Wuthering Heights: Social Hierarchy + Change

Turquoise: Material for ARs

Delete what material is useless or irrelevant or that I simply dislike.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS AS SOCIO-ECONOMIC NOVEL
The novel opens in 1801, a date Q.D. Leavis believes Bront chose in order "to fix its
happenings at a time when the old rough farming culture, based on a naturally
patriarchal family life, was to be challenged, tamed and routed by social and cultural
changes; these changes produced Victorian class consciousness and unnatural' ideal
of gentility." In 1801 the Industrial Revolution was under way in England; when
Emily Bront was writing in 1847, it was a dominant force in English economy and
society, and the traditional relationship of social classes was being disrupted by
mushroom-new fortunes and an upwardly-aspiring middle class. A new standard for
defining a gentleman, money, was challenging the traditional criteria of breeding and
family and the more recent criterion of character. This social-economic reality
provides the context for socio-economic readings of the novel.
Is Bront supporting the status quo and upholding conventional values? Initially the
answer would seem to be "no." The reader sympathizes with Heathcliff, the gypsy
oppressed by a rigid class system and denigrated as "imp" or "fiend." But as
Heathcliff pursues his revenge and tyrannical persecution of the innocent, the danger
posed by the uncontrolled individual to the community becomes apparent. Like other
novels of the 1830s and 40s which reveal the abuses of industrialism and overbearing
individualism, Wuthering Heights may really suggest the necessity of preserving
traditional ways.
This is not the way Marxist critics see the novel. For Arnold Kettle, the basic conflict
and motive force of the novel are social in origin. He locates the source of Catherine
and Heatcliff's affinity in the (class) rebellion forced on them by the injustice of
Hindley and his wife Frances.
He, the outcast slummy, turns to the lively, spirited, fearless girl who alone offers him
human understanding and comradeship. And she, born into the world of Wuthering
Heights, senses that to achieve a full humanity, to be true to herself as a human being,
she must associate herself totally with him in his rebellion against the tyranny of the
Earnshaws and all that tyranny involves. In Kettle's view, Catherine's death inverts the
common standards of bourgeois morality and so has "revolutionary force." Heathcliff
is morally ruthless with his brutal analysis of the significance of Catherine's choosing
Edgar and her rejecting the finer humanity he represents. Despite Heathcliff's
implacable revenge, we continue to sympathize with him because he is using the
weapons and values (arranged marriages, accumulating money, and expropriating
property) of Victorian society against those with power; his ruthlessness strips them of
any romantic veneer. As a result, he, too, betrays his humanity. Through the
aspirations expressed in the love of Cathy and Hareton, Heathcliff recognizes some of
the quality of his love for Catherine and the unimportance of revenge and property; he
thereby is enabled to regain his humanity and to achieve union with Catherine.
"Wutherng Heights then," Kettle concludes, "is an expression in the imaginative terms
of art of the stresses and tensions and conflicts, personal and spiritual, of nineteenth1

century capitalist society."

Eagleton Heathcliff, the outsider, has no social or biological place in the existing
social structure; he offers Catherine a non-social or pre-social relationship, an escape
from the conventional restrictions and material comforts of the upper classes,
represented by the genteel Lintons. This relationship outside society is "the only
authentic form of living in a world of exploitation and inequality." It is Heathcliff's
expression of a natural non-social mode of being which gives the relationship its
impersonal quality and makes the conflict one of nature versus society. Heathcliff's
connection with nature is manifested in his running wild as a child and in Hindley's
reducing him to a farm laborer. But Catherine's marriage and Hindley's abuse
transform Heathcliff and his meaning in the social system, a transformation which
reflects a reality about naturenature is not really "outside" society because its
conflicts are expressed in society.
Heathcliff the adult becomes a capitalist, an expropriator, and a predator, turning the
ruling class's weapons of property accumulation and acquisitive marriage against
them. Society's need to tame/civilize the unbridled capitalist is handled in the
civilizing of Hareton. Hareton represents the yeoman class, which was being
degraded. In adopting the behavior of the exploiting middle classes, Heathcliff works
in common with the capitalist landowner Edgar Linton to suppress the yeoman class;
having been raised in the yeoman class and having acquired his fortune outside it, he
joins "spiritual forces" against the squirearchy. Thus, he represents both rapacious
capitalism and the rejection of capitalist society. However, because the capitalist class
is no longer revolutionary, it cannot provide expression for Heathcliff's rejection of
society for a pre-social freedom from society's restraints. From this impossibility
comes what Eagleton calls Heathcliff's personal tragedy: his conflictive unity
consisting of spiritual rejection and social integration. Heathcliff relentlessly pursues
his goal of possessing Catherine, an obsession that is unaffected by social realities. In
other words, the novel does not fully succeed in reconciling or finding a way to
express all Heathcliff's meanings.
Eagleton acknowledges that ultimately the values of Thrushcross Grange prevail, but
that Bront's sympathies lie with the more democratic, cozy Wuthering Heights. The
capitalist victory over the yeomanry is symbolized by the displacement of Joseph's
beloved currant bushes for Catherine's flowers, which are in Marxist terms "surplus
value." With Heathcliff's death a richer life than that of Thrushcross Grange also dies;
it may be a regrettable deathbut it is a necessary death because the future
requires a fusion of gentry and capitalist middle class, not continued conflict.

''Wuthering Heights'' opens in 1801 and covers the thirty years or so prior to that date
as well. At that time, in England, the Industrial Revolution was under way and British
society was beginning to change. When Emily Bront wrote the book, in 1847, the
effects of this change were being seen in the rise of the upwardly-aspiring middle
class and the beginning of the shift from ''old money'' to ''new money.'' A man could
now raise his social standing by acquiring wealth as Heathcliff does in ''Wuthering
Heights'' whereas in the past, one had to be born into an upper-class family in order
to be considered a gentleman.
The novel also deals with the shift away from the old farming culture and the strict,
patriarchal family life and towards a more urban way of life with an increase in
equality for all. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, people were abandoning the
countryside in droves and flocking to the cities in search of work and opportunities.
Emily Bront lived in the last days of this ancient, traditional, conservative way of
rural life. Men still ruled their families and female relatives were subject to their
authority. A woman's place was in the home and they were expected to be gentle and
dutiful.
When Heathcliff is introduced into the Earnshaw household, Mr. Earnshaw seems
neither to understand nor to care how this strange young boy might affect his family.
He overrules their objections and insists that young Heathcliff is to be treated well. As
far as Mr. Earnshaw is concerned, he is the head of the family and his is the only
opinion which really matters. Such an attitude would be an anathema to us, today. Mr.
Earnshaw's lack of comprehension of the resentment engendered by his
pronouncement sets in motion a chain of events that will only end thirty one years
later, when Heathcliff dies and Cathy and Hareton marry.
The entire story of ''Wuthering Heights'' takes place in a few square miles of Yorkshire
moor. The setting is very important as the area's isolation, the forbidding countryside
and the harsh climate all go to mould the characters in the novel.

