5. Discuss Bronte's use of twos. Full question inside

[Jen]

5. Discuss Bronte's use of twos: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange; two families, each with two children; two couples (Catherine and Edgar, and Heathcliff and Isabella); two narrators; the doubling-up of names. What is Bronte's intention here?

[Lynn]

I see the twos but I haven't any idea about the author's possible intention.

[Pip]

I think Bronte was using the pairings as contrasts. This she did without being melodramatic about it. Heathcliff was wild, yet he was educated, the Lintons were a bit effete, but not too much. The two narrators were tricky. Lockwood's version of events was reliable, Nellie's maybe not quite so much. The doubling up of names just seems a device for confusion after not reading the book for many years.

[Diane]

I did not realize the two phenomenon until you pointed it out. The similarity in names drove me crazy.

[Patrick]

I am not sure about her intention, but the concept of twos or pairings is also in contrast with the isolated setting of the novel and the fact that many characters end up being kept in isolation, both at Wuthering Heights and at Thrushcross Grange.

[John]

I'm with Lynn.

[Kristel]

Generally twos present dichotomy but I didn't get that feel when reading this book but as Pip points out it is contrasts. I agree that Lockwood was your reliable narrator.