Do You Believe Wuthering Heights to be Only a Love Story
...ithin the novel, the main of course being the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. Although I have classed their relationship as romantic, they never actually show this love in a physical way, the closest they get is when Cathy dies. With this in mind, throughout the novel you, as a reader want the two young people to get together, so when Cathy says “it would degrade (her) to marry Heathcliff”, you are devastated, as they may not ever get together as a couple. The love between Heathcliff and Isabella is brutal and wrong. You feel sorry for her, as she has done absolutely nothing wrong; Isabella has only ever loved Heathcliff, but in return, Heathcliff makes her elope with him, watch as he hangs her dog, and on their wedding night, we get the impression that he rapes her “Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil?” She does not give her reasons for writing or not coming back to Wuthering Heights or Thrushcross Grange, but we get the impression that Heathcliff has emotionally and physically harmed Isabella. This is a characteristic of the gothic era. Another example of this gothic theme is the incident with Mr. Lockwood and the ghost of Cathy in her old room. Lockwood does not know if he is dreaming or why Heathcliff comes in to the room angry and calling for a “Cathy”. Neither do we, as readers. Bronte keeps us in suspense and confusion right until the end, where is all becomes clear. “Terror made me cruel; I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes.” The novel gives an insight into what the period might have looked like, sounded like and what clothes they would have worn. Joseph makes the story and setting more believable. Bronte uses local Yorkshire dialect to make Joseph more “real”. “Whet are ye for?” he shouted. “T’ maister’s dahn I’ t’fowld.” Most, if not all the characters would have spoke like this. However, as it is incredible hard to write down and read, Bronte has only used Joseph to bring out the dialect. There is a great amount of symmetry in Wuthering Heights, the most apparent with Catherine and Cathy. They are almost identical; this is what Heathcliff despises about her. Hareton and Heathcliff are another example of this writing technique. The two houses depict social class. Nelly, Zillah, Joseph, Heathcliff and Hareton are associated with Wuthering Heights. The Heights is a working farm so is not of grand scale...