Wuthering Heights - Essay Example

Wuthering Heights Summary Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is one of the most popular books in the English literature. The book’s major content is a recollection story that is written by Lockwood after a comprehensive tale from Nelly. Lockwood is a man who becomes a tenant in the Thrushcross Grange house, owned by Heathcliff who lives in the old house Wuthering Heights. Nelly Dean is the housekeeper in Thrushcross Grange and she is a close friend to Lockwood. Lockwood is curious and, thus, he asks Nelly to narrate to him the strange stories about Wuthering Heights and its dwellers. Nelly is in the best position to tell the story about the house and its past dwellers since she has been serving as a servant to a strange family residing in Wuthering Heights (Bronte 7). Her employer, Mr. Earnshaw, has a wife and two children, Hindley and Catherine. Mr. Earnshaw adopts a black son, Heathcliff, while he is travelling to Liverpool. The rest of his family finds it hard to accept Heathcliff. The family members hate him and they really mistreat him in the first few months that he lives with them. After sometime, Catherine grows fond of Heathcliff and their bond gets stronger with time. Hindley, on the other hand, still harbours detest towards Heathcliff. In a sad turn of events, Earnshaw’s wife passes away. Hindley’s cruelty towards Heathcliff continues and his father finds himself loving the adopted son more than his cruel real son. He sends the spoilt son to college to give Heathcliff a conducive environment (Bronte 41). When Mr. Earnshaw passes away, his real son who is the heir of this father’s property returns to take over the Wuthering Height property (Bronte 87). He is married to Frances and together they treat Heathcliff as their slave. Later, when Heathcliff and Catherine are on their fun chasing errands in Thrushcross Grange, Catherine is forced to stay in the house for several weeks to recuperate from a dog bite. During the time that she stays in Thrushcross Grange, Catherine falls for Edgar. Hindley’s wife dies shortly after she gives birth to a son and this causes him to lose his sense of humanity. He buries his sorrows in alcohol and he gets crueler towards Heathcliff. After Catherine’s engagement to Edgar, Heathcliff elopes only to return home to find that Catherine has already married Edgar despite the fact that she was still deeply in love with Heathcliff. Heathcliff accumulates a hefty amount of money while he is away from Wuthering Height and when he comes back he embarks on a revenge mission on his enemies. He lures Hindley into getting into heavy debts and later he dies leaving the property to him. Marrying Isabella Linton places Heathcliff in a position to later inherit Thrushcross Grange. Catherine gives birth to a baby girl and succumbs to her long illness. Heathcliff’s obsession with Catherine turns him into a weird person. He starts urging Catherine spirit to stick with him. Catherine’s daughter is named after her and Nelly acts as her caregiver. Heathcliff later reunites with his son Linton, who he treats very badly. Linton and young Catherine start a romance story secretly. Heathcliff pushes his son to pursue Catherine so that he can be the rightful heir of Thrushcross Grange which will serve as revenge on Edgar. Heathcliff manages to lure Linton into marrying Catherine and when Edgar and Linton die, he takes over the two houses (Bronte 202). The story from Nelly disgusts Lockwood and he leaves for London only to visit Thrushcross Grange six months later. Nelly continues with the story. Catherine falls in love with Hareton as Heathcliff loses his mind over Catherine. He starts seeing her ghost and he passes away with his sorrow. Meanwhile, Catherine and Hareton plan their marriage after they inherit Wuthering Height and Thrushcross Grange. After the narration by Nelly, Lockwood decides to visit Catherine and Heathcliff’s graves (Bronte 712). Review Wuthering Heights clearly depicts a clear picture of social class differences and the class ambiguity that was present in the ancient time. Bronte paints a clear picture of the social class differences by associating the two houses of Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights with different class levels. Thrushcross Grange is depicted as a typical royalty house where the dwellers were very comfortable and highly respectable people (Bronte 7). Wuthering Heights, on the other hand, is associated with a normal middle class environment with the dwellers being ordinary people struggling to make it in life. The rise of social classes in the world was and is still based on economic abilities. The dwellers in the two houses are, evidently, financially distinguishable. Bronte points out the importance of class to the people depicted in the story when Catherine decides to get married to Edgar for the sole