Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

Analysis of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on March 25, 2019 • ( 3 )

Wuthering Heights is constructed around a series of dialectic motifs that interconnect and unify the elements of setting, character, and plot. An examination of these motifs will give the reader the clearest insight into the central meaning of the novel. Although Wuthering Heights is a “classic,” as Frank Kermode has noted, precisely because it is open to many different critical methods and conducive to many levels of interpretation, the novel grows from a coherent imaginative vision that underlies all the motifs. That vision demonstrates that all human perception is limited and failed. The fullest approach to Emily Brontë’s novel is through the basic patterns that support this vision.

Wuthering Heights concerns the interactions of two families, the Earnshaws and Lintons, over three generations. The novel is set in the desolate moors of Yorkshire and covers the years from 1771 to 1803. The Earnshaws and Lintons are in harmony with their environment, but their lives are disrupted by an outsider and catalyst of change, the orphan Heathcliff. Heathcliff is, first of all, an emblem of the social problems of a nation entering the age of industrial expansion and urban growth. Although Brontë sets the action of the novel entirely within the locale familiar to her, she reminds the reader continually of the contrast between that world and the larger world outside.

Aside from Heathcliff’s background as a child of the streets and the description of urban Liverpool, from which he is brought, the novel contains other reminders that Yorkshire, long insulated from change and susceptible only to the forces of nature, is no longer as remote as it once was. The servant Joseph’s religious cant, the class distinctions obvious in the treatment of Nelly Dean as well as of Heathcliff, and Lockwood’s pseudosophisticated urban values are all reminders that Wuthering Heights cannot remain as it has been, that religious, social, and economic change is rampant. Brontë clearly signifies in the courtship and marriage of young Cathy and Hareton that progress and enlightenment will come and the wilderness will be tamed. Heathcliff is both an embodiment of the force of this change and its victim. He brings about a change but cannot change himself. What he leaves behind, as Lockwood attests and the relationship of Cathy and Hareton verifies, is a new society, at peace with itself and its environment.

It is not necessary, however, to examine in depth the Victorian context of Wuthering Height s to sense the dialectic contrast of environments. Within the limited setting that the novel itself describes, society is divided between two opposing worlds: Wuthering Heights, ancestral home of the Earnshaws, and Thrushcross Grange, the Linton estate. Wuthering Heights is rustic and wild; it is open to the elements of nature and takes its name from “atmospheric tumult.” The house is strong, built with narrow windows and jutting cornerstones, fortified to withstand the battering of external forces. It is identified with the outdoors and nature and with strong, “masculine” values. Its appearance, both inside and out, is wild, untamed, disordered, and hard. The Grange expresses a more civilized, controlled atmosphere. The house is neat and orderly, and there is always an abundance of light—to Brontë’s mind, “feminine” values. It is not surprising that Lockwood is more comfortable at the Grange, since he takes pleasure in “feminine” behavior (gossip, vanity of appearance, adherence to social decorum, romantic self-delusion), while Heathcliff, entirely “masculine,” is always out of place there.

498ef33948cb9f8a96c90f9ebc0c770c

Even Cathy’s passionate cry for Heathcliff, “Nelly, I am Heathcliff,” is less love for him as an individual than the deepest form of self-love. Cathy cannot exist without him, but a meaningful relationship is not possible because Cathy sees Heathcliff only as a reflection of herself. Heathcliff, too, has denied an important aspect of his personality. Archetypally masculine, Heathcliff acts out only the aggressive, violent parts of himself.

The settings and the characters are patterned against each other, and explosions are the only possible results. Only Hareton and young Cathy, each of whom embodies the psychological characteristics of both Heights and Grange, can successfully sustain a mutual relationship.

This dialectic structure extends into the roles of the narrators as well. The story is reflected through the words of Nelly Dean—an inmate of both houses, a participant in the events of the narrative, and a confidant of the major characters—and Lockwood, an outsider who witnesses only the results of the characters’ interactions. Nelly is a companion and servant in the Earnshaw and Linton households, and she shares many of the values and perceptions of the families. Lockwood, an urban sophisticate on retreat, misunderstands his own character as well as the characters of others. His brief romantic “adventure” in Bath and his awkwardness when he arrives at the Heights (he thinks Cathy will fall in love with him; he mistakes the dead rabbits for puppies) exemplify his obtuseness. His perceptions are always to be questioned. Occasionally, however, even a denizen of the conventional world may gain a glimpse of the forces at work beneath the surface of reality. Lockwood’s dream of the dead Cathy, which sets off his curiosity and Heathcliff’s final plans, is a reminder that even the placid, normal world may be disrupted by the psychic violence of a willful personality.

The presentation of two family units and parallel brother-sister, husband-wife relationships in each also emphasizes the dialectic. That two such opposing modes of behavior could arise in the same environment prevents the reader from easy condemnation of either pair. The use of flashback for the major part of the narration—it begins in medias res—reminds the reader that he or she is seeing events out of their natural order, recounted by two individuals whose reliability must be questioned. The working out of the plot over three generations further suggests that no one group, much less one individual, can perceive the complexity of the human personality.

Taken together, the setting, plot, characters, and structure combine into a whole when they are seen as parts of the dialectic nature of existence. In a world where opposing forces are continually arrayed against each other in the environment, in society, in families, and in relationships, as well as within the individual, there can be no easy route to perception of another human soul. Wuthering Heights convincingly demonstrates the complexity of this dialectic and portrays the limitations of human perception.

Bibliography Barnard, Robert. Emily Brontë. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Benvenuto, Richard. Emily Brontë. Boston: Twayne, 1982. Berg, Maggie. “Wuthering Heights”: The Writing in the Margin. New York: Twayne, 1996. Davies, Stevie. Emily Brontë: Heretic. London: Women’s Press, 1994. Frank, Katherine. A Chainless Soul: A Life of Emily Brontë. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Glen, Heather, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Brontës. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Liddell, Robert. Twin Spirits: The Novels of Emily and Anne Brontë. London: Peter Owen, 1990. Miller, Lucasta. The Brontë Myth. London: Jonathan Cape, 2001. Pykett, Lyn. Emily Brontë. Savage, Md.: Barnes & Noble, 1989. Rollyson, Carl, and Lisa Paddock. The Brontës A to Z: The Essential Reference to Their Lives and Work. New York: Facts On File, 2003. Vine, Steve. Emily Brontë. New York: Twayne, 1998. Winnifrith, Tom, ed. Critical Essays on Emily Brontë. NewYork: G. K. Hall, 1997.

Major works Poetry: Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, 1846 (with Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë); The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Brontë, 1941 (C. W. Hatfield, editor); Gondal’s Queen: A Novel in Verse by Emily Jane Brontë, 1955 (Fannie E. Ratchford, editor). Nonfiction : Five Essays Written in French, 1948 (Lorine White Nagel, translator); The Brontë Letters, 1954 (Muriel Spark, editor).

Share this:

Categories: Literature , Novel Analysis

Tags: Analysis of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Character Study of Catherine Earnshaw , Character Study of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Character Study of Heathcliff , Character Study of Lockwood , Character Study of Nelly Dean , Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Frank Kermode , Gothic Literature , Literary Criticism , Literary Theory , Motifs in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Nelly Dean , Study Guide of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Summary of Analysis of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Summary of Wuthering Heights , Themes of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Victorian Literature , Wuthering Heights , Wuthering Heights as a Gothic Novel

Related Articles

wuthering heights essay

I found it very informative. Representation of the two worlds is amazing. Thanks a lot.

' src=

VERY NICE;I LIKED THE WAY OF ANALYSIS OF WHOLE NOVEL AND DESCRIBE EVERY THING,

  • Wuthering Heights: A Journey from the Novel to the Movie - Different Truths

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

The LitCharts.com logo.

