Wuthering Heights: Social Hierarchy + Change

Wuthering Heights: Social Hierarchy + Change

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WUTHERING HEIGHTS AS SOCIO-ECONOMIC NOVEL

The novel opens in 1801, a date Q.D. Leavis believes Bront chose in order "to fix its happenings at a 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; these changes produced Victorian class consciousness and unnatural' ideal of gentility." In 1801 the Industrial Revolution was under way in England; when Emily Bront was writing in 1847, it was a dominant force in English economy and society, and the traditional relationship of social classes was being disrupted by mushroom-new fortunes and an upwardly-aspiring middle class. A new standard for defining a gentleman, money, was challenging the traditional criteria of breeding and family and the more recent criterion of character. This social-economic reality provides the context for socio-economic readings of the novel.

Is Bront supporting the status quo and upholding conventional values? Initially the answer would seem to be "no." The reader sympathizes with Heathcliff, the gypsy oppressed by a rigid class system and denigrated as "imp" or "fiend." But as Heathcliff pursues his revenge and tyrannical persecution of the innocent, the danger posed by the uncontrolled individual to the community becomes apparent. Like other novels of the 1830s and 40s which reveal the abuses of industrialism and overbearing individualism, Wuthering Heights may really suggest the necessity of preserving traditional ways.This is not the way Marxist critics see the novel. For Arnold Kettle, the basic conflict and motive force of the novel are social in origin. He locates the source of Catherine and Heatcliff's affinity in the (class) rebellion forced on them by the injustice of Hindley and his wife Frances.

He, the outcast slummy, turns to the lively, spirited, fearless girl who alone offers him human understanding and comradeship. And she, born into the world of Wuthering Heights, senses that to achieve a full humanity, to be true to herself as a human being, she must associate herself totally with him in his rebellion against the tyranny of the Earnshaws and all that tyranny involves. In Kettle's view, Catherine's death inverts the common standards of bourgeois morality and so has "revolutionary force." Heathcliff is morally ruthless with his brutal analysis of the significance of Catherine's choosing Edgar and her rejecting the finer humanity he represents. Despite Heathcliff's implacable revenge, we continue to sympathize with him because he is using the weapons and values (arranged marriages, accumulating money, and expropriating property) of Victorian society against those with power; his ruthlessness strips them of any romantic veneer. As a result, he, too, betrays his humanity. Through the aspirations expressed in the love of Cathy and Hareton, Heathcliff recognizes some of the quality of his love for Catherine and the unimportance of revenge and property; he thereby is enabled to regain his humanity and to achieve union with Catherine. "Wutherng Heights then," Kettle concludes, "is an expression in the imaginative terms of art of the stresses and tensions and conflicts, personal and spiritual, of nineteenth-century capitalist society."

Eagleton Heathcliff, the outsider, has no social or biological place in the existing social structure; he offers Catherine a non-social or pre-social relationship, an escape from the conventional restrictions and material comforts of the upper classes, represented by the genteel Lintons. This relationship outside society is "the only authentic form of living in a world of exploitation and inequality." It is Heathcliff's expression of a natural non-social mode of being which gives the relationship its impersonal quality and makes the conflict one of nature versus society. Heathcliff's connection with nature is manifested in his running wild as a child and in Hindley's reducing him to a farm laborer. But Catherine's marriage and Hindley's abuse transform Heathcliff and his meaning in the social system, a transformation which reflects a reality about naturenature is not really "outside" society because its conflicts are expressed in society.Heathcliff the adult becomes a capitalist, an expropriator, and a predator, turning the ruling class's weapons of property accumulation and acquisitive marriage against them. Society's need to tame/civilize the unbridled capitalist is handled in the civilizing of Hareton. Hareton represents the yeoman class, which was being degraded. In adopting the behavior of the exploiting middle classes, Heathcliff works in common with the capitalist landowner Edgar Linton to suppress the yeoman class; having been raised in the yeoman class and having acquired his fortune outside it, he joins "spiritual forces" against the squirearchy. Thus, he represents both rapacious capitalism and the rejection of capitalist society. However, because the capitalist class is no longer revolutionary, it cannot provide expression for Heathcliff's rejection of society for a pre-social freedom from society's restraints. From this impossibility comes what Eagleton calls Heathcliff's personal tragedy: his conflictive unity consisting of spiritual rejection and social integration. Heathcliff relentlessly pursues his goal of possessing Catherine, an obsession that is unaffected by social realities. In other words, the novel does not fully succeed in reconciling or finding a way to express all Heathcliff's meanings.Eagleton acknowledges that ultimately the values of Thrushcross Grange prevail, but that Bront's sympathies lie with the more democratic, cozy Wuthering Heights. The capitalist victory over the yeomanry is symbolized by the displacement of Joseph's beloved currant bushes for Catherine's flowers, which are in Marxist terms "surplus value." With Heathcliff's death a richer life than that of Thrushcross Grange also dies; it may be a regrettable deathbut it is a necessary death because the future requires a fusion of gentry and capitalist middle class, not continued conflict.''Wuthering Heights'' opens in 1801 and covers the thirty years or so prior to that date as well. At that time, in England, the Industrial Revolution was under way and British society was beginning to change. When Emily Bront wrote the book, in 1847, the effects of this change were being seen in the rise of the upwardly-aspiring middle class and the beginning of the shift from ''old money'' to ''new money.'' A man could now raise his social standing by acquiring wealth as Heathcliff does in ''Wuthering Heights'' whereas in the past, one had to be born into an upper-class family in order to be considered a gentleman.

The novel also deals with the shift away from the old farming culture and the strict, patriarchal family life and towards a more urban way of life with an increase in equality for all. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, people were abandoning the countryside in droves and flocking to the cities in search of work and opportunities. Emily Bront lived in the last days of this ancient, traditional, conservative way of rural life. Men still ruled their families and female relatives were subject to their authority. A woman's place was in the home and they were expected to be gentle and dutiful.

