Wuthering Heights/Duality

A detailed Summary of Wuthering Heights/Duality

Emily Brontė's controversial novel Wuthering Heights is the tale of two very different families living in two different houses, living two extremely different lives. Catherine is the character that draws them together.

The attempt to house two radically different natures within the same body is demonstrated in Catherine's two houses of residence, her attraction to Heathcliff and Linton, and in her contrasting behavior throughout the novel.

Wuthering Heights is the home in which Catherine grew up. It is a formidable structure that "the architect had the foresight to build strong" because of both the psychological and physical storms it had to endure. Corners of the home were "guarded with large jutting stones." The house its self is not a pleasant place to be. "No descent person came near" because of the somewhat frightening nature of the house. The "infernal house" is "primitive (in) structure" and has "grotesque carvings" which led people to view the house as an eerie structure. The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights are not much more accepted by society either. Heathcliff and Catherine are wild, unrefined, and harsh. They play out of doors barefoot and Catherine is not well-mannered at all. Heathcliff is perfectly comfortabl

e wearing the same dirty clothes all the time. The names "Heathcliff" and "Catherine" are harsh- sounding. Even the dogs of the house are also unpleasant, being described as "liver-colored bitch pointer surrounded by a swarm of squealing puppies." As a whole, Wuthering Heights symbolizes hate, anger, and jealousy. However, Thrushcross Grange is a completely different place. Thrushcross Grange is the house where Catherine stays for five weeks while her ankle heals. It is a house built for comfort, and just to weather storms, as Wuthering Heights is. The house's features are much softer than Wuthering Heights'. The grounds are well-kept, with flower beds and a manicured lawn. The inhabitants of Thrushcross Grange are much more refined than those of Wuthering Heights. Isabella and Edgar Linton are well-behaved and gentle. In fact, they refused to admit Heathcliff into their home because of his wild, rambunctious nature; contrary to their polite, calm nature. The inhabitants of Thrushcross Grange are superficial and materialistic, caring about the tangible things in life. In contrast to Wuthering Heights, the residents of this house have much lighter-sounding names - Edgar and Isabella. However different those two houses are, Catherine is able and willing to live in both of them, which displays her dual nature as far as where she resides. Duality is suggested because she is able to live in these two places that are so opposite from each other. Not only is Catherine able to live in both places, but she is comfortable in doing so. She likes each house for different reasons. At Wuthering Heights, life is wild and free and she does not have to worry about minding her manners. However, at Thrushcross Grange, she is on her best behavior and acts like a lady. That is fine with Catherine because when she acts like a lady, people tell her how beautiful she is and she has "fine clothes and flattery . . . instead of (being) a wild hatless savage." It is Brontė's imagination, emotional power, and figures of speech that make the characters relate so closely to their surroundings. The contrast between houses is more than physical, rather the two houses represent the people who live in them. Brontė made Heathcliff an

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Approximate Word count = 1493
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English