  • Ask LitCharts AI
  • Discussion Question Generator
  • Essay Prompt Generator
  • Quiz Question Generator

Guides

  • Literature Guides
  • Poetry Guides
  • Shakespeare Translations
  • Literary Terms

Wuthering Heights

Emily brontë.

wuthering heights essay

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Wuthering Heights: Introduction

Wuthering heights: plot summary, wuthering heights: detailed summary & analysis, wuthering heights: themes, wuthering heights: quotes, wuthering heights: characters, wuthering heights: symbols, wuthering heights: literary devices, wuthering heights: quizzes, wuthering heights: theme wheel, brief biography of emily brontë.

Wuthering Heights PDF

Historical Context of Wuthering Heights

Other books related to wuthering heights.

  • Full Title: Wuthering Heights
  • When Published: 1847
  • Literary Period: Victorian
  • Genre: Romanticism / Realism / Gothic (e.g., mysterious family relationships, vulnerable heroines, houses full of secrets, and wild landscapes)
  • Setting: Yorkshire, England, late 18th to early 19th century
  • Climax: Heathcliff and Catherine's tearful, impassioned reunion just hours before Catherine gives birth and then dies
  • Antagonist: Heathcliff (we root both for and against Heathcliff)
  • Point of View: Nelly Dean, a housekeeper, tells the story of the Lintons and Earnshaws to Mr. Lockwood, who passes along her story to the reader.

Extra Credit for Wuthering Heights

The Bronte Family: Two of Emily Brontë's sisters are also respected writers. Charlotte Brontë wrote Jane Eyre , Shirley , Villette , and The Professor , and Anne Brontë wrote Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall . Because the Brontës collaborated, critics love to analyze the whole family, not just the individual authors. The family also appeals to readers because it experienced so much tragedy: five of the six children died young (four daughters died of tuberculosis, or "consumption," as it was known at the time, and Branwell, the only son, turned to drugs and alcohol when his career as an artist failed).

The LitCharts.com logo.

  • Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

Wuthering Heights - Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, known for its tragic love story, complex characters, and exploration of social class distinctions. Essays on this novel might explore the gothic and romantic elements, the symbolic use of the natural environment, or the psychological complexities of characters like Heathcliff and Catherine. Other discussions could delve into the novel’s commentary on social mobility and morality, or its influence on Victorian literature and subsequent literary trends. A vast selection of complimentary essay illustrations pertaining to Wuthering Heights you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

A Deeper Meaning of Wuthering Heights

A symbol is a thing that represents or stands for something else and suggests a larger significance. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is full of significant symbols that are important to analyze in order to understand the novel to its fullest. From the ghosts, to the architecture and furnishings (décor) of the two main houses in the novel; and to the moors; this book is full of dark but symbolic aspects. To give readers a realistic point of view, the […]

‘Byronic Hero’ in Wuthering Heights

Haunting and filled with unconventional love, the gothic tragedy Wuthering Heights is a prime example of Emily Bronte’s obsession and inspiration with George Gordon’s own character. The satanic characteristics and lack of “heroic virtue” gives the Byronic Hero a twist compared to a morally sound hero (Thorslev 187). Lord Byron’s extensive collection of poems provided a template for Bronte to include a perfect Byronic Hero in her novel. Inspired by the Byron myth and his personality, Heathcliff and his dark […]

Destructive Love in Novel Wuthering Height

"In the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, two families, the Lintons and the Earnshaws, are forced together which causes conflict described as destructive love, mostly caused by the raging love Heathcliff has for Catherine throughout the novel. Emily Bronte was born July 30, 1818 in Yorkshire, England she was one of three english sisters. Her and her sisters had books published in the mid-1800’s. She is the daughter of Maria Barnwell and Patrick Bronte. She was a poet and an […]

We will write an essay sample crafted to your needs.

Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights”

Throughout Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, several characters exhibit a palpable hatred not for men or for women in particular, but for the general population; such misanthropy contributes a curious depth to the novel that could hardly be accomplished otherwise. However, with the multitude of circumstances in which these individuals are granted latitude to express their cynicism, the reader begins to subconsciously decipher the misanthropic qualities and rank characters, compartmentalizing them by level of misanthropy. The most naturally antagonistic character, Heathcliff, […]

Revenge and Justice in Wuthering Heights

"There is a blurred line between revenge and justice. Is revenge, justice? Is revenge, justified? The difference, may be nothing but a shuffling of the same words to make oneself feel morally sound. If we can agree on the idea that revenge is a feeling or act of retribution, and also that justice is no more than a ‘just’ act of retaliation, then we can begin to question the fine structure of moral values and how that affects the definition […]

Discussion of Nature Vs Nurture is the Eerlasting Issue

Genetic Development Nature vs Nurture is the everlasting issue of one’s genetics or outside environmental influence on one’s behavior and actions. One’s nature refers to the hereditary or genetic factors one is born with that influences who one is as a person. However, one’s nurture refers to the outside environmental factors that controls who one becomes. Although outside factors such as one’s childhood experiences, people one associates themselves with, and/or trauma can influence one’s decision making. Their naturally born, or […]

The Romantic-Gothic Nature of Wuthering Heights

Section 25 Throughout the class period, we have talked about several different genres that have caught my eye in terms of relatability and interests. One of those genres is the Gothic period. There are many books that are considered part of this era such as, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre, but the one that tops them all is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Wuthering Heights brings to the surface many different parallels for the more romantic aspects of the book […]

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights

The origins of an individual usually serves as a solid indication of their inherent nature and works of literature throughout history have utilized the origins of characters to manipulate the nature of the plot and the conflicts that comprise the narrative. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is an intense tragedy that is driven by the complexities of love and betrayal as a man named Heathcliff, with an abnormal origin, explores the relationship he has with the only woman he truly ever […]

Behind the Life of Emily Brontë and her Works

During the Victorian period, the inequalities between genders were tense because the gap distinction was increasing. Women were tired of the discrimination and the injustice that society was implementing on their shoulders. The frustration of pretending to be the submissive wife and hiding under male pen names to have their works published was pushing women to their limit. Females such as the Brontë sisters used pen names because they knew the receiving backlash inputs them into the group of outcasts. […]

Wuthering Heights Plot Summary

The book Wuthering heights begins at a place called Thrushcross Grange, a manor house that a man named Lockwood rents and describes as a misanthropist’s heaven. This is where he meets his landlord named Heathcliff, a rich man who lives close by in a house called Wuthering Heights. Lockwood has his suspicions about the servants and people that live in there. One night he couldn’t leave because the snow was so bad and kept piling up so he spent the […]

Character Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”

Of all the characters in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is arguably the most fierce and combative as well as the most complex. Branded as a demon even in childhood, Heathcliff develops into a sadistic, cruel, and almost cliché gothic villain in the second half of the novel (John Coper Powys). However, it would be an oversight to fail to examine the correlation of both the role of his horrible childhood and social exclusion as a demonized member of the […]

Destructive Love is an Emotional Process

"Destructive love is an emotional process of tearing down the love and affection between 2 people in a relationship. The idea of knowing the difference between having a disagreement that is trying to clear up something in comparison to a disagreement that is destructive toxicity can come. The theme of destructive love between different relationships in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Shakespeare's Hamlet Robert Browning's My Last Duchess results in the characters having […]

“Wuthering Heights” and “Rebecca” Analysis

Not every romantic novel is about true love. Books such as Wuthering Heights and Rebecca are far from being romantic. From romance comedies to gothic romance, the novels have plots that are quite different from the normal storyline. These novels are more mysterious and full of suspense. Clearly, authors Daphne du Maurier and Emily Brontë wanted a romantic plot that was unusual and unexpected from readers. Luckily, many people who read either Rebecca or Wuthering Heights were quite surprised with […]

Meaning of Love and its Unintended Consequences in “Wuthering Heights”