When Heathcliff is introduced into the Earnshaw household, Mr. Earnshaw seems neither to understand nor to care how this strange young boy might affect his family. He overrules their objections and insists that young Heathcliff is to be treated well. As far as Mr. Earnshaw is concerned, he is the head of the family and his is the only opinion which really matters. Such an attitude would be an anathema to us, today. Mr. Earnshaw's lack of comprehension of the resentment engendered by his pronouncement sets in motion a chain of events that will only end thirty one years later, when Heathcliff dies and Cathy and Hareton marry.

The entire story of ''Wuthering Heights'' takes place in a few square miles of Yorkshire moor. The setting is very important as the area's isolation, the forbidding countryside and the harsh climate all go to mould the characters in the novel.

''Wuthering Heights'' is rife with class conflict ( social standing and property ownership went hand in hand.

Restoration of Social Order

The Earnshaws and the Lintons both own estates Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights respectively whereas Heathcliff has nothing. To the Lintons in particular, he is beneath their notice as a result. (K) When Catherine and Heathcliff go to Thrushcross Grange to spy on the Lintons and are caught, Catherine is treated well once they realise that she is an Earnshaw but they want nothing to do with Heathcliff and call him ''quite unfit for a decent house.'' Heathcliff has no hope of making anything of himself as long as he remains in servitude at Wuthering Heights. Catherine realises this and plans to marry Linton so that she may use his money to raise his social standing. She tells Nelly that ''It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now.'' She goes on to explain that they would be beggars with no prospects were they to marry but that with Edgar Linton's money she will be able to ''aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's power.'' Her plans come to nothing, however, as Heathcliff has overheard her say that it would degrade her to marry him. He disappears and only returns several years later when he has money and power. He goes to great length to take the Earnshaw's and the Linton's properties from them and he does succeed. Heathcliff does manage to disinherit Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton but at the end of the novel the couple are about to marry and to move to Thrushcross Grange together. Social order has been restored and this is viewed as part of the happy ending.

Servants

Another aspect of class distinctions which may seem unusual to the modern reader is the way servants are treated. As those who were born into the upper classes tended to stay in their social grouping, by and large, so those in the serving classes had little chance to better their status. Social mobility was still relatively unheard of and Nelly Dean, for example, would not have expected that she would ever be treated as an equal by Mr. Lockwood, the Earnshaws or the Lintons Hindley treats Heathcliff appallingly and makes him sleep with the animals because he is ''only'' a servant and nobody questions his right to do this, even though they might disapprove. (K) Even Mr. Lockwood, although he is not a cruel man, shows little real feeling for Nelly

Dean when he is dealing with her. He calls her a ''worthy woman'' and should know that she rises early and works hard, but he doesn't seem to be aware of this at all and thinks little of keeping her up late into the night, telling him the story of ''Wuthering Heights.'' When Nelly protests that it is getting late, Mr. Lockwood tells her that it doesn't matter, as he doesn't have to get up early the next day. His apparent selfishness is not commented on by Nelly, who knows it is not her place to upbraid him for his thoughtlessness. Mr Lockwood also expresses surprise that Nelly should express herself so well for a woman of her class and she explains that she read all the books in the house, save those written in Latin and Greek. This neatly deals with the problem of a servant being a capable narrator, something the readers at the time would have found difficult to accept otherwise.

Racism''Wuthering Heights'' is set in a remote area in Yorshire, in the north of England. For the characters to even get as far as Liverpool sixty miles away is a serious undertaking and the round trip might take several days. As the action takes place in such an isolated spot, there is little mixing of various races. In fact, even people from the south of England are regarded with suspicion. (K) When Nelly Dean is describing the arrival of Hindley's new bride, Frances, she says, ''We don't in general take to foreigners here, Mr. Lockwood, unless they take to us first.'' Frances Earnshaw is English, but in the eyes of the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, she is foreign. There are derogatory references to Heathcliff's possible origin. When he is showing the boy to his wife, Mr Earnshaw says, ''it's as dark almost as if it came from the devil.'' Hindley refers to him as a ''gipsy'' and an ''imp of Satan.'' Mr and Mrs Linton also refer to him as a ''gipsy'' and ''that strange acquisition my late neighbour made, in his journey to Liverpool a little Lascar [Indian] or an American or Spanish castaway.''

Women

To be a woman was to be a second-class citizen in many ways. Power and status in came from the possession of money and land. It was difficult for women to own much of either. The inheritance law stated that The lives of the women in the novel are shaped by their lack of power and independence:- Mrs Earnshaw is forced to accept the young Heathcliff into her home because her

husband says she must. Catherine cannot marry Heathcliff because they would be ''beggars.'' She knows that

if she marries Edgar Linton she will be ''the greatest woman of the neighbourhood.''

She plans to use her husband's wealth to help the man she truly loves. Isabella Linton has been named in her father's will and stands to inherit Thrushcross

Grange if her brother dies without a male heir. However, far from being of benefit to

her, this fact simply attracts Heathcliff's attention. He decides to marry her as a way

to get his hands on the Grange and he treats her abominably until she manages to run

away to the south of England. Young Catherine is held prisoner by Heathcliff and forced to marry his son, Linton.

Even when Linton dies, she is kept at Wuthering Heights, against her will. When Mr

Lockwood is looking for somebody to guide him back to Thrushcross Grange after his

second visit to Wuthering Heights, Catherine says bitterly ''I cannot escort you. They

wouldn't let me go to the end of the garden wall.'' Heathcliff is master of his house

and his dependents must obey him.

Wuthering Heights was written in 1847, which was a time when Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution were the dominant forces of the British economy and society. It was a time of rapid, often confusing, change that led to violence. As a result of the changing economy, the traditional relationships between classes and the social structure began to change. While wealth had traditionally been measured by land ownership, the eighteenth century had begun a trend toward a cash-based economy.This created a middle class who were more economically powerful than its landowning superiors (gentry). The power of yeomen, or the respectable farming class, as well as the traditional power-holding gentry was challenged by the newly wealthy capitalists.

