Impact of Social Class in Wuthering Heights
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In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, the reader is introduced to the characters of Heathcliff and Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw Linton -- two people who, despite significant differences in their social class and relative status, love one another with a passion that defies convention. As Deborah Epstein Nord (190) suggests, Heathcliff is depicted by Bronte as the romantic yet dangerous gypsy, a person who enters Wuthering Heights as a parentless street urchin. Cathy, in contrast, is the daughter of the house, is a de facto "lady" who is nevertheless a "wild, wicked slip" (Bronte, 46). It is inevitable that these two young people would grow to love one another, and equally inevitable that Cathy would reject the street urchin for respectability as the wife of a neighboring gentleman. Their tragedy is that love -- in the era in which the novel was written -- was subordinate to class, thus creating the tragedy that would befall the Earnshaws and Lintons. Heathcliff is described by housekeeper Nelly Dean on his unexpected entry into the Earnshaw household as "a gypsy brat" speaking in "gibberish" who was literally "picked up" off the streets by Mr. Earnshaw and brought home to be reared with his own children. Heathcliff (the name of the Earnshaws' deceased son) become a member of the household who is nevertheless never fully accepted by Nelly Dean, who with Hindley Earnshaw (the legitimate heir) "plagued and went on with him shamefully" (Bronte, 41). Nelly Dean never loses h
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onment of a remote family estate, it is quite natural that Cathy and Heathcliff would be attracted to one another and would share similar outlooks (Goodlett, 319). Catherine's older brother -- who is responsible for sending Heathcliff away -- makes it possible for Catherine to come into contact with the Lintons, for whom an active social world is normal. Confronted with these social circumstances, Cathy begins to reject the isolation that she felt in the family estate. As Goodlett (320) puts it, "Linton can provide her with the material comforts that her insecurity demands."
For Cathy, psychological security means not only having a partner, but having one who is wealthy and socially acceptable. Goodlett (320) claims that: "According to 19th century custom, a woman was not 'complete' unless she married successfully." Heathcliff is barely able to provide himself with food and shelter at this critical juncture in Cathy's life, which leads Cathy to consider Linton as a better alternative. She is reluctant, because of her intense bond with Heathcliff, but he cannot fulfill her need for comfort and security.
Cathy states: "I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heavena. (But) it would degrade me to
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Approximate Word count = 1914
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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