True love is often pictured as the cliched ending of romance novels or movies with the scene of the girl riding off into the sunset with the perfect prince on a white stallion. In The Notebook, Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun had the fairy-tale ending with their happily ever after, but does life really end like that? Would one give up everything just to be with their true love? In Wuthering Heights, the true love between Heathcliff and Catherine was […]

Abuse and Trauma in Wuthering Heights

In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, characters are subject to different types of abuse/trauma both mental and physical. This mental and physical stress affects characters such as Catherine Earnshaw, Isabella and Heathcliff in various manners, such as in their daily interactions with others and themselves. How they handle this stress varies among each character, they each choose a distinct type of coping mechanism to help them get through the day. Bronte grew up between 1818 and 1848 during […]

Wuthering Heights Break Assignment

In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, revenge is an eminent theme. One of the main Heathcliff, is illustrated as a hermit and after of people. He’s greedy and is always looking for ways to complicate the lives of people around him. He gets more and more revengeful as the story progresses. Every action Heathcliff does is destined to hurt the Earnshaw and Linton families, and take ownership over everything. All of these revengeful thoughts and desires actually makes […]

Rage and its Power in Bronte’s Emily

Falling madly in love, then traumatized by betrayal, leading to rage and pain is all experienced by a special character named Heathcliff, in Emily Brontë’s famous novel Wuthering Heights. He is the one who sits at the center of the story. Heathcliff, a resentful and revenge seeking man is the chosen character, to analyze and illustrate from the novel. As an orphan, he was fostered by Mr. Earnshaw and taken to Wuthering heights which is image of a mansion like […]

Wuthering Heights Written by Mary Shelley

"In Wuthering Heights written by Mary Shelley portrayed a similarities and differences between the two families, the Earnshaw and the Lintions, in order to show how they interact with each other. Shelly tries to show the readers how these two families become the major issue of the novel. Shelly try to demonstrates the differences that exists between the social class whereas Lintion’s family is rich and the Earnshaw family is poor. The Linton family is established as an gentry of […]

Emily Bronte’s Novel Wuthering Heights

In 1847, when a novel by Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights was published, feminism or gender equality was an unknown concept, and it was just beginning to emerge as it seemed to be a radical idea to many people. Brontë can be therefore considered a proto-feminist. Women in the Victorian period belonged mainly to the domestic sphere, and the public sphere was for their husbands. All characters in the novel live in a patriarchal society, in women are submissive to men […]

Wuthering Heights Reading Journal: Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Edgar has passed away, leaving the title of Thrushcross Grange master unfilled. Nelly, Edgar’s servant, seeks a new job at Wuthering Heights as a servant for Heathcliff but he denies. Right before the death of Edgar, his daughter Cathy forcedly marries Linton, Heathcliff’s son. The marriage gives Linton and Heathcliff say over the Grange estate after Edgar’s death, therefore making Heathcliff the new master, replacing Edgar. Now the master, Heathcliff use the Grange as a space to rent […]

Wuthering Heights Novel

The five examples that I have come across with, that represent the gothic theme in the novel from chapter 1 through 10 are weather, supernatural, revenge, suffering, and death. One day a huge snowstorm has approached that prevent Mr. Lockwood from leaving, and no one seems to be interested in helping him to reach home, Mr. Heathcliff shows no hospitality and “Gnasher and Wolf—become so excited by the scene that they floor Lockwood, giving him a bloody nose”(chapter 2). Weather […]

Essay about Abuse Cycle

Each person has a different personality. Some people are influential, impulsive, perfectionist, and/or strong-willed. One of the components that influence someone’s personalities is their environment. Just like in “Wuthering Heights” Heathcliff’s abusive environment at such a young age leads him to have an aggressive abusive behavior towards others. When most people think of the word environment they usually just think about their home they live in. But this word actually mean way more than that. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary […]

Novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights takes place in the early 19th century. During this time, women were considered second-class citizens. They had the responsibility for the care of their family, as a wife and a mother, and the household. Outside of the home setting, women had no real significance as they were only expected to have a minimum education and were not encouraged to pursue a professional career. Men were highly relied on by women to be the ""power force."" Women did not […]

Wuthering Heights Reading Journal: Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Nelly, the servant from Thrushcross Grange heads over to Wuthering Heights hoping to talk to Hindley, Heathcliff’s ultimate enemy but cannot. The next day at the Grange she, along with Catherine see Heathcliff with his new “lover” Isabella. Catherine, who loves Heathcliff but is married to Edgar Linton, confronts him asking for her true feelings and offers to allow the marriage if their love is true. Heathcliff becomes disgusted at the idea of marrying Isabella, confessing his hate […]

Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights”

Symbols - mostly settings Wuthering Heights - an old farmhouse that Heathcliff and Catherine grew up together symbolizes energy, excitement and affection. Thrushcross Grange is the house owned by the Lintons and later visited by Lockwood. It symbolizes a place with disciplined, elevated and civilized culture. Moors- A place where great adventures dwell in Catherine’s and Heathcliff’s memories. It symbolizes ferocious tendencies and exciting and mysterious mood of the unknown. The moor helps establish a certain mood in the novel […]

The Analysis of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is a remarkable piece of literature, the books character development is one of it’s most appealing features. For example, we all know about Heathcliff, the young boy taken in by Mr. Earnshaw who he raised as his own son and grew to love him more than his actual son. Initially, only Mr. Earnshaw cared for Heathcliff, but soon, his daughter would madly with him, and he with her. There love for one another grew as they did, they […]

Novels – Plot of the Story

"The majority of the time, novels will use hate to create havoc in the plot of the story. Wuthering Heights uses Heathcliff’s hate toward the other characters to insert conflict in the story. Wuthering Heights illuminates the source of Heathcliff’s hate as well as the effect it has on the other characters throughout the story. Heathcliff’s relationships with other characters also suggest the theme that hate only breeds hate. Heathcliff never finds peace through his revenge. With every act of […]

Emily Bronte – Facts of Life

"Emily Bronte was born on July 30, 1818, in a village located in Thornton, Yorkshire, England. She had five other siblings but sadly lost her mother to cancer when she was only three years old. Emily was extremely shy and loved animals. She had a passionate nature and wrote several poems with her two sisters in 1845. They published the poems under pseudonyms, which began her literary endeavors. Emily began her teaching career at Law Hill School in November of […]

Devon Komar Honors English

The book is set in an extremely secluded area within England. This suits Lockwood extremely well, as he defines himself as a “misanthropist”. Lockwood states, “‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the mower of the north wind blowing over the edge…” (2). This shows that the property is often exposed to harsh […]

The Extraordinary Life of Novelist and Poet Emily Brontë

“Emily Brontë has become mythologized both as an individual and as one of the Brontë sisters” ("Overview of Emily Brontë"). Emily made her way as an individual with the release of her best selling and only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847. Life before Emily found her passion in writing was chaotic. Emily’s life was unusual and often unhappy, but everything changed when she learned how to sit down and write ("Overview of Emily Brontë"). Emily Brontë is an English novelist […]

Originally published :December 1847
Author :Emily Brontë
Genre :Tragedy, gothic
Adapted from :Wuthering Heights
Text :Wuthering Heights online
LC Class :PR4172.W7 2007
Characters :Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton

Additional Example Essays

  • Colonism in Things Fall Apart
  • The short story "The Cask of Amontillado"
  • Beowulf and Grendel Comparison
  • “Allegory of the Cave”
  • “The Cask Of Amontillado” Analysis
  • Victorian gender roles in The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • 'The Cask of Amontillado' and 'The Tell-tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe
  • Who is the Worst Character in The Great Gatsby
  • What Kind of Person Was Chris McCandless?
  • What does the A in The Scarlet Letter Signify
  • The Importance of Professional Bearing in the Military
  • Homeschooling vs Traditional Schooling

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

Wuthering Heights

Guide cover image

94 pages • 3 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-9

Chapters 10-13

Chapters 14-17

Chapters 18-22

Chapters 23-27

Chapters 28-31

Chapters 32-34

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

In an article about Wuthering Heights by British journalist Kathryn Hughes, Emily Brontë is described as “the patron saint of difficult women.” Defend or refute this notion, using Brontë’s depiction of female characters as evidence of your argument.