Each of these classes is represented in the novel by various characters.

Hareton is a member of the respectable farming class

the Lintons are members of the gentry

Heathcliff makes his fortune (somewhat mysteriously) as a capitalist perhaps victim, social misfit, or symbol of how chaos results when the social order is disturbed.

In a Society where the importance of inheritance and familial social status dictates the class system, we see that Heathcliff is the only character within the novel with a singular name. According to Marxist critic Terry Eagleton, Heathcliff is inserted into a close knit family structure as an alien and consequently treated appallingly due to the lack of social or domestic status he holds. Heathcliff, the waif from the Liverpool slums so named by Arnold Kettle, is constantly insulted and degraded by Hindley who, after Mr. Earnshaws death, drives him from their company to the servants. We the responder, can not help but sympathise with Heathcliff for the injustice the tyrannous Earnshaws serve him. The only person who offers him human compassion and companionship is Catherine, whose later marriage to Edgar Linton betrays their bond, which had been forged on mutual rebellion against social prejudice.

When Cathy marries her natural opposite, Edgar Linton, she diverts her own natural

affinity from its purpose, forcibly disrupting the cosmic harmony which co-exists

between the Heights and the Grange. One convincing line of thought is that Heathcliffs true nature is not predominantly destructive, but becomes so out of frustration having been denied of fulfillment in the form of unity. Despite the fact that Cathy likens her relationship with Linton to the foliage in the woods and acknowledges that Time will change it, she naively flouts reality, believing her marriage to Edgar will somehow benefit Heathcliffs cause with the aid of her husbands money.

The conflict surrounding Catherines decision to betray her true love and marry Edgar, who is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, can be explicitly seen as a social one. Catherine is seduced by the prettier and more comfortable bourgeois life Edgar is able to offer her. Critic Claire Jones, informs us that for a woman to become socially powerful Cathy is conditioned to find a partner who will bring her access to the dominant culture. In marrying Edgar she believes shell be able to gain access to this culture and become the greatest woman of the neighborhood. Echoing the social values of the time, Bronte exposes how Catherine despises Heathcliff for his dirtiness and lack of culture during the time of her courtship with Edgar; believing we should be beggars if she were to follow her hearts desire and marry him. Though, in denying Heathcliff, we realise that Catherine has inadvertently chosen death, again exploring the romantic issues that are easily seen as a reoccurring universal theme throughout the novel. Later interpretations saw a Marxist perspective where class barriers were seen as the destroyers of relationships, as seen in Catherines destruction and perfidy of her unity with Heathcliff which is described by Kettle, as a betrayal of everything. Her realisation, however, comes too late, as her health there after deteriorates rapidly. While Catherine is on her deathbed, Heathcliff criticises the motives behind Edgars care for Cathy, claiming his approach stems from conventionalities of duty and honour, from pity and charity. Heathcliff exposes the contempt he feels for these bourgeois values as he sees them as significantly inferior in contrast to the morally superior transcendent relationship he shares with Cathy.

Following the death of Catherine, Heathcliff sets out to settle his own personal vendettas. Ironically exploiting the same weapons of money and arranged marriage to fulfill the revenge he yearns for against the Earnshaws and the Lintons. His swift rise to power, encapsulated in the acquisition of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, can be viewed as symbolic of the triumph of the oppressed over capitalism. In Jones analysis of this concept Heathcliff can be seen to be a parody of capitalist activity, yet he is not simply this because it is clear that he is also a product of and participant in that system. Despite the callous nature of Heathcliffs acts against his oppressors, we continue to sympathise with him, because Bronte convinces us that what Heathcliff stands for is far superior to the values of the bourgeoisie. The great rage in him dies only when young Cathy and Hareton make him realise the hollowness in his triumph. Their unity in rebellion reminds him much of himself and his own struggles. Thus, he is once again able to achieve human dignity, requesting to be carried to the churchyard in the evening after death. In the end, Catherine and Heathcliff finally achieve a relationship free from the destructive influences of the social elite, and while paradoxically we can see that they were both destroyed by these social forces, in death they have conversely transcended them.

Lack of Feminine Identity

Catherine can be seen as a victim of a patriarchal society. Despite her unconventional nature she chooses a life of

conformity, accepting an unfulfilling marriage to her natural opposite Edgar Linton. Critic Barbara Fuller, sees Catherines existence as one defined by disempowerment, living in a society where the life threatening task of giving birth to unwanted children becomes an obligation. When women challenge the views of their male oppressors they are treated abominably by men who seek to possess or control them claims Fuller, a notion which can be seen to hold explicitly true through Heathcliffs exploitation of young Catherine. Viewed as a woman oppressed by and reliant on dominant men, modern responders can see Catherine as an individual in a desperate struggle to unearth her identity, this concept lending itself strongly to a psychoanalytical reading. The variations of her name etched upon the windowsill of her childhood bedroom, Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff and Catherine Linton, can be seen as symbolic of this. Upon losing her identity, Catherine becomes submissive, subjugated and essentially powerless after noticing in the mirror that Her appearance has changed greatly. From a feminist perspective Gilbert and Gubar further reinforce the validity of this suggestion stating that the writing of the name Catherine, in its various manifestations...reveals the crucial lack of identity that is common to all women under patriarchy.Heathcliff is mysterious and his genesis is unknown - he is thought to be a gypsy orphan taken from the streets of Liverpool. His dangerous working-class presence, as perceived by Hindley, threatens the very basis of the Earnshaw gentry and indeed he eventually seeks to bring it down. Catherine, on the other hand, romanticises his origins, imagining him as a prince.

