Wuthering Heights Essays (1582 words) - British Films,

Wuthering Heights The series of events in Emily Bronte's early life psychologically set the tone for her fictional novel Wuthering Heights. Early in her life while living in Haworth, near the moors, her mother died. At the time she was only three. At the age of nineteen, Emily moved to Halifax to attend Law Hill School. There is confusion as of how long she stayed here, suggestions ranging from a minimum of three months to a maximum of eighteen months. However long, it was here where she discovered many of the ideas and themes used in Wuthering Heights. Halifax, just like the Yorkshire moors of York, can be described as bleak, baron, and bare. The moors are vast, rough grassland areas covered in small shrubbery. The atmosphere that Emily Bronte encompassed herself in as a young adult, reflects the setting she chose for Wuthering Heights. The setting used throughout the novel Wuthering Heights, helps to set the mood to describe the characters. We find two households separated by the cold, muddy, and barren moors, one by the name of Wuthering Heights, and the other Thrushcross Grange. Each house stands alone, in the mist of the dreary land, and the atmosphere creates a mood of isolation. In Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights, there are two places where virtually all of the action takes place. These two places, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange differ greatly in appearance and mood. These differences reflect the universal conflict between storm and calm that Emily Bronte develops as the theme in her novel Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange both represent several opposing properties which bring about all sorts of bad happenings when they clash. For example, the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights were that of the working class, while those of Thrushcross Grange were high up on the social ladder. The people of Wuthering Heights aspired to be on the same level as the Lintons. This is evident by Heathcliff and Catherine when the peek through their window. In addition, Wuthering Heights was always in a state of storminess while Thrushcross Grange always seemed calm. Wuthering Heights, and its surroundings, depicts the cold, dark, and evil side of life. Bronte chooses well, the language that she uses in Wuthering Heights. Even the title of her book holds meaning. The very definition of the word wuthering may be viewed as a premonitory indication of the mysterious happenings to be experienced by those inhabiting the edifice.1 Wuthering Heights, built in 1500, suffers from a kind of malnutrition: its thorns have become barren, its firs stunted, everything seems to crave for the ?alms of the sun' that sustain life.2 This tenebrous home is decorated with crumbling griffins over the front of the main door.3 Its lack of congeniality and warmth is augmented by stone floors. 4 The windows are set deep in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones. Although Wuthering Heights, the land of the storm, sits high on the barren moorland, The world of Wuthering Heights is a world of sadism, violence, and wanton cruelty.5 It is the tenants of the Wuthering Heights that bring the storm to the house. The Earnshaw family, including Heathcliff, grew up inflicting pain on one another. Pinching, slapping and hair pulling occur constantly. Catherine, instead of shaking her gently, wakes Nelly Dean, the servant of the house, up by pulling her hair. The Earnshaw children grow up in a world where human beings, like the trees, grow gnarled and dwarfed and distorted by the inclement climate.6 Wuthering Heights is parallel to the life of Heathcliff. Both Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights began as lovely and warm, and as time wore on both withered away to become less of what they once were. Heathcliff is the very spirit of Wuthering Heights. Healthcliff is a symbol of Wuthering Heights, the cold, dark, and dismal dwelling. The authors use of parallel personifications to depict specific parts of the house as analogous to Heathcliff's face reveal stunning insights into his character.7 Emily Bronte describes Wuthering Heights having narrow windows deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.8 This description using the characteristics of Wuthering Heights is adjacent to Heathcliff when he is illustrated having, black eyes withdrawn so suspiciously under their brow.9 Heathcliff lived in a primal identification with nature, from the rocks, stones, trees, the heavy skies and eclipsed sun, which environs him. There is no true separation from the setting of nature for Heathcliff and the lives