Wuthering Heights Thesis

Since its publication, Wuthering Heights has intrigued its readers; a love story gone wrong, twisted by vengeance and heartbreak. Many important factors of the novel are displayed in the portion of the novel narrated by Ellen. The passage in Wuthering Heights in which Catherine Linton’s funeral is described is vital in explaining important relationships in the novel, particularly the relationship between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton.

Creating a haven from the cruel outside world, families ideally provide protection and support for each of their members. In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, however, bitterness grows between the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Within these two families, siblings rival for power and parents fail to fulfill their roles as caregivers. The intertwining relationships of the Earnshaws and the Lintons are marked by physical abuse, degradation, and emotional negligence. These reduce each of the family members’ life to a lonely and meaningless journey though the cold and misty moors.

In Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Heathcliff’s strong love for Catherine guides his transformation as a character. While Heathcliff enters the story as an innocent child, the abuse he receives at a young age and his heartbreak at Catherine’s choice to marry Edgar Linton bring about a change within him. Heathcliff’s adulthood is consequently marked by jealousy and greed due to his separation from Catherine, along with manipulation and a deep desire to seek revenge on Edgar. Although Heathcliff uses deceit and manipulation to his advantage throughout the novel, he is never entirely content in his current situation. As Heathcliff attempts to revenge Edgar Linton, he does not gain true fulfillment. Throughout Wuthering Heights, Brontë uses Heathcliff’s vengeful actions to convey the message that manipulative and revenge-seeking behaviors will not bring a person satisfaction.

Though Bronte’s star-cross lovers have seemly bend gender roles, with Catherine exhibiting more masculine traits and Heathcliff with feminine, their relationship still epitomize Beauvoir’s views on the gender dual standard in relationships. The mysterious and untamed disposition of Heathcliff drew Catherine to him, they were very much a like and had a strong connection from childhood. As this love grew it became a part very much of them. However, despite their similar personalities, they were not equals. She modifies herself for love. Catherine went against her independent character and rejected herself to be one with Heathcliff. While, he remains the same. Heathcliff never truly sees Catherine as his equal, he persists on being the superior. Though he has called her his existence on numerous occasions, Heathcliff never refers to himself as Catherine. His love stems from his obsession to possess her and her adoration. Like, the slave owner, he is the master who needs his slave to perpetuate his superiority, she is a conquest to be collected. Ergo, as Heathcliff was losing Catherine to the clutches of death, he exclaims that would never forget her because she is his existence (Bronte 124). A master

When Heathcliff returns three years later, his love for Catherine motivates him to enact revenge upon all those who separated him from her. Since he last saw Catherine, he has “fought through a bitter life”; he “struggled only for [her]” (Brontë 71). Nelly observes a “half-civilized ferocity” in Heathcliff’s brows (Brontë 70); she views him as “an evil beast…waiting his time to spring and destroy” (Brontë 79). Heathcliff’s obsessive love for Catherine becomes a menacing threat. Heathcliff reproaches Catherine because she “treated [him]

In the novel “Wuthering Heights”, Emily Bronte portrays the character of Catherine in many ways. Bronte displays Catherine to the audience as a paradoxical character as she has both good and bad characteristics. Catherine’s actions raise the question where she deserves to be pitied rather than condemned. I firmly believe that Catherine deserves to be condemned and not pitied.

At her age, Catherine should have felt the happiest she has even been after Edgar’s proposal, but her emotions toward Heathcliff changed all that. One way she states her love for Heathcliff by saying: “’My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath’” (Brontë 74), illustrating the everlastings of her emotions and that they will never fade no matter what happens. Yet on the other hand, her ambitions get the best of her in which she says to Nelly: “’I shall like to be the greatest woman in the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband [Edgar Linton]’” (Brontë 71). Instead of marrying for true love as seen throughout fairy tales, Catherine marries Edgar solely for reputation, following her mind instead of her heart. The conflict of her following her heart or her mind has led her into denial by imagining that by marrying Edgar she is doing the right thing and that she could raise Heathcliff, for at this time he is poor. Catherine is not the only one affected by denial, Isabella Linton is as well.

A reactionist reading of the passage highlights Catherine’s feeling of helplessness and confusion, from which we create our overall meaning for the chapter: Catherine sits moping and dwells in self-pity rather than stepping up, and “reacting” to take responsibility for her life and actions. Catherine is irrational and passive because her actions cause her to be alone, yet she wonders why she is alone; leading her to blame Edgar for her troubles. Using reactionism to interpret Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights emphasizes the importance of entering an active role in life and reminds us to take responsibility in our lives. Catherine needs to focus on situations of the present and not blame the world and others around her for her life. Her reaction to when Edgar does not respond to her needs demonstrates that she is desperate for

The novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte tells a story of a man named Heathcliff who spends his whole life fueled by jealousy, revenge, and love. As a young boy, he and a girl named Catherine spend a lot of their time together. Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine and wants to pursue a marriage with her, however Catherine has other plans. Catherine is in love with a man named Edgar, but for all the wrong reasons. Thus begins the story of Heathcliff’s revenge.

Looking back on the years Nelly spent at Wuthering Heights, she can’t help but feel a sense of irritation. Catherine’s presence here would always seep through the walls like the sticky bitter sap of the moor trees, that clings to your skin even after doused in water. In many ways Catherine was divided and conflicted, unruly and tamed, and headstrong and loving. As Nelly reflects on her opinion of Catherine she realizes that Edgar, Catherine’s husband, might have held a slightly different view.

While some scholars say that this is true love, but Tytler considers that it is Catherine Identifying herself with Heathcliff. Tytler observes a “mutual dependence” that Catherine and Heathcliff have (167). Rather than just love they are a mere understanding of working together to get things

“She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.” (42). For Catherine and Heathcliff, love and punishment will always intertwine. Nelly, the servant, clearly states this observation to a tee. Their tortured love stretches afar, but would probably not do well under peaceful circumstances. They seem to thrive on drama. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a story of passionate love that encompasses two generations of two families: the Earnshaws and the Lintons.

With this description, Catherine emphasizes the social values of the eighteenth century through her willingness to defy authority and reason, pitting her against the strict societal expectations of the era. However, the exposure of Catherine to Thrushcross Grange as she stays at the manor to recover from the injury to her ankle, prompts a transformation in her romanticist character that openly explores the cultural values of the Yorkshire Manors. The civility of the Lintons in Thrushcross Grange transforms the once-defiant and youthful Catherine into a mature and well-groomed lady that develops an internal conflict between her love for the well-mannered and wealthy Edgar Linton and the lowly Heathcliff. In Brontë’s novel, Catherine emphasizes her characterization in a scene where she laments this internal conflict saying, “I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him” (Brontë

In the chapter XV of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights book reveals the complex relationship as lover between Heathcliff and Catherine. In order to demonstrate that feeling of love is hard to forget, Emily Bronte reveals that their love was so strong that it destroyed the distance and their relationship with other, but Catherine and Heathcliff never can be together because they are stubborn and never fight for their relationship between others because they do not want to hurt their partners.

Love is a strong attachment between two lovers and revenge is a strong conflict between two rivals. In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses setting to establish contrast, to intensify conflict, and to develop character. The people and events of Wuthering Heights share a dramatic conflict. Thus, Bronte focuses on the evil eye of Heathcliff's obsessive and perpetual love with Catherine, and his enduring revenge to those who forced him and Catherine apart. The author expresses the conflict of Wuthering Heights with great intensity. Hence, she portrays a combination of crucial issues of romance and money, hate and power, and lastly