Outsiders

Catherine and Heathcliff are both outsiders. Catherine will have no inheritance and she too is an orphan when Mr Earnshaw dies. It is no surprise then that the outside, or nature, is their realm. They wander the moors together. In a key scene they are both in the garden looking through the window into the Lintons' drawing room as if they are observing aliens at play. "We laughed outright at the petted things, we did despise them!" remarks Heathcliff. When Catherine is dying Heathcliff waits to hear news in the shrubbery. He is not a man who is comfortable inside houses with social niceties such as drawing room music and conversation. Their love breaks, or transgresses, boundaries. Heathcliff breaks into Catherine's coffin to lie with her. Catherine must have the window open in order to allow the moor air in, and, metaphorically, Heathcliff. Their love even transgresses the boundaries of life and death with Catherine's spirit demanding to be let in, and her ghost wandering the moors. The boundaries diffuse so much that Catherine is able to declare "I am Heathcliff!" The crisis in Catherine and Heathcliff's love comes when Catherine attempts to become an insider by marrying Edgar. The remarkably short time of five weeks' recuperation at Thrushcross Grange is enough to tame her wild manners and clothes and to reconfigure her as more socially acceptable: "instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house [...] there lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified person." Nelly's narration applauds this change in Catherine and the effect Edgar has on her in general. Though Catherine continues to yearn for Heathcliff, she also wants to be wealthy and the pre-eminent lady of the district. While Nelly criticises her for undervaluing Edgar's gentle and generous nature and for behaving inappropriately as a wife, the reader recognises that Catherine has ruined her truer bond with Heathcliff. Edgar is seen by the reader as pale and uninteresting in comparison. Catherine's betrayal causes Heathcliff to run off and attempt to become a socially acceptable gentleman himself. Here Bronte seems to suggest that the most powerful and meaningful type of love is that which transcends social values, and that it should not be usurped by less noble pursuits such as wealth. This path can only lead to unhappiness and death.Yet the second part of the novel tames this message. It is as if, having written the first section, Bronte was aware of her message of transgression and thought to soften it. She does this through the love of Hareton and Cathy. Hareton at first resembles Heathcliff, and is much more the latter's 'son' than the impotent Linton. He is illiterate and difficult and spends his time out of doors. However, as he bonds with Cathy she teaches him to read and he becomes a young gentleman content to be by her side indoors. Cathy seems to embody the best of both her parents. She is fearless and wilful like her mother and stands up to Heathcliff. Yet this wild side is calmed by her father's good sense and manners. In something of a feminist victory she even outmanoeuvres Heathcliff to become both the mistress of the Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Bronte here seems to argue that lasting domestic bliss can only come through the combination good sense and passion.The contradiction between material surroundings and emotional and

way in which her eyes when the dogs run to greet her but her action is to push them away to save her dress. The impression created is that class brings with it hollow, material satisfaction, but little spiritual fulfilment. Thrushcross, therefore, becomes as much of a prison for Cathy as Wuthering Heights does for Isabella and young Catherine settings are used both to emphasise the social/historical context of the novel and to represent a choice between freedom of expression and convention.

Quote #1Mr. Hindley came home to the funeral; and a thing that amazed us, and set the neighbours gossiping right and left he brought a wife with him. What she was, and where she was born, he never informed us: probably, she had neither money nor name to recommend her, or he would scarcely have kept the union from his father. (6.1-2)

Frances joins the unwelcoming Earnshaw clan. Though unknown and without family or fortune (just like Heathcliff), she has managed to win Hindley's affections. Curiously, this is one of the only mentions of neighbors. Who knew there was anyone else out there on the moors?

Quote #2He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm. (6.9)

Hindley's project to punish his father's favorite begins as soon as the old man dies. To make Heathcliff a farmhand, bereft of education (instructions), is to put him in the lowest possible position. The gentry never work with their hands.

Quote #3[. . .] instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house, and rushing to squeeze us all breathless, there 'lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit, which she was obliged to hold up with both hands that she might sail in. (7.1)

After staying at Thrushcross Grange, the untamed Catherine has become a changed woman, now superior to the lowly Heathcliff. This is the future Catherine Linton, now forever out of reach to Heathcliff.Quote #4"Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of my birth; and the thoughts of what I was should give me courage and dignity to support the oppressions of a little farmer!" (7.44)

Since he doesn't know where he is from, Heathcliff may as well imagine a noble and exotic background for himself. This piece of advice represents one of a handful of Nelly's attempts to provide useful guidance for Heathcliff. It also tells us that she likes a little fiction.

Quote #5"I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now." (9.92)

Catherine realizes that Edgar is out of her league, but that doesn't stop her. As a child she ignored everyone else's dislike of Heathcliff, but now she allows Hindley's attitude and treatment of him to change how she feels. In that sense, Hindley really gets what he wants.

Quote #6[Hindley] wished earnestly to see her bring honour to the family by an alliance with the Lintons, and as long as she let him alone she might trample on us like slaves, for aught he cared! (9.152)

Hindley has designs on the Lintons' social status. Nelly resents the treatment she receives from Catherine. Nelly (who is speaking here) may not be a slave, but she is a servant yet more often than not she acts like a family member.Quote #7A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness, though stern for grace. (10.53)

Though still swarthy, Heathcliff is a changed man. Gone for three years, he returns with some grooming and social graces. Clearly he has been working hard on improving himself but that hasn't changed his overall attitude.

Quote #8Her brother, who loved her tenderly, was appalled at this fantastic preference. Leaving aside the degradation of an alliance with a nameless man, and the possible fact that his property, in default of heirs male, might pass into such a one's power. . . . (10.82)

Heathcliff's aim to captivate Isabella torments Edgar. Because Edgar does not have a son, Isabella's marriage to Heathcliff means that Thrushcross Grange will eventually belong to the orphan outsider.

