Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is structured around dualities. Dualities, both contrasting and compatible, form the foundation for the major themes within the novel. By using opposites in particular, the author builds tension that serves as the blueprint in developing the plot and exposing the meaning behind the work. The dualities unfold the theme of love primarily by way of setting comparison. The places in Wuthering Heights differ in order to represent distinct literary ideas that exemplify the conflict that arises from dark, twisted passion. The two settings, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, though both grand and wealthy households, differ in nearly every other aspect. Wuthering Heights is very much associated with nature
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They represent the incompatible ideas of the time, which parallel the continuous conflicts and dramatics of the novel. Wuthering Heights, home of the Earnshaws, is symbolic of the Romantic Movement. The Romantic Era was a time inspired by nature, individualism, emotion, sense over reason, memories, and the supernatural. In addition to the Heights’ physical characteristics, nature is portrayed through the character’s pure and raw emotional frenzies. Catherine Earnshaw claims her “love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary” (129). Catherine reinforces the connection between nature and deep passion found in Romanticism. The wild love that encompasses Catherine and Heathcliff originates and finds its initial defeat in Wuthering Heights. In choosing to marry Edgar Linton over Heathcliff, Catherine gives up her individualism in order to attain the lifestyle of poise and affluence she desires. “She never had power to conceal her passion” (111) as the more sophisticated Lintons do, which leads to the spread of chaos from one family to the other. Anger and the need for revenge arise from the remains of the failed love. However, Catherine and Heathcliff’s longing to find wholality in one another remains unrelenting and unfulfillable until both characters inevitably self destruct. The house becomes the dwelling …show more content…
The two distinct ways of life are such polar opposites that when one person from one household switches sides in an attempt to alter her own fate, the natural balance is upset. Victorianism and Romanticism combine in a way that leaves neither concept distinguishable from the other. Heathcliff leaves temporarily to make a fortune to become the kind of man Catherine desires for a husband. Following his return, Catherine and Heathcliff’s multitude of emotional issues are thrust upon Edgar and Isabella. The seemingly composed Lintons are overcome by impassioned chaos while the free-spirited Earnshaws succumb to the appeal of affluence in a social
They represent the incompatible ideas of the time, which parallel the continuous conflicts and dramatics of the novel. Wuthering Heights, home of the Earnshaws, is symbolic of the Romantic Movement. The Romantic Era was a time inspired by nature, individualism, emotion, sense over reason, memories, and the supernatural. In addition to the Heights’ physical characteristics, nature is portrayed through the character’s pure and raw emotional frenzies. Catherine Earnshaw claims her “love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary” (129). Catherine reinforces the connection between nature and deep passion found in Romanticism. The wild love that encompasses Catherine and Heathcliff originates and finds its initial defeat in Wuthering Heights. In choosing to marry Edgar Linton over Heathcliff, Catherine gives up her individualism in order to attain the lifestyle of poise and affluence she desires. “She never had power to conceal her passion” (111) as the more sophisticated Lintons do, which leads to the spread of chaos from one family to the other. Anger and the need for revenge arise from the remains of the failed love. However, Catherine and Heathcliff’s longing to find wholality in one another remains unrelenting and unfulfillable until both characters inevitably self destruct. The house becomes the dwelling …show more content…
The two distinct ways of life are such polar opposites that when one person from one household switches sides in an attempt to alter her own fate, the natural balance is upset. Victorianism and Romanticism combine in a way that leaves neither concept distinguishable from the other. Heathcliff leaves temporarily to make a fortune to become the kind of man Catherine desires for a husband. Following his return, Catherine and Heathcliff’s multitude of emotional issues are thrust upon Edgar and Isabella. The seemingly composed Lintons are overcome by impassioned chaos while the free-spirited Earnshaws succumb to the appeal of affluence in a social