Symbols of Light and Dark in Wuthering Heights

Beware of Binary opposites!

The forces and figures of darkness are affiliated with + the value of energy and – the threat of chaos

HEATHCLIFF

The forces and figures of light are affiliated with + the value of order and – the threat of sterility

EDGAR LINTON

• Pure darkness makes for destruction and anarchy

• Pure light makes for sterility and stasis

• Heathcliff, dark in nature and cut off from the light, becomes pure destructive energy

• Linton Heathcliff, light in nature and cut off from the energy of darkness, becomes frozen in sterile impotence

Nietzsche

Nietzsche called the light and dark the Apollonian and Dionysian impulses in life. Psychic integration depends on the human capacity to blend the Apollonian and Dionysian into a life of ordered energy