Wuthering Heights-storm and calm (Lord David Cecil)

A detailed Summary of Wuthering Heights-storm and calm (Lord David Cecil)

Lord David Cecil suggests that the theme of Wuthering Heights, by Emily

Bronte, is a universe of opposing forces-storm and calm. Wuthering Heights, the land of storm, is a sturdy house that is set up high on the windy moors, belonging to the Earnshaw family. The house is highly charged with emotion of hatred, cruelty, violence, and savage love. In comparison, Thrushcross Grange, the land of calm, is settled in the valley and is the residence of the genteel Lintons. The same differences exists between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, as they do in Heathcliff and Edgar. As Catherine points out, the contrast between the two "resembled what you see in exchanging a bleak, hilly,

coal country, for a beautiful fertile valley." (Bronte 72)

The Lintons, and the social and material advantages they stand for become Heathcliff's rivals for Catherine's love, which leads directly to the central conflict of the novel. Heathcliff despises them at first sight for their weakness, but Catherine, being an extremely proud girl, is tempted. A lovers' triangle begins to take definite shape when the aristocratic Edgar Linton falls in love with Catherine, upsetting the balance

imagine he can restore her to vigour in the soil of his shallow cares!" (Bronte 151)

Catherine's fatal illness was a direct result of her realization that she has warped the natural order of things, admitting her guilt before she died. Although, even in death she tries to regain a balance between both worlds, storm and calm, with her interment site: "It was dug on a green slope, in a corner of the kirdyard, where the wall was so low that the heath and bilberry plants have climbed over from the moor;..." (Bronte 165) Catherine has chosen a place where she may be as close to the wild moors of her youth while never leaving the confines of her new world.

is a source of discord, inevitably disrupting the working of the natural order." (Cecil 30) Through Catherine's delirium, she has at last faced the reality of her hopeless situation. She is trapped, married to a man she cannot respect and cut off forever from the man she deeply loves. In addition, she is stifled by the civilized atmosphere of Thrushcross Grange and longing for freedom of her natural life with Heathcliff. In chapter twelve, she throws open the window to attempt to get a "chance of life." (Bronte 125

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Approximate Word count = 798
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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