''Wuthering Heights'' is rife with class conflict social standing and property
ownership went hand in hand.
Restoration of Social Order
The Earnshaws and the Lintons both own estates Thrushcross Grange and
Wuthering Heights respectively whereas Heathcliff has nothing. To the Lintons in
particular, he is beneath their notice as a result. (K) When Catherine and Heathcliff go
to Thrushcross Grange to spy on the Lintons and are caught, Catherine is treated well
once they realise that she is an Earnshaw but they want nothing to do with Heathcliff
and call him ''quite unfit for a decent house.'' Heathcliff has no hope of making
anything of himself as long as he remains in servitude at Wuthering Heights.
Catherine realises this and plans to marry Linton so that she may use his money to
raise his social standing. She tells Nelly that ''It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff
now.'' She goes on to explain that they would be beggars with no prospects were they
to marry but that with Edgar Linton's money she will be able to ''aid Heathcliff to rise,
and place him out of my brother's power.'' Her plans come to nothing, however, as
Heathcliff has overheard her say that it would degrade her to marry him. He
disappears and only returns several years later when he has money and power. He
goes to great length to take the Earnshaw's and the Linton's properties from them and
he does succeed. Heathcliff does manage to disinherit Hareton Earnshaw and
Catherine Linton but at the end of the novel the couple are about to marry and to
move to Thrushcross Grange together. Social order has been restored and this is
viewed as part of the happy ending.
Servants
Another aspect of class distinctions which may seem unusual to the modern reader is
the way servants are treated. As those who were born into the upper classes tended to
stay in their social grouping, by and large, so those in the serving classes had little
chance to better their status. Social mobility was still relatively unheard of and Nelly
Dean, for example, would not have expected that she would ever be treated as an
equal by Mr. Lockwood, the Earnshaws or the Lintons Hindley treats Heathcliff
appallingly and makes him sleep with the animals because he is ''only'' a servant and
nobody questions his right to do this, even though they might disapprove. (K) Even
Mr. Lockwood, although he is not a cruel man, shows little real feeling for Nelly
Dean when he is dealing with her. He calls her a ''worthy woman'' and should know
that she rises early and works hard, but he doesn't seem to be aware of this at all and
thinks little of keeping her up late into the night, telling him the story of ''Wuthering
Heights.'' When Nelly protests that it is getting late, Mr. Lockwood tells her that it
doesn't matter, as he doesn't have to get up early the next day. His apparent selfishness
is not commented on by Nelly, who knows it is not her place to upbraid him for his
thoughtlessness. Mr Lockwood also expresses surprise that Nelly should express
herself so well for a woman of her class and she explains that she read all the books in
the house, save those written in Latin and Greek. This neatly deals with the problem
of a servant being a capable narrator, something the readers at the time would have
found difficult to accept otherwise.

Racism
''Wuthering Heights'' is set in a remote area in Yorshire, in the north of England. For
the characters to even get as far as Liverpool sixty miles away is a serious
undertaking and the round trip might take several days. As the action takes place in
such an isolated spot, there is little mixing of various races. In fact, even people from
the south of England are regarded with suspicion. (K) When Nelly Dean is describing
the arrival of Hindley's new bride, Frances, she says, ''We don't in general take to
foreigners here, Mr. Lockwood, unless they take to us first.'' Frances Earnshaw is
English, but in the eyes of the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, she is foreign. There
are derogatory references to Heathcliff's possible origin. When he is showing the boy
to his wife, Mr Earnshaw says, ''it's as dark almost as if it came from the devil.''
Hindley refers to him as a ''gipsy'' and an ''imp of Satan.'' Mr and Mrs Linton also
refer to him as a ''gipsy'' and ''that strange acquisition my late neighbour made, in his
journey to Liverpool a little Lascar [Indian] or an American or Spanish castaway.''
Women
To be a woman was to be a second-class citizen in many ways. Power and status in
came from the possession of money and land. It was difficult for women to own much
of either. The inheritance law stated that The lives of the women in the novel are
shaped by their lack of power and independence:
- Mrs Earnshaw is forced to accept the young Heathcliff into her home because her
husband says she must.
Catherine cannot marry Heathcliff because they would be ''beggars.'' She knows that
if she marries Edgar Linton she will be ''the greatest woman of the neighbourhood.''
She plans to use her husband's wealth to help the man she truly loves.
Isabella Linton has been named in her father's will and stands to inherit Thrushcross
Grange if her brother dies without a male heir. However, far from being of benefit to
her, this fact simply attracts Heathcliff's attention. He decides to marry her as a way
to get his hands on the Grange and he treats her abominably until she manages to run
away to the south of England.
Young Catherine is held prisoner by Heathcliff and forced to marry his son, Linton.
Even when Linton dies, she is kept at Wuthering Heights, against her will. When Mr
Lockwood is looking for somebody to guide him back to Thrushcross Grange after his
second visit to Wuthering Heights, Catherine says bitterly ''I cannot escort you. They
wouldn't let me go to the end of the garden wall.'' Heathcliff is master of his house
and his dependents must obey him.

Wuthering Heights was written in 1847, which was a time when Capitalism
and the Industrial Revolution were the dominant forces of the British economy and
society. It was a time of rapid, often confusing, change that led to violence. As a
result of the changing economy, the traditional relationships between classes and the
social structure began to change. While wealth had traditionally been measured by
land ownership, the eighteenth century had begun a trend toward a cash-based
economy.This created a middle class who were more economically powerful than its
landowning superiors (gentry). The power of yeomen, or the respectable farming
class, as well as the traditional power-holding gentry was challenged by the newly
wealthy capitalists.
Each of these classes is represented in the novel by various characters.

Hareton is a member of the respectable farming class

the Lintons are members of the gentry

Heathcliff makes his fortune (somewhat mysteriously) as a capitalist perhaps

victim, social misfit, or symbol of how chaos results when the social order is
disturbed.

In a Society where the importance of inheritance and familial social status dictates the
class system, we see that Heathcliff is the only character within the novel with a
singular name. According to Marxist critic Terry Eagleton, Heathcliff is inserted into
a close knit family structure as an alien and consequently treated appallingly due to
the lack of social or domestic status he holds. Heathcliff, the waif from the Liverpool
slums so named by Arnold Kettle, is constantly insulted and degraded by Hindley
who, after Mr. Earnshaws death, drives him from their company to the servants.
We the responder, can not help but sympathise with Heathcliff for the injustice the
tyrannous Earnshaws serve him. The only person who offers him human compassion
and companionship is Catherine, whose later marriage to Edgar Linton betrays their
bond, which had been forged on mutual rebellion against social prejudice.
When Cathy marries her natural opposite, Edgar Linton, she diverts her own natural
affinity from its purpose, forcibly disrupting the cosmic harmony which co-exists
between the Heights and the Grange. One convincing line of thought is that
Heathcliffs true nature is not predominantly destructive, but becomes so out of
frustration having been denied of fulfillment in the form of unity. Despite the fact that
Cathy likens her relationship with Linton to the foliage in the woods and
acknowledges that Time will change it, she naively flouts reality, believing her
marriage to Edgar will somehow benefit Heathcliffs cause with the aid of her
husbands money.
The conflict surrounding Catherines decision to betray her true love and marry Edgar,
who is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, can be explicitly seen as a social
one. Catherine is seduced by the prettier and more comfortable bourgeois life Edgar is
able to offer her. Critic Claire Jones, informs us that for a woman to become socially
powerful Cathy is conditioned to find a partner who will bring her access to the
dominant culture. In marrying Edgar she believes shell be able to gain access to this
culture and become the greatest woman of the neighborhood. Echoing the social
values of the time, Bronte exposes how Catherine despises Heathcliff for his dirtiness
and lack of culture during the time of her courtship with Edgar; believing we should
be beggars if she were to follow her hearts desire and marry him. Though, in
denying Heathcliff, we realise that Catherine has inadvertently chosen death, again
exploring the romantic issues that are easily seen as a reoccurring universal theme
throughout the novel. Later interpretations saw a Marxist perspective where class
barriers were seen as the destroyers of relationships, as seen in Catherines destruction
and perfidy of her unity with Heathcliff which is described by Kettle, as a betrayal of
everything. Her realisation, however, comes too late, as her health there after
deteriorates rapidly. While Catherine is on her deathbed, Heathcliff criticises the
motives behind Edgars care for Cathy, claiming his approach stems from
conventionalities of duty and honour, from pity and charity. Heathcliff exposes the
contempt he feels for these bourgeois values as he sees them as significantly inferior
in contrast to the morally superior transcendent relationship he shares with Cathy.

