19 Wuthering Heights

Dr. Jaya Kapoor

18.1 Introduction

18.2 The novelist

18.3 The family tree

18.4 The story

18.5 The characters

18.6 The Victorian and the Romantic impact

18.7 The Geographical Location

18.8 Plot construction

18.9 Narrative style and narrators

18.10 Theoretical interpretations

A-Feminist interpretation-

B-Marxist interpretation

C-Postcolonial interpretation

18.11 Interesting facts

18.12 Further readings

18.13 Assessment and Evaluation

18.1 Introduction

Wuthering Heights was published in 1847. The novel stands at the cusp of the romantic and Victorian ages and reflects the traits of both but seems to quite ahead of its times in terms of the treatment of the subject. This could have been one of the reasons why the novel was not very well received by the critics and readers alike but slowly gained fame and was established as a classic tale that transcended its age. It is the only published novel of Emily Bronte who died soon after completing the book. The book was published by her sister Charlotte after her death. The novel is remarkable in the way the idea of love evolves in various relationships ranging from the overwhelming passions of Heathcliff and Catherine to the equally deep and intense love of Cathy and Hareton, the way it builds up the complexities in the character of Heathcliff who could be detested for his ruthlessness but for his love for Catherine who is also a very complex character with her intense passionate love for Heathcliff which she sacrifices and to marryEdgar Linton but fails in remaining committed to the marriage as well. What is as remarkable as the story is the narrative pattern and language of the story. With two narrators, and constant movement between flashbacks and present narrative there is a possibility that the novelist might lose grip over the story, but that does not happen here. One of the ways the novelist achieves the smooth movement of the narrative is by language. Where each character could be identified by the way they speak from the completely rustic Joseph to the slightly better Nelly to Hareton to Cathy and finally the language of Lockwood. It would amount to an achievement for any novelist and is all the more creditable since it is the first work by a young person.

18.2 The novelist

The novelist, Emily Bronte, was the daughter of a clergy man, Patrik Bronte, from Thornton village in Yorkshire. They were five sisters and one brother. Their relatively limited social life led to an early literary interest in the children. They were deeply influenced by Keats, Shelly, Walter Scott, and Byron. Three of the sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne – wrote and published a poetry collection under pseudonyms of Currer Bell (Charlotte B.), Ellis Bell (Emily B.) and Acton Bell (Anne B). The volume was not very remarkable except a few pieces mostly by Emily. Charlotte went on to write ―Jane Eyre‖ which became very popular and Charlotte became a household name. The journey was difficult for Emily whose novel was not very well received by the public as well as the critics. Its unconventional story and even more unconventional romance did not go down well with the Victorian reader. She died soon after the publication of the first edition at the age of thirty. The novel slowly gained popularity and stands as a classic today. Emily was a reclusive and private person so not much is known about her. Her sister‘s introduction to the second edition is valuable source of information. In fact Charlotte Bronte‘s account of her sister is virtually the only biographical account of any authenticity on the writer. That such a gentle and shy person could conceive a tale with such turbulent emotions and unconventional storyline adds to the enigma of the writer as much as to the myth of the novel.

18.3 The family tree

Before we look at these and other aspects of the masterpiece, let us understand the way the family tree of the story is build.

Lintons of Thrushcross Grange and Earnshaws of Wuthering Heights are both old and well established families of the neighbourhood. Linton household is more urbane and sophisticated as compared to the Earnshaws at the point the story of the novel begins. Mr. Earnshaw has two children – Hindley and Catherine. A third child had died a few years back. Mr. Earnshaw brings home a destitute boy home and he is named Heathcliff after this third child who had died. Hindley marries Frances and they have a child, Hareton. Catherine had fallen in love with Heathcliff but marries Edgar Linton and has a daughter named Catherine but here called Cathy. Heathcliff marries Edgar‘s sister Isabella and their child is named Linton. Cathy is first married to Linton and then after his death, she is betrothed to Hareton. It is remarkable how well-crafted the entire story is around the complexities that emerge from these relationships. There is nothing left to chance or incredible. Even the way Heathcliff could have earned the wealth when he was away for three years is explained by the way he becomes the master of Wuthering Heights and also Thrushcross Grange on his return. Infact the unknown origins of Heathcliff, his unusual appearance and the way he suddenly becomes wealthy creates a sense of mystery around him and deepens his enigmatic character. He is a typical Byronic hero – dark, brooding, fearless, capable of deep passions including both love and hatred.

