Individual Oral Commentary An Approach…

The Requirements

A: Knowledge and understanding of the text or extract (10)

B: Understanding of the use and effects of literary features (10)

C: Organization (5)

• D: Language (5)

1 – The ExtractI listened doubtingly an instant; detected the disturber, then turned and dozed, and dreamt again; if possible, still more disagreeably than before.

This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir-bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but, it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement. The hook was soldered into the staple, a circumstance observed by me, when awake, but forgotten.

‘I must stop it, nevertheless!’ I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch: instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand!

The intense horror of nightmare came over me; I tried to draw back my arm, but, the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed,

‘Let me in – let me in!’

2 – The Context

‘Wuthering Heights’, Emily Bronte, first published 1847 under nom de plume ‘Ellis Bell, Volume I, Chapter III

During visit to his landlord, Heathcliff, the unreliable narrator here, Lockwood, relates his imagined dreams during his enforced stay at Wuthering Heights

Significant because of rising tension, first tangible evidence of protagonist Catherine and, therefore, the revelation of the relationship between Heathcliff and her

3 – Salient FeaturesI listened doubtingly an instant; detected the disturber, then turned and dozed, and dreamt again; if possible, still more disagreeably than before.

This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir-bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but, it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement. The hook was soldered into the staple, a circumstance observed by me, when awake, but forgotten.

‘I must stop it, nevertheless!’ I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch: instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand!

The intense horror of nightmare came over me; I tried to draw back my arm, but, the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed,

‘Let me in – let me in!’

4 – Initial Premise - Introduction

Rising tension due to unreliable narrator Lockwood’s inconsistent account

Shown through vague recollection, ambivalence and contradictory details

• Bronte’s ambiguous narrative perspective, her deliberate, consistent use of halting punctuation, extreme emotive language, contrast of professed action and mental ambiguity, ‘Gothic’ lexicon

Effect is to make reader equally uncertain, therefore creating dramatic tension

5 – Initial Structure

Immediate context and lit sig of ext

B’s char’ion of L

B’s own ambiguous NP

Imm effects on reader

Effs on und of char

Effs on lit genre

6 – PremIntRising tension due to unreliable narrator Lockwood’s inconsistent account

Shown through vague recollection, ambivalence and contradictory details

her deliberate, consistent use of halting punctuation, extreme emotive language, contrast of professed action and mental ambiguity

• Bronte’s ambiguous narrative perspective; !st NP, 3rd NP, omniscient but subjective NP, ‘Gothic’ lexicon

Effect is to make reader equally uncertain, therefore creating dramatic tension, combined with setting, crucial to mood evoking genre

7 – PEEE # 1I listened doubtingly an instant; detected the disturber, then turned and dozed, and dreamt again; if possible, still more disagreeably than before.

Apparent paradox between doubting and ‘instant’ – how reliable?

Harsh, consistent tremulous consonance – fitful, restless state

‘dozed’ semi-conscious – real/imagined

Consistent commas, semi-colons, fragmented syntax – inconsistent and confused thoughts, mental imbalance

Therefore how can we trust his narrative – its veracity - tension

8 – PEEE # 2

Remembered – forgotten

Contrast of characterization – B’s 1NP is inconsistent

I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought,

Juxtaposition of professed action and vague thought

my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand!

‘little’ – from whose perspective? ‘ice-cold’ hyperbole, extreme - unreliable emotion, mood rather than reality

9 – PEEE # 3

The intense horror of nightmare came over me; I tried to draw back my arm, but, the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed,

‘Let me in – let me in!’

• Cliched ‘gothic’ diction

• Inter-play of 1NP and professed 3NP, is L omniscient or subjective? If latter, have we not been misled with H, WH, H and CE? Is L a vehicle for B’s gothic novel? Is serious Char analysis – didactic intent – viable?

Conclusion

If the perceptions of the narrator are flawed, the readers’ impression – and understanding – of the other characters will be flawed too. In this extract, Lockwood is evidently overwrought emotionally and possibly insincere.

If, therefore we cannot trust the veracity of his account – and Bronte’s indistinct narrative perspectives, the reader is more immediately engaged – or intrigued – through the consequent tension and mood achieved. This, in turn, enhances the mystery inherent in the ‘gothic’ genre and, in turns, titillates with sub-text and foreshadowing typical too. The extract therefore is significant because it not only embodies the genre but the narrator is exposed and the future plot foreshadowed.