reason of having the chance to be one of the most influential and respected women in the community (Bronte 135). She gets married to him despite the fact that her heart is strongly tied to Heathcliff. The fact that Heathcliff is nothing but a young man with nothing but a dream disqualifies him from marrying the love of his life. Edgar lived in the posh Thrushcross Grange house where Catherine and Heathcliff kept visiting to tease the spoilt children around there. The true worth of the gentlemen owning the properties in the story is their living standards. Bronte further emphasizes on the importance of wealth when Heathcliff returns back after eloping for a long while. He returns with a lot of money and this automatically softens Hindley’s heart towards him. Heathcliff lends him some money and when Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits Wuthering Heights. He does not simply get satisfied with the house. He has a passionate hunger of acquiring Thrushcross Grange and he embarks on a plan to revenge against Edgar by inheriting the house through his son. The evident social class conflict in the setting echoes the state of the society during the period that the author was writing the book. The rise of social classes was on a high rate during this time and the people in different classes were hostile against those in other classes (Pichier & Wallace 319). The cruelty was particularly evident between those in the middle class ad those in the upper class due to the competition of acquiring properties. Heathcliff is used by Bronte to reveal how the journey is like when one is going up the ladder of social class. He starts out as a homeless child who is adopted by a caring man. When he gets to Wuthering Heights, the rest of the family he is united with finds it hard to accept him into the family. He suffers cruelty from them. This is normal for people in the lower class in the society. They are treated unfairly and they are not accepted in the society. There is no place for the poor in this setting. Later, Heathcliff elopes and upon his return, he has enough money to attract the attention of Hindley who had treated him with extreme hatred when he was penniless. Shortly after his return, Heathcliff inherits the house and his journey up the social ladder stagnates for a while as he plots on how to acquire Thrushcross Grange which is his ultimate goal. Many people in the society strive to reach the upper social class where they will live luxurious lives (Pichier & Wallace 320). Meaning of the setting in the novel The two main action sites in the novel are Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. These two sites are different from each other in many ways; Wuthering Height, located up on a hill, is cold and dark overlooking the brighter and attractive Thrushcross Grange that is located in the valley. The two houses symbolize the class status of this period. The Thrushcross Grange represents the acquisition of a higher social status. The Linton’s were genteel, secure in their wealth, enjoyed social privileges and their home was comfortable. They also had “cultured” behaviour and lived elevated above the common people with their better natural surroundings. Wuthering Heights on the other hand represent the common people who are in touch with nature, feeding on their products and leading an open-air life. There are no differences between a servant and the master in this world (Sharma 14). Lockwood while visiting Heathcliff is unable to tell whether Hareton is a member of the family or a servant (Bronte 27) Within the Linton’s homestead, this would not have been a problem. Although the two houses are four miles apart, the characters repeatedly get lost while travelling whether on foot or riding a horse. This movement represents issues of mobility and access, which reflect many of the novels themes including property, family, social class and estrangement (Schmoop 64). However, in pursuit of this status, many people end up sacrificing what is important. Many of the common people aim to get married to rich families to raise status. Arranged marriages for economic reasons are a norm and these occur several times in the story. Catherine desires the elegant life and once a natural ally to Heathcliff; she deserts him to get married to Edgar. Deserting Heathcliff for an elegant life and comfort however was a wrong step, which only brought her unhappiness and tragedy (Sharma 15). She is not happy in her husband’s side and continuously longs for the times she spent with Heathcliff. In addition, while giving birth to her daughter, she loses her life. Although she was seeking comfort and an easy life among the privileged, she only ended up living in misery. Heathcliff, on the other hand, does not share the same values that connect love with social responsibility. Nevertheless, due to Cathy’s desertion, he plans to take revenge