Quote #9"Tell her what Heathcliff is: an unreclaimed creature, without refinement, without cultivation; an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone." (10.98)

Catherine's warnings about Heathcliff only stoke the fire of Isabella's desire. And, to be honest, all of the qualities she cites to get Isabella to change her mind are the very things that Catherine loves in Heathcliff.Although masters (and mistresses) ultimately have the upper hand of their servants, it is noteworthy how much power servants exercise within the sphere of domination to which they are subject. In the Victorian Era, social class was not solely dependent upon the amount of money a person had; rather, the source of income, birth, and family connections played a major role in determining one's position in society. And, significantly, most people accepted their place in the hierarchy. In addition to money, manners, speech, clothing, education, and values revealed a person's class. The three main classes were the elite class, the middle class, and the working class. Further divisions existed within these three class distinctions.

Heathcliff is an orphan; therefore, his station is below everyone else in Wuthering Heights. It was unheard of to raise someone from the working class as a member of the middle-to-upper middle class. Even Nelly, who was raised with the Earnshaw children, understood her place below her childhood friends. When Mr. Earnshaw elevates the status of Heathcliff, eventually favoring him to his own son, this goes against societal norms. This combination of elevation and usurpation is why Hindley returns Heathcliff to his previous low station after the death of Mr. Earnshaw, and that is why Heathcliff relishes in the fact that Hindley's son Hareton is reduced to the level of a common, uneducated laborer. And social class must be the reason Catherine marries Edgar; she is attracted to the social comforts he can supply her. No other plausible explanation exists. Catherine naively thinks she can marry Edgar and then use her position and his money to assist Heathcliff, but that would never happen.

When Heathcliff returns, having money is not enough for Edgar to consider him a part of acceptable society. Heathcliff uses his role as the outcast to encourage Isabella's infatuation. The feelings that both Catherine and Isabella have for Heathcliff, the common laborer, cause them to lose favor with their brothers. Hindley and Edgar cannot accept the choices their sisters make and therefore, withdraw their love. In Heathcliff, Bront challenges the societal treatment of cuckolded men by creating a character who is a fiercely masculine, powerful, even frightfully aggressive cuckold. While cuckolds were traditionally thought to be dominated by their wives,

weak, and ineffectual, Heathcliff is the epitome of masculine strength and resolve.

Even as a cuckold, Heathcliff manages to become an extraordinary example of the

Victorian ideal prescribed for the new male role. Fiercely aggressive, self-interested,

and competitive, Heathcliff is endowed with the requisite traits for success in the

capitalist marketplace. As the novel develops, he quite literally becomes a financial success as evidenced by Nelly Deans exclamation, Rich, Sir! He has nobody knows what money and every year it increases. Yes, yes; hes rich enough to live in a finer house than this (31). So perfectly conforming to the masculine ideal, Heathcliff

becomes an archetypical Victorian male: Heathcliff classifies as predominantly masculine due to his self-reliance, defense of his own beliefs, independence, athleticism, assertiveness, strength of personality, forcefulness, willingness to take risks, decision making Heathcliffs manliness is only underscored by the way he rules his home. By becoming the head of the Wuthering Heights estate, Heathcliff acts as the instrument

of patriarchal control in the domestic sphere. Under Heathcliffs management, the house is entirely lacking in the comforts furnished by the Victorian Angel of the House. Lockwood describes a utilitarian interior decorated with furniture that would

have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a homely, northern farmer (10). He observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking about the huge fireplace, nor any glitter of copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls (10). Anything traditionally domestic was described in terms of being annexed: One step brought up into the family sitting-room, without any introductory lobby or passage. They call it here the house pre-eminently. It includes kitchen and parlour generally. But, I believe, at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat altogether into another quarter at least I distinguished a chatter of tongues and a clatter of culinary utensils deep within (10). Any vestige of femininity is buried deep within the house if present at all. Lockwood is able to outline, instead, the masculine tropes evident before his eyes. The chimney was laden with sundry villainous old guns and a couple of horse pistols among other primitive structures. PATRIARCHYThe house is quite literally stamped with the date 1500, a time when men ruled the home. Heathcliffs regime is a representation of the patriarchal structure of the domestic sphere in action. The strength and power of this masculine position is reinforced by both his appearance and manner. Accordingly, Heathcliff possesses the hulking figure of a veritable he-man. Juxtaposed next to Edgar Lintons effeminate form, Heathcliffs large stature becomes exaggerated. Nelly notes the difference between the two, saying ...Edgar Linton shall look quite a doll beside you; and that he does. You are younger, and yet, Ill be bound, you are taller and twice as broad across the shoulders. You could knock him down in a twinkling. As an adult, Nelly again remarks on the contrast between Heathcliff and her effeminate master: Heathcliff...had grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man, beside whom my master seemed quite slender and youth-like.

Nelly learns of Heathcliffs tenacious, independent demeanor when nursing him through a childhood illness. Though he was an undemanding patient, Nelly clarifies that ...hardness, not gentleness, made him give little trouble. Heathcliff exhibited the same quiet strength even when he suffered from intentional wrongs. When pained by a stealthy blow or pinch, Heathcliff would without winking or shedding a tear...draw in a breath and open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident and nobody was to blame. Through his patriarchal station, impressive stature, and hardy disposition, Heathcliff emerges as an ideal Victorian male. He stands in stark contrast with the effeminate image of cuckolds depicted by society. Heathcliff is masculine in the extreme. Further distinguishing himself from the typical cuckolded, Heathcliff does not

passively accept convention or laugh along with society at his injuries. Instead, he

brings the entire world down around its ears when he is wronged by Catherine. He

rebels against the standards he disagrees with, promising Catherine that he will exact

revenge. In a speech for all cuckolded men, Heathcliff says: I want you to be aware that I know you have treated me infernally infernally! Do you hear? And if you flatter yourself that I dont perceive it, you are a fool; and if you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot; and if you fancy Ill suffer unrevenged, Ill convince you of the contrary in a very little while (111).

