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Social class and division in wuthering heights
Social class and division in wuthering heights
Critically examine the character of heathcliff
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The Presence of Heathcliff The calamities between the Lintons and the Earnshaws provide the readers with the bleak and austere aura of the Gothic era and, thus, explain the various themes expressed in the novel Wuthering Heights written by Emily Brontë. The two families are similar by their aristocracy, but the conflicts between the characters provide insight into many underlying meanings throughout the novel. Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering Heights carries on the plot of the story, allowing the readers to interpret the themes about social class, love, and suffering. Social classes in the Gothic and modern eras are complications both time periods face. The division of society by economic status allows the wealthy to supersede the poor. …show more content…
The love and affection between the characters are what drives the characters into the actions they conduct. Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering Heights affected Catherine’s behaviors and actions. Nelly explains, “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep separate from him” (42). Eventually, it brings the two great pleasure when they run away to the moors and remain there all day. While Catherine is communicating with Nelly about the marriage proposal, Heathcliff hears her comment about his social class. Heathcliff assumes that Catherine will marry Edgar Linton, so the absence of Catherine’s love results in Heathcliff’s runaway. He does not hear Catherine’s passionate remarks about him. She explains to Nelly, “…so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” (81). A few years later, he returns as a tall, athletic, and a well-formed man, and he is slightly richer than his former self. His refined presence brings such a jubilation to her which displays how their love never …show more content…
In Volume II, the readers observe how mature and greedy Heathcliff becomes. His son Linton is mistreated by his own father, and he uses him to attain the property of Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff explains to Young Catherine how Linton is severely ill because of her absence. Linton proclaims to her, “You’ve hurt me so, that I shall lie awake all night, choking with this cough! If you had it you’d know what it was—but you’ll be comfortably asleep, while I’m in agony” (240). She ends up spending so much time with the ill Linton, she enjoys being in his presence. This deception leads to a forced marriage between Young Catherine and Linton. Heathcliff would not let these two characters leave the house until they are married by the morning. With the death of Edgar and Linton, Heathcliff becomes the next heir to the Grange, and he succeeds in his devious plan. After Linton’s death, young Catherine occupies her time with Hareton Earnshaw. He is exposed to many books at Wuthering Heights, and it boggles Young Catherine’s mind that he is illiterate. She explains, “Those books, both prose and verse, were consecrated to me by other associations, and I hate to have them debased and profaned in his mouth!” (302). The books symbolize Heathcliff’s cruel treatment towards Hareton. It also symbolizes Young
Heathcliff’s obsession with revenge can be regarded as an immature level of development. This underdevelopment can result in hostile, and destructive behavior. From a very young age, Heathcliff is very fond of Cathy Earnshaw. He builds a strong friendship with Catherine that is so strong she considers herself “[as] Heathcliff” (96). Heathcliff’s idolization of Catherine drives his idea of forcing his son Linton to marry young Cathy and to get his ownership of Wuthering Heights.
Hate, love and revenge take place within the Earnshaws’ and Lintons’ story through a dynamic almost solely based on the fundamental importance of class in late 1700’s Yorkshire. Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s story of these families’ struggles with status which were relevant and normal for that time period. The idea of the importance and the struggle of class can be seen throughout the novel. It is brought forth primarily through Heathcliff and others treatment of him. First, through Nelly’s insistence on Heathcliff imagining a better past for himself, Hindley’s treatment of Heathcliff and the effect this has on Catherine’s feeling, Catherine’s and Isabella’s marriages to Edgar and Heathcliff respectively, and Cathy’s marriage to Hareton.
... now in control over Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He makes Catherine live at Wuthering Heights as a servant, while renting Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood. Nelly’s tale ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood is shocked by what he has heard and leaves Thurshcross Grange to return to London. Lockwood returns some months later to pay a visit to Nelly to add to the story she has told him. Catherine begins to take interest in Hareton and they fall for each other in their time together at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff has become more dependent on the memory of Catherine, that he begins to speak to her spirit and everything he comes across reminds him of her. Following Heathcliff’s death, Hareton and Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, they marry on the next New Year’s Day. Afterwards, Lockwood visits Catherine and Heathcliff’s graves.
The elder Catherine and Heathcliff shared a fantastic loyalty untempered by any civilization. Their dedication to one another to the exclusion of all other society is alluring, but unworkable in real life. In the end, their unchecked ardor is consumed by its own fire: Catherine wastes away on Thrushcross Grange, and Heathcliff turns his thwarted passion on everyone who reminds him of what he has lost.
In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Heathcliff is an orphan boy brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, who has two children of his own already - Catherine and Hindley. Heathcliff changes over the course of his life by the following; Heathcliff begins by getting along well with Catherine Earnshaw, however, Catherine Earnshaw is introduced to Edgar Linton and Heathcliff becomes jealous of their forming relationship, and once Catherine has passed away after delivering Edgar’s child, Heathcliff becomes haunted by her ghost, and wishes to only be united with her in death.
Catherine is free-spirited, wild, impetuous, and arrogant as a child, she grows up getting everything she wants as Nelly describes in chapter 5, ‘A wild, wicked slip she was’. She is given to fits of temper, and she is torn between her wild passion for Heathcliff and her social ambition. She brings misery to both of the men who love her, ultimately; Catherine’s selfishness ends up hurting everyone she loves, including herself.