Following the death of Catherine, Heathcliff sets out to settle his own personal
vendettas. Ironically exploiting the same weapons of money and arranged marriage to
fulfill the revenge he yearns for against the Earnshaws and the Lintons. His swift rise
to power, encapsulated in the acquisition of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross
Grange, can be viewed as symbolic of the triumph of the oppressed over capitalism.
In Jones analysis of this concept Heathcliff can be seen to be a parody of capitalist
activity, yet he is not simply this because it is clear that he is also a product of and
participant in that system. Despite the callous nature of Heathcliffs acts against his
oppressors, we continue to sympathise with him, because Bronte convinces us that
what Heathcliff stands for is far superior to the values of the bourgeoisie. The great
rage in him dies only when young Cathy and Hareton make him realise the
hollowness in his triumph. Their unity in rebellion reminds him much of himself and
his own struggles. Thus, he is once again able to achieve human dignity, requesting
to be carried to the churchyard in the evening after death. In the end, Catherine and
Heathcliff finally achieve a relationship free from the destructive influences of the
social elite, and while paradoxically we can see that they were both destroyed by
these social forces, in death they have conversely transcended them.
Lack of Feminine Identity
Catherine can be seen as a
victim of a patriarchal society. Despite her unconventional nature she chooses a life of
conformity, accepting an unfulfilling marriage to her natural opposite Edgar Linton.
Critic Barbara Fuller, sees Catherines existence as one defined by
disempowerment, living in a society where the life threatening task of giving birth
to unwanted children becomes an obligation. When women challenge the views of
their male oppressors they are treated abominably by men who seek to possess or
control them claims Fuller, a notion which can be seen to hold explicitly true through
Heathcliffs exploitation of young Catherine. Viewed as a woman oppressed by and
reliant on dominant men, modern responders can see Catherine as an individual in a
desperate struggle to unearth her identity, this concept lending itself strongly to a
psychoanalytical reading. The variations of her name etched upon the windowsill of
her childhood bedroom, Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff and
Catherine Linton, can be seen as symbolic of this. Upon losing her identity,
Catherine becomes submissive, subjugated and essentially powerless after noticing in
the mirror that Her appearance has changed greatly. From a feminist perspective
Gilbert and Gubar further reinforce the validity of this suggestion stating that the
writing of the name Catherine, in its various manifestations...reveals the crucial lack
of identity that is common to all women under patriarchy.

Heathcliff is mysterious and his genesis is unknown - he is thought to be a gypsy

orphan taken from the streets of Liverpool. His dangerous working-class presence, as
perceived by Hindley, threatens the very basis of the Earnshaw gentry and indeed he
eventually seeks to bring it down. Catherine, on the other hand, romanticises his
origins, imagining him as a prince.
Outsiders
Catherine and Heathcliff are both outsiders. Catherine will have no inheritance and
she too is an orphan when Mr Earnshaw dies. It is no surprise then that the outside, or
nature, is their realm. They wander the moors together. In a key scene they are both in
the garden looking through the window into the Lintons' drawing room as if they are
observing aliens at play. "We laughed outright at the petted things, we did despise
them!" remarks Heathcliff. When Catherine is dying Heathcliff waits to hear news in
the shrubbery. He is not a man who is comfortable inside houses with social niceties
such as drawing room music and conversation. Their love breaks, or transgresses,
boundaries. Heathcliff breaks into Catherine's coffin to lie with her. Catherine must
have the window open in order to allow the moor air in, and, metaphorically,
Heathcliff. Their love even transgresses the boundaries of life and death with
Catherine's spirit demanding to be let in, and her ghost wandering the moors. The
boundaries diffuse so much that Catherine is able to declare "I am Heathcliff!" The
crisis in Catherine and Heathcliff's love comes when Catherine attempts to become an
insider by marrying Edgar. The remarkably short time of five weeks' recuperation at
Thrushcross Grange is enough to tame her wild manners and clothes and to
reconfigure her as more socially acceptable: "instead of a wild, hatless little savage
jumping into the house [...] there lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified
person." Nelly's narration applauds this change in Catherine and the effect Edgar has
on her in general. Though Catherine continues to yearn for Heathcliff, she also wants
to be wealthy and the pre-eminent lady of the district. While Nelly criticises her for
undervaluing Edgar's gentle and generous nature and for behaving inappropriately as
a wife, the reader recognises that Catherine has ruined her truer bond with Heathcliff.
Edgar is seen by the reader as pale and uninteresting in comparison. Catherine's
betrayal causes Heathcliff to run off and attempt to become a socially acceptable
gentleman himself. Here Bronte seems to suggest that the most powerful and
meaningful type of love is that which transcends social values, and that it should not
be usurped by less noble pursuits such as wealth. This path can only lead to
unhappiness and death.
Yet the second part of the novel tames this message. It is as if, having written the first
section, Bronte was aware of her message of transgression and thought to soften it.
She does this through the love of Hareton and Cathy. Hareton at first resembles
Heathcliff, and is much more the latter's 'son' than the impotent Linton. He is illiterate
and difficult and spends his time out of doors. However, as he bonds with Cathy she
teaches him to read and he becomes a young gentleman content to be by her side
indoors. Cathy seems to embody the best of both her parents. She is fearless and
wilful like her mother and stands up to Heathcliff. Yet this wild side is calmed by her
father's good sense and manners. In something of a feminist victory she even
outmanoeuvres Heathcliff to become both the mistress of the Heights and Thrushcross
Grange. Bronte here seems to argue that lasting domestic bliss can only come through
the combination good sense and passion.

The contradiction between material surroundings and emotional and

way in which her eyes when the dogs run to greet her but her action is to push them
away to save her dress. The impression created is that class brings with it hollow,
material satisfaction, but little spiritual fulfilment. Thrushcross, therefore, becomes as
much of a prison for Cathy as Wuthering Heights does for Isabella and young
Catherine settings are used both to emphasise the social/historical context of the novel
and to represent a choice between freedom of expression and convention.
Quote #1
Mr. Hindley came home to the funeral; and a thing that amazed us, and set
the neighbours gossiping right and left he brought a wife with him. What
she was, and where she was born, he never informed us: probably, she had
neither money nor name to recommend her, or he would scarcely have kept
the union from his father. (6.1-2)
Frances joins the unwelcoming Earnshaw clan. Though unknown and without family
or fortune (just like Heathcliff), she has managed to win Hindley's affections.
Curiously, this is one of the only mentions of neighbors. Who knew there was anyone
else out there on the moors?
Quote #2
He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the
instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors
instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm. (6.9)
Hindley's project to punish his father's favorite begins as soon as the old man dies. To
make Heathcliff a farmhand, bereft of education (instructions), is to put him in the
lowest possible position. The gentry never work with their hands.
Quote #3
[. . .] instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house, and
rushing to squeeze us all breathless, there 'lighted from a handsome black
pony a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a
feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit, which she was obliged to hold up
with both hands that she might sail in. (7.1)
After staying at Thrushcross Grange, the untamed Catherine has become a changed
woman, now superior to the lowly Heathcliff. This is the future Catherine Linton, now
forever out of reach to Heathcliff.

Quote #4
"Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of my birth; and the
thoughts of what I was should give me courage and dignity to support the
oppressions of a little farmer!" (7.44)
Since he doesn't know where he is from, Heathcliff may as well imagine a noble and
exotic background for himself. This piece of advice represents one of a handful of
Nelly's attempts to provide useful guidance for Heathcliff. It also tells us that she likes
a little fiction.
Quote #5

10

"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. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now." (9.92)
Catherine realizes that Edgar is out of her league, but that doesn't stop her. As a child
she ignored everyone else's dislike of Heathcliff, but now she allows Hindley's
attitude and treatment of him to change how she feels. In that sense, Hindley really
gets what he wants.
Quote #6
[Hindley] wished earnestly to see her bring honour to the family by an
alliance with the Lintons, and as long as she let him alone she might trample
on us like slaves, for aught he cared! (9.152)
Hindley has designs on the Lintons' social status. Nelly resents the treatment she
receives from Catherine. Nelly (who is speaking here) may not be a slave, but she is a
servant yet more often than not she acts like a family member.

Quote #7
A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of
black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite
divested of roughness, though stern for grace. (10.53)
Though still swarthy, Heathcliff is a changed man. Gone for three years, he returns
with some grooming and social graces. Clearly he has been working hard on
improving himself but that hasn't changed his overall attitude.
Quote #8
Her brother, who loved her tenderly, was appalled at this fantastic preference.
Leaving aside the degradation of an alliance with a nameless man, and the
possible fact that his property, in default of heirs male, might pass into such a
one's power. . . . (10.82)
Heathcliff's aim to captivate Isabella torments Edgar. Because Edgar does not have a
son, Isabella's marriage to Heathcliff means that Thrushcross Grange will eventually
belong to the orphan outsider.
Quote #9
"Tell her what Heathcliff is: an unreclaimed creature, without refinement,
without cultivation; an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone." (10.98)
Catherine's warnings about Heathcliff only stoke the fire of Isabella's desire. And, to
be honest, all of the qualities she cites to get Isabella to change her mind are the very
things that Catherine loves in Heathcliff.