Analyze Heathcliff’s status as “other.” To what effect does his dark appearance impact his experience in the Earnshaw family?

Comment on your particular strategy of differentiating between the female and the male characters, especially the ones with similar or identical names. How do you imagine them as individuals despite their similar names and tones of voice?

blurred text

Featured Collections

Audio Study Guides

View Collection

British Literature

Romanticism / Romantic Period

Victorian Literature

Victorian Literature / Period

'Wuthering Heights' Themes, Symbols, Literary Devices

A Novel About Love, Hate, Class, and Revenge

Hate and Revenge

Social class, literary device: multiple narrators within a frame story, literary device: doubles and opposites, literary device: using nature to describe a character, symbols: the ragged wuthering heights vs. the pristine thrushcross grange.

  • M.A., Classics, Catholic University of Milan
  • M.A., Journalism, New York University.
  • B.A., Classics, Catholic University of Milan

While love seems to be the prevailing theme of Wuthering Heights, the novel is much more than a romantic love story. Intertwined with the (non-consummated) passion of Heathcliff and Cathy are hatred, revenge, and social class, the ever-prevailing issue in Victorian literature.

A meditation on the nature of love permeates the entirety of Wuthering Heights. Of course, the most important relationship is the one between Cathy and Heathcliff, which is all-consuming and brings Cathy to fully identify with Heathcliff, to the point that she says “I am Heathcliff.” Their love is everything but simple, though. They betray one another and themselves in order to marry a person for whom they feel a tamer—but convenient—kind of love. Interestingly, despite its intensity, the love between Cathy and Heathcliff is never consummated. Even when Heathcliff and Cathy are reunited in their afterlife, they do not rest peacefully. Instead, they haunt the moorland as ghosts.

The love that develops between young Catherine and Hindley’s son, Hareton, is a paler and gentler version of the love between Cathy and Heathcliff, and it’s poised for a happy ending.

Heathcliff hates as fiercely as he used to love Cathy, and most of his actions are motivated by a desire of vengeance. Throughout the novel, he resorts to exact some form of retribution from all those who, in his mind, had wronged him: Hindley (and his progeny) for mistreating him, and the Lintons (Edgar and Isabella) for taking Cathy away from him.

Oddly, despite his all-consuming love for Cathy, he is not particularly nice towards her daughter, Catherine. Instead, while assuming the role of the stereotypical villain, he kidnaps her, forces her to marry his sickly son, and generally mistreats her. 

Wuthering Heights is fully immersed in the class-related issues of the Victorian era, which were not just a matter of affluence. The characters show that birth, the source of income, and family connections played a relevant role in determining someone’s place in society, and people usually accepted that place.

Wuthering Heights portrays a class-structured society. The Lintons were part of the professional middle class, and the Earnshaws were a little below the Lintons. Nelly Dean was lower-middle class, as she worked non-manual labor (servants were superior to manual laborers). Heathcliff, an orphan, used to occupy the lowest rung in society in the Wuthering Heights universe, but when Mr. Earnshaw openly favored him, he went against societal norms.

Class is also why Cathy decides to marry Edgar and not Heathcliff. When Heathcliff returns to the heath a well-dressed, moneyed, and educated man, he still remains an outcast from society. Class also explains Heathcliff’s attitude towards Hindley’s son, Hareton. He debases Hareton the way Hindley had debased him, thereby enacting a reverse class-motivated revenge. 

Wuthering Heights is mainly told by two narrators, Lockwood and his own narrator, Nelly, who tells him about the events that took place in Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. However, other narrators are interspersed throughout the novel. For example, when Lockwood finds Cathy’s diary, we are able to read important details about her childhood spent with Heathcliff in the moors. In addition, Isabella’s letter to Nelly shows us firsthand the abuse she suffered at the hands of Heathcliff. All of the voices in the novel create a choral narrative by offering multiple points of view of the lives of the inhabitants of Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights.

It's worth noting that no storyteller is fully objective. Although Lockwood might appear removed, once he meets the masters of Wuthering Heights, he becomes involved with them and loses his objectivity. Likewise, Nelly Dean, while at first appearing to be an outsider, is actually a flawed narrator, at least morally. She often picks sides between characters and changes allegiances—sometimes she works with Cathy, other times she betrays her. 

Brontë arranges several elements of her novel into pairs that both differ and have similarities with one another. For example, Catherine and Heathcliff perceive themselves as being identical. Cathy and her daughter, Catherine, look much alike, but their personalities differ. When it comes to love, Cathy is split between her socially appropriate marriage to Edgar and her bond with Heathcliff.

Similarly, the estates Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange represent opposing forces and values, yet the two houses are bonded through marriage and tragedy in both generations. Even Nelly and Lockwood, the two narrators, embody this dualism. Background-wise, they could not be more different, yet, with Nelly being too involved in the events and Lockwood being too far removed, they are both unreliable narrators. 

Nature plays an important role in Wuthering Heights as both an empathetic participant in the setting of the novel—a moorland is prone to winds and storms—, and as a way to describe the characters’ personalities. Cathy and Heathcliff are usually associated with images of wilderness, while the Lintons are associated with pictures of cultivated land. Cathy likens Heathcliff’s soul to the arid wilderness of the moors, while Nelly describes the Lintons as honeysuckles, cultivated and fragile. When Heathcliff speaks about Edgar’s love for Cathy, he says, “He might as well plant an oak in a flower-pot and expect it to thrive, as imagine he can restore her to vigor in the soil of his shallow cares!” 

As an estate, Wuthering Heights is a farmhouse in the moorlands ruled by the cruel and ruthless Hindley. It symbolizes the wildness of both Cathy and Heathcliff. By contrast, Thrushcross Grange, all adorned in crimson, represents cultural and societal norms. When Cathy is bitten by the guard dogs of Thrushcross Grange and she’s brought into the Lintons’ orbit, the two realities begin to clash. The “chaos” of Wuthering Heights wreaks havoc in the Lintons’ peaceful and seemingly idyllic existence, as Cathy’s marriage to Edgar precipitates Heathcliff’s vengeful actions. 

  • 'Wuthering Heights' Questions for Study and Discussion
  • 'Wuthering Heights' Overview
  • 'Wuthering Heights' Characters
  • 'Wuthering Heights' Summary
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • 'Wuthering Heights' Quiz
  • What's Important About The Title of 'Wuthering Heights'?
  • 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • 'The Tempest' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • Frankenstein Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • The Role of Women in "Wuthering Heights"
  • '1984' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • 'Lord of the Flies' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • 'The Catcher in the Rye' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices
  • 'Things Fall Apart' Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte

  • Wuthering Heights Summary

Wuthering Heights is related as a series of narratives which are themselves told to the narrator, a gentleman named Lockwood . Lockwood rents a fine house and park called Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire, and gradually learns more and more about the histories of two local families. This is what he learns from a housekeeper, Ellen Dean , who had been with one of the two families for all of her life:

In around 1760, a gentleman-farmer named Earnshaw went from his farm, Wuthering Heights, to Liverpool on a business trip. He found there a little boy who looked like a gypsy who had apparently been abandoned on the streets, and brought the child home with him, to join his own family of his wife, his son Hindley, his daughter Catherine, a manservant named Joseph , and Ellen, who was very young at the time and working as a maid. Earnshaw named the boy Heathcliff after a son of his who had died. All the other members of the household were opposed to the introduction of a strange boy, except for Catherine, who was a little younger than Heathcliff and became fast friends with him. Hindley in particular felt as though Heathcliff had supplanted him, although he was several years older and the true son and heir. Hindley bullied Heathcliff when he could, and Heathcliff used his influence over Earnshaw to get his way. Heathcliff was a strange, silent boy, who appeared not to mind the blows he received from Hindley, although he was in fact very vindictive. Earnshaw's wife died. Hindley was sent away to college in a last attempt to turn him into a worthy son, and to ease pressures at home.