18.4 The story

The story, put very simply, is about the love of Catherine and Heathcliff. Catherine‘s father finds a small boy Heathcliff on the streets and brings him home. He treats the boy like a son. The boy is very quiet and does not show a lot of response to either the love of Mr. Earnshaw or the dislike of most of the other household. The boy sparks hatred in Hindley but his companionship with Catherine slowly grows into a deep love. After the death of Mr. Earnshaw,Hindley takes over the farm and does not treat Heathcliff well. He stops the education of Heathcliff and puts him to work in the farm. He also stops Catherine from spending time with Heathcliff.He succeeds in the first but fails in the second and Heathcliff and Catherine grow up defying him and spending long hours in the moors. Once Catherine is hurt while hanging around in the garden of Thrushcross Grange with Heathcliff and is forced to stay there till she gets better. Catherine interacts with the Edgar and Isabella who are socially her equal and refined people. Even on her return to Heights, she keeps up her interaction with the Linton‘s. She is torn between her passions for Heathcliff and the freedom she feels in his company, and the refined and socially acceptable interactions she has with the Lintons. Catherine starts understanding that her relationship with Heathcliff will not be socially acceptable so she agrees to marry Edgar who is socially her equal. Heathcliff is very disturbed and disappears without a trace. Catherine meanwhile has settled into her life at Thrushcross Grange where she is adored by Edgar. Heathcliff comes back after three years as a very wealthy man. Heathcliff‘s return brings the lovers together again but this time the relationships have become very complex. Heathcliff is filed with spite for Linton and there are clashes between the two. Heathcliff also runs away with Isabella and after marrying her, treats her with cruelty and brutishness. Catherine is unable to contain her love for Heathcliff in spite of all the troubles. But she is also not able to take the stress of the trouble this brings to her marriage and loses her sanity and passes away. Catherine passes away and is buried in the moors as she had spent her last few days longing to be there and wanted to be buried there. Heathcliff is devastated but refuses to soften up. Heathcliff marries Edgar‘s sister more as a revenge for Catherine marrying Edgar. She is unable to bear the brutish behavior of Heathcliff and escapes to Grange but Linton refuses to accept her and she goes too London. She has a son from Heathcliff but Heathcliff has no interest in either of them and never makes any attempt to meet them. He swindles Hindley into selling Wuthering heights bit by bit. Hindley had got into a deep problem of drinking and gambling after his wife had passed in childbirth. Hindley has no affection for his son Hareton who is taken care of by Nelly. Heathcliff uses this weakness for gambling and drinking to wreck Hindley and avenge for his past. Hindley dies under very mysterious circumstances and Heathcliff becomes the master of Wuthering Heights. And as a further revenge, Heathcliff does not let Hareton get any education or upbringing expected for his station in life. He sends Nelly away and keeps Hareton with him at Wuthering Heights. He turns the boy into almost a savage, uncultured, uneducated boy. Catherine‘s daughter Cathy turns into a beautiful and well brought up girl under the love and care of Edgar and Nelly. Meanwhile Isabella dies and writes to Edgar to take care of her son. Edgar brings her son Linton to live with them but Heathcliff asks Edgar to send his son to him. There was no love of paternal concern in this gesture but merely spite and scheming. Linton is a very sick child and there is no hope that he can live long. Soon Heathcliff forces Cathy to marry Linton who is seriously ill and almost on his deathbed. Immediately after this marriage, Edgar passes away and is buried beside Catherine in the moors. Cathy takes care of Linton in his last days even though she is struggling to come to terms with her father‘s death and deeply distressed by the circumstances of her marriage. Linton‘s health deteriorates but Heathcliff refuses to even call the doctor and Linton dies soon. Heathcliff is now the master of both Heights and Grange and refuses to send Cathy back to Grange. He keeps her in Heights and treats her with utter contempt and disdain. During this period of struggle, Cathy develops a deep and intense love for Hareton. Heathcliff meanwhile suddenly becomes careless about everything and starts spending long hours in the moors. He dies under mysterious circumstances and is buried beside the graves of Catherine and Edgar. Cathy sustains through the trials and finally finds happiness in her true love unlike her mother who had died a broken unfulfilled heart.