11

Although masters (and mistresses) ultimately have the upper hand of their servants, it
is noteworthy how much power servants exercise within the sphere of domination to
which they are subject.
In the Victorian Era, social class was not solely dependent upon the amount of money
a person had; rather, the source of income, birth, and family connections played a
major role in determining one's position in society. And, significantly, most people
accepted their place in the hierarchy. In addition to money, manners, speech, clothing,
education, and values revealed a person's class. The three main classes were the elite
class, the middle class, and the working class. Further divisions existed within these
three class distinctions.
Heathcliff is an orphan; therefore, his station is below everyone else in Wuthering
Heights. It was unheard of to raise someone from the working class as a member of
the middle-to-upper middle class. Even Nelly, who was raised with the Earnshaw
children, understood her place below her childhood friends. When Mr. Earnshaw
elevates the status of Heathcliff, eventually favoring him to his own son, this goes
against societal norms. This combination of elevation and usurpation is why Hindley
returns Heathcliff to his previous low station after the death of Mr. Earnshaw, and that
is why Heathcliff relishes in the fact that Hindley's son Hareton is reduced to the level
of a common, uneducated laborer. And social class must be the reason Catherine
marries Edgar; she is attracted to the social comforts he can supply her. No other
plausible explanation exists. Catherine naively thinks she can marry Edgar and then
use her position and his money to assist Heathcliff, but that would never happen.
When Heathcliff returns, having money is not enough for Edgar to consider him a part
of acceptable society. Heathcliff uses his role as the outcast to encourage Isabella's
infatuation. The feelings that both Catherine and Isabella have for Heathcliff, the
common laborer, cause them to lose favor with their brothers. Hindley and Edgar
cannot accept the choices their sisters make and therefore, withdraw their love.
In Heathcliff, Bront challenges the societal treatment of cuckolded men by creating a
character who is a fiercely masculine, powerful, even frightfully aggressive cuckold.
While cuckolds were traditionally thought to be dominated by their wives,
weak, and ineffectual, Heathcliff is the epitome of masculine strength and resolve.
Even as a cuckold, Heathcliff manages to become an extraordinary example of the
Victorian ideal prescribed for the new male role. Fiercely aggressive, self-interested,
and competitive, Heathcliff is endowed with the requisite traits for success in the
capitalist marketplace. As the novel develops, he quite literally becomes a financial
success as evidenced by Nelly Deans exclamation, Rich, Sir! He has nobody knows
what money and every year it increases. Yes, yes; hes rich enough to live in a finer
house than this (31). So perfectly conforming to the masculine ideal, Heathcliff
becomes an archetypical Victorian male: Heathcliff classifies as predominantly
masculine due to his self-reliance, defense of his own beliefs, independence,
athleticism, assertiveness, strength of personality, forcefulness, willingness to take
risks, decision making

12

Heathcliffs manliness is only underscored by the way he rules his home. By

becoming the head of the Wuthering Heights estate, Heathcliff acts as the instrument
of patriarchal control in the domestic sphere. Under Heathcliffs management, the
house is entirely lacking in the comforts furnished by the Victorian Angel of the
House. Lockwood describes a utilitarian interior decorated with furniture that would
have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a homely, northern farmer (10). He
observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking about the huge fireplace, nor any
glitter of copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls (10). Anything
traditionally domestic was described in terms of being annexed: One step brought up
into the family sitting-room, without any introductory lobby or passage. They call it
here the house pre-eminently. It includes kitchen and parlour generally. But, I
believe, at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat altogether into another
quarter at least I distinguished a chatter of tongues and a clatter of culinary utensils
deep within (10). Any vestige of femininity is buried deep within the house if present
at all. Lockwood is able to outline, instead, the masculine tropes evident before his
eyes. The chimney was laden with sundry villainous old guns and a couple of horse
pistols among other primitive structures. PATRIARCHY
The house is quite literally stamped with the date 1500, a time when men ruled the
home. Heathcliffs regime is a representation of the patriarchal structure of the
domestic sphere in action. The strength and power of this masculine position is
reinforced by both his appearance and manner. Accordingly, Heathcliff possesses the
hulking figure of a veritable he-man. Juxtaposed next to Edgar Lintons effeminate
form, Heathcliffs large stature becomes exaggerated. Nelly notes the difference
between the two, saying ...Edgar Linton shall look quite a doll beside you; and that
he does. You are younger, and yet, Ill be bound, you are taller and twice as broad
across the shoulders. You could knock him down in a twinkling. As an adult, Nelly
again remarks on the contrast between Heathcliff and her effeminate master:
Heathcliff...had grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man, beside whom my master
seemed quite slender and youth-like.
Nelly learns of Heathcliffs tenacious, independent demeanor when nursing him
through a childhood illness. Though he was an undemanding patient, Nelly clarifies
that ...hardness, not gentleness, made him give little trouble. Heathcliff exhibited the
same quiet strength even when he suffered from intentional wrongs. When pained by
a stealthy blow or pinch, Heathcliff would without winking or shedding a tear...draw
in a breath and open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident and nobody was to
blame. Through his patriarchal station, impressive stature, and hardy disposition,
Heathcliff emerges as an ideal Victorian male. He stands in stark contrast with the
effeminate image of cuckolds depicted by society. Heathcliff is masculine in the
extreme.

13

Further distinguishing himself from the typical cuckolded, Heathcliff does not
passively accept convention or laugh along with society at his injuries. Instead, he
brings the entire world down around its ears when he is wronged by Catherine. He
rebels against the standards he disagrees with, promising Catherine that he will exact
revenge. In a speech for all cuckolded men, Heathcliff says: I want you to be aware
that I know you have treated me infernally infernally! Do you hear? And if you
flatter yourself that I dont perceive it, you are a fool; and if you think I can be
consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot; and if you fancy Ill suffer unrevenged, Ill
convince you of the contrary in a very little while (111).
Though cuckolds were assigned blame for the adultery of their wives, Heathcliff
bitterly confronts his lover in an address that rightfully places blame squarely on the
adulterers shoulders. Furthermore, Heathcliff assures his disloyal partner that he will
not let the betrayal go without likewise inflicting injury on those who have hurt him.
For Heathcliff, this means injuring the society that has thwarted and insulted him. In
order to level revenge on the tyrants who tried to demoralize him, Heathcliff targets
the children of his oppressors. Just as the tyrant grinds down his slaves, Heathcliff
explains, they dont turn against him; they crush those beneath him (111).
The characters populating Wuthering Heights represent society, for Heathcliff,
through setting standards and passing judgments. By gaining control of Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange, he takes possession of society and makes it his own
dominion: The guest was now the master of Wuthering Heights. He held firm
possession, and proved it to the attorney who, in his own turn, proved it to
Mr. Lintonthat Earnshaw had mortgaged every yard of land he owned for
cash to supply his mania for gaming; and he, Heathcliff was the mortgagee.
In that manner Hareton, who should now be the first gentleman in the
neighborhood, was reduced to a state of complete dependence on his fathers
inveterate enemy, and lives in his own house as a servant, deprived of
wages, quite unable to right himself, because of his friendlessness and his
ignorance that he has been wronged (187).
Heathcliff usurps control of Wuthering Heights, thus succeeding in overturning the
roles of the powerful and the weak. Nelly notes the change in social stations in
Heathcliff and Isabella Linton when she remarks, So much had circumstances altered
their positions, that he would certainly have struck a stranger as a born and bred
gentleman, and his wife as a thorough little slattern (146). With the old order
annihilated, Heathcliff rises to power and gets to call the shots. Acting as a cuckold,
Heathcliff has confronted society and taken control back for those who have been
declared feeble and ineffectual.

