The Sublimation and Repression
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is a tale in which "two households, both alike in dignity" have conflicts which cause "civil blood" to make "civil hands unclean." In her one novel she encapsulates both the harshness and the beauty of the Yorkshire moors, using it, not only as a background, but also as a central image of the passions and thwarted longings of the characters in Wuthering Heights. The human patterns, which reoccur in Wuthering Heights, can be likened to the cycles of nature, where the seasons return and time comes about again. It is such a strange, agonizing, and powerful book that every individual who reads it will give it his own interpretation. One where "two households, both alike in dignity" have conflicts which cause "civil blood" to make "civil hands unclean." Such an interpretation is the constant use of the sublimation and repression of nature to express the characters' innermost and most personal thoughts and feelings. This portrayal is extravagantly unique in comparison to the mainstream literature of the time. Throughout the novel, nature is constantly being eluded to and made mention of, merely emphasizing the true story line. Things such as weather, times of day, seasons, clouds, winds, sunlight, gr
Bronte constantly plays nature and culture off each other. Nature is represented by the Earnshaw family and by Catherine and Heathcliff in particular, who embody the essence of nature itself: these characters are governed by their passions, not by reflection of ideals of civility. Correspondingly, the house where they live-Wuthering Heights-comes to symbolize a similar wildness. Thrushcross Grange and the Linton family, of course, represent culture, refinement, convention, and cultivation. When in Chapter VI, Catherine is bitten by the Lintons' dog and brought to Thrushcross Grange, the two sides are brought into the collision course that largely structures the novel's plot. At the time of that first meeting between the Linton and the Earnshaw households, chaos has already begun to erupt at Wuthering Heights, where Hindley's cruelty and injustice reign, whereas all seems to be fine and peaceful at Thrushcross Grange; yet the influence of Wuthering Heights soon proves overpowering. Thus Wuthering Heights may almost be interpreted as an allegory of the corruption of culture by nature; this would make it a curious reversal of the more traditional story of corruption of nature by culture. However, Bronte tells her tale in more wild characters, and often portrays the more civilized characters as despicably weak and silly. This method of characterization prevents the novel from flattening out into a simple privileging of culture over nature, or vice versa. The setting is significant to the novel as it represents all the themes and juxtapositions of characters that are dealt with in Wuthering Heights. The elemental atmosphere that is created using the background of the moors enhances the novel's wild and savage nature. either of the two major narrative layers(Homans 9). Thrushcross Grange, the neighboring property four miles away, is more enclosed, being surrounded by hills and less at the mercy of the bitter winds. In a deeper sense, the walls of Thrushcross Grange protect Lintons and Catherine from the dangerous influences of Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights itself. It is also described as "buried in trees," the plants flourishing in the more welcome environment, just as the characters are more able to grow beyond the initial difficulties which impeded their neighbors (Bronte 5). The gardens and flowers are always described in reference to Thrushcross Grange, which brings forth the sense of cheerfulness, beauty and hope that is lacking in Wuthering Heights. Thrushcross Grange, when first seen by Heathcliff and Catherine, exudes a more luxurious and pleasant atmosphere, The stormy weather
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Approximate Word count = 1766
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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