Plot Summary
In 1801, Mr. Lockwood, a self-described misanthrope, records in his diary a visit to his new landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, at Wuthering Heights. Having recently rented the nearby Thrushcross Grange to escape society, Lockwood rides up to the remote farmhouse to introduce himself. Heathcliff greets him with cold suspicion, reluctantly inviting him inside with clenched teeth. The elderly servant Joseph receives Lockwood with equal hostility. Left alone when Heathcliff descends to the cellar to find Joseph, Lockwood foolishly provokes a pack of guard dogs by making faces at them, triggering a chaotic attack. A stout housekeeper rushes in with a frying pan to restore order. Heathcliff shows little concern, but eventually offers wine and conversation, and Lockwood resolves to return the next day despite his host clearly wishing otherwise.
Character Development
This opening chapter introduces two key figures through Lockwood’s first-person narration. Mr. Heathcliff is presented as a dark, brooding gentleman-farmer whose reserve borders on hostility; Lockwood describes him as “a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman.” Lockwood himself is revealed as an unreliable social observer—he projects his own qualities onto Heathcliff and admits to sabotaging a promising romance at the seaside because he shrank from emotional intimacy. Joseph, the surly old servant, and the unnamed housekeeper are briefly sketched as part of the sparse, unwelcoming household. Lockwood’s ironic self-awareness and tendency to romanticize solitude set the tone for the frame narrative that will unfold.
Themes and Motifs
Isolation and social withdrawal dominate the chapter. Both Lockwood and Heathcliff have retreated from the wider world, yet their motivations differ: Lockwood seeks fashionable solitude, while Heathcliff’s seclusion appears rooted in deeper, unspoken pain. The contrast between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange—wild, wind-battered farmhouse versus comfortable country estate—introduces the novel’s central opposition between civilized refinement and untamed nature. Class ambiguity also surfaces in Heathcliff’s paradoxical appearance as both rough outsider and polished gentleman, hinting at a complex personal history.
Literary Devices
Brontë employs a first-person frame narrative through Lockwood’s diary, immediately establishing an ironic distance between narrator and subject. Lockwood’s self-congratulatory tone and frequent misreadings of Heathcliff signal his unreliability. Vivid Gothic imagery pervades the description of Wuthering Heights itself: stunted firs leaning from the north wind, gaunt thorns “stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun,” and the carved date “1500” with the name “Hareton Earnshaw” above the door—a detail that foreshadows important revelations about the house’s history. Pathetic fallacy links the harsh landscape to Heathcliff’s temperament, while the comic dog-attack scene undercuts Lockwood’s pretensions and introduces dark humor into the Gothic atmosphere.