14

Writing of an outlawed race of men who oppose societal norms and work as
champions of freedom, Bront suggests that outsiders like Heathcliff arent the true
beasts after all. Instead, the villain is the society that upholds unfair biases. Through
her writing, Bront wields what she calls a righteous sword in order to bring justice
to cuckolded men. In casting Heathcliff as both a cuckold and a monster in
Wuthering Heights, Bront plays out a metaphorical rebellion against the gender rules
imposed by Victorian social standards. Not only does Heathcliff refuse to conform to
societal expectations, he also influences and changes those ideas by seizing a position
of power. The weak, Bront seems to suggest, can become powerful and influence
or even defeatsocietys strong: Bront shows that- helpless as we are to stop
longing for a corrective transformation of our present circumstances- those
circumstances determine the very nature of the ideal. The oppressions of society not
only compromise our present, they condition the dreams of its reversal and
defeat...Bront sees that all these versions of personal and social desire are the shapes
of their own repression.
Social propriety determined the future of Brontes main characters Heathcliff
and Catherine who differed in social class. Though they loved each other from
the time Heathcliff was brought into the house by Mr. Earnshaw, they were
unable to get married because of their differing backgrounds.
In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, social propriety determined
everything in an individuals future. Social propriety determined the future of Brontes
main characters Heathcliff and Catherine who differed in social class. Though they
loved each other from the time Heathcliff was brought into the house by Mr.
Earnshaw, they were unable to get married because of their differing backgrounds.
But to maintain social status, Catherine married Edgar Linton, her timid neighbor
from her social standing. Thus Heathcliff and Catherine were separated due to
difference in social class; which ended in Heathcliff marrying Isabella for money and
Catherine marrying Edgar to maintain propriety. But during the course of time that
changed generations, this forced wedlock to maintain social status brought forth only
jealousy, strife and rivalry between Heathcliff and everyone else in the two families.
Both Heathcliffs and Catherines futures were determined not by them but by society,
which prematurely killed the whole first generation because of the urgency to
maintain the social class.

15

Bronte, throughout the novel has implied social distinction upon the entrance of
Heathcliff in to the Earnshaw household. According to Currer Bell Heathcliff
,indeed, stands unredeemed (3) which implies that though he was going to live in a
proper English house he would still be seen as one inferior to the others. At the time
one could only be born in to a certain social class and whether that individual was
wealthy or not, that did not change the attitude of society. This can be seen in Edgar
Lintons attitude when he says What! The gypsy- the ploughboy? (Bronte 115).
Despite his newfound wealth and added class, he was still a ploughboy in the sight
of Edgar. If this was his case after so much monetary success, his eligibility to marry
Catherine before he ran away was non-existent. Catherine, despite her love for
Heathcliff, still felt the barriers of social propriety and Although she knew that her
soul and Heathclilff were the same, Catherine feels she could have never married himthey would have been penniless- hearing her say it would degrade her to marry him
(Benvenuto 87).
However both Heathcliff and Catherine spend their childhood together, not caring for
any form of social uprightness. According to Currer Bell Heathcliff betrays one
solitary human feeling, and that his not his love for Catherine; which is a sentiment
fierce and inhuman (3). Heathcliff did not care for anything but slowly spent his
youth developing a very deep bond with her. As a result they lived together, they ate
together and they played together nurturing their love, while trying to overcome their
social differences. As Richard Benvenuto feels, Catherine attached herself to
Heathcliff and he to her until they became inseparable friends (86). At one instance
when Hindley thrashes Heathcliff for spilling hot applesauce on Edgar Linton,
Catherine shouts back in anger and frustration I hate him to be flogged! I cant eat
my dinner (Bronte 71). Even after she returns from the Grange as a lady she still
treats him as her equal, remembering the days they spent days playing wildly in the
fields. According to Benvenuto social status had no place in their hearts during
childhood as Catherines love for Heathcliff was the eternal foundation of her life
(99).

But at the apex of the social hierarchy was Edgar Linton and his beloved Thrush
Cross Grange. Currer Bell says they were Men and women who perhaps were
naturally calm and with feelings moderate in degree. (1). Edgar was indeed an
amiable fellow with plain feelings for Catherine. He was very wealthy, had a wellknown family name belonged to the upper echelon of society. Everybody except for
Heathcliff thought this was the perfect match for Catherine. Socially they could be
married since they both belonged to the same social status but, W.A. Craik feels that
by rejecting Heathcliff, Catherine spiritually tears herself in two (16). Catherine was
going to marry Edgar not because she loved him passionately like she did Heathcliff,
but because it was demanded of her to maintain her social standing in society. Craik
further goes on to comment that she felt a physical attraction towards the comely and
eligible young Linton (16). Once again, Catherine felt the need to marry Edgar only
because it would be appropriate for her, and also because of her physical fancies.

16

But a socially acceptable family was not a happy one, as good intentions in both the
families were on a downward spiral. Commenting on the deadlock on the subject of
wedlock, Linda Peterson feels the primary contradiction she has in mind is the choice
posed for Catherine between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton (396). This opposition led
to rivalry, as Edgar could not accept Heathcliffs equality even after gaining all this
wealth, and Heathcliff was vengeful against Hindley for mistreating him when he was
young. According to Craik All these rapidly- produced responses and random
incidents culminate in Catherines last mortal illness (9) that led Catherine to her
untimely death. Furthermore, it also leads to Edgars death, the namesake marriage of
Heathcliff and Isabella for the Grange estate and the power struggle between Hindley
and Heathcliff for the Heights. All this released a dark side of Heathcliff, as he was a
dark, morose, violent man (Benvenuto 86). The violence was the product of the
separation between Heathcliff and Catherine, which was caused by the need to
maintain the perfect social standing.
Social propriety determined Heathcliffs and Catherines future marital status, as
Heathcliff could not rise from being a gypsy and Catherine could not descend from
being a proper lady. Difference in their backgrounds hindered them from being united
together but they still loved each other.
Social Change
While it is certainly not a politically engaged novel, Wuthering Heights reflects some
of the social and economic changes of the 1840s and the class tensions that
accompanied them. The decline of the Earnshaw family, the assimilation of Hareton
into the world of Thrushcross Grange and the abandonment of Wuthering Heights to
such ghosts as may choose to inhabit it (p.337) signal, according to critics including
Arnold Kettle and Terry Eagleton, the demise of the yeoman farmer in the face of the
social change sweeping across nineteenth-century Britain. While Wuthering Heights
is a working farm, Thrushcross Grange represents the leisured environment enjoyed
by the emerging middle classes. For Kettle, it is notable that just as Catherine
Earnshaw was seduced by the comfort of an idle lifestyle at the Grange, by the end of
the novel, Hareton Earnshaw is preparing to move there. The farm is left to waste, just
as across the country people who had traditionally worked on the land were migrating
to the cities in droves.
The novel certainly reflects Victorian concerns about the mysterious origin of fortunes
that were, in an age of industrialism and financial speculation, often made and lost
overnight. The source of the fortune that Heathcliff accumulates during his three-year
absence remains unknown; the Heathcliff who returns from exile is so thoroughly
wicked that almost any explanation is possible. However, the fact that he spends a
great deal of time gambling with Hindley once he is ensconced at the Heights
suggests that it may have been acquired through unscrupulous dealings in stocks and
shares.