Though cuckolds were assigned blame for the adultery of their wives, Heathcliff

bitterly confronts his lover in an address that rightfully places blame squarely on the adulterers shoulders. Furthermore, Heathcliff assures his disloyal partner that he will

not let the betrayal go without likewise inflicting injury on those who have hurt him.

For Heathcliff, this means injuring the society that has thwarted and insulted him. In

order to level revenge on the tyrants who tried to demoralize him, Heathcliff targets

the children of his oppressors. Just as the tyrant grinds down his slaves, Heathcliff

explains, they dont turn against him; they crush those beneath him (111).

The characters populating Wuthering Heights represent society, for Heathcliff,

through setting standards and passing judgments. By gaining control of Wuthering

Heights and Thrushcross Grange, he takes possession of society and makes it his own

dominion: The guest was now the master of Wuthering Heights. He held firm possession, and proved it to the attorney who, in his own turn, proved it to Mr. Lintonthat Earnshaw had mortgaged every yard of land he owned for

cash to supply his mania for gaming; and he, Heathcliff was the mortgagee.

In that manner Hareton, who should now be the first gentleman in the

neighborhood, was reduced to a state of complete dependence on his fathers inveterate enemy, and lives in his own house as a servant, deprived of

wages, quite unable to right himself, because of his friendlessness and his

ignorance that he has been wronged (187).

Heathcliff usurps control of Wuthering Heights, thus succeeding in overturning the

roles of the powerful and the weak. Nelly notes the change in social stations in

Heathcliff and Isabella Linton when she remarks, So much had circumstances altered

their positions, that he would certainly have struck a stranger as a born and bred

gentleman, and his wife as a thorough little slattern (146). With the old order

annihilated, Heathcliff rises to power and gets to call the shots. Acting as a cuckold,

Heathcliff has confronted society and taken control back for those who have been

declared feeble and ineffectual.

Writing of an outlawed race of men who oppose societal norms and work as

champions of freedom, Bront suggests that outsiders like Heathcliff arent the true

beasts after all. Instead, the villain is the society that upholds unfair biases. Through

her writing, Bront wields what she calls a righteous sword in order to bring justice

to cuckolded men. In casting Heathcliff as both a cuckold and a monster in Wuthering Heights, Bront plays out a metaphorical rebellion against the gender rules imposed by Victorian social standards. Not only does Heathcliff refuse to conform to societal expectations, he also influences and changes those ideas by seizing a position of power. The weak, Bront seems to suggest, can become powerful and influenceor even defeatsocietys strong: Bront shows that- helpless as we are to stop longing for a corrective transformation of our present circumstances- those circumstances determine the very nature of the ideal. The oppressions of society not only compromise our present, they condition the dreams of its reversal and defeat...Bront sees that all these versions of personal and social desire are the shapes of their own repression.

Social propriety determined the future of Brontes main characters Heathcliff and Catherine who differed in social class. Though they loved each other from the time Heathcliff was brought into the house by Mr. Earnshaw, they were unable to get married because of their differing backgrounds.

In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, social propriety determined everything in an individuals future. Social propriety determined the future of Brontes main characters Heathcliff and Catherine who differed in social class. Though they loved each other from the time Heathcliff was brought into the house by Mr. Earnshaw, they were unable to get married because of their differing backgrounds. But to maintain social status, Catherine married Edgar Linton, her timid neighbor from her social standing. Thus Heathcliff and Catherine were separated due to difference in social class; which ended in Heathcliff marrying Isabella for money and Catherine marrying Edgar to maintain propriety. But during the course of time that changed generations, this forced wedlock to maintain social status brought forth only jealousy, strife and rivalry between Heathcliff and everyone else in the two families. Both Heathcliffs and Catherines futures were determined not by them but by society, which prematurely killed the whole first generation because of the urgency to maintain the social class.Bronte, throughout the novel has implied social distinction upon the entrance of Heathcliff in to the Earnshaw household. According to Currer Bell Heathcliff ,indeed, stands unredeemed (3) which implies that though he was going to live in a proper English house he would still be seen as one inferior to the others. At the time one could only be born in to a certain social class and whether that individual was wealthy or not, that did not change the attitude of society. This can be seen in Edgar Lintons attitude when he says What! The gypsy- the ploughboy? (Bronte 115). Despite his newfound wealth and added class, he was still a ploughboy in the sight of Edgar. If this was his case after so much monetary success, his eligibility to marry Catherine before he ran away was non-existent. Catherine, despite her love for Heathcliff, still felt the barriers of social propriety and Although she knew that her soul and Heathclilff were the same, Catherine feels she could have never married him- they would have been penniless- hearing her say it would degrade her to marry him (Benvenuto 87).

However both Heathcliff and Catherine spend their childhood together, not caring for any form of social uprightness. According to Currer Bell Heathcliff betrays one solitary human feeling, and that his not his love for Catherine; which is a sentiment fierce and inhuman (3). Heathcliff did not care for anything but slowly spent his youth developing a very deep bond with her. As a result they lived together, they ate together and they played together nurturing their love, while trying to overcome their social differences. As Richard Benvenuto feels, Catherine attached herself to Heathcliff and he to her until they became inseparable friends (86). At one instance when Hindley thrashes Heathcliff for spilling hot applesauce on Edgar Linton, Catherine shouts back in anger and frustration I hate him to be flogged! I cant eat my dinner (Bronte 71). Even after she returns from the Grange as a lady she still treats him as her equal, remembering the days they spent days playing wildly in the fields. According to Benvenuto social status had no place in their hearts during childhood as Catherines love for Heathcliff was the eternal foundation of her life (99).