18.5 The characters

At the center of the narrative are the Catherine, Cathy and Heathcliff. Catherine‘s basic nature seeks the freedom that the moors offer. She loves to spend time on the moor away from the brooding atmosphere of the Wuthering Heights. As she comes in contact with Heathcliff, she finds in him the same unbridled spirit and love for the moors. Her deep bonding with him is also not defined by social norms of propriety. But as she grows up she goes against her instincts, leaves Heathcliff and marries Edgar. Her decision could have risen out of a sense of social propriety and probably insecurity inherent in the economic status of the women of the time, even the ones belonging to wealthy families. She justifies her decision before Nelly and confesses to her deep attachment to Heathcliff which her marriage could not even touch. The relationship of Heathcliff and Catherine is completely Romantic in spirit – unbound by social traditions, individualistic and as close to the natural instinct of the characters as possible. Catherine marries Linton and tries to conform to the social order but fails to curb her love for Heathcliff. Her actions are often guided by entirely selfish motives as she tries to create a space for herself in the normal social order. She realizes that marriage to Heathcliff is not going to be a very good decision for their future, while in marrying Edgar she is securing her social position and economic status. She is fond of Edgar and does not want to either hurt him or leave him. She is unable to contain her love for Heathcliff and gives in to it when he returns after three years with unaccounted for wealth and grooming. Her insanity is also a reflection of the intensity of her inner turmoil as she strives to strike a balance and fails. Her crisis is a deep crisis of identity which she fails to resolve. Heathcliff is an even more enigmatic character. He has all the qualities of a Byronic hero. He has a sense of being an alien in the world he is brought in by Mr. Earnshaw as a young boy. His origins are not known and cannot be deciphered from the description of his dark looks and black hair which could make him anything from a gypsy to a slave or an illegitimate child. He gets the glamour of wealth from unaccounted sources and also gets education and manners of the genteel classes in a very short time. His nature is as much ruled by his passions as Catherine‘s is and is a combination of a deep love for Catherine and a burning hatred for Hindley. The two emotions define his character and drive all his actions in the novel. He disappears when Catherine marries Edgar, becomes a rich and educated man and comes back and marries Isabella who is Edgar‘s sister. He also cheats Edgar and takes over Thrushcross Grange driven by the urge to avenge the loss Catherine. Hatred for Hindley is the reason why he comes back and cheats Hindley into mortgaging Wuthering Heights bit by bit. Led by the same hatred, he does not get Hareton educated and makes sure that he grows up into a completelyilliterate savage, and unrefined young man. There is a bond between the two as Hareton grows up, which implies that Heathcliff identifies Hareton with himself as he was at that age. Infact Hareton is the only one who actually mourns his loss on his death. This unlikely affection is in contrast to the equally unreasonable hatred Hindley had nursed against Heathcliff and that had led him to reduce the later to the status of a servant when his father has treated him as a son. He is ruthless and cunning and there is nothing to redeem him except his love for Catherine. She is the only one for whom he is capable of displaying a positive attachment, for everyone else he is hatred and ruthlessness incarnate. But he has an acute consciousness of this selfish and ruthless aspect of his nature. His behavior is like that of a man possessed and so hardly able to control his actions. It is this consciousness which puts the reader in doubt about his being a complete villain. The deliberateness of his actions and the hatred that drove him becomes all the more obvious in the description of the last few days of his life where he lets go of the Hareton and Cathy whom he had diabolically contrived to strip of happiness and love. They seem to transform into reflections of Catherine in his eyes instead of painful reminders of his deprivations and losses and he can no more hurt them. Catherine and Heathcliff completely identify with each other. They are guided in their actions only by this natural instinct and passion for each other. Cathy in a lot of ways is representative of the values that the Victorian temperament upheld. She is educated, able to restrain herself and sustain through a bad marriage, she loves Hareton who is as disinherited and uneducated as Heathcliff had been but unlike her mother who thought it would ―degrade me to marry Heathcliff‖, she neither rebels nor gives up on her love but working patiently within the social limits, finally takes her relationship to her desired culmination. Her patient nature is in contrast to the impulsive nature of her mother. Unlike Catherine who was unable to remain in her marriage with Edgar because it went against her grain, even though there was nothing she could complain about, Cathy sustains her marriage with Linton in spite of the way he treated her. Her nursing him through his last few days when Heathcliff abandons him to die reflects the strength of her character and the humanity of her spirit. Linton realizes his mistake and is acutely aware of his weakness that led to his actions. Once again it is his awareness of his frailty that stops him being considered as evil or wicked. Set within this frame narrative of patience, the story of the passions of Catherine and Heathcliff seems even more remarkable. The reader is led to admire the character of Cathy and accept the unreasonable selfishness and ruthlessness of the elder couple, but the honesty of the two souls, their inability to sustain pretensions and their complete identification with each other is the most fascinating part of the timeless quality of the story.

