“In all England”, observes Mr. Lockwood, “I do not believe that I could have fixed
on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society” (Bronte 3).
Outwardly, this
plain and insignificant statement characterizes the isolated position of the Yorkshire moors
from the rest of the society.
In closer examination, however, a reader might mark the
significance of Lockwood’s remark in its relation to the characters in Wuthering Heights,
who are indeed removed from the context of nineteenth-century English society, where
people were able to take on the manners of the genteel with their achievements in social
status. In Wuthering Heights, the author Emily Bronte expresses her belief that class,
although an influential factor in people’s lives, has little power to suppress human nature and
force gentility.
In Wuthering Heights, Bronte distinguishes the upper class as possessing the superior
qualities and irreconcilable with the lower class. Bronte illustrates the incompatibility of
civilized and uncivilized people through the conflicts generated by class differences.
Belonging to a respectable class, the Lintons condemn Heathcliff’s admittance to their
Thrushcross Grange and ostracize him as “a wicked boy […] quite unfit for a decent house”
(40). Heathcliff rather fits well into Wuthering Heights, barren and accustomed to storm,
which embodies his wild and emotional personality; whereas Thrushcross Grange stands
apart from the Heights sheltering the calm, gentle, and compliant Lintons.
While setting
distinctions between upper class and lower class, Bronte imparts a deep sense of superiority
in the higher class. Calling Hareton ‘‘simple’’ and ‘‘stupid,’’ Cathy and Linton amuse
themselves by showing contempt for Hareton’s deprivation of “‘book-larning,’" and demand
that he act like a ‘“gentleman”’ (170).
Education and literacy are indications of sophistry
and are respectable qualities that distinguish the upper class from the lower class. Similar
notion of superiority develops in Wuthering Heights when Hindley, the new owner of the
house, deprives Heathcliff of education, and relegates to “servant status” (36). Along with
his arrival, Heathcliff is instantly mortified under the assumption that he belongs to a low
class. Consequently, as the inferior characters idealize upper class, they naturally strive for
social advancement. Ashamed of the low regard he receives, Heathcliff determines himself
to aspire to higher class. He returns as a “well-formed man” whose countenance looks
“intelligent” and eventually holds possession of Wuthering Heights (75). Although not
degraded as much as Heathcliff, Catherine also attempts to improve her status. She chooses
Edgar Linton, the man who alone is fit to call her wife, out of her wish to become “the
greatest woman of the neighborhood” and be “proud” of her socially-approved status (61).
As people generally aspire to improve their social status, they also feel the need to
pursue gentility, which Bronte believes reflects the expectation of society rather than the true
natures of individuals. Bronte expresses skepticism towards people’s pursuit of gentility as
she portrays it as merely a device to show their high social standings only around other
genteel people. As Linton enters after her fight with Heathcliff, Catherine “mark[s] the
difference between her friends” in her manners by turning from mean and uncivilized to calm
and gentle (55). Moreover, Hindley Earnshaw, who possesses some rugged and unrefined
qualities like Catherine, feigns gentleness in the presence of Lintons, who he considers to be
respectable and deserving gentility. However, he is wild enough to “[fling his own child] into
fire” (57).
In Wuthering Heights, genteel behaviors, often forced than natural, suppress the
true natures of people.
Since she forces herself to act dignified and genteel, Catherine
contradicts her untamed nature that always put her “in mischief” and “at [high] spirits” (42).
Catherine disguises and rejects her true nature in her attempt to follow the expectation of the
society. Furthermore, Bronte criticizes the discrepancy between the acquired status and the
unimproved gentility and depicts the vanity in maintaining both.
Catherine, as the result of
her pretension, suffers through miserable days at the Grange and seeks after fresh air and any
touch of wildness to relieve her from the suppressing air of the Grange.
Heathcliff does not
improve his gentility throughout the novel. He is just as unhappy and sorrowful as Catherine
and his gain of social status is meaningless.
Through Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte asserts that although characters might
achieve social advancement, they cannot completely control their human natures.
Even
after her marriage and her death, Catherine is not able to detach herself from Heights which is
her home that identifies with her wild nature. Along with Catherine, Heathcliff does not alst
long in his transformation into a well- behaving man and turns back into an unbridled and
immoral state of mind. Bronte portrays people in their natural state when they are in the
moors, without any societal pressures. The setting allows her to show that human nature
can only be tamed to a certain extent.
Catherine and Heathcliff promise to grow up as “rude
as savages” and amuse themselves by “run[ning] away to the moors and remain there all day
(46).” They are free to be whoever they want to be because there is no restriction upon
them. Bronte exposes the flaws of superficial transformation in social status and implies the
uselessness of trying to hide one’s true nature. The incongruous aspects of his coarse
expression and his accomplishments reveal that Heathcliff is not a true gentleman since he
can not betray his real wicked nature. He “forms a singular contrast to his abode and style
of living,” observes Mr. Lockwood, noting Heathcliff’s “slovenly” transformation into a
gentleman conflicting with his true nature (5).
Although Catherine’s transition to life at the
Grange seems successful, it proves to be as ineffective as that of Heathcliff’s. Nelly describes
Catherine’s relationship to Linton and Isabella as “not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles,
but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn” (72). The essential disparity between Catherine
and the Lintons cannot be disguised by outward change of appearance and conduct and
Bronte presents the transformation as merely an illusion.
In Wuthering Heights, Bronte criticizes the effort of nineteenth-century people to
assume gentility along with social advancement by emphasizing the conflicting forces of true
natures of people.
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003.