The novels A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, and Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte display a strong parallel in the ways in which they use their different styles of narration in the story to reveal the true inner-feelings of characters. In A Christmas Carol, the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is taught many valuable lessons through the testament of three different spirits, each working to bring out the true emotions of this man. Likewise, in Wuthering Heights, the main character, Mr. Lockwood, is taught stories of his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, through written recollections from the testaments of others, showing the inner-feelings and thoughts of him through diary entries. Although they are written in two different styles, indirect and direct, they both work to reveal the true feelings of the character
In the novel A Christmas Carol, the mean-spirited protagonist, Scrooge, has a strong opposition for the Christmas holidays, which he makes apparent to everyone around him. He is proven to represent greed, when asked for a charitable donation he rudely turned two men down, telling them “I wish to be left alone” (CC6). He was met at great odds when the ghost of his deceased ex-business partner, Marley, tells him that he has come to save him from the same fate. He then tells Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits (CC15). These three spirits were what provided Scrooge with the ability to see the past, present, and future and brought out the feelings of this otherwise heartless man. The first spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Past, took Scrooge to the countryside where he was raised and took him through a depressing journey through his youth at Christmastime. The sights and memories of his youth brought Scrooge to tears, showing a side of him not able to be seen without (CC22). Finally, the spirit showed Christmas at a party by Fezziwig, someone a young Scrooge worked for, where Scrooge saw himself and Belle when she broke off their engagement. She was crying about how the greed and “gain engrossed” Scrooge (CC27). He then took Scrooge to a Christmas with Belle and her husband discussing present-day Scrooge, with her husband describing him as “quite alone in the world” (CC30). Using the first spirit, Scrooge was forced to face the fact that people viewed him as greedy and selfish, and began to open him up to the fact that he needs to change. The second spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Present, arrived and took Scrooge to the home of a worker of his, Bob Cratchit. It showed the family content, despite barely getting by. When Scrooge saw Bob’s sick son, he began to show worry that he would not survive. When the spirit told him that the son would not make it to next Christmas, this made Scrooge want to help him. This kind of emotion was unlike him, showing that he was changing (CC40). The spirit then took him to several other Christmas gatherings, where he enjoyed himself and played many games, even though he was merely in a dream. This spirit was used to open up Scrooge and showed his inner want to be around people. These thoughts for Scrooge were different than his from the beginning of the novel, showing that the spirits were being used to teach valuable lessons to Scrooge. The final spirit arrived, but would not answer when asked if he was the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge plead with the ghost to share his lesson with him, fearful of becoming like Marley (CC51). The silent spirit took Scrooge to a series of strange places, showing people discussing the death of a dead rich man. He then began to understand the lesson of the silent ghost when he was transported to a graveyard with a headstone with his name on it. This sight crippled Scrooge and he begged the spirit to undo the events of this nightmare. He promised to “honor Christmas deep within his heart and live by the lessons of past, present, and future” (CC62). As time passed, Scrooge was good to his word. He helped the Cratchit’s, attended parties, and gave money to charities (CC68). This change in attitude was brought about with the use of spirits to bring out the inner-feelings of Scrooge’s past and forced him to see that he needed to change his ways to have a better future.
Unlike the previously discussed novel, Wuthering Heights takes a different, indirect approach to display the inner-feelings of characters. This novel told all stories through the diary entries of new tenant, Mr. Lockwood, focusing on the character Heathcliff’s heart and mind. Heathcliff was first introduced as the evil landlord who did not warm up to Lockwood at first and left him alone in a room with a group of dogs (WH4). By showing this side of him, it caused questioning of Heathcliff’s intentions at first. Another side of emotions is quickly shown through the diary entries when Lockwood explains how he fell asleep and had a dream of a woman named Catherine. When Lockwood told Heathcliff of this, he explains his reaction being that he fell on the bed, “showed irregular and intercepted breathing,” showing the immensity of emotion that he had toward this woman, which is not revealed until later in the novel. Through his diary entry, Lockwood explained how he overheard the inner-feelings of his landlord when he was crying out for Catherine, begging for her to return (WH20). Lockwood then met the housekeeper, Nelly, who he insisted tell him the stories of the people from the past at Wuthering Heights. The character Nelly is also used as a source of showing the past inner-emotions of Heathcliff through her stories. She explained Catherine was the daughter of late Mr. Earnshaw, the proprietor of Wuthering Heights, and how he brought Heathcliff home from Liverpool as an orphan. Catherine soon grew to love Heathcliff and they became inseparable (WH27). Nelly also told a story of when Catherine returned after being gone for five weeks and how Heathcliff treated her very rudely. She exclaimed that he is dirty looking, to which he responds, “I shall be as dirty as I please, and I like to be dirty and I will be dirty.” This rudeness confused Catherine, but showed a different side of emotions of Heathcliff (WH39). Another example of Nelly providing the feelings of Heathcliff is when she explained how Heathcliff overheard Catherine telling Nelly that she could not marry Heathcliff because he had been casted so low that it would degrade her. When Heathcliff heard this, Nelly explains that he quit listening here and left, humiliated (WH59). She then explains how Heathcliff ran away for three years, acquiring much wealth, while Catherine married Edgar. Nelly then suspected that Heathcliff has wicked and vengeful motives when he does nothing to stop Catherine’s sister-in-law, Isabella’s, love toward him. Catherine demanded Heathcliff to tell her his true feelings toward Isabella. Through Nelly, we learn that Heathcliff explained to Catherine that he did not love Isabella, but Catherine had wronged him by marrying Edgar, and that he wanted to get even with her (WH82). When Catherine gave birth to young Catherine, she died and Nelly went to tell Heathcliff of the news. He reacted by cursing Catherine for the pain she had caused him, and plead that her spirit would haunt him for the rest of his life, as long as she stayed with him (WH124). This showed the real feelings of Heathcliff for Catherine, devastated that she had left him and wanting her to stay with him in any way possible. With the use of indirect narration, through diary entries by Lockwood and spoken words from Nelly, the novel shows the emotions and the love that Heathcliff has for Catherine throughout. This style of writing gives a non-biased approach to the true feelings of this character told through the testimonies of others.
While A Christmas Carol uses a style of narration to directly bring out the feelings of the main character, Wuthering Heights uses a different yet similar approach of narration to indirectly show the feelings of characters through stories and diary entries of the main character. Both novels parallel each other in the sense that each protagonist, Mr. Lockwood and Ebenezer Scrooge, learn something that brings out inner-feelings through the testaments of others. Using these styles of writing helps the reader to better connect to the characters within the stories.