18.6 The Victorian and the Romantic impact

Like most fiction of the time, the novel explores relationships in various aspects. Relationships of both love and marriage are the explored. There is a clear influence of the both the romantic spirit of adventure and freedom and the Victorian middle class values and sense of propriety in the evolution of the relationships in the novel. The central idea that love can be deep and true unbound by social constraints, it could be an all-consuming uncompromising emotion as well as the driving force of one‘s life is high Romanticism. The love of the two central characters for the freedom of the moors is also symbolic of their own free uninhibited spirits. Unfettered by social bonds, their final burial place is also where they found the truest expression of their spirits and also of their love. But the Victorian impact could be seen in the way their relationship, though not criticized, is shown to be unfulfilled while the relationship of Cathy and Hareton reaches a happy conclusion because it has the social sanction. The Romantic idea engaged in here is that love could be the reason to die as in the case of Heathcliff and Catherine, or the reason to live as in case of Hareton and Cathy. Marriage on the other hand is a social commitment which involves a responsibility and here the Victorian impact is very strong. Catherine was unable to accept the compromises and the responsibility that her marriage with Edgar involved and the result is unhappiness and trauma. Heathcliff‘s marriage with Isabella and its torment is also fallout of this inability of the two lovers to understand the implied commitments of marriage. In both cases, the novelist through her Victorian narrator Nelly brings out the unfortunate consequences of violations of the social norms. On the other hand, Cathy understands the responsibility and creates a positive impact on the lives of the people around her. Heathcliff has an unknown lineage and his physical appearance is also not very helpful in the matter. He is described as dark haired and dark eyed and at one point, it is said that he could pass for a child of a Chinese king or an Indian princess. His inability to conform to the Christian ways addsto the difficulty in establishing an identity. The Victorian middleclass reader would find it rather hard to look upon him as a hero since he does not show any qualities to be emulated. Catherine too is not ladylike in her behavior by Victorian standards. Her love for the moors and her refusal to adopt ladylike manners initially are criticized by Nelly. Though she does marry Edgar as her station in life would have demanded, her inability to remain committed to the bond of marriage is unpardonable. Her trauma and crisis are, by implication, a result of her inability to remain committed to her marriage – the most sacred institution in the eyes of the Victorian mindset. The strongly individualistic temperaments and uninhibited display of passions that the lovers display are romantic and very attractive, but such unfettered individualism becomes nihilistic in the end. A strong impact of the Gothic is seen in various ways in across the novel. The wild location of wuthering heights is very much under the impact of the Gothic fiction. Catherine‘s ghost haunting Heights, Heathcliff‘s constant presence commented upon as diabolic, unholy and his unknown origins create an enigmatic hero who has more qualities of the anti-hero

18.7 The Geographical Location

The novel is set in the Yorkshire moors and in the love of the moors of most of the character including Catherine, Heathcliff, Edgar, Cathy and Hareton reflects the love the novelist herself had for the pace. The moors are the refuge that the battered and troubled souls found solace in. They are also associated with the happiest moments in the lives of the characters. Catherine and Heathcliff ‗s love blossomed in the moors, Cathy loved going for walks out in the moors and after falling in love with Hareton, the two often spent time together there. The moors as a symbol of nature are therefore also the place the Heathcliff and Catherine with their impulsive uninhibited temperaments sought spontaneously. They could identify with it naturally and yearned to be out there free and carefree.The free spiritedness and the sense of belonging that they share is also associated with the moors. It is only when they were together on the moors that they were completely happy. Neither Thrushcross Grange nor Wuthering Heights gives them that joy. It is the moorswith its wilderness and isolation which identify it with the free spirit of nature that also rules the temperaments of the two lovers. It is this freedom that Catherine had sacrificed in entering into the marriage with Edgar and that she yearns fortill the end. Wuthering Heights is a dark brooding imposing place that has been interpreted as hellish.

