Whuthering Heights

A detailed Summary of Whuthering Heights

The story of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights revolves around the passion that Catherine and Heathcliff felt for each other. These passions run extremely deep and intense. These passions are normal, everyday ones - love, hate, affection, contempt and revenge. These depicted wild, untamable force are so violent, cruel, subjugating that more aften than not defies all order and break all barriers.

F.H. Langman states "that the most important thing in Wuthering Heights, its central experience, is the love between Catherine and Heathcliff. What to make of it is another matter. The intensity of this particular passion which Catherine and Heathcliff display for each other goes beyond all physical and family barriers:

She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invert for her was to keep her separate from him, yet she got chided more than any of us on his account. (Ch.V Pg. 40)

But in the eyes of the Lintons, Heathcliff has no right to Catherine or to the privilages of her class. He is a "gypsy", a "castaway", a "wicked boy, at all events...... quite unfit for a decent house, while Catherine is " Miss Earnshaw" and worthy of Linton respect and Linton attention.

The intensity of feeling between Catherine

This is her attitude towards marriage. She is deeply in love with Heathcliff but married Edger Linton with a motive. Even when she was married to Linton her extremely intense form of friendship with Heathcliff still persists. She is unfaithful to her husband by meeting with Heathcliff . On the other hand, Heathcliff also tries to work out to meet her .This extramarital relationship between them clearly has violate the social norms of her society in the Victorian age.

The contrast of the simulated Chrismas cheer at Wuthering Heights is made to look even more stark by Heathcliff's unchristian vow of revenge against Hindley.

In making his vow, Heathcliff has opted to usurp God in the punishing of the wicked-he has decided to take justice into his own hands. It is "rough justice"-An eye for an eye, which is what melted out as revenge by Heatcliff. His revenge is willed and systematic. He has particular goals-revenge upon the agents of his past humiliation among them-and he uses force and deceit to reach them.We can say that in doing so he has denied them "the right to exist, to hold a place in the scheme of things".

Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into nothing, before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff. Oh, that's not what I intend-that's not what I mean! He'll be as much to me as he has been all his lifetime. Edger must shake off his antipathy, and tolerate him, at least....(Pg. 81)

......if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggers.....(pg 81)

"For shame, Heathcliff!" said I. "It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive." (Pg. 60)

Catherine loves both Heathcliff and Edger Linton on different basis-She loves Linton because he is handsome, and pleasant, and young, and cheerful, and rich, and loves her. Her love for Heathcliff is a must: it is the deepest impulse of her nature, it is "necessary". Through her feeling for Heathcliff, Catherine discovers her own identity, her place in the world-as he does through her.

heart, and Joseph might thrash Heathcliff till his arm ached, they forget

The power of their passionate love not only leads to revenge, but depecited in Heathcliff's extra-ordinary act which vilates all orders. Before Heathcliff dies,he makes a ghoulish arrangemen

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Approximate Word count = 1520
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English