Comedy in Wuthering Heights

Abstract

A careful reading of Wuthering Heights shows that, notwithstanding the grimness permeating its various narratives, there are elements in the text which may be said to be of essentially comic interest. That Emily Brontë seems to have no mean gift for comedy is apparent enough, say, through Joseph’s witty utterances; through the satirical portrait of the housekeeper Zillah; through the silly things said by some of the main characters as youngsters; and through a number of more or less farcical incidents and episodes, to cite a few obvious examples. Much less obvious, on the other hand, are some of the ways in which Emily gives us to understand that her two principal narrators, Lockwood and Nelly Dean, should be viewed as somewhat comic figures, thereby confirming for us the idea that, for all its distressing content, her novel nevertheless represents a happy blending of comedy with tragedy.