But at the apex of the social hierarchy was Edgar Linton and his beloved Thrush Cross Grange. Currer Bell says they were Men and women who perhaps were naturally calm and with feelings moderate in degree. (1). Edgar was indeed an amiable fellow with plain feelings for Catherine. He was very wealthy, had a well-known family name belonged to the upper echelon of society. Everybody except for Heathcliff thought this was the perfect match for Catherine. Socially they could be married since they both belonged to the same social status but, W.A. Craik feels that by rejecting Heathcliff, Catherine spiritually tears herself in two (16). Catherine was going to marry Edgar not because she loved him passionately like she did Heathcliff, but because it was demanded of her to maintain her social standing in society. Craik further goes on to comment that she felt a physical attraction towards the comely and eligible young Linton (16). Once again, Catherine felt the need to marry Edgar only because it would be appropriate for her, and also because of her physical fancies.But a socially acceptable family was not a happy one, as good intentions in both the families were on a downward spiral. Commenting on the deadlock on the subject of wedlock, Linda Peterson feels the primary contradiction she has in mind is the choice posed for Catherine between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton (396). This opposition led to rivalry, as Edgar could not accept Heathcliffs equality even after gaining all this wealth, and Heathcliff was vengeful against Hindley for mistreating him when he was young. According to Craik All these rapidly- produced responses and random incidents culminate in Catherines last mortal illness (9) that led Catherine to her untimely death. Furthermore, it also leads to Edgars death, the namesake marriage of Heathcliff and Isabella for the Grange estate and the power struggle between Hindley and Heathcliff for the Heights. All this released a dark side of Heathcliff, as he was a dark, morose, violent man (Benvenuto 86). The violence was the product of the separation between Heathcliff and Catherine, which was caused by the need to maintain the perfect social standing.Social propriety determined Heathcliffs and Catherines future marital status, as Heathcliff could not rise from being a gypsy and Catherine could not descend from being a proper lady. Difference in their backgrounds hindered them from being united together but they still loved each other.

Social Change

While it is certainly not a politically engaged novel, Wuthering Heights reflects some of the social and economic changes of the 1840s and the class tensions that accompanied them. The decline of the Earnshaw family, the assimilation of Hareton into the world of Thrushcross Grange and the abandonment of Wuthering Heights to such ghosts as may choose to inhabit it (p.337) signal, according to critics including Arnold Kettle and Terry Eagleton, the demise of the yeoman farmer in the face of the social change sweeping across nineteenth-century Britain. While Wuthering Heights is a working farm, Thrushcross Grange represents the leisured environment enjoyed by the emerging middle classes. For Kettle, it is notable that just as Catherine Earnshaw was seduced by the comfort of an idle lifestyle at the Grange, by the end of the novel, Hareton Earnshaw is preparing to move there. The farm is left to waste, just as across the country people who had traditionally worked on the land were migrating to the cities in droves.

The novel certainly reflects Victorian concerns about the mysterious origin of fortunes that were, in an age of industrialism and financial speculation, often made and lost overnight. The source of the fortune that Heathcliff accumulates during his three-year absence remains unknown; the Heathcliff who returns from exile is so thoroughly wicked that almost any explanation is possible. However, the fact that he spends a great deal of time gambling with Hindley once he is ensconced at the Heights suggests that it may have been acquired through unscrupulous dealings in stocks and shares.

The fact that Heathcliff seeks to win property, and not necessarily by fair means, would, for a Victorian reader, call to mind the tainted wealth and rapid accumulation of fortunes through currency trading and other risky ventures. That the origins of Heathcliffs money remain unknown makes his dealings all the more suspicious and, as readers, we are offered the opportunity to speculate on what Heathcliff may or may not have done during his three-year absence.

The Desire to Possess Property Causes Conflict in Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is set during a time when the old so- cial order of rigid class distinctions, importance of hered- ity, and strict guidelines for the passing down of property within the same class and family were being challenged. Heathcliff leads this challenge successfully.

Wuthering Heights Demonstrates That Rebellion Against Class Conventions Can Succeed

Heathcliff and Catherines rejection of the bourgeois val- ues of Thrushcross Grange symbol izes the conflict in Victorian society between those attempting to preserve

class privileges and those attempting to build a classless world.

Wuthering Heights Depicts the Conflict Between Natural and Social Values

The duality at the center of Wuthering Heights is mir- rored in the contrasting worlds of the Heights and the Grange. The former is elemental and uncivilized, the lat-

ter a place where order is maintained through upholding the conventions of society.

Wuthering Heights Reflects the Social Changes of Its Time

Understanding the social changes taking place in England between 1801 and 1847 provides context for an appreciation of Wuthering Heights. As industrialization spread, a growing middle class challenged the position of the landed gentry. The Earnshaws and Heathcliff represent this momentum.

Heathcliff represents both the rise of an individual in a modern capitalist economy, and a patriarch tied to the very principles his individuality abhors. Understanding Heathcliff in terms of his duality more accurately reflects his function as a character device through which novelists and readers alike could fathom change. The concept of an individual at odds with social forms of organization, defined by heredity and privilege, is perhaps epitomized by Heathcliff. The fact that Heathcliff does not have a surname and hence no family name that could tie him through consanguinity to that pre-revolution societal glue of heredity, is evidence enough of his independent character. Heathcliff is free from family dominion, for to have a surname is to carry a name that is literally sur or above, and hence more important, than ones individual name. It is telling, moreover, that the name of Heathcliff was given him both for Christian and surname,24 and that it was the name of Mr. Earnshaws son who died in childhood. This implies that initially Heathcliff had no name, or at least no known name, and hence existed not only outside the sphere of heredity, but also social organization; he was at once no one and anyone, at once real and fictitious. Mary Burgan and Dorothy Van Ghent observed that Heathcliff is referred to in the beginning of the novel by the impersonal pronoun it,25 which they believe classifies him not as a human creature but as a supernatural force.