17

The fact that Heathcliff seeks to win property, and not necessarily by fair means,
would, for a Victorian reader, call to mind the tainted wealth and rapid accumulation
of fortunes through currency trading and other risky ventures. That the origins of
Heathcliffs money remain unknown makes his dealings all the more suspicious and,
as readers, we are offered the opportunity to speculate on what Heathcliff may or may
not have done during his three-year absence.
The Desire to Possess Property Causes Conflict in Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is set during a time when the old so- cial order of rigid class
distinctions, importance of hered- ity, and strict guidelines for the passing down of
property within the same class and family were being challenged. Heathcliff leads this
challenge successfully.
Wuthering Heights Demonstrates That Rebellion Against Class Conventions Can
Succeed
Heathcliff and Catherines rejection of the bourgeois val- ues of Thrushcross Grange
symbol izes the conflict in Victorian society between those attempting to preserve
class privileges and those attempting to build a classless world.
Wuthering Heights Depicts the Conflict Between Natural and Social Values
The duality at the center of Wuthering Heights is mir- rored in the contrasting worlds
of the Heights and the Grange. The former is elemental and uncivilized, the latter a place where order is maintained through upholding the conventions of society.
Wuthering Heights Reflects the Social Changes of Its Time
Understanding the social changes taking place in England between 1801 and 1847
provides context for an appreciation of Wuthering Heights. As industrialization
spread, a growing middle class challenged the position of the landed gentry. The
Earnshaws and Heathcliff represent this momentum.
Heathcliff represents both the rise of an individual in a modern capitalist economy,
and a patriarch tied to the very principles his individuality abhors. Understanding
Heathcliff in terms of his duality more accurately reflects his function as a character
device through which novelists and readers alike could fathom change. The concept
of an individual at odds with social forms of organization, defined by heredity and
privilege, is perhaps epitomized by Heathcliff. The fact that Heathcliff does not have a
surname and hence no family name that could tie him through consanguinity to that
pre-revolution societal glue of heredity, is evidence enough of his independent
character. Heathcliff is free from family dominion, for to have a surname is to carry a
name that is literally sur or above, and hence more important, than ones individual
name. It is telling, moreover, that the name of Heathcliff was given him both for
Christian and surname,24 and that it was the name of Mr. Earnshaws son who died
in childhood. This implies that initially Heathcliff had no name, or at least no known
name, and hence existed not only outside the sphere of heredity, but also social

18

organization; he was at once no one and anyone, at once real and fictitious. Mary
Burgan and Dorothy Van Ghent observed that Heathcliff is referred to in the
beginning of the novel by the impersonal pronoun it,25
which they believe classifies him not as a human creature but as a supernatural force.
In my opinion, however, the lack of the personal pronoun, places Heathcliff outside
the ancestral field of influence. Through christening, he was supposed to be tucked
under the umbrella of the Earnshaw family, but given his lack of family name,
Heathcliff remains to the end an individual. Terry Eagleton, on a similar note,
discerned that because his birth is unknown, Heathcliff is a purely atomized
individual, free of generational ties (italics mine), his circumstances are so
obscure [that] he is available to be accepted or rejected simply for himself, laying
claim to no status other than a human one.27 While the occasion of his
birth does grant Heathcliff certain freedoms, it is rather his inexistent surname that
frees him from the former generational ties. Indeed, the move from status to contract
that Maine ascribed to progressive societies involves the dissolution of family
influence in favor of the free agreement of Individuals.
Although, his curious name echoes a surname, it cannot function in a traditional
fashion, for while the progenitor existed at one point, the name has no known, deep
ancestral ties. As Susan Meyer suggests, Heathcliffs missing surname marks his
unknown ancestry: deprived of his history by British imperialism, he is
simultaneously deprived of the authority and the claim to ancestral ownership of land.
This freedom from defining or functional ties allows Heathcliff to establish his own
lineage or to remain an individual, unconnected to genealogy or its historic
implications. In fact, under English law, due to his bastardly status, Heathcliffs only
collateral kindred could be his offspring. Since Heathcliff does not receive the
Earnshaw family name, he is outside the social privilege or respect associated with it.
A surname was the staple of the old order, for it epitomized ancestry, as well as,
hereditary privilege, and while the family functioned like a perpetual corporation, the
last name, by extension, was its trademarked logotype. The curious exclusion of
Heathcliff, the favored son, from the Earnshaw genealogy has a legal basis. Had
Heathcliff assumed the family name he would have the social standing, if not the legal
rights, of an Earnshaw, and would have been treated in accordance with the respect
his name carries. Nevertheless, perceived as an illegitimate appendage by the family,
perhaps to the exclusion of Mr. Earnshaw, he is distinguished as doubly so by the
neighbourhood, which accordingly does not even have to offer pretense of
respect. We see this clearly in the episode with the Lintons, when Catherine was
admitted while the strange acquisition...[Mr. Edgar] made in his journey to
Liverpool31 was turned out. Having only one name to stand for both the first and
last is a glaring stamp of illegitimacy, one that is blatantly obvious to anyone who
makes Heathcliffs acquaintance.

19

United by common obedience to the eldest ascendant, Heathcliff as a brother and a

favorite son, threatens Hindleys primogenital status socially, if not legally. In fact, for
a good portion of the novel the reader is left to wonder whether Heathcliff could
indeed usurp the status of a primogenitor. The legality of the situation is perhaps
irrelevant as compared to the psychological and interpersonal conflict that arises from
Heathcliffs amalgamation into the family. Hindley perceives Heathcliff as a beggarly
interloper who wants to wheedle [his] father out of all he has, he even describes him
as a usurper of his [Hindleys] parents affections, and his privileges. Clearly
threatened by Heathcliff, Hindley swears he will reduce him to his right place.
While Hindley perceives and treats Heathcliff as no more than a vagabond, he,
nevertheless, is acutely aware of the power Heathcliff holds over Mr. Earnshaw, to his
deficit. The affront, of course, is multiplied by the fact that the preference is bestowed
upon an individual of a lower class. Status was still very much ingrained into the
social fabric, and while the acknowledgement of the individual began to take root, it
was not until well into the nineteenth century that it truly transpired on an
unprecedented scale. Heathcliff disturbs the Heights not, as Terry Eagleton purports,
because he is simply superfluous:...[and] has no defined place within its biological
and economic system, but rather because he is an adoptive extension and threat to the
social hierarchy.
The aforementioned disruption, depends on our reading of the Heights as modern, for
no disturbance can occur if the Heights is part of the ancient world which Maine
describes to appropriate individuals into the family. The novel certainly does not
make it clear to which moment in history the Heights belongs. In fact, scholars
disagree on an appropriate classification. Margaret Lenta, for instance, suggests that
the Earnshaw household is of the eighteenth-century style where servants are
part of the family. Neville Newman, in contrast argues that the
servants at Wuthering Heights have no identity beyond that which
accrues by virtue of their being kept on as retainers and hence it
is an essentially feudal economy that Emily Bront describes.
Indeed, Lockwoods inability to distinguish Haretons social position
can be perceived as a sign of modern egalitarianism, or, on the
contrary, as a marker of ancient familial appropriation that Maine
defined. Terry Eagletons assessment of the traditional world of the
Heights as naturalizing property relations and socializing bloodties with its imperative work environment overlooks its modern
qualities of servant relations suggested by Margaret Lenta and the
fact that Heathcliff who is often associated with the Heights is also
often compared to capitalism. Yet, interpretations are many and
Daniela Garofalo, in line with Newman, advises that the Heights is
a place of nostalgia where the urban sophisticate [such as
Lockwood] can reconnect with what he imagines he has lost what he
thinks he has had to give up in order to become modern. It has even
been suggested by Donna Reed that the Earnshaws are tied to the
past for they represent the savage and therefore, primitive
civilization. The manifold interpretations presented in scholarly
discourse on the subject are true each in their own light, yet
20

perhaps it is a fallacy to try to categorize the Heights. Like Heathcliff

it belongs to both the modern and the
ancient, because it exists in a historical interim where new modes of
conduct have begun to replace the old, but neither was absolute in
authority.
Capitalist Heathcliff
Having no name to recommend himself, no kind soul to turn to after
Mr. Earnshaws demise, no inheritance and no education, Heathcliff
has to make his own way in the world. He deserted the hearth of
Wuthering Heights only to return successful and literate within three
years time. Heathcliffs individual effort is not only impressive, but
further distinguishes him as an individual, who unlike the other
characters does not rely on heredity for advancement. He
represents the rising working class that by the virtue of individual
effort could ascend the social hierarchy. Indeed, critics almost
unanimously proclaim Heathcliff a staunch capitalist: brutal,
hardheaded and miserly, addicted to the accumulation of property
both in the form of people and land. As such, Heathcliff is the
personification of the aristocratic nightmare, for not only does he
rise above his savage ignorance, he infiltrates and uproots the
upper-class Lintons and Earnshaws. His marriage to Isabella
represents a union between the lower class and upper class social
spheres, characterized by a subversion of the house angel motif. In
this context assessment is telling, Heathcliff does appear as a
capitalist villain, yet it seems that he wants to precisely destroy
the existing social system and not merely to dominate it. The
destruction of the old modes of conduct and organization
symbolized by this union would strongly resonate with the upperclass readers. The marriage, of course, is only a triviality in
Heathcliffs revenge plan. His goal is to destroy the two families by
depriving them on their estates the physical testament of their
inherited status. Yet, in his capitalist ventures, he is not necessarily
aligned with the world of the Grange, as Terry Eagleton suggests.
The Grange is largely a symbol of gentility in the novel.
eapons that Heathcliff employs, such as arranged marriages, are
part of the old world order. If he is, truly, the aggressive industrial
bourgeoisie of Emily Bronts own time, then he must also be an
outsider within the eighteenth-century setting of the novel.
Nevertheless, Heathcliffs domination of the old order is never
complete, not as T.K. Meier stresses, because there is a final triumph
of tradition in [Cathy] and Hareton, (in fact, as will be discussed
further there is no such triumph), but because despite Heathcliffs
modern tendencies he is part of the antiquated system. Heathcliffs
objective the acquisition of the Heights and the Grange is
interpreted by Neville Newman as a far cry from that of the
capitalist whose aim is to amass capital money or the means of

21

production of more money by the successful employment of

capital itself. Heathcliff, in her opinion, symbolizes land ownership
which is the prerequisite of a feudal society.