It is cannot give solace to the people who live in it. The dark foreboding atmosphere, the location in the isolated wilderness exposed to the winds strong enough to permanently bend the trees around it do not look inviting or prove to be hospitable. It is a contrast to the warmth and comfort of Thrushcross Grange. In a lot of ways Wuthering Heights is a reflection of the love of Catherine and Heathcliff- unbound, proud, and free from social bondages, existing in a world of its own.

The Wuthering Heights is itself reminiscent of the building described in the Gothic novels. It has an isolated ‗primitive‘ location in the wilderness, where it is stands exposed to the ravages of the elements. It is far from normal social interactions and the hovering spirit of Catherine sensed by Lockwood further creates a place which is as fascinating and close to the spirit of nature as the passions of Heathcliff and Catherine. Their spirits seem to hover at Wuthering Heights and the Moors, places associated with the essential spirit of their relationship. The other house in the novel, Thrushcross Grange is much closer to social life, and hence associated with normal social existence which Catherine tries to embrace. She fails to curb her natural impulses and falls into insanity as a result of the conflict. Cathy, who grows up there, inherits the spirit of Catherine and the temperance of Edgar. She, therefore, has a balanced temperament that enables her to resist the hatred of Heathcliff and also to create a life for herself as she wants. Hareton and Cathy fall in love in at Wuthering heights but decide to shift to Thrushcross after marriage symbolically moving into the accepted social structure, bond by a socially accepted relationship. The house is rented to Lockwood who is one of the narrators of the story and again a balanced and cultivated mind.

18.8 Plot construction

In the construction of the plot, the novelist does not use a lot of chance happenings or accidents to further the story as a lot of the novelists of the time did. The story is very well crafted and though the plot shifts between the past and the present using several timeframes, the narrative never really loses the grip over the plot. It works within a very limited social canvas and uses few characters but those it does are well defined. The character of both the protagonists is not idealized. Their behavior is not like typical romantic heroes and heroines. There is a selfish streak in Catherine who leads her to marry Edgar for his charm and social status. Still more on Heathcliff‘s return, she put Edgar under pressure to accept the former‘s presence in Grange. She does this in spite of the fact that she can read the character of Heathcliff closely and knows that apart from herself, he is incapable of loving anyone else and his presence at Grange can only bring disruption there. She also knows how Heathcliff is swindling her brother of his property but refuses to speak on his behalf. This is not how a romantic heroine is supposed to be like especially in the Victorian mindset. And even more surprising is the portrayal of character of Heathcliff whose actions are cruel and vindictive to the extreme tempered only his love for Catherine. He abides by none of the characteristics which are the hallmark of a romantic hero. Not only is he incapable of loving anyone except Catherine. But also does not stop to show remorse or pity to those whom he finds hateful. Emily Bronte‘s succeeds in creating them convincingly at a time when the anti-hero was not a much explored idea reflects her competence as a narrator. To think of protagonists in an extra-marital affair and to make them vulnerable to human weaknesses could not have been easily conceivable at that time especially since she was the daughter of a clergyman and had led a very protected and secluded life in the countryside.

18.9 Narrative style and narrators

Even more remarkable is the narrative style of the novel. It involves two clear narrators as Lockwood whose narration is includes the narration by Nelly who in turn at times gives a reported account of events. It is very interesting because this layered narrative also involves making the narrators distinct through their language. So the genteel educated and literary language of Lockwood is clearly demarcated from the Nelly‘s language that comes from the lower class but is self-educated and has read a lot. So her language might not be that of the genteel but it is also not totally the dialect that the other servants like Joseph and Zillah speak. And where she is reporting what others have told her, she speaks from memory but her language is faithful to that of the narrators. So we see that the narrative that comes to us is in certain places filtered as many as three times. In using so many sources, the novelist is maintaining the element of reliability of the narrative and establishing the credibility of the events in our eyes. But as far as far as their reliability as narrators is concerned, Lockwood has had no interaction with most of the major characters and being an outsider, he has very limited interaction with those who still around. His first impressions about most of the characters he personally meets aremislaid and he is lead to revise them time and again. He mostly depends on Nelly for his perspective and Nelly being not just a silent witness but also a crucial agents in many events, is judgmental and biased. But even through this bias, the novelist brings out the characters with shades other than those Nelly sees them in. Her disapproval of the Catherine‘s relationship with Heathcliff or her approval of Edgar are typically Victorian and very clearly so as is her affection for Cathy and Hareton and her approval of their relationship and revealed through her narrative of the story which also equally strongly brings out her prejudice towards Heathcliff. The novelist brings out these aspects of the story and reveals it all through the simplicity of Nelly‘s narrative since she is not a very skillful narrator and is also emotionally involved with the fate of the characters. But she does skip out the unrelated events and jumps in time frames to keep the narrative streamlined and Lockwood engaged in the story. There is much to be read between the lines for the reader. But it does not make the narrative vague or unclear. This is very skillfully carried out by the novelist through her detailed treatment of the way the plot builds up.