After some years, Earnshaw's health declined and he grew increasingly alienated from his family: in his peevish old age he worried that everyone disliked Heathcliff simply because Earnshaw liked him. He did not like his daughter Catherine's charming and mischievous ways. Finally he died, and Catherine and Heathcliff were very grieved, but consoled each other with thoughts of heaven.

Hindley returned, now around twenty years old. Heathcliff was about twelve and Catherine was eleven. Hindley was married to a young woman named Frances, to the surprise of everyone at Wuthering Heights. Hindley used his new power as the head of the household to reduce Heathcliff to the level of a servant, although Heathcliff and Catherine continued their intimacy. Catherine taught Heathcliff her lessons and would join him in the fields, or they would run away to the moors all day to play, never minding their punishments afterward.

One day they ran down to the Grange, a more civilized house where the Lintons lived with their children Edgar, thirteen, and Isabella, eleven. Catherine and Heathcliff despised the spoiled, delicate Linton children, and made faces and yelled at them through the window. The Lintons called for help and the wilder children fled, but Catherine was caught by a bulldog and they were brought inside. When the Lintons found out that the girl was Miss Earnshaw, they took good care of her and threw Heathcliff out.

Catherine stayed at the Grange for five weeks, and came home dressed and acting like a proper young lady, to the delight of Hindley and his wife, and to Heathcliff's sorrow––he felt as though she had moved beyond him. Over the next few years, Catherine struggled to both maintain her relationship with Heathcliff, and socialize with the elegant Linton children.

Frances gave birth to a son, Hareton, and died soon after of tuberculosis. Hindley gave in to wild despair and alcoholism, and the household fell into chaos. Heathcliff was harshly treated, and came to hate Hindley more and more. Edgar Linton fell in love with Catherine, who was attracted by his wealth and genteel manners, although she loved Heathcliff much more seriously. Edgar and Catherine became engaged, and Heathcliff ran away. Catherine fell ill after looking for Heathcliff all night in a storm, and went to the Grange to get better. The Linton parents caught her fever and died of it. Edgar and Catherine were married when she was 18 or 19.

They lived fairly harmoniously together for almost a year––then Heathcliff returned. He had mysteriously acquired gentlemanly manners, education, and some money. Catherine was overjoyed to see him, Edgar considerably less so. Heathcliff stayed at Wuthering Heights, where he gradually gained financial control by paying Hindley's gambling debts. Heathcliff's relationship with the Linton household became more and more strained as Edgar grew extremely unhappy with Heathcliff's relationship with Catherine. Finally there was a violent quarrel: Heathcliff left the Grange to avoid being thrown out by Edgar's servants, Catherine was angry at both of the men, and Edgar was furious at Heathcliff and displeased by his wife's behavior. Catherine shut herself in her room for several days. In the meantime, Heathcliff eloped with Isabella (who was struck by his romantic appearance) by way of revenge on Edgar. Edgar could not forgive Isabella's betrayal of him, and did not try to stop the marriage. Catherine became extremely ill, feverish and delirious, and nearly died ­ though she was carefully tended by Edgar once he discovered her condition.

A few months later, Catherine was still very delicate and looked as though she would probably die. She was pregnant. Heathcliff and Isabella returned to Wuthering Heights, and Isabella wrote to Ellen describing how brutally she was mistreated by her savage husband, and how much she regretted her marriage. Ellen went to visit them to see if she could improve Isabella's situation. She told them about Catherine's condition, and Heathcliff asked to see her.

A few days later, Heathcliff came to the Grange while Edgar was at church. He had a passionate reunion with Catherine, in which they forgave each other as much as possible for their mutual betrayals. Catherine fainted, Edgar returned, and Heathcliff left. Catherine died that night after giving birth to a daughter. Edgar was terribly grieved and Heathcliff wildly so––he begged Catherine's ghost to haunt him. A few days later, Hindley tried to murder Heathcliff, but Heathcliff almost murdered him instead. Isabella escaped from Wuthering Heights and went to live close to London, where she gave birth to a son, Linton. Hindley died a few months after his sister Catherine.

Catherine and Edgar's daughter, Cathy, grew to be a beloved and charming child. She was brought up entirely within the confines of the Grange, and was entirely unaware of the existence of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, or her cousin Hareton there. Once she found the farmhouse while exploring the moors, and was upset to think that such an ignorant rustic as Hareton could be related to her. Ellen ordered her not to return there and explained about Heathcliff's feud with Cathy's father, Edgar.

Isabella died when Linton was about twelve years old, and Edgar went to fetch him to the Grange. Linton was a peevish and effeminate boy, but Cathy was pleased to have a playmate. That very day, however, Heathcliff sent Joseph to fetch his son to Wuthering Heights, and when Cathy woke up the next morning her cousin was gone. Though sad at first, she soon got over it, and continued her happy childhood.

On her sixteenth birthday, Cathy and Ellen strayed onto Heathcliff's lands, and he invited them into Wuthering Heights to see Linton. Cathy was pleased to renew her acquaintance, and Heathcliff was eager to promote a romance between the two cousins, so as to ensure himself of Edgar's land when he died. When they returned home, Edgar forbade Cathy to continue visiting there, and said that Heathcliff was an evil man. Cathy then began a secret correspondence with Linton, which became an exchange of love letters. Ellen found out and put an end to it.

Edgar became ill. Heathcliff asked Cathy to return to Wuthering Heights because Linton was breaking his heart for her. She did so, and found Linton to be a bullying invalid, but not without charm. Ellen fell ill as well and was unable to prevent Cathy from visiting Wuthering Heights every day. Cathy felt obliged to help Linton, and despised Hareton for being clumsy and illiterate. Ellen told Edgar about the visits when she found out, and he forbade Cathy to go any more.

Edgar was in poor health and didn't know about Linton's equally bad health and bad character, so he thought it would be good for Cathy to marry him––since Linton and not Cathy would most likely inherit the Grange. A system was fixed up in which Linton and Cathy met outside. Linton was increasingly ill, and seemed to be terrified of something––as it turned out, his father was forcing him to court Cathy. Heathcliff feared Linton would die before Edgar did, so eventually he all but kidnapped Cathy and Ellen, and told them Cathy couldn't go home to see her dying father until she married Linton. Cathy did marry Linton, and escaped in time to see Edgar before he died.

After Edgar's funeral (he was buried next to his wife) Heathcliff fetched Cathy to Wuthering Heights to take care of Linton, who was dying, and to free up the Grange so he could rent it out (to Lockwood, in fact). Heathcliff told Ellen that he was still obsessed by his beloved Catherine, and had gone to gaze at her long-dead body when her coffin was uncovered by the digging of Edgar's grave.

Cathy had to care for Linton alone, and when he died, she maintained an unfriendly attitude to the household: Heathcliff, Hareton (who was in love with her), Joseph, and Zillah , the housekeeper. As time passed, however, she became lonely enough to seek Hareton's company, and began teaching him to read.

This is around the time of Lockwood's time at the Grange. He leaves the area for several months, and when he returns, he learns that while he was gone:

Heathcliff began to act more and more strangely, and became incapable of concentrating on the world around him, as though Catherine's ghost wouldn't let him. He all but stopped eating and sleeping, and Ellen found him dead one morning, with a savage smile on his face. He was buried next to Catherine, as he had wished. Hareton grieved for him, but was too happy with the younger Cathy to be inconsolable. When the novel ends, Hareton and Cathy plan to marry and move to the Grange.