In a failed attempt to discourage Isabella Linton’s budding desire for Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Nelly Dean does not hesitate in standing behind Catherine’s assertion that he would destroy Isabella if she were to pursue him romantically: “She is better acquainted with his heart than I, or any one besides,” Nelly warns, “and she would never represent him as worse than he is” (103). While Nelly’s plea falls upon deaf ears, her admission rings true—if there is anyone in Wuthering Heights with more insight on Heathcliff’s actions and motives, it is Catherine Earnshaw. Had Brontë aimed to interrogate Heathcliff’s individual growth and regression in Wuthering Heights, Catherine may have narrated the tale, but as the original
Catherine is trapped between her love of Heathcliff and her love for Edgar, setting the two men down a path of destruction, a whirlwind of anger and resentment that Catherine gets caught in the middle of. Catherine is drawn to Heathcliff because of his fiery personality, their raw attraction and one certainly gets the sense that they are drawn together on a deeper level, that perhaps they are soulmates. C. Day Lewis thought so, when he declared that Heathcliff and Catherine "represent the essential isolation of the soul...two halves of a single soul–forever sundered and struggling to unite." This certainly seems to be backed up in the novel when Catherine exclaims “Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind--not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being...” This shows clearly the struggle Catherine feels as she is drawn spiritually to Heathcliff, but also to Edgar for very different reasons. Edgar attracts Catherine predominantly because he is of the right social class. Catherine finds him "handsome, and pleasant to be with," but her feelings for him seem petty when compared to the ones she harbours...
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights can be considered a Gothic romance or an essay on the human relationship. The reader may regard the novel as a serious study of human problems such as love and hate, or revenge and jealousy. One may even consider the novel Bronte's personal interpretation of the universe. However, when all is said and done, Heathcliff and Catherine are the story. Their powerful presence permeates throughout the novel, as well as their complex personalities. Their climatic feelings towards each other and often selfish behavior often exaggerates or possibly encapsulates certain universal psychological truths humans are too afraid to express. Heathcliff and Catherine's stark backgrounds evolve respectively into dark personalities and mistaken life paths, but in the end their actions determine the course of their own relationships and lives. Their misfortunes, recklessness, willpower, and destructive passion are unable to penetrate the eternal love they share.
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
(4) Wuthering Heights’s mood is melancholy and tumultuous. As a result, the book gives off a feeling of sorrow and chaos. For example, Catherine’s marriage with Edgar Linton made Heathcliff jealous and angry. In retaliation, Heathcliff married Edgar’s sister, Isabella, to provoke Catherine and Edgar. Heathcliff and Isabella’s marriage ignited a chaotic uproar with Edgar and Catherine because Linton disapproved of Heathcliff’s character, and Catherine loved Heathcliff in spite of being married to Edgar. Inside, Catherine wanted to selfishly keep Heathcliff to herself. Their relationships all had tragic endings because Catherine died giving birth to Edgar’s child. Isabella also died, leaving behind her young son. Heathcliff and Edgar resented each other because of misery they experienced together. The transition of the mood in the story is from chaotic to somber.
Catherine Earnshaw, now Linton, and Cathy Linton, then Heathcliff, both high inn spirits shared many similarities in appearance. Catherine’s “spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going- singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same (36).” Catherine “had the bonniest eyes, and sweetest smile (36)” and she loved to adventure out onto the Moors and explore her inner wild child. Cathy is “a real beauty in face [with] . . . dark eyes . . . fair skin, and small features (167).” She too was also “saucy (167)” and wild wanting to “walk on the top of those hills (168).” Both had dark eyes, had a temper, were childish and both fell in love with a man who was too poor for how they wanted to be viewed. Catherine falls in love with Heathcliff while playing on the Moors, but comes to the realization that she must marry Edgar to help her be the rich wife she needs to be. Similarly, Cathy falls in love with Hareton who does not have an education and “cannot read [referring to the Hareton name on the building] (194).” After realizing that marrying Heathcliff and Hareton is not going to socially benefit them and Heathcliff forces Cathy to marry Linton they both marry the ‘other one’, Edgar and Linton. Catherine and Cathy can recognize and love the traits of a soft sensitive man, but also crave the passionate love of an unpredictable masculine man. In the end what differs in their lives is that
In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Bronte uses the issue of social class to focus in on how an outsider, Heathcliff, is treated when he enters in a new society with a changing class structure to show the idea that class is something that begins with ancestors and current members conform into it is present. At the time, the industrialization of England caused the levees in place to yield to allow for a new middle class. This rise of middle, working class stirs up conflict between the dominant upper class and the rising lower classes. This class conflict, the oppression against the lower classes serves as the basis for Heathcliff’s interactions, treatments, and future tyrannical actions in Wuthering Heights to show the class struggle placed on society by industrialization.
Conflict as a result of class and gender division is a common theme seen throughout Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. Social contrasts and gender boundaries create oppression and tension amongst the characters, affecting their composure and behaviour throughout the novel.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, the dark and mysterious Heathcliff once began his life with an open heart, but after mistreatment from Edgar and Hindley he turns to revenge. Heathcliff's actions are reasonable; he has been hurt from the unfair reason of discrimination. Heathcliff slowly becomes sickly obsessed with planning an elaborate revenge after eavesdropping a conversation between his beloved Catherine to Nelly. He hears his young beautiful and idolized Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff” (77). Heathcliff, heartbroken and hopeless, abruptly leaves Wuthering Height for two years. Catherine is left wondering where he is. Heathcliff leaves in search of revenge.