"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Jane Bronte.

Essay by MYSTiCKWARLOCKHigh School, 12th grade June 2003

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Wuthering Heights, the creation of Emily Jane Bronte, depicts not a fantasy realm or the depths of hell. Rather, the novel focuses on the two main characters' battle with the restrictions of Victorian Society. Societal pressures and restrictive cultural confines exile Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff from the world and then from each other. The story commences in the desolate moors of Yorkshire, home of the estate Wuthering Heights. True to its setting, the novel develops Catherine and Heathcliff as mischievous children who wander the isolated bogs, separating themselves from the activities of Wuthering Heights.

Catherine's childhood exile stems from her lack of compliance with the rules concerning the conduct of a Victorian lady. As a child, her father was too ill to reprimand the free spirited child. Therefore, Catherine grew up among nature and lacked the sophistication of high society. Catherine removed herself from society and,

"had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day;...we

had not a minute's security

that she wouldn't be in mischief. Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going--singing, laughing, and plaguing everyone who would not do the same. A wild, wicked slip she was--"(37).

Catherine further disregarded social standards and remained friends with Heathcliff despite his degradation by Hindley, her brother. Miss Cathy and Heathcliff were now very thick. She found her sole enjoyment in his companionship. Catherine grew up beside Heathcliff, in the fields. "They both promised to grow up as rude as savages; the young master being entirely negligent; how they behaved,"(40-41). During her formative years Catherine's conduct did not reflect that of a young Lady, "and one of their chief amusements [was] to run away to the...