Name Marks obtained
Date of Examination
Insworld Institute Pte Ltd 1 3 0 9 2 3
A38 English Literature
Time Limit: Paper | Class Reference
Hour/s Minutes
1 45 WET03
END OF TERM Total Marks
TERM 3
EXAMINATIONS 50
DIRECTIONS
1. Use black ink pen. Do not use pencil to write your answers.
2. Fill in the boxes at the top of this page with your name.
3. Answer all questions
4. The marks for each question are shown in brackets beside each
question.
English Literature – WET03
Term 3 Test
Wuthering Heights
You are given three questions:
• Question 1 is based on an extract from the set text.
• Question 2 and 3 are based on the set test.
You should ONLY answer ONE Question. (Question 1, 2 or 3)
In the extract below, which takes place in Catherine and Edgar’s house and is narrated
by the servant, Nelly, Heathcliff secretly visits Catherine with the help of Nelly, after
hearing she is ill, however she is pregnant.
With straining eagerness Catherine gazed towards the entrance of her chamber. He did
not hit the right room directly; she motioned me to admit him; but he found it out, ere I
could reach the door, and in a stride or two was at her side, and had her grasped in his
arms.
He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold, for some five minutes, during which period he
bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say; but then my
mistress had kissed him first, and I plainly saw that he could hardly bear, for downright
agony, to look into her face!
“Oh, Cathy! Oh, my life! How can I bear it?” was the first sentence he uttered, in a tone
that did not seek to disguise his despair.
And now he stared at her so earnestly that I thought the very intensity of his gaze would
bring tears into his eyes; but they burned with anguish, they did not melt.
“You and Edgar have broken my heart, Heathcliff! And you both come to bewail the deed
to me, as if you were the people to be pitied! I shall not pity you, not I. You have killed me
– and thriven on it, I think. How strong you are! How many years do you mean to live
after I am gone?”
Heathcliff had knelt on one knee to embrace her; he attempted to rise, but she seized his
hair, and kept him down.
“I wish I could hold you,” she continued bitterly, “till we were both dead! I shouldn’t care
what you suffered. I care nothing for your sufferings. Why shouldn’t you suffer! I do! Will
you forget me – will you be happy when I am in the earth?”
“Don’t torture me till I’m as mad as yourself,” cried he, wrenching his head free, and
grinding his teeth…Are you possessed with a devil,” he pursued, savagely, “to talk in that
manner to me, when you are dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded in
my memory, and eating deeper eternally, after you have left me? You know you lie to say
I have killed you; and, Catherine, you know that I could as soon forget you, as my
existence!
Is it not sufficient for your infernal selfishness, that while you are at peace I shall writhe in
the torments of hell?”
“I’m not wishing you greater torment than I have, Heathcliff! I only wish us never to be
parted – and should a word of mine distress you hereafter, think I feel the same distress
underground, and for my own sake, forgive me! Come here and kneel down again! You
never harmed me in your life. Nay, if you nurse anger, that will be worse to remember
than my harsh words! Won’t you come here again? Do!”
She bent round to look at him; he would not permit it; turning abruptly, he walked to the
fireplace, where he stood, silent, with his back towards us…
His eyes wide, and wet at last, flashed fiercely on her; his breast heaved convulsively. An
instant they held asunder; and then how they met I hardly saw, but Catherine made a
spring, and he caught her, and they were locked in an embrace from which I thought my
mistress would never be released alive…He flung himself into the nearest seat, and on
my approaching hurriedly to ascertain if she had fainted, he gnashed at me, and foamed
like a mad dog, and gathered her to him with greedy jealousy. I did not feel as if I were in
the company of a creature of my own species…
She put up her hand to clasp his neck, and bring her cheek to his, as he held her; while
he, in return, covering her with frantic caresses, said wildly –
“You teach me now how cruel you’ve been – cruel and false. Why did you despise me?
Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort – you deserve
this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses
and tears. They’ll blight you – they’ll damn you. You loved me – then what right had you
to leave me? What right – answer me – for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because
misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would
have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart – you have
broken it – and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me, that I
am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you – oh God! Would you
like to live with your soul in the grave?”
Choose Question
1. From the extract, examine how Heathcliff’s obsession with Catherine and the destructive
nature of their relationship are presented.
OR
2. Explore the portrayal of gender stereotypes in Wuthering Heights.
OR
3. Explore the theme of love in Wuthering Heights.