In terms of the narrative technique, in fact, the novel has over the years intrigued the critics. The layered narrative with multiple points of narration and multiplicity of voices adds to the richness of the text. It creates a polyphonic text that is open to more than one interpretations depending upon the perspective from which the reader choses to look at the text. For example the character of Catherine could be looked upon as a strong headed and wild, thoughtless and selfish or deeply passionate and clear-hearted and each interpretation will be true depending upon how we look at it. This polyphonic quality of the text was one of the reasons why the critics were baffled by the novel initially and did not know how to interpret it. In fact they found only the closing of the story with a long suffering heroine finding love in a kindhearted lover and the rightful heirs getting their inheritance to be the most acceptable and appreciable. That was the time when straightforward narratives were the norm in fiction and direction of the story could be established without problem.

18.10 Theoretical interpretations

The novel has been a subject of analysis by critics using various approaches because of this polyphonic quality of the text ranging from formalists to Marxists to psychoanalysts, from feminists to post-colonialists.

A- Feminist interpretation- The women in the novel are a very interesting group. Not only Catherine and Cathy but also the other women like Nelly, Isabella and even Zillah have something to say to the reader. Cathy does provide an example of the woman within the Victorian parameters of the term. It is Catherine who offers the tricky question. And to some extent, Emily Bronte‘s characterization stands answerable through the Victorian ideas of womanhood again.Her behaviour is unseemly in that age and time for a woman of her standing in society. Her love for Heathcliff and her defiance of the social norms initially could have been overlooked but after her marriage, her continued involvement with Heathcliff is inappropriate for the Victorian mindset. Her consequent madness could be justified by this refusal to observe the social decorum. Her madness is the only available option for a woman in Victorian society who cannot walk out her marriage under any circumstances. The Victorian reader could have read it as retribution but the feminist critics read it differently. For the women in the Victorian society, inheritance rights were very unfavourable and marriage was the only security available for them. Catherine justifies her acceptance of Edgar‘s proposal for this reason to Nelly. Her madness has been interpreted by Elaine Showalter in ―The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture 1830 – 1980 as a yearning for the childhood and its freedom and security. Zillah says at one point in the novel about Isabella that her position is worse than Zillah‘s because the latter could at least earn a living by herself but for Isabella, even that road is closed and she is bound to suffer in the marriage with Heathcliff.

A very interesting interpretation of Heathcliff‘s character is provided by Gilbert and Gubar (1979) in ―The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Imagination‖ (1979) when they propose that Heathcliff because of his lack of a lineage and family name and economic deprivation could be classed as a feminine character. He faces the same dilemma and crisis of identity that the women in the Victorian society face. In fact his defiance of the patriarchal status of Linton and Edgar is almost a Feminist protest against patriarchy. Another way he is a feminine character comes from the beginning of the story where Catherine asks her father for a whip and he brings home Heathcliff. Her desire for control is manifested in her demand for the whip and Heathcliff proves to be a manifestation of that demand. He completes her identity as she says – ―I am Heathcliff‘. The two have pointed out to a division of the novel along feminine and male principals. Thrushcross Grange, Edgar, Culture are the masculine being manifestations of Heaven and order while Catherine, nature, Heathcliff, and Wuthering Heights are the feminine aspects, manifested as wild and hellish in the novel.