on the people that oppressed him using their own coin. He acquires economic wealth and uses it to gain Wuthering Heights and through marriage, he acquires Thrushcross Grange. However, the difference between Heathcliff and other genteel is that he is not motivated by wealth; rather by his soul, seeking to be reunited with Catherine. His obsession with Catherine and the desire to destroy everyone that took her away from him led Heathcliff to acquire his wealth (Sharma 17). He, in turn, used this wealth to commit atrocious deeds against the people in his life including his own wife and child. The author used the movement between the two houses to demonstrate Marxist’s insights that values of the society are shallow and imposed. Masters of wealth use them as tools of oppression, stigmatizing the natural and true feelings between women and men. Just as Heathcliff rose against the wealthy people who used their wealth to oppress him, Bronte figures that people need to rise in rebellion and fight the established system. However, lack of true understanding of the Marxist insights leads Heathcliff to stray to the spiritual realm making it his life’s purpose; to be reunited with Cathy (Sharma 19). Repairing the damage: the theme of love Love is one of the dominant themes in the book. The story is structured on two parallel stories of love with the first half being centred on Heathcliff and Catharine’s love. The second half focused on the less dramatic love story between young Catharine and Hareton. Heathcliff and Catharine passion and love for each other is the centre of the story in Wuthering. It is stronger and long lasting compared to any other emotion or feeling in the novel. It is also the main source of conflict, thus, structures the plot of the novel. In contrast, the second love story ends happily thus re-establishes peace and order in Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. The differences between the stories help the readers to understand why they end the way they do (Mezo 26-29). Young Catherine and Hareton love involves change and growth. Earlier in the story, Hareton appears hopelessly savage, brutal and illiterate but with time, he turns into a loyal friend to the younger Catherine. During their first meeting, Catherine considers Hareton an alien to her world. He does not have mannerisms like those that she has. Her attitude, however, transforms gradually and instead of contempt, Catherine falls in love with Hareton (Mezo 29). This is unlike Heathcliff and Catharine’s love, which is based on their childhood memories and their refusal to change. In search of a more genteel life, Catherine marries Edgar, but she refuses to embrace her role as a wife by either embracing Edgar or sacrificing Heathcliff. Catherine tells Nelly in chapter XII that the years following her father’s death when she was twelve were blank; she longs for her childhood (Bronte 7). Heathcliff, on the other hand, has the amazing ability to hold onto their childhood memories and nurses grudges for many years (Mezo 26). In addition, Heathcliff and Catherine’s love is based on a shared perception that they are identical. Their love does not recognize differences. They refuse to embrace differences in other people. Further, their love is strangely asexual. There is no hiding in dark to steal a kiss from each other like most young people in love do. They are stuck in their childhood, refuse to change with the years and adopt their adult status or the different roles they assume later in life (Mezo 27). Given their refusal to change and to accept other people’s differences, it is only fitting that the problem of this generation is not solved by a sudden change in the characters. Rather, the problem is solved by the rise of a new and distinct generation. Through young Catherine and Hareton, they are able to restore the two estates to their previous glory. Their romance repairs the damage caused by Heathcliff and Catherine’s love for each other. This first love story led to revenge, animosity, bitterness and unhappiness filling the estates with a sense of darkness. The second story restored balance ending the animosity and dark cloud hanging over the two properties. Works Cited Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Sunnyvale: Shmoop, 2010. Web. Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Third Edition. (Eds) Sale, William M. and Richard J. Dunn. New York: Norton, 1990. Print. Mezo, Richard E. A Student's Guide to Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte. Parkland., Florida: Brown Walker Press, 2002. Print. Pichier, Florian & Wallace, Claire. “Social Capital and Social Class in Europe: The Role of Social Networks in Social Stratification”. European Sociological Review 25.3 (2009): 319-332. Print. Sharma, R. S. Wuthering Heights: A Commentary. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1994. Print. Read More