The Literature Book

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space was contrasted with the

literal and moral poverty of the

streets outside. Brontë, however,

brought the raw realities of the

outside into the home, recalling

earlier gothic narratives where

households were not sites of refuge

or comfort, but spaces of familial

abuse. In doing so, she reveals

to her contemporary reader that

the “slavery” and “homelessness”

associated with Heathcliff are

also evident within the idealized

domestic sphere: in effect, the

home is no safer than the crime-

ridden gothic streets.

As an abandoned waif found

in Liverpool, Heathcliff has been

associated not only with gypsies

but also with the slave trade of the

period. As a character, he may be

seen as a gothic manifestation of

the outside, bringing the terror

of the unfamiliar into the domestic

environment. Through his strong

attachment to Catherine, who, like

him, experiences only neglect

and abuse within the house of

Wuthering Heights, his presence

reveals that crime and exploitation

were not simply the domain of the

urban working-class poor.

Lovers or vampires?

Catherine and Heathcliff’s

relationship is more vampiric

than romantic. They draw the life

force from each other in pursuit

of their needs and revenge, and

often mirror each other’s desires

and frustrations with society.

Heathcliff’s plea to Catherine

that “I cannot live without my life!

I cannot live without my soul!”

is an indicator of how theirs is

not a flowery love union, but

an existential meeting of souls.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

The wild moorland setting

symbolizes the barbaric threat

presented by nature. The desolate

landscape, in which it is easy to get

lost, is one of the book’s characters.

Catherine utters a similar line:

“Whatever our souls are made of,

his and mine are the same.” For her,

Heathcliff is not a source of girlish

infatuation and she even warns

her sister-in-law not to idealize

him as the hero of a romance book.

Instead, she sees him for what

he is: selfish and predatory. She is

also a willfully stubborn and selfish

character and her actions mirror

Heathcliff’s unbending will.

Bred in poverty and abused

at Wuthering Heights for his lower

class, Heathcliff desires social

power through class elevation,

money, and the ownership of

property, represented by Catherine.

Like other middle-class women

of the period, Catherine is herself

regarded as a piece of property, a

feature of the household in which

she is confined. For her, Heathcliff

represents a weapon against the

respectable middle-class world

she is expected to conform to as

she enters womanhood.

Gender and the domestic

The relationship between Victorian

gothic and gender is an important

aspect of Wuthering Heights that is

strongly evident in one of the most

violent and famous passages in the

novel. When the hapless Lockwood

My great miseries in

this world have been

Heathcliff’s miseries, and

I watched and felt each

from the beginning.

Wuthering Heights

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