Wuthering Heights Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Nelly Dean: The Only Adult in the Room and our BookBrowse Review of Wuthering Heights.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. To what extent do you think the setting of the novel contributes to, or informs, what takes place? Do you think the moors are a character in their own right? How do you interpret Bronte's view of nature and the landscape?
2. Discuss Emily Bronte's careful attention to a rigid timeline and the role of the novel as a sober historical document. How is this significant, particularly in light of the turbulent action within? What other contrasts within the novel strike you, and why? How are these contrasts important, and how do they play out in the novel?
3. Do you think the novel is a tale of redemption, despair, or both? Discuss the novel's meaning to you. Do you think the novel's moral content dictates one choice over the other?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Smith & Taylor Classics. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.