Yet, I would argue that the philosophy of capitalism is not necessarily the acquisition
of capital in purely monetary terms, but rather the purpose is to amass assets, both
liquid and real. It is not inaccurate, however, to perceive Heathcliffs dealing as
antiquated, for he certainly uses contracts as status. It seems that the codification of
contractual agreements, which would allow for a contract based, rather than status
based, society that Maine describes, has not occurred on a level that would allow
Heathcliff to be a true capitalist. Heathcliff goes about the destruction of individual
family members by targeting the family aggregate. According to Henry Maine, society
in primitive times was not what it is assumed to be at present, a collection of
individuals. In fact, and in the view of the men who composed it, it was an
aggregation of families.
Hence, the only way to destroy an individual was to obliterate the
family, since the former did not exist. It is Heathcliffs
single=handed battle, and perhaps even victory, over the Earnshaw
and Linton families that pivots him as an individual capitalist who as
Terry Eagleton described, reflects the behavior of a contemporary
bourgeoisie class increasingly successful in its penetration of landed
property. The penetrative task proved to be quite simple in the case
of the Earnshaws. Hindley, the heir-in-law of the estate, either in
fee-simple or mortgage form, has the estate mortgaged to the hilt
as a result of his gambling with Heathcliff.54 In effect, Heathcliff
became the sole mortgagee, and for all practical purposes the
owner of the Heights. As with Thrushcross Grange, the matter is
more complicated. Upon Edgar Lintons death, Heathcliffs son
Linton, for the time he survived his uncle, became a tenant-in-tale in
possession of the estate, this of course meant that Heathcliff had
authority over the property, his son being a minor and of little
concern to him.
would have inherited her fathers money had Edgar altered his will
so as to settle Cathy as a primary and her husband as a secondary
beneficiary, yet he was unable to do so for Heathcliff detained the
attorney. Consequently, when Linton inherited Edgars money, by
way of his marriage to Cathy, he was forced by Heathcliff to make a
will of personalty bequeathing everything to Heathcliff.56 Nelly Dean
rightfully points out in the novel that Cathy Linton destitute of
cash and friends, cannot disturb his [Heathcliffs] possession
regardless of the law. Naturally, the entire operation is unlawful
given that Cathy and Linton did not marry out of free will. The
22

outcome, however, demonstrates how singlehandedly Heathcliff is

able to wheedle the two families out of property and money.
Heathcliffs contractual, capitalistic maneuvering is more effective
than class hierarchy; in fact Heathcliff breaks through the latter by
means of the former. He uses contracts to usurp the property and
subsequently the power of the Earnshaws and Lintons. To refine
Arnold Kettles and Terry Eagletons classification, the weapons
Heathcliff employs to achieve his goal, such as arranged acquisitive
marriages, inherence, expropriation of property, and wills, largely
belong to the old order. Although he does achieve his purpose and
does so as an individual, his use of antiquated tactics leave a
philosophical enigma not unlike Hamlets how long can one act out
a role before one becomes what one is trying to portray?
REVENGE (Social Revenge?)
Undeniably, the entire project of Wuthering Heights is concerned with
revenge. It is arguable however, whether Heathcliff has learned
anything in his obsession, for he certainly has forgotten nothing,
and yet stopped short of complete revenge, if we are to judge
totality by how close reality parallels premeditated goals. Despite
the conclusion, Heathcliffs adherence to the revenge code sheds a
new light on Donna Reeds discussion of the savage Heights. If the
Heights is truly tottering on the brink of barbarism, it is only after
Mr. Earnshaw makes the strange acquisition on the streets of
Liverpool, and consequently it is Heathcliff who is responsible for
introducing the primitive into the novel. David Wilson could not be
more correct when he described Heathcliff as pagan. Neither
Heaven nor Hell matters to him, but only living ties, and this strict
concern for the past, I must add, manifests itself within the pursuit
of revenge. Modern society is oriented towards the future, and to
some extent to the present, but not to the past. As Heathcliffs
revenge is a concern of the past, he cannot be, and indeed is not, a
modern in the fullest sense.
According to Daniel Hack in a number of nineteenth century novels
such as
Wuthering Heights and The Mill on the Floss, the very characters
specifically identified with such signal features of modernity as
geographical and social mobility, self-making, breaking with the
past, and technological innovation become instead...agents of
revenge.70 Why this occurs, Hack leaves unanswered. We could
take Pall Mall Gazettes fictitious society in which characters have
learnt nothing, as a ready explanation, but perhaps historic context
is a better source of inquiry.71 With the drastic socio-political and
cultural changes of the nineteenth century, it seems only natural
that fictional characters, like their human counterparts, while
pursuing modern notions would have some antiquated sentiments.
23

Reverting to custom in a time of change is finding safety in habit,

which is then psychologically justified through rationalization rather
than reasoning.
Thus, individuals often retain certain customary principles within
their psyche, while at the same time transcending tradition.
Heathcliff, Tom Tulliver, and even Dracula are such individuals and
within their fictitious reality, revenge might no longer be a duty, but
neither is it an obsolete principle.

In the novel, Edgar represents the epitome of status quo ante; he is

genteel by both
birth and character, and consequently a perfect foil to Heathcliffs
rugged and mongrel
nature. Yet, despite his antithetic purpose he exercises his powers of Potestas much
like Heathcliff and it is perhaps this factor that makes us questions Heathcliffs
intentions as Patre familias. Stipulating that Edgar is truly Heathcliffs foil it is likely
that Heathcliff was simply using the power of Potestas without succumbing to its
ideology. However, it is also possible, and perhaps more likely, that Heathcliff is
affected by, and operates within the confines of status and
consanguinity, much like Edgar, for it seems that he is compelled by
his personality rather than status. Nevertheless, Edgars reliance on
patriarchy and its laws is significant. Gilbert, Gubar and Meyer
proposed that Edgars power as a patriarch begins with words,
they contest that Edgar does not need a strong, conventionally
masculine body, because his mastery is contained in books, wills,
testaments, leases...languages, all the paraphernalia by which
patriarchal culture is transmitted from one generation to the next.
Consequently, subsequent her elopement, Isabella must be forever
lost to Edgar and his family domain. We are eternally divided, is
Edgars response to Nellys inquiry on behalf of Isabella; I am not
angry, but Im sorry to have lost her.84 Edgars response is quite
telling especially in comparison to Tom Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss,
who is faced with similar circumstances. In response to his sisters
digression Tom finds it necessary to at least support Maggie
financially, Edgar, however, does not consider even writing or
receiving a note from Isabella. The disparity of responses can
perhaps be explained by the relative time-periods; in fact, little less
than a century divides the two episodes. Edgar, who is on the earlier
end of the time line, would have a stronger commitment to the
traditional role and powers of Potestas. Tom, conversely, would be
more attune to the modern principles of familial responsibility, his
sense of consanguinity and status diluted albeit present.
As a quintessence of the old order, Edgar largely fails to answer the
needs of the
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changing social landscape. His civilized virtues are a point of

