Wuthering Heights: The Gothic Story

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

(Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights)

Starting with one of the most iconic lines of Victorian Literature, the narrative creates an enigma for the readers. The mystery continues as one learns that the story changes hands multiple times, re-enacted by third-hand accounts. Nelly Dean, who lived in Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, comes out as the authoritative narrator- because it is she who saw Catherine, Heathcliff, and Edgar in their prime. But her certain biases towards some of the characters make her account rather questionable. The secluded Yorkshire moors, the windy hilltops, and the resistant snow construct the gloomy atmosphere in the story. Death, tears, heartbreak, revenge, and homicide await us. Following its release in 1847, controversies of it being full of depictions of mental and physical cruelty, including domestic violence, and its challenges to Victorian morality, surrounded it.

The magazine “The Examiner” states that the tale is “wild, confused, disjointed, and improbable”. Mr. Lockwood witnesses a ghost, or maybe it is the effect of a diary he is reading at the old mansion: “Let me in! Let me in!”, cries a pale figure of a woman, wringing her hands through the window. Thirty years ago, when Old Earnshaw brings Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights from his Liverpool visit, he is unwelcomed to the household. A series of physical abuses that Heathcliff suffers turns him into a manipulative, blood-thirsty, and sadist person. It is no wonder that Bronte chose to make Heathcliff a Byronic character, considering the heavy influence of Lord Byron on her persona. Lord Byron wrote about dark characters like Prometheus and Cain, and this has become a literary archetype since the 19th century. Heathcliff turns his head to the opposite direction of societal norms. One wonders how a character could be so cruel to the world when love resides in his heart. Heathcliff's love for Catherine is self-consuming. The two places of residence: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, also possess such traits similar to their residents, Heathcliff and Edgar.

While Wuthering heights, is located on a hilltop and is subject to storms, cold weather, rain, gusts of wind, Thrushcross Grange is located below in a placid, bright and friendly environment. These two places play a major role in the narrative. The former house is full of enigma and an air of skepticism. There are engravings on the doorway to the house. And a lot of deaths have happened here. The two ghostly sightings: the one at the beginning experienced by Lockwood and the one at the last experienced by the shepherd boy, happen in the former house. The titular dwelling becomes the driving-force in the plot. Wlliam Somerset Maugham includes Wuthering Heights in his ten most important novels, and he says, “‘Wuthering Heights’ reminds me of one of the great paintings of EL Glico. In the painting, there is a view of the dark and ridiculous land under the dark clouds. The thunder is rumbling, and the long, sinister figures are smashing, and they are stunned by the emotions that are not in the world.” On the other hand, the Grange is a spot of resting, calming down, always full of civility and positivity. Despite being the "perfect" house for Catherine, she is unable to fit in. All its charms fade when she falls ill.

Heathcliff and Catherine’s love for each other is untamed and full of otherworldly passion. She refers to Heathcliff as “a wild animal” after coming in contact with a more civil and lettered Mr. Edgar. She is torn between her love for Heathcliff and Edgar. Bronte’s depiction of class difference characteristic of the Victorian times is evident in Heathcliff’s demeanor when he reappears after a mysterious gap of few years. Cathy’s marriage and her pregnancy are intolerable to Heathcliff. None of the characters in the book inspire our admiration, they all are flawed, nor do they lean towards what is normal human behavior.

My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.

The politics of opposition is built into the text, in Catherine’s and Edgar’s characters, in the two dwellings, and the two generations. Cathy, Hareton, Linton have their own challenges. Feminist critics view Bronte’s novel as a prime example of the Female Gothic. The book explores the attempts of women to subvert and escape their subjection to domestic captivity and patriarchal authority. Jennifer Beauvais, a critic, goes on to say that Cathy “shape-shifts” to marry Edgar. Edgar takes great care of her when she nears her death.

Heathcliff leaves the world with a smile on his face, after tormenting all the characters in the novel. The sighting at the last by the shepherd boy finally explains Heathcliff's smile. He knows that after death, he is going to unite with the love of his life. The shepherd boy witnesses Heathcliff's and Catherine's shadows together peeping out of the window of Wuthering Heights. This creates the ultimate gothic atmosphere in the narrative making it legendary and only one of its kind. The three graves are laid side-by-side. This is symbolic of the plot itself- how Catherine is stuck between Heathcliff and Edgar, forever.

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