The role of Nelly Dean

Elena -- I have to say, I did NOT like Nelly. In particular, her ignoring of Cathy the Elder's ultimately fatal illness as a mere "snit" cemented my dislike. I've heard discussions of her as "an unreliable narrator" - though she is telling us the majority of the story, it is definitely colored by her prejudices. In fact, I think there was some discussion on the Bronte list that EVERY narrator in WH is unreliable to a certain degree. And I can't imagine that Nelly is wholly Tablitha Aykyroyd, because I hink that Emily ADORED Tabby, & Nelly is, as you say, such a snooping busybody. She is a fascinating 2nd person narrator through -- unlike Jane Eyre, who immediately grabs our sympathy with her plaintive "I," Nelly is much harder to warm up to. But, being hard-hearted, she seems to fit into the world of WH.

One of the most endearing aspects of Emily's "diary papers" is the gentle but mischievious way she is cheeky about Tabby. Because Emily ultimately had more to do with the day to day running of the house, she seems to have become very close to Tabby. Tabby's native stories and dialects probably had a great impact on Emily's creative mind. I found it interesting that you identify Nelly's reaction to Cathy's final illness as having cemented your dislike of the character. I feel that that is the key scene in interpreting how Emily might have regarded her - a necessary plot device, and thus a necessary evil. Cathy's delium is highly revealing about a number of things, and her remarks to Nelly are significant: "I see in you, Nelly...an aged woman - you have grey hair, and bent shoulders. This bed is the fairy cave under Penistone Crag, and you are gathering elf-bolts to hurt our heifers: pretending, while I am near, that they are only locks of wool." Even Edgar, who Nelly preferred to her former childhood companions, has finally had enough of her in this scene: `"...Hereafter, we must be cautious how we vex her." `"I desire no further advice from you," answered Mr Linton. "You knew your mistress's nature, and you encouraged me to harass her. And not to give me one hint of how she has been these three days! It was heartless! months of sickness could not cause such a change."' She responds with '"Next time you may gather intelligence for yourself!" Which brings the apt reply of "The next time you bring a tale to me, you shall quit my service, Ellen Dean." All of which means Cathy finally sees her in her true light - "Ah! Nelly has played traitor...Nelly is my hidden enemy - you witch! So you do seek elf bolts to hurt us!"

It really is extraordinary how Nelly pooh-poohs Cathy's illness & won't inform Edgar until it's really too late. I think there's a line in the book to the effect that Cathy changed more in those 3 days than other people in sickness did in a year. Yet still, Nelly remained silent. I found this a pretty apalling breach -- do you think Emily is trying to tell us in the above that Nelly is allied with fairie forces, or is she just being metaphorical?

I don't think Nelly is in any way literally allied with faerie forces, but I think Cathy correctly identifies her as allied with the conventional world which is antithetical to her relationship with Heathcliff. Cathy fights in the open - her emotions are on the surface, and not too difficult to read. Nelly fights in an underhanded, manipulative way - hence, I suspect, the "elf bolts" - weapons she pretends are harmless. Her words in the future - in her tale to Lockwood - become tools, or weapons, to attack Cathy and Heathcliff. Nelly seems to respond mainly to those who are dependent on her. She only warms to Heathcliff when he is ill as a child, Hareton as a neglected child, and the younger Catherine. Cathy, who resists her mothering, and Heathcliff as a strong and independent adult lose a lot of her affection.

This doesn't have much to do with Nelly as a Narrator. Although I think she was chosen because she could narrate the emotions without having any share in them, but to still have seen them. (I realise that this seems to be a long dead topic) But what I meant to say has more to so with the parallels between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw's death. For both of the deaths Nelly was present, and neither of them ate for three days prior to their deaths. There are more that I noticed that I can't pull out of my head.

I think Nelly is hardly an objective narrator because she was so involved in the story, but that's also why she is the narrator. She is one of the few characters who could have been present at all these important events. I think having the multiple layers of narrating (ie: Nelly, Lockwood, etc) is to show how different types of people respond to passion and believe themselves passionate, which is interesting to consider along with the way the novel itself was recieved.

How was the novel received?