eventually? Let the students speculate on this

Grammar

Fill in the following blanks with the proper words. Each word will be used once. You might need to modify the words. (Benign, tranquil, ramble, desolation, resentment) You can solve the first question to demonstrate if necessary.

1. Most people resent dishonesty.
2. How do you reach tranquility?
3. They rambled from town to town.
4. That's the problem with obsession: it is followed by desolation.
5. All the world needs is a benign dictator.

Writing

What happens next? Develop the story with your own imagination.

The following summary can be handed out for students to compare with their own versions.

Follow up

There are a number of good movies of this story. If time and opportunity permits, it would be a good idea to play one of the films for the class.

Hindley’s wife, Frances, gave birth to a son, Hareton, and died soon after of tuberculosis. Hindley gave in to wild despair and alcoholism, and the household fell into chaos. Heathcliff was harshly treated, and came to hate Hindley more and more. Edgar Linton fell in love with Catherine, who was attracted by his wealth and genteel manners, so they got married, and Heathcliff ran away.

Catherine and Edgar Linton lived fairly harmoniously together for almost a year––then Heathcliff returned. He had mysteriously acquired gentlemanly manners, education, and some money. Catherine was overjoyed to see him, Edgar considerably less so. Heathcliff stayed at Wuthering Heights, where he gradually gained financial control by paying Hindley's gambling debts, then he eloped with Isabella (Edgar’s sister).

Heathcliff and Isabella returned to Wuthering Heights, and he had a passionate reunion with Catherine. Catherine died that night after giving birth to a daughter. Isabella escaped from Wuthering Heights and went to live close to London, where she gave birth to a son, Linton. Hindley died a few months after his sister Catherine.

Catherine and Edgar's daughter, Cathy, grew to be a charming child. Isabella died when Linton was about twelve years old. Linton was sick, and Hareton was clumsy and illiterate. After Edgar died, Heathcliff took Cathy to Wuthering Heights. Before long, Linton died. At first, Cathy despised Hareton, but as time passed, she became lonely enough to seek Hareton's company, and began teaching him to read. When the novel ends, Heathcliff dies and Hareton and Cathy plan to marry.

Adapted from Wuthering Heights study guide at www.gradesaver.com

Students’ worksheet: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Speaking

What do you know about Emily Brontë and Consumption?
What do you think about attitudes to women writers?

Listening

Listen to the text and say if the following statements are true, false or not given:

1. Consumption is just another name for the disease Tuberculosis.
2. Consumption claimed the lives of all the siblings of Emily Brontë.
3. Cave air approach is bound to replace communicative language teaching.
4. Tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease usually affecting the liver.
5. Consumption of uncooked meat causes tuberculosis.
6. Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights in her sickbed.
7. Emily lost her elder sister Maria to Consumption in 1848.
8. The dramatic weight loss was the main reason for Tuberculosis to be called Consumption.
9. Emily was the only member of Bronte family who did not die of Consumption.
10. Wuthering Heights is the third book written by Emily Bronte.

Vocabulary

Match the following words from the text to their meanings.

Pronunciation

Check the pronunciation of the words above. Check for any silent letters and stress. Try to transcribe them in IPA.

Read the story

The famous novel by Emily Bronte begins with the following lines;

1801—Lockwood: ‘’I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbor 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. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name’’.

Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, pays a visit to his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights. Lockwood finds himself strangely attracted to a man who seems even more reclusive than he.

Curiosity leads Lockwood to make a second visit the next day. This time he is snowed in and has plenty of time to discover the relationships among the occupants of the house: a young refined woman; a young man, obviously used to hard labor; and Heathcliff.

Lockwood is put up for the night in one of the unused bedrooms which was the girlhood room of Catherine Earnshaw. There he discovers the books and writings of Catherine from the time when her brother Hindley was the master of the house. Lockwood falls into a fitful sleep with dreams that turn into nightmares. His cries arouse Heathcliff who thinks it is the ghost of Catherine calling out to him. After this sleepless night, Lockwood vows never to bother his neighbors again.

That evening, reviving a bit, Lockwood engages his housekeeper, Mrs. Dean, in a conversation about the inhabitants at Wuthering Heights. Mrs. Dean begins the history of the family at the time that the old master Mr. Earnshaw brings a foundling, later named Heathcliff, home to be raised as his own child. Catherine and Heathcliff become close friends, but Hindley’s resentment at his father’s protective attitude towards Heathcliff soon turns into hatred.

Hindley is sent off to college, and the strong bond between Catherine and Heathcliff grows as they are left to themselves to roam about the countryside. This tranquil time is changed by the death of Mr. Earnshaw. Hindley returns for the funeral with a new wife and takes his place as master. He banishes Heathcliff from the family, requiring him to give up his education to work as a servant. Still Catherine and Heathcliff manage to sneak away for rambles on the moor. On one of these excursions, they spy on the Linton family at Thrushcross Grange. When the watchdog bites Catherine’s leg, she is attended by the Lintons while Heathcliff is sent home in disgrace.

Five weeks pass before Catherine returns home. She is a changed person, in appearance and manners. She now acts the part of the “lady.” Heathcliff, meanwhile, has grown more ragged and dirty.

Comprehension questions

1. Who is Lockwood?
2. Where is the perfect heaven for the misanthropist?
3. Why did Lockwood have to stay the night at Wuthering Heights?
4. Where does Catherine get bitten by a dog?
5. How long does it take her to heal from the dog bite?
6. Do you think Catherine and Heathcliff will hit it off eventually?

Grammar

Fill in the following blanks with the proper words. Each word will be used once. You might need to modify the words. (Benign, tranquil, ramble, desolation, resentment)

1. Most people ……….. dishonesty.
2. How do you reach ………….?
3. They ………from town to town.
4. That's the problem with obsession: when the thing that has consumed you ends up crumpled in a dustbin, there is ………..
5. All the world needs is a …………dictator.

Writing

What happens next? Develop the story with your own imagination.

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the English Improvement course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the British Life, Language and Culture course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology & Language for Secondary course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Practical Uses of Technology in the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching English Across the Curriculum course at Pilgrims website.