GradeSaver will pay $15 for your literature essays

Wuthering Heights Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Wuthering Heights is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why does Cathy have a hybrid character in Wuthering heights?

Cathy is a hybrid, embodying the virtues of both households, genuinely caring for the sick, but also capable of exercising her own will and judgement and going out onto the moors unsupervised.

Catherine Earnshaw is Mr. Earnshaw's daughter and Hindley's sister. She is also Heathcliff's foster sister and love interest. She marries Edgar Linton and has a daughter, also named Catherine. Catherine is beautiful and charming, but she is never...

Spending the night at Wuthering Heights, Lockwood... Select one: a. has to be rescued from the dogs by Zillah the housekeeper. b. sleeps in Catherine Earnshaw’s room and reads her journal. c. sees a ghostly apparition and refuses its plea to “let me in!”

I would say "E". Lockwood experiences a nightmare that feels like an apparition.

Study Guide for Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights study guide contains a biography of Emily Bronte, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About Wuthering Heights
  • Wuthering Heights Video
  • Character List

Essays for Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

  • Heathcliff's Obsessions
  • The Setting in Wuthering Heights
  • Mirrors, Windows, and Glass in Wuthering Heights
  • The Problem of Split Personalities in Wuthering Heights
  • The Main Characters in Wuthering Heights and Their Resemblance To Children

Lesson Plan for Wuthering Heights

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to Wuthering Heights
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • Wuthering Heights Bibliography

E-Text of Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights e-text contains the full text of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

  • Chapters 1-5
  • Chapters 6-10
  • Chapters 11-15
  • Chapters 16-20
  • Chapters 21-25

Wikipedia Entries for Wuthering Heights

  • Introduction

wuthering heights essay

“Wuthering Heights” a Novel by Emily Bronte Essay

  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment

The societal conflict is, perhaps, one of the most poignant aspects of Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Shedding light on the human nature, as well as on the specifics of interactions between the members of the Victorian society, the book offers an exhaustive description of the problems that the lack of clarity in the social and class relationships creates.

Although Wuthering Heights was not the first novel that brought the impact of social and class ambiguity on the specifics of interpersonal relationships to the public’s attention, Emily Bronte clearly offered a new outlook on the problem. Wuthering Heights addresses the issues of social and class ambiguity by not merely incorporating the problems into its plot but making them a part of the very fabric of the narration. Specifically, the relationships between Cathy and Heathcliff should be considered a prime example of the great divide between the representatives of different social strata.

The dilemmas of the communication between the members of different classes and social strata become the most evident in the conflicts that are related directly to the relationships between the characters in the Wuthering Heights . Making the most obvious example, one must mention the relationships between Cathy and Heathcliff starting from the point at which she decides to decline Heathcliff’ proposal and marry Edgar:” 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” (Bronte “Chapter 9”). The lead character states directly that these are not the personal issues but the social and the class-related ones that set her and Edgar apart.

The scene mentioned above, though being rather short, sheds a lot of light on the tragedy of the social and class ambiguity. The fact that Cathy dismissed the idea of marrying Heathcliff for the sake of a more promising marriage with Linton coupled with her bitter realization of her loss shows that there are no clear characteristics for either of the social strata represented in the novel. In fact, the scene in which the understanding of Cathy’s mistake hits her becomes the point at which the social and class ambiguity peaks in the novel (Sahin 587).

The development that Heathcliff undergoes, however, cannot be deemed as one-dimensional, either. More to the pit, the very character can be described as a graphic representation of the vagueness in the differences between the social and the class-related levels in the society. Indeed, a closer look at the transformation that the character undergoes will show that, from a sweet, innocent, and noble yet poor man, he turns into a social idol whose manners and demeanour leave much to be desired.

Heathcliff commits terrible things to exert his revenge upon Cathy; furthermore, he makes his wife, an innocent person, who had nothing to do with their conflict, to begin with, suffer. Differently put, the shift from a noble, if somewhat simple, attitude that made him so attractive at the beginning of the novel into a merciless and egotistic brute aligns with his transformation from belonging to the lower class population to reaching the divine pinnacle of the upper class.

The identified switch in the character’s development points quite clearly to the lack of balance between the members of different social strata and classes in society. In fact, the drastic lack of balance makes one’s personality dissolve completely, making a tremendous step backwards in personal and ethical development, as Heathcliff’s character arc shows quite graphically.

It would be wrong to claim that Bronte strips her characters off of their dignity; instead, she allows the readers to track their slow descent into insanity and misery, making it clear that they are the only source of misery that they are experiencing is rooted in their own imperfect concept of the societal structure and the clichés about the classes that the society is divided into.

Furthermore, the characters subvert these clichés quite successfully as the representatives of the lower-class stratum act in a much nobler and ethically appropriate way than those that are identified as the crème of the society. The fact that neither of the characters undergoing the transformation is capable of returning back to the previous stage of their ethical and moral evolution, therefore, becoming better and correcting their mistakes, creates the impression of impending doom and adds a tint of fatality to the novel (Brown 82).

In other words, assuming that the characters’ social position is responsible for the actions that they take and the choices that they consider appropriate would be quite a stretch. While the significance of the social pressure is not to be underestimated the people described in the novel make conscious choices that they deemed as appropriate in the identified scenarios. It is not the change in the social position that makes Heathcliff torture his wife, and the suffering that he has been under throughout his entire life does not justify the cold-hearted attitude that he assumed when communicating with her (Chapman 84).

In fact, the subject matter can be viewed from the most basic perspective, i.e., the concept of a struggle between the need for financial wellbeing and the need for emotional comfort. According to Jankova, the entire novel is shot through with the theme of a conflict between an emotional attachment and the financial, or the societal, power: “The theme of conflict between power and passion in both novels is introduced by two pairs who seek their balance in order to achieve happiness” (Jankova 3).

Therefore, Bronte makes it quite clear that the characters’ happiness hinges on the basic yet very complicated choice that they have to make. Though on the surface, it is about choosing between the actual feelings and wealth, on a deeper level, it implies the choice between two areas of comfort, i.e., the solid and predictable yet passionless wealth-based one and the thrilling yet possibly physically devastating emotional connection.

Furthermore, the conflict between the social and the class ambiguity can be rendered through the juxtaposition of the materialism and the basic human values in the novel. As stressed above, Cathy chooses materialism over the humble charm of Heathcliff, the person that she actually loves. At this point, the character manifests her materialistic nature. It is quite remarkable that Heathcliff, though also succumbing to a drastic change after his emotional journey, is not affected by the materialistic aspect of his existence. While he admittedly becomes richer and gains a better social status, the money that he receives does not seem to corrupt him.

What makes hi truly wicked is the emotional turmoil that he has been through and not the wealth that he acquired on his journey to prosperity. In fact, as Bouziane stresses, the tension between the materialistic elements of his life and the love that he experienced in his life has been an integral part of his existence since his very childhood: “Hindley becomes tyrannical […] He drove him [Heathcliff] from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead” (Bouziane 170).

It could be argued that the changes described in the novel, in general, and the transformation of the lead characters, in particular, can be attributed to the changes in their personality and not to the financial wellbeing that Heathcliff finally gains. On the one hand, the latter’s shift from a rather likable and generally benevolent character to a vengeful beast can be interpreted as the result of the pain that he has been exposing himself to since Cathy turned his proposal down and chose Edgar. Indeed, Heathcliff did not gain the despicable propensity to violence that he displays the third act of the novel overnight; instead, it stems from the grudge that he has been bearing for quite a few years (Bullen 113).

Similarly, the revelation that Cathy finally experiences as she realizes that the lack of the social status and the unavailability of the class privileges that she is capable of enjoying would not have impeded her happiness with the person that she loved cannot be viewed as a sudden strike. The dissatisfaction and the disappointment that has been brewing for years finally found their release in her regret.

