Remoteness and Loneliness in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

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Remoteness and Loneliness in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte loved nature and spent most of her childhood on the

remote Yorkshire Moors near her home in Haworth. Emily found that the

Moors were a place of peace and sanctuary where she could retreat to

relax and follow one of her most favourite past times, which was

writing. However she knew that in a matter of seconds the Moors could

change into a wild and savage wilderness.

Emily chose this ever-changing setting for her only novel "Wuthering

Heights". "Wuthering Heights" tells the tale of two families living in

and around the bleak Yorkshire Moors near a small village, very

similar to Haworth, called Gimmerton. This setting mirrors the

personalities of the savage and brutal characters. These characters

live in a remote and weather ravaged working farmhouse called

Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights acquired it's name due to the,

"atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather"

The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights need to be tough to survive and

only those characters born in Wuthering Heights are able to survive

within it. When Hindley returns from University with his wife Frances

she dies rather quickly as she cannot survive the savage weather

conditions. We do not expect Hindley to die but as he has been away

from Wuthering Heights for so long he also cannot survive. However

there are other reasons for his death. When Heathcliff returns from

his absence he stays with Hindley, and gets his long awaited revenge

by slowly luring Hindley into gambling and alcoholism. This is the

main cause of his death. If Wuthering Heights was not set in such an

isolated place Heathcliff would not have been able to torture and...

... middle of paper ...

...alanced and would not have been as successful with

Victorian audiences. Imagery using nature was not seen or heard of

very much in large industrial cities such as London or Liverpool so a

novel set in the remote Yorkshire Moors was inevitably going to be

interesting for the inhabitants of the city to read. "Wuthering

Heights" would be neither realistic nor interesting and would not have

the excitement that it is famous for without it‘s setting. It would

become boring and average and would not have made such an impact with

its new ideas and scandals such as Catherine falling in love with her

adoptive brother Heathcliff. However perhaps with a less savage and

remote setting the characters would have been happier and most

importantly the tragic yet futile love of Catherine and Heathcliff

could have continued not only in their deaths but also in their lives.

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