The Dichotomy of Roles: Nelly Dean’s Significance in Wuthering Heights’ Power Relations

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19023434

Abstract

This paper explores the intricate power dynamics in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights through the lens of Nelly Dean, the novel’s primary narrator. Far from being a passive observer, Nelly Dean plays a complex dual role as both participant and storyteller, navigating multiple positions of authority and subordination. The article argues that a dichotomy marks her role in the novel. While she appears subservient as a housekeeper, she simultaneously wields narrative and social control, shaping key events and readers' perceptions. By employing Michel Foucault’s theory of power and discourse, this study examines how Nelly Dean mediates, manipulates, and maintains power relations among characters. Drawing on textual analysis and a critical literature review, the paper repositions Nelly as a pivotal figure whose layered subjectivity subverts traditional binaries of master/servant, active/passive, and truth/deceit.