derision, while his social
refinement is coupled with his weakness and impotence. After
Catherines death, Edgar remains largely within the confines of his
estate, as if this testament to his status could shield him and Cathy
from Heathcliff. A perfect gentleman, he is unable to confront
Heathcliff, instead turning to servants to accomplish what he himself
is unable to do. The reliance on servants is in itself an act that
further associates Edgar with the upper class. In effect, the
encounter between Heathcliff and Edgar evokes class tension. The
dichotomy between the incompetent and anxious Edgar, and the
unsure while menacing Heathcliff, is an embodiment of the
contemporary society. Heathcliff, in this context is a representative
of the middle class, unsure of how to exploit the newly acquired and
growing power; he threatens and grumbles, but without issue. In
contrast, Edgar a representative of the upper class is weak in his
authority, failing to offer a viable solution to the concerns of his
class. At one point in the novel, Nelly offers an insightful comparison
of the two men. Heathcliff, she says, is like a bleak, hilly coalcountry and Edgar a beautiful, fertile valley.85 Not only is Edgar
tied to the past because he is a symbol of patriarchal law,86 but
also because the novel seems to suggest his connection with the
pastoral. Aside from Nellys prejudiced opinion, the contrast she
chooses to evoke carries certain implications.
The coal-country that Heathcliff represents is a symbol of the
industrial revolution where Heathcliff does indeed function as the
proletarian, unlike Neville Newman surmises. Emily Bronts use of
Heathcliff does not (mis)-represent the working class,87 for
although he might seem a poor representative at times, it is
because, as I have previously delineated, he represents both the
proletariat and with it the rising individual, as well as, the ancient
concepts of consanguinity and patriarchy. Bronts refusal to
employ the mining community as a metonym does not
eliminate the working class from the novel, for in fact, the very
narrator of the saga belongs to the working class.88
In this context, the fertile valley that Edgar represents is a reference to the preindustrial landscape, and as such, pre-industrial notions of social organization. Before
the bleak...coal-country of the industrial England, the dependence on agriculture
manifested itself in literature as the genre of Pastoral, where the open valleys, and
later the enclosed pastures, were celebrated. Perhaps unknowingly Nelly, in one
phrase, has encapsulated the motifs that define the two men throughout the novel.
Despite Edgars limitations, his upper class status earns him social
respectability
and Catherines regard. Eighteenth century England was still subject
to aristocratic
privileges and kinship alliances - associations that would begin to

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dissipate in the next era. Consequently, it was enticing to have a

husband like Edgar for he will be rich, as Catherine notes, and I
shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighborhood, and ...
[will] be proud of having such a husband. Though expressing panhistoric parasitism of a gold-digger, Catherines reasoning is
particularly telling in this situation, for it expresses the social
implications of not only status and wealth, but also education. She
argues that it would degrade ...[her] to marry Heathcliff;92 his
lack of education prevailing as the primary concern. Moreover, when
Edgar inherits Thrushcross Grange, as Gilbert and Gubar aptly point
out, Edgar practically rules his house from his library as if to
parody that male education on in Latin and Greek, privilege and
prerogative.
The role of education, and specifically genteel education, is
immense in the novel, in fact, it is more powerful than status and
kinship, for as we see in Heathcliffs unlikely experiment with
Hareton and Linton, education makes the difference between a
churlish brute and an knowledgeable, albeit peevish cobweb.94
As Heathcliff rightly notes, Hareton is gold put to the use of paving
stones; and ... [Linton] is tin
polished to ape a service of silver--- Mine [Linton] has nothing
valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit, of making it go as far as
such poor stuff can go. His [Hareton]
had first-rate qualities, and they are lost---rendered worse than
unavailing.
Education + Class Difference
The difference between the two men was the result of education.
Cathy, though no
measure of wisdom, picks Lintons company over Haretons partly
because the former is articulate and literate, despite also displaying
characteristics of a selfish and petulant pessimist. Education in this
context, however, is limited to the concept of a gentlemans
education; the particular notion that only a century later would
present no functional value to Tom Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss.
Contemporary to the novels setting was a period in which education
was the invisible boundary between nobility and the masses. While
general schooling that provided little less than literacy existed, it
was the study of Greek and Roman classics available only to the
highest echelons that was a mark of a cultivated mind. In this
context, Heathcliffs discourse on the difference between Linton
Heathcliff and Hareton can be perceived as an expos on the
privileges afforded to the often undeserving nobility, as compared to
the working class. Inadequate though Linton Heathcliff is, he is
given all the comforts that his class implies, yet ironically and much
to Heathcliffs pleasure, education is a means to an end, but not vice
versa. Manipulating the tools of the upper classes the instruments
of which he himself was a victim Heathcliff is able to turn their own
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contrivances against them. The unjust denial of the means for

intellectual improvement in the novel is an allegory of the working
class struggle against the assumed privileges of the nobility.

With the opening pages, Wuthering Heights expresses a preoccupation with class
and descent. Amongst the first descriptions of the estate is a curious date inscribed
above the doorway the year 1500 spells the completion of house, and we later learn
Hareton Heathcliff is also inscribed above the egress. Not only does the date
connect the Heights with the Renaissance when the social landscape was largely
based on heredity and status, it serves as a necessary validation of the narrative, given
that the story is told by working class narrator. The credibility of the story could be
questioned, as in The Turn of the Screw, for the narrators class can discredit the
storys authenticity or import. The connection of the Heights to the Renaissance
becomes a sort of justification of the readers interest in a working class tale. Readers
might not care about Nelly, but they very well would care about the world of the
Heights and Thrushcross grange in which, as signaled by the inscription, property and
heredity are as paramount as they were in the Renaissance.
If the disintegration of the class system occurs within the novel as T.K. Meier
suggests, then the primary manifestation of this change is Nellys narration. Whether
we perceive Nellys station within the household as part of the feudal or the modern
social construct, her class is undeniably below the Earnshaws and Lintons. It is
significant that not only does she lead the novels narration, but that at the end she and
the bourgeois Lockwood are the sole bearers of the Earnshaw-Linton combined
family history(s). As the upper echelons of society work hard to preserve testaments
of their power in form of contrivances such heirlooms, written histories, art etc.
having only a middle class businessman and a working class servant as the only
bearers of the story gives them the power that historically resides within the family
that is the power over the entire family history. It is a dangerous prospect indeed, as
now the lower class is in a unique position, with a power to subvert the honor and
prestige the family endeavored to maintain throughout generations. The sole
progenitors of the family, Cathy and Hareton, do not know their own history. They
cannot partake in the chivalric associations contained by heirlooms, to be sure,
they cannot, enjoy the satisfaction which is derived from saying, My father or my
grandfather or my ancestor sat in that chair, or looked as he now looks in that picture
The estates they inherit cannot function as heirlooms or any semblance of family
history, for in order for them to do so the history itself must be known. The estates
27

function as inheritance solely in a legal sense with no hereditary associations. To be

exact, the historical heritage that the Heights and the Grange contain cannot offer any
meaning or satisfaction for Cathy or Hareton, and if there is no meaning the entire
function of heirlooms is deleted. The marriage of Cathy and Hareton can then be
perceived as a union free from familial ties, which are epitomized by heirlooms.

Critics differ in their interpretation of the engagement at the end of the novel.
Margaret Lenta insists that a hybrid variant of both Earnshaw and Linton lifestyles
survives with the marriage of Cathy and Hareton, while Susan Meyer proposes that
the marriage brings an end to class inequality, as Hareton, the former servant,
marries the once pampered and wealthy young [Cathy].
Andrew Abraham believes that patriarchy gradually regains a stronghold towards
the end primarily because Cathy develops into the ideal Victorian angel in the
house, a patriarchal legal construct symptomatic of the law, Terry Eagleton,
however, contests that the marriage allows for a future containing a fusion rather than
a confrontation of interests between gentry and bourgeoisie. I suggest that the novel
introduces modern domesticity with the union of Hareton and Cathy, who effectively
become a nuclear family, cut off, as they are from generational ties. The novel begins
with old ideals of domesticity, complete with patriarchs at the head of the families and
a self-consciousness towards lineage as exemplified by the inscription above the
doorway. The novel ends, however, with a modern construct of a nuclear family and
while the ghosts of Catherine and Heathcliff still haunt the landscape, neither they, nor
the members of the family(s) long gone, can affect their peace.

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