Year 11 - English
Considering the use of motifs in Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'
Fiction: books that changed my world
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils read extracts from some impactful books to inpsire their own writing. Within each of the five extracts, they identify and analyse a key technique before emulating it in their own piece of writing. At the end of the unit, they craft the opening to an impactful narrative.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain and analyse Brontë's use of the window motif in 'Wuthering Heights'.
Key Notes
- Brontë uses a window motif throughout 'Wuthering Heights'.
- Windows are a threshold space that might represent ideas of confinement, exclusion and distance.
- Arguably, Brontë uses window motifs throughout 'Wuthering Heights' in order to represent social divisions.
- She may also use windows in order to foreshadow how Heathcliff and Cathy are separated.
Vocabulary To Learn
- motif: an object, image, sound or phrase that is repeated throughout a story that relates to the themes
- threshold: a point of departure or transition
- confinement: the situation in which a person or animal is kept somewhere
- exclusion: an instance of leaving something or someone out
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- That a recurring image happens by accident - especially if it's an everyday object then it's likely to be meaningless.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Brontë uses a window motif throughout 'Wuthering Heights'. Windows are a threshold space that might represent ideas of confinement, exclusion and distance.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'motif'
an object, image, sound or phrase that is repeated throughout a story that relates to the themes.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: That a recurring image happens by accident - especially if it's an everyday object then it's likely to be meaningless. Correction: Images are often symbols for deeper meaning in literature - especially everyday, domestic objects and then can represent ideas about the central theme of a text.
More Lessons In This Unit
- 'The Great Gatsby': analysing a writer's craft Study Guide
- 'The Great Gatsby': Developing a personal response Study Guide
- Analysing effective endings in Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' Study Guide
- Considering Chandler's use of similes in 'Trouble is My Business' Study Guide
- Considering the use of dialogue in Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' Study Guide
- Emulating Chandler's use of similes in 'Trouble is My Business' Study Guide
- Emulating Dostoevsky's use of dialogue in 'Crime and Punishment' Study Guide
- Emulating the opening to Orwell's '1984' Study Guide
- Emulating the use of motifs in Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights' Study Guide
- Exploring the importance of books and stories Study Guide
- Planning the opening to an impactful narrative Study Guide
- Reading the opening of Orwell's '1984' Study Guide
- Writing the opening to an impactful narrative Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 11 English guide library.