B- Marxist interpretation– an interesting interpretation of the novel is provided by the Marxist critics who look at the novel as a manifestation of the eternal class struggle. At the top of the bourgeois set up is Thrushcross Grange and Cathy with her bourgeois values and upbringing, feels most at ease in it. Wuthering Heights on the other hand represents the changes in society being run by the servants for all practical purposes. Even Hareton remains at Heights till he is dispossessed and shifts to Grange when after the death of Heathcliff, he becomes the heir to the property. It is the character of Heathcliff which most interests the critics. He is not just a destitute but also devoid of any lineage or heredity – a part of the mobile workforce that came out of the increasing industrialization. His coming into the Yorkshire country with its more or less settled division between the landed bourgeois and the working class disturbs the balance. Marxist critic Terry Eagleton in his book ―Myths of Power: A Marxist study of the Bronte‘s‖ gives an interesting reading in this regard. He says that Heathcliff is the threat and the opportunity for the social system. He redefines and reinterprets it, defying the set patterns with his rootless identity. His ownership of the two places- Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange – associated with the highest bourgeois identity in the region is symbolic of the changing times and the new order of things in society.

C- Postcolonial interpretation – In the post-colonial interpretation, an important work is ―Imperialism at Home: Race and Victorian Women’s Fiction‖ by Susan Meyer. She proposes that Heathcliff is often referred to as a savage and is described as having a dark hair and dark skin. He was also speaking a gibberish language when he was found by Mr. Earnshaw on the streets of Liverpool. It is also said by Catherine that he could very well be the son of an Indian princess or a Chinese emperor. This alien appearance could be rooted in any of the colonies of Britain at that time and could explain the instant dislike he generated in most of the people around him. The prejudices he faced were in that case not those of a personal nature but arose out of a deep racial discrimination and made the acceptance of Heathcliff in the conservative rural society impossible.

Some other interesting interpretations have been provided by critics along other approaches as well. Dorothy Van Ghent applies the formalist techniques of interpretation and looks at the many windows in Wuthering heights as possible escape routes from the prison like structure. Philip Wion takes the psychological method and proposes that there is an emphasis in the novel on food and the food consumed in the two houses could be representative of the engagement of the two places with the senses. Also the loss of appetite could be a loss of vitality and a movement towards death.

18.11 Interesting facts

The three Bronte sisters had brought out a poetry collection which had 21 poems by Emily. It sold just two copies. Her poems were considered to be the better ones in the collection.
A respected journal reviews the novel as under, showing how the critics could see the brilliance of the work but could not accept the unconventional characters and story threads –

―Wuthering Heights is a strange sort of book,—baffling all regular criticism; yet, it is impossible to begin and not finish it; and quite as impossible to lay it aside afterwards and say nothing about. In Wuthering Heights the reader is shocked, disgusted, almost sickened by details of cruelty, inhumanity, and the most diabolical hate and vengeance, and anon come passages of powerful testimony to the supreme power of love – even over demons in the human form. The women in the book are of a strange fiendish-angelic nature, tantalizing, and terrible, and the men are indescribable out of the book itself. Yet, towards the close of the story occurs the following pretty, soft picture, which comes like the rainbow after a storm….We strongly recommend all our readers who love novelty to get this story, for we can promise them that they never have read anything like it before. It is very puzzling and very interesting, and if we had space we would willingly devote a little more time to the analysis of this remarkable story, but we must leave it to our readers to decide what sort of book it is.” – Douglas Jerrold’s Weekly Newspaper

you can view video on Wuthering Heights

Reference

BAR KE R, JULI E T R . V . The Brontës. New York: St. Martin’s Press, reprint edition 1996 .
BLOO M, HARO LD , ed. Charlotte Brontë’s JANE E YRE : Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publish
BE RG, MAGGI E . JANE E YRE : Portrait of a Life. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987
BRONT Ë , CHARLOT T E . J ANE E YRE : An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. Richard J. Dunn, ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2nd edition 1987 .
FR AS E R, RE BE CCA. The Brontës: Charlotte Brontë and Her Family. New York: Crown Publishers, 1988 .
GAT E S , BARB AR A T I MM , ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Brontë. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1990 .
GASKELL, ELIZABETH.T HE Life of Charlotte Bronte.Barnes and Noble Classics. New York: 2005
GI LBE RT , S ANDR A M . and S US AN GU BAR , eds. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Imagination. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, reprint edition 2000 .
GVI CI NUS , MART HA, ed. Suffer and Be Still: Women in the Victorian Age. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973 .
RE GOR, I AN , ed. The Brontës. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970 .
WI NNI F RI T H, T OM . The Brontës and Their Background: Romance and Reality.
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Macmillan, 1988 .