Furthermore, it could be argued that the decisions made by the two characters are driven by entirely different types of power. Whereas Cathy engages in cool-blooded calculations of what social opportunities the marriage will open in front of her, Heathcliff acts under the spur of the moment, taking advantage of every minute of his interactions with others.

Nevertheless, as stressed above, the fact that the characters shape and change under the pressure of the factors that can be defined as a change in their societal status makes a clear case for the portrayal of a rapid shift in the values system of each character involved. It is quite remarkable that both characters are pitiful and miserable in their lack of moral fabric and their craving for acceptance in society. Therefore, the lack of balance between the social and class statuses, as well as the absence of correlation between them, displayed in the novel, manifests itself with every choice that the characters make (Ingham 24).

Furthermore, by following the behavioural patterns that the society foists on them, both characters become even more miserable in the process, therefore, aggravating the situation and proving that the identified lack of balance not only disrupts their relations but also affects each of them very deeply. In fact, the inconsistency between the wealth, social recognition, and the basic moral values that they used to possess torments the lead characters to the point where Cathy dies, leaving Heathcliff heartbroken.

The act of repent that Heathcliff finds himself in as he realizes that Cathy is dead, in fact, can be considered as a step toward redemption and the final reconciliation with his self. In fact, in a similar way, the contempt that young Cathy, the daughter of the diseased lead character, displays for Hareton Earnshaw can be viewed as the extension of the relationships between her mother and Heathcliff, which takes the idea of the social imbalance to the next level.

The way that Cathy treats Hareton makes it quite clear that the problem of social inequality is unlikely to ever be vanquished. Instead, it is bound to remain the foundation for relationships between the representatives of different classes for quite a while: “‘My name is Hareton Earnshaw,’ growled the other; ‘and I’d counsel you to respect it!’ ‘I’ve shown no disrespect,’ was my reply, laughing internally at the dignity with which he announced himself” (Bronte “Chapter 2”).

By showing how the gap between different social strata and classes shapes people’s relationships and determines essential life choices made by them, Bronte makes it quite evident that there is a strong social and class ambiguity. Though the standards foisted onto the people from all walks of life might seem ridiculous, they are also binding, making one lean toward specific choices that would have seemed inappropriate in another scenario.

Furthermore, Bronte paints a frighteningly realistic picture where the characters are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again, aggravating their situation and only making themselves and the people around them more miserable as they conform to the concept of the social classes. In addition, the author proves that the presence of ambiguity in the concept of the social and class-related position is intrinsic and can be attributed to human nature. Leaving the readers on a powerful and ambiguous note, the novel calls for the reconsideration of the current societal values and concepts.

Works Cited

Bouziane, Katherine. “Materialism versus Human Values in the Victorian Novels: The Case of Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights.” Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on Literature 3.1 (2014): 167-173. Print.

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights . 1847. Web.

Brown, Erica. Comedy and the Feminine Middlebrow Novel: Elizabeth Von Arnim and Elizabeth Taylor . New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Bullen, James B. Writing and Victorianism . New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print.

Chapman, Raymond. Forms of Speech in Victorian Fiction . New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print.

Ingham, Patricia. The Brontes. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print.

Jankova, Natka. “The Struggle of Power and Passion in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.” Journal of Social and Human Sciences 4.1 (2014): 117-125. Print.

Sahin, Anjumon. “Wuthering Heights: A Challenge to the Victorian Universe.” International Journal of Research (IJR) 1.4 (2014): 86-592. Print.

  • Summary & Plot
  • Characters & Family Tree
  • Symbols & Figurative Language
  • Questions and Answers
  • "Paradise Lost" a Poem by John Milton
  • Racist Ideas in Joseph Conrad’s Work
  • Bronte's "Jane Eyre" and Rhys' "Wide Sargasso Sea"
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • Social Inequality in "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte
  • "V for Vendetta" by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
  • "Swamp Thing" a Book by Alan Moore
  • "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen: Characters Analysis
  • "Le Morte d'Arthur" by Thomas Malory
  • "The Wife of Bath’s Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, October 17). "Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte. https://ivypanda.com/essays/wuthering-heights-a-novel-by-emily-bronte/

""Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte." IvyPanda , 17 Oct. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/wuthering-heights-a-novel-by-emily-bronte/.

IvyPanda . (2020) '"Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte'. 17 October.

IvyPanda . 2020. ""Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte." October 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/wuthering-heights-a-novel-by-emily-bronte/.

1. IvyPanda . ""Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte." October 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/wuthering-heights-a-novel-by-emily-bronte/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte." October 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/wuthering-heights-a-novel-by-emily-bronte/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Wuthering Heights Essay

Wuthering Heights is a book by Emily Bronte. It is a story of love and revenge, and is set on the Yorkshire moors. Wuthering Heights is often seen as a classic novel, and is widely studied in schools.

Wuthering Heights is a book by Emily Bronte. It was published in 1847, and is generally considered to be her masterpiece. The story is set on the Yorkshire moors, and tells the tale of love and revenge. Wuthering Heights is now seen as a classic novel, and is still studied by students all over the world. Emily Bronte is considered to be one of the greatest English authors of all time.

If you’re looking for a great book to read, then Wuthering Heights is definitely worth a look. It’s a complex story, but it’s well worth the effort. Emily Bronte is an excellent author, and Wuthering Heights is sure to captivate you from beginning to end. So if you’re looking for something exciting and engrossing, be sure to check out Wuthering Heights! You won’t regret it.

Wuthering Heights is the tragic story of Heathcliff, an orphaned boy who becomes obsessed with Catherine Earnshaw and her wealthy guardian.

Wuthering Heights is a book that you can’t help but be pulled into, with its powerful descriptions of the bleak Yorkshire moors and the passionate characters who inhabit them.

Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights when she was just nineteen years old, and the book is considered to be one of the most original and accomplished of all Victorian novels. Wuthering Heights has been banned, admired, dissected, and adapted countless times, and it still remains one of the most loved – and most hated – books in the world. If you’re looking for a book that will keep you engrossed from beginning to end, Wuthering Heights is definitely it. So if you’re ready to be taken on a dark and twisting journey, then buckle up and prepare to read Wuthering Heights.

The love between Catherine and Hareton Hindley’s son, which is a more delicate and kind version of the love between Cathy and Heathcliff, is poised to have a happy conclusion.

Wuthering Heights is a story of love and revenge, and tells the tale of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons. The love that develops between young Catherine and Hindley’s son, Hareton, is a paler and gentler version of the love between Cathy and Heathcliff, and it’s poised for a happy ending. However, Heathcliff returns after many years away, seeking revenge on those who have wronged him. Wuthering Heights is a rich and dark novel, full of passion and violence.

Although Heathcliff still loves as fiercely as he once loved Cathy, his actions are now driven by a thirst for vengeance. He resorts to exacting some form of retribution from everyone who, in his opinion, has wronged him: Hindley (and his descendants) for mistreating him, and the Lintons (Edgar and Isabella) for taking Cathy away from him.

Wuthering Heights is a novel of passion, mystery, and revenge. It tells the story of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, who live on opposite sides of Wuthering Heights, an isolated house on the Yorkshire moors. The Earnshaws are a poor family; the Lintons are wealthy landowners.

Heathcliff, an orphan brought up by Hindley Earnshaw, falls in love with Cathy Linton and they run away together. When Cathy returns to Wuthering Heights after four years away, she finds that she is now married to Edgar Linton. Heathcliff plots to destroy his rival and take Cathy back for himself. Wuthering Heights is a story of unrequited love, passion, and revenge.

The novel was written by Emily Bronte, who was born in 1818 and died in 1848, shortly after Wuthering Heights was published. It is one of three novels she wrote (the other two are The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey), but it is the only one that was published during her lifetime. Wuthering Heights is considered to be a classic of English literature. It has been adapted for stage, television, and film many times.

