Wuthering Heights Group

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morganaise
morganaise
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In Chapter 2 of 'Wuthering Heights' why is the atmosphere in the kitchen tense and unfriendly?

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Posted by morganaise on Thursday July 24, 2008 at 12:03 PM and tagged with chapter 2, kitchen, plot, setting, tension, wuthering heights.

Answers:

  1. lit24
    lit24 Teacher
    Doctorate

    eNotes Editor

     In Ch.2 as soon as Lockwood arrives at Wuthering Heights Joseph does not open the door and let him in.  Hareton Earnshaw who arrives just then takes him into the house through the backyard and into the kitchen where the younger Catherine greets him  angrily, "you should not have come out."  Heathcliff who arrives shortly afterwards endorses what she has said.

    Follwing are the reasons why Lockwood faces a hostile reception in the kitchen and is made "to feel unmistakably out of place in that 'pleasant' family circle."

    1. The bad weather.  The inmates of the house are annoyed because they are snowed in and are in no mood to entertain guests.

    2. Lockwood commits blunder after blunder in correctly identifying the relationships of younger Catherine and Hareton Earnshaw. It results in a lot of embarrassment for all the characters and only increases their hostility towards Lockwood.

    3. Both Younger Catherine and Hareton Earnshaw are virtually prisoners of the morose Heathcliff and are certainly in no frame of mind to show any kindness to strangers.

    4. Heathcliff himself is depressed after the death of his childhood infatuation Catherine and cannot be expected to be hospitable to Lockwood.

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    Posted by lit24 on Friday July 25, 2008 at 7:25 PM