Heather Glen (2002) in her book The Cambridge Companion to the Brontës states that Catherine and Heathcliff’s passion for each other was thwarted during the course of the novel by social factors, and by the self-righteous, moralising manoeuverings of Nelly Dean (p 176)。 That means the role of Nelly in the plot does have a great impact on protagonists’ destinies。 At the same time, it indicates that Nelly Dean is self-righteous and likes controlling everything, which is similar to Shi Aimin’s idea。 Besides, he claims that Nelly’s telling is a ‘gossip’s’ style。 In that style, she seems to offer a justification of her actions in the past。 

 Harold Bloom (2008) states that Lockwood and Nelly Dean are two most incredulous characters in the novel in his book Bloom’s Guides: Wuthering Heights。 He defines Nelly Dean as a sturdy local woman whose common-sensical nature contrasts sharply with the unfettered passions of her subjects。 She serves as the housekeeper in Wuthering Heights, Catherine’s maid during her marriage and the nursemaid of Cathy, having a privileged vantage point (p 18)。

James Hafley(1958) attempts to explain it by undermining the conventional notion of Nelly Dean。 In terms of his view, it is Nelly Dean who is the "villain" of the novel and not Heathcliff, the choice of the vast majority of the critics。 He maintains that Nelly Dean plots to gain control over the two estates and she could accomplish this only after the removal of Heathcliff and her assuming authority over Cathy。 Although Cathy is in fact left as mistress in the conclusion of the novel, she is not equipped to inherit the administration of the estates, and she consigns their care to the hands of treacherous Nelly (Shunam, 1973:451)。 If that’s the case, Nelly’s narration is absolutely unreliable。论文网

Gideon Shunami (1973) examines all of Nelly Dean's sources of information and states that it is necessary to treat her account skeptically and with cautious criticism。 For Nelly is not simply an indistinguishable segment of the novel's complicated plot but in large measure creates it a new-in part through her actions at the time of the events and in part through a total reconstruction of the events in her story to Lockwood, for the sake of a justification of her actions in the past。 In terms of this approach, if she does not have malicious intentions, Nelly Dean is at least an unreliable narrator (p 452)。

1。3 My research question

Nowadays，people pay more attention to Nelly Dean。 It is impossible to better understand the plot 

without a comprehension of the multiple roles, motivations and deeds, and unique personality of Nelly Dean。 Besides, most of the story is told by the main narrator Nelly Dean in first-person point of view。 Even the other narrator—Mr。 Lockwood-- gets the information of these two families from the narration of Nelly Dean。 In other word, the narration of the whole plot is controlled by her。 The power that she can change the details of the story as she likes arouses our suspicion。 Therefore, it is necessary to treat her narration skeptically。

To testify her unreliable narration, we must probe into Nelly’s multiple roles in the novel, her personality and attitudes towards different characters。 The thesis aims to summarize the unreliability of Nelly Dean mentioned before and put up with my understanding about this issue as well。 

2。 Chapter One  The unreliability of Nelly Dean’s multiple roles in the novel

With the profound study of the novel Wuthering Heights, more and more researchers have realized the importance of Nelly Dean as she was present in most important scenes and she was the only character who has witnessed the whole story。 Therefore, we can’t define Nelly as a minor character。 What the readers can know is that she is not only the narrator of the story, the housekeeper of Wuthering Heights but a key person to promote the development of the story。 In the story, she also plays such roles as a governor, a nursemaid, a consultant and the like。 Out of the story, she is the one who tells Mr。 Lockwood about these two families。 Critics used to regard her as such a reliable narrator that what she said was regarded as true。 However, her multiple roles plus her strong personality makes it possible that that she may not always be impartial to all characters。 Her loyalty and obligation seems to change as she shifts into different positions。 Is she then really a reliable narrator? That’s a question。 It is only by probing into the multiple roles and unique personality of this woman that we can properly understand the characteristics of the characters of the novel as well as the interpretation of the story。