Dima Elena-Izabela

Year 2, English Major

Group 1

„Tame vs wild humanity. Safety vs peril.” in Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte’s novel develops the image of human nature’s complexity by establishing a
distinction between tame and wild humanity, as well the two instances of nature, namely
nature as a place of safety and nature as a place of peril.

The Earnshaw family, more precisely the two brothers Catherine and Hindley but also the
adopted foundling Heathcliff, gathered by Mr. Earnshaw from the streets of Liverpool can be
considered exponents of wild, untamed humanity. Hindley grows since childhood an
unlimited envy and hatred towards Heathcliff and this will forever chase him, becoming the
cause of his self-destruction. Heathcliff is first unwelcomed by all those who live in the house.
He seems unable to use language, which denotes that he lacks any minimal education.
However, Catherine grows fond of him and they soon become inseparable; they form a duo.
As children, they are unruly, free spirits but this does not change much later on. They are
compared to beasts by Nelly because they act according to impulse, instincts and they are
driven by passion. Catherine attempts at denying her nature by acting like a civilized and
manner young lady after staying five weeks to recover at Thrushcross Grange with the
Lintons but her nature comes out when she slaps both Nelly and Edgar in an act of fury. She
ends up marrying Edgar Linton after all, thinking that this would mean building a stable
future for her and even for Heathcliff but she realizes that by doing all this, she became a
stranger to herself and Heathcliff’s unexpected return revives her consuming passion for him.
She is torn between two types of love, which she describes to Nelly:

My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I am well aware, as
winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source
of little visible delight, but necessary.

Heathcliff’s sudden return appearance at Thrushcross Grange, three years after his
disappearance parallels the moment when he was there for the first time with Catherine.
While she was brought in the house to be taken care of he was evicted because of his low
birth. When Edgar is confronted with the idea of receiving Heathcliff he suggest that the
kitchen would be a more appropriate place. Heathcliff appears now like a gentleman, at least
in „dress and aspect”; he is wealthy and repectable. This is as deceitful as Catherine being the
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 Dima Elena-Izabela
Year 2, English Major
Group 1

angel of the house. Heathcliff proves to seek revenge; he takes over Wuthering Heights from
alcoholic Hindley and marries naive Isabella with the mere purpose of hurting Edgar. Later
on, he would use his own son as a means of putting his hands on Thrushcross Grange as well.
Both Heathcliff and Catherine are outcasts; their passion is unworldly, they might unite in
death, in a place suitable for them and their love.

On the other side, the Lintons are much more part of the society and social life, being tied to
civilization. Edgar and Isabella are exponents of tame humanity; they are educated, mannered
but also weak, superficial (at least in childhood) and naive (Isabella). Edgar is rational,
temperate; he is the quintessential gentleman, being born so, in comparison with Heathcliff’s
cruelty and brutality.

In the second generation, Catherine Linton is a civilized, mannered young lady and devoted
daughter but at the same time she takes after mother: she’s stubborn and strong-willed. Linton
Heathcliff was raised as a gentleman and shares Isabella’s weakness ( he is sick, dying). This
weak nature makes him liable to influence and selfish. Hareton Earnshaw is like the noble
savage who obeys his master and although he’s unpolished and illiterate, he can be tame
because of his goodness of heart.

Nature plays an important part in the novel; Janke distinguishes in an article between wild
nature and nature as garden. (p.75) The orderly Thruschcross Grange, Linton’s property, is the
place of light. Here we meet nature as garden; a „place of warmth, serenity and
comfort.”(p.76) Nature is undermined by humanity and though it is a place suitable for the
Lintons, Catherine feels contrained and suffocated in it. Her free spirit does not belong there.
On the other side, the moors and the rugged, stony ground surrounding Wuthering Heights, as
well as the powerful wind and stormy conditions are elements which compose the image of
wilderness; nature as wild, untamed, whose power exceeds that of men. The place is one of
darkness, isolated, secluded, far from civilization and untained from outer influences. In this
respect it is free. But it is also a place of degradation, where weak people cannot survive and
those stronger who attempt at undermining nature are also defeated.

From a socio-economical point of view, the action in Wuthering Heights is placed in a period
of time when the old rough farming culture, based on a naturally patriarchal family life was to
be challenged tamed and routed by social and cultural changes, marking the capitalist victory
over yeomanry.

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 Dima Elena-Izabela
Year 2, English Major
Group 1

In conclusion, according to Traversi „Wuthering Heights is an exploration of human passion

at different levels and of the effect exercised by the interplay of these levels upon human life
in its individual and social aspect.” (The Bronte sisters and Wuthering Heights, p.261)

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 Dima Elena-Izabela
Year 2, English Major
Group 1

Bibliography:

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Vintage. Penguin Random House UK, 2016

Janke, Kyle Mark. „Outside, looking in: The representative aesthetic of incompletion in
Wuthering Heights”. Caesure, vol 2, issue 2. 2015 http://www.emanuel.ro/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/5.Kyle-Mark-Janke-Outside-Looking-in.pdf.html Retrieved on
10.12.2018

Collins, Clifford. Wuthering Heights; an authoritative text. ed. William M. Sale. „Theme and
convention in Wuthering Heights”. New York, Norton. 1963

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