Torn Between Two Houses: The People of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange
In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, there is a constant trading of people between two distinct households. Firstly, that of the smaller, titular home Wuthering Heights, and with Thrushcross Grange, the nearby mansion. The characteristics of people and their behavior coincides directly with the household they most recently resided in. Thrushcross Grange makes people more polite, reserved and morally upright, and gain a vague sense of superiority over the people of Wuthering Heights. Those of Wuthering Heights are base and coarse, wild and passionate, closer to the nature of beasts than of humans. The two adjacent households are dichotomous representations of the two opposing extremes of how a person in contemporary society can possibly be. One can be the staunchly conventional Victorian of Thrushcross Grange, or the uninhibited “savage” beast of Wuthering Heights. Those who spend their time in and attach their identity completely to one of these homes invariably falls to an untimely death, often caused by the behaviors and actions of the people in the other house. Bronte creates a fatal incompatibility between these two settings, and each depict the flaws of being too morally upright and civilized and too liberal and natural, and unless a mediation of the two extremes are obtained by a character, then the character will reach their untimely death by another who exhibits the opposite side of human nature and behavior that is habitual with the other house.
In the first few chapters of the novel where Nelly begins her narrative, we are introduced to Catherine Earnshaw. She is quickly established as not uncivilized, but certainly what we would call today a “free spirited” child, or even a tomboy. She runs across the fields barefoot with Heathcliff to mischievously spy in jealousy the Linton’s of Thrushcross Grange. The two children are clearly conscious of the lack of privilege in Wuthering Heights and would like to peek into the lives of the upper classes. Soon, instead of being jealous of the Linton’s, they scorn their pathetic and needy nature, “We laughed outright at the petted things; we did despise them!”(Bronte47). The word “petted” perfectly describes the young Lintons, who are overly cared for and coddled, to the point where they are utterly ignorant of the world and easily overwhelmed by small problems. When Catherine and Heathcliff are discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Linton, they’re startled that the two have formed a pair. Mrs. Linton exclaims, “’Miss Earnshaw? Nonsense!’ cried the dame; ‘Miss Earnshaw scouring the country with a gipsy!”(49). From their perspective, Catherine is the known neighbor they have grown accustomed to, the fair young girl next door who they deemed nice and respectable. Heathcliff is alternately an outsider to the middle-class British culture, he is regarded as a foreigner, and specifically a vaguely non-white or non-European person, further distancing himself from the conventional respectability of Victorian England that Bronte was writing for. The Linton’s regard the fair and whiter Catherine as someone more like themselves, more aligned with their vision of what an acceptable child is in their mainstream middle-class perspective. Thus, the Catherine of Wuthering Heights is temporarily adopted warmly by the people of Thrushcross Grange, while the irredeemable Heathcliff is promptly sent back to Wuthering Heights.
For a short period, Catherine of Wuthering Heights is changed into Catherine of Thrushcross Grange, both in appearance and in her character. She is dressed very properly, carries herself with grace, and learns to frown upon Heathcliff’s uncleanliness and attitude. This change in character creates a conflict with Heathcliff, who works as an embodiment of all the wildness and roughness unique to Wuthering Heights. The clash between the two houses is a theme that arches throughout the whole novel and is present here in an obvious and straightforward fashion, with Catherine and Heathcliff being at odds with each other in terms of mere appearance and comportment. Mrs. Linton is conscious of the impressionability of Catherine and the power the roughness of Wuthering Heights has on her personality and behavior, “She must mind and not grow wild again here” she admonishes. Throughout the night, Catherine alternates between being a cheerful, pleasant dinner guest with the Lintons, and being in a despondent, sulky mood over Heathcliff’s personal identity crisis with Edgar. It is an internal conflict of the affectedly cheerful disposition of the Catherine from Thrushcross Grange, and the earnest, moody and brooding habits of the Catherine from Wuthering Heights. Within one night, Catherine has proven that she is entirely drawn to the latter version of herself. By sneaking into the dark bedroom where Heathcliff is sent off too, she proves to the reader that she is irrevocably drawn to Heathcliff, and to the passionate earnestness so prevalent in Wuthering Heights. Lockwood interjects his opinion, acting as a transparent vehicle for Bronte’s opinion. He claims that the people of the moors, and especially the people of Wuthering Heights, “live more in earnest, more in themselves, change, and frivolous external things” (Bronte 60). Bronte is noting the positive attributes of the people of Wuthering Heights, they may be rough, violent, and even evil, but to their benefit, at least they express themselves freely, and care about more important things than most of society. As the story unfolds, we can see Bronte argues there can be an acceptable medium between the unadulterated earnestness of Wuthering Heights and the calm civility of Thrushcross Grange.
When one character is thrown into another house, it spells disaster for them if they do not grow accustomed to the setting. If their identity has been formed so strongly around the society they grew up in, and they are suddenly no longer present in that world, their ruin is close at hand. Isabella Linton is the embodiment of the ideal Victorian woman. She is young, fair skinned, and innocent. She has grown within the comforting confines of her house, with all her wants and needs met and attended to. When she marries Heathcliff and moves to Wuthering Heights, she quickly finds that this sort of brutal, base form of living is unacceptable to her, who is used to comfort and love, she writes to Ellen, “seated in worse than solitude on that inhospitable hearth, and remembering that four miles distant lay my delightful home, containing the only people I loved on earth” (Bronte 136). Life in Wuthering Heights proves increasingly cruel, eventually driving Isabella to take Linton and run off to London. It is a startling move on her part, and the Isabella from the beginning of the novel, of Thrushcross Grange, would never have believed she would be moved to make such a bold, life-altering decision. A single mother in London during this time would have faced innumerable hardships and shame. The coddling she was accustomed to left her wholly unprepared for the realities of life, and especially the dire situations she is in as she lives in Wuthering Heights. In the case of Isabella, she is the representation of failures of Victorian values regarding women. Bronte persists that if one is grown in an isolated shelter, where fragility and neediness is valued in a woman, then this breeds a culture of women like Isabella, who cannot possibly extricate themselves from troubling situations and invariably find themselves in need of help. With the new generations of characters in this novel reaching their own coming-of-age, we see a balancing of the two extremes of neediness and staunch independence.
After the abysmally weak Linton perishes, Catherine Linton and Hareton Earnshaw grow closer. The two sole descendants of the two families have a peaceful, benevolent relationship, markedly different from the passionate, troubled relationships all the other characters are inclined to ignite. Hareton is now literate thanks to Catherine’s teachings, and both grow fond of each other, and the overall happiness of the home increases. Ellen recounts, “[Hareton’s] honest, warm, and intelligent nature shook off rapidly the clouds of ignorance and degradation in which it had been bred” (Bronte 307). In their bond, a mixture of the naturality of Wuthering Heights and the civility of Thrushcross Grange seem to mesh. Catherine is less uptight and kinder, less inclined to scoff or tease at those she deems inferior. Hareton is less indignant, and more educated and contented. Inversely, Catherine learns to defend herself, and be vocal as the people of Wuthering Heights, standing up to Heathcliff successfully. Her marriage with Hareton is an example of how two seemingly opposing personalities and people can come together and improve the other party, bringing an overall peace to the novel.
In Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange represents what it means to be nurtured, and Wuthering Heights stands for what it is to be part of nature. The conflict of the novel can be viewed as a battle between the natural and the nurtured. Bronte criticized each one in isolation, as being the entirety of nature is inhuman and base, while being entirely nurtured means being incapable of living a meaningful life. Bronte argues that it is best to be both in moderation, to live life in earnest, and being in touch with emotions while maintaining morals and acting with dignity.