Some famous adaptations include Wuthering Heights (1939), starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon; Wuthering Heights (1970), starring Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall; Wuthering Heights (1992), starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche; and Wuthering Heights (2009), a three-part television adaptation starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley.

The central theme of the book is the dualism of good and evil. She has emphasized this area through piety, love, vengeance, and obsession. At first, there appears to be a leaning toward either goodness or evil among various figures.

Heathcliff, for example, represents the dark side of human nature with his anger, jealousy, and thirst for revenge. On the other hand, Catherine Earnshaw is a good person with strong morals. However, as the novel progresses, Heathcliff manages to corrupt Cathy and Edgar Linton, making them just as wicked as he is. Wuthering Heights is a story about the fall of man and how evil can take over when people give in to their desires. Bronte has shown how good can eventually overcome evil if people are willing to fight for it.

Wuthering Heights contains a number of prominent themes, including revenge and justice, which represent significant experiences, personality flaws, and the path of devastation. Heathcliff starts his existence in Wuthering Heights with an open heart but grows enraged after being mistreated by Edgar and Hindley.

Wuthering Heights is a novel about passionate love, cruel revenge, and the power of nature to erode human happiness. Wuthering Heights is a novel full of passion and emotion. The characters in the novel are motivated by intense feelings such as love, hate, jealousy, and vengeance. Emily Bronte has written Wuthering Heights as if it were a poem. This makes the story more powerful and moving.

The language is descriptive and lyrical which helps to set the mood for the reader. Wuthering Heights is a timeless classic that has been enjoyed by readers for many years. It is a must-read for all fans of romance and mystery. Wuthering Heights will leave you with a feeling of sadness and happiness all at the same time. It is a beautiful story that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it.

More Essays

  • Examples Of Revenge In Wuthering Heights
  • Wuthering Heights
  • The Characters of Wuthering Heights
  • Wuthering Heights Pros And Cons Essay
  • Macbeth And Wuthering Heights
  • Wuthering Heights And Atonement Essay
  • The novel Wuthering Heights
  • Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

IMAGES

  1. Wuthering Heights by Silvia Plath Analysis Free Essay Example 1570

    wuthering heights essay

  2. Revenge and Justice in Wuthering Heights

    wuthering heights essay

  3. Unraveling Emily Bronte's Literary Legacy: A Deep Dive into "Wuthering

    wuthering heights essay

  4. Wuthering Heights essay/analysis

    wuthering heights essay

  5. (DOC) Home-essay on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

    wuthering heights essay

  6. Wuthering Heights Essay Questions

    wuthering heights essay

VIDEO

  1. Wuthering Heights summary in hindi by Emily Bronte || B.A.Part-2(raj english)

  2. Update 1.1 is INSANE

  3. Is Wuthering Waves The "Genshin Killer"

  4. 𝙀𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚

  5. wuthering heights is overrated (rant review)

  6. HE CAN'T PLAY WUTHERING WAVES SO HE WROTE AN ESSAY!?

COMMENTS

  1. Analysis of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights

    The fullest approach to Emily Brontë's novel is through the basic patterns that support this vision. Wuthering Heights concerns the interactions of two families, the Earnshaws and Lintons, over three generations. The novel is set in the desolate moors of Yorkshire and covers the years from 1771 to 1803. The Earnshaws and Lintons are in ...

  2. Wuthering Heights Historical Context: Study Guide

    Wuthering Heights Essay Topics & Samples. The final part of our comprehensive guide offers the most exciting essay questions and topic ideas you can use for various assignments. 📜 Historical Context of Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was first published in 1847. To fully comprehend the novel's background and events, we ...

  3. Wuthering Heights Themes

    The main themes in Wuthering Heights are love's destructive power, Victorian gender roles, and nature and Romanticism. Love's destructive power: Catherine and Heathcliff's fierce love for one ...

  4. Wuthering Heights Study Guide

    Full Title: Wuthering Heights. When Published: 1847. Literary Period: Victorian. Genre: Romanticism / Realism / Gothic (e.g., mysterious family relationships, vulnerable heroines, houses full of secrets, and wild landscapes) Setting: Yorkshire, England, late 18th to early 19th century. Climax: Heathcliff and Catherine's tearful, impassioned ...

  5. Wuthering Heights Essays and Criticism

    Wuthering Heights was the only novel Emily Brontë ever published, and both it and the book of poetry she published with her sisters were printed under the pen name, Ellis Bell, a name which Emily ...

  6. Wuthering Heights Essays

    Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is essentially a romantic novel in which the author, Emily Bronte, brings two groups of people with different backgrounds into contact with each other. Close analysis of the novel reveals a key theme. When the reader examines the...

  7. Wuthering Heights

    36 essay samples found. Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, known for its tragic love story, complex characters, and exploration of social class distinctions. Essays on this novel might explore the gothic and romantic elements, the symbolic use of the natural environment, or the psychological complexities of characters like ...

  8. Wuthering Heights Essay Questions

    Wuthering Heights Essay Questions. 1. Analyze the relationship between Lockwood and Heathcliff. Heathcliff is Lockwood's first introduction to the passionate, terrifying world of Wuthering Heights. Early in the novel, Lockwood frequently confuses himself and Heathcliff. At one point, he backtracks on his description of Heathcliff because he ...

  9. Wuthering Heights Essay Topics

    Essay Topics. 1. In an article about Wuthering Heights by British journalist Kathryn Hughes, Emily Brontë is described as "the patron saint of difficult women.". Defend or refute this notion, using Brontë's depiction of female characters as evidence of your argument. 2.

  10. Wuthering Heights Analysis

    Analysis. An essential element of Wuthering Heights is the exploration and extension of the meaning of romance. By contrasting the passionate, natural love of Catherine and Heathcliff with the ...

  11. Wuthering Heights Critical Overview

    Wuthering Heights must appear a rude and strange production … in a great measure unintelligible, and—where intelligible—repulsive." The preface was intended as a defense of the writer and ...

  12. Wuthering Heights Themes

    Wuthering Heights study guide contains a biography of Emily Bronte, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes.

  13. 'Wuthering Heights' Themes, Symbols, Literary Devices

    Symbols: The Ragged Wuthering Heights vs. the Pristine Thrushcross Grange. As an estate, Wuthering Heights is a farmhouse in the moorlands ruled by the cruel and ruthless Hindley. It symbolizes the wildness of both Cathy and Heathcliff. By contrast, Thrushcross Grange, all adorned in crimson, represents cultural and societal norms.

  14. Wuthering Heights Summary

    Wuthering Heights study guide contains a biography of Emily Bronte, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes.

  15. "Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte Essay

    Shedding light on the human nature, as well as on the specifics of interactions between the members of the Victorian society, the book offers an exhaustive description of the problems that the lack of clarity in the social and class relationships creates. Get a custom essay on "Wuthering Heights" a Novel by Emily Bronte. 192 writers online.

  16. Wuthering Heights Key Ideas and Commentary

    Wuthering Heights is an exposed, cold farmhouse; Thrushcross Grange is an orderly gentleman's home with plush furnishings, warm fires, and an enclosed park. The houses, instead of places of ...

  17. Wuthering Heights Essay

    Wuthering Heights Essay. Wuthering Heights is a book by Emily Bronte. It is a story of love and revenge, and is set on the Yorkshire moors. Wuthering Heights is often seen as a classic novel, and is widely studied in schools. Wuthering Heights is a book by Emily Bronte. It was published in 1847, and is generally considered to be her masterpiece.

  18. Wuthering Heights Critical Essays

    Wuthering Heights can be viewed as the struggle between civilized, conventional human behavior and its wild, anarchistic side. Put simply, the novel contrasts the good and evil in human nature ...