In my opinion, however, the lack of the personal pronoun, places Heathcliff outside the ancestral field of influence. Through christening, he was supposed to be tucked under the umbrella of the Earnshaw family, but given his lack of family name, Heathcliff remains to the end an individual. Terry Eagleton, on a similar note, discerned that because his birth is unknown, Heathcliff is a purely atomized individual, free of generational ties (italics mine), his circumstances are so obscure [that] he is available to be accepted or rejected simply for himself, laying claim to no status other than a human one.27 While the occasion of his

birth does grant Heathcliff certain freedoms, it is rather his inexistent surname that frees him from the former generational ties. Indeed, the move from status to contract that Maine ascribed to progressive societies involves the dissolution of family influence in favor of the free agreement of Individuals.

Although, his curious name echoes a surname, it cannot function in a traditional

fashion, for while the progenitor existed at one point, the name has no known, deep

ancestral ties. As Susan Meyer suggests, Heathcliffs missing surname marks his unknown ancestry: deprived of his history by British imperialism, he is simultaneously deprived of the authority and the claim to ancestral ownership of land.

This freedom from defining or functional ties allows Heathcliff to establish his own lineage or to remain an individual, unconnected to genealogy or its historic implications. In fact, under English law, due to his bastardly status, Heathcliffs only collateral kindred could be his offspring. Since Heathcliff does not receive the Earnshaw family name, he is outside the social privilege or respect associated with it. A surname was the staple of the old order, for it epitomized ancestry, as well as, hereditary privilege, and while the family functioned like a perpetual corporation, the last name, by extension, was its trademarked logotype. The curious exclusion of Heathcliff, the favored son, from the Earnshaw genealogy has a legal basis. Had Heathcliff assumed the family name he would have the social standing, if not the legal rights, of an Earnshaw, and would have been treated in accordance with the respect his name carries. Nevertheless, perceived as an illegitimate appendage by the family, perhaps to the exclusion of Mr. Earnshaw, he is distinguished as doubly so by the neighbourhood, which accordingly does not even have to offer pretense of

respect. We see this clearly in the episode with the Lintons, when Catherine was admitted while the strange acquisition...[Mr. Edgar] made in his journey to Liverpool31 was turned out. Having only one name to stand for both the first and last is a glaring stamp of illegitimacy, one that is blatantly obvious to anyone who makes Heathcliffs acquaintance. United by common obedience to the eldest ascendant, Heathcliff as a brother and a favorite son, threatens Hindleys primogenital status socially, if not legally. In fact, for a good portion of the novel the reader is left to wonder whether Heathcliff could indeed usurp the status of a primogenitor. The legality of the situation is perhaps irrelevant as compared to the psychological and interpersonal conflict that arises from Heathcliffs amalgamation into the family. Hindley perceives Heathcliff as a beggarly interloper who wants to wheedle [his] father out of all he has, he even describes him as a usurper of his [Hindleys] parents affections, and his privileges. Clearly threatened by Heathcliff, Hindley swears he will reduce him to his right place. While Hindley perceives and treats Heathcliff as no more than a vagabond, he, nevertheless, is acutely aware of the power Heathcliff holds over Mr. Earnshaw, to his deficit. The affront, of course, is multiplied by the fact that the preference is bestowed upon an individual of a lower class. Status was still very much ingrained into the social fabric, and while the acknowledgement of the individual began to take root, it was not until well into the nineteenth century that it truly transpired on an unprecedented scale. Heathcliff disturbs the Heights not, as Terry Eagleton purports, because he is simply superfluous:...[and] has no defined place within its biological and economic system, but rather because he is an adoptive extension and threat to the social hierarchy.

The aforementioned disruption, depends on our reading of the Heights as modern, for no disturbance can occur if the Heights is part of the ancient world which Maine describes to appropriate individuals into the family. The novel certainly does not make it clear to which moment in history the Heights belongs. In fact, scholars disagree on an appropriate classification. Margaret Lenta, for instance, suggests that the Earnshaw household is of the eighteenth-century style where servants are part of the family. Neville Newman, in contrast argues that the servants at Wuthering Heights have no identity beyond that which accrues by virtue of their being kept on as retainers and hence it is an essentially feudal economy that Emily Bront describes.

Indeed, Lockwoods inability to distinguish Haretons social position can be perceived as a sign of modern egalitarianism, or, on the contrary, as a marker of ancient familial appropriation that Maine defined. Terry Eagletons assessment of the traditional world of the Heights as naturalizing property relations and socializing blood- ties with its imperative work environment overlooks its modern qualities of servant relations suggested by Margaret Lenta and the fact that Heathcliff who is often associated with the Heights is also often compared to capitalism. Yet, interpretations are many and Daniela Garofalo, in line with Newman, advises that the Heights is a place of nostalgia where the urban sophisticate [such as Lockwood] can reconnect with what he imagines he has lost what he thinks he has had to give up in order to become modern. It has even been suggested by Donna Reed that the Earnshaws are tied to the past for they represent the savage and therefore, primitive civilization. The manifold interpretations presented in scholarly discourse on the subject are true each in their own light, yet perhaps it is a fallacy to try to categorize the Heights. Like Heathcliff it belongs to both the modern and the

ancient, because it exists in a historical interim where new modes of conduct have begun to replace the old, but neither was absolute in authority. Capitalist Heathcliff

Having no name to recommend himself, no kind soul to turn to after Mr. Earnshaws demise, no inheritance and no education, Heathcliff has to make his own way in the world. He deserted the hearth of Wuthering Heights only to return successful and literate within three years time. Heathcliffs individual effort is not only impressive, but further distinguishes him as an individual, who unlike the other characters does not rely on heredity for advancement. He represents the rising working class that by the virtue of individual effort could ascend the social hierarchy. Indeed, critics almost unanimously proclaim Heathcliff a staunch capitalist: brutal, hardheaded and miserly, addicted to the accumulation of property both in the form of people and land. As such, Heathcliff is the personification of the aristocratic nightmare, for not only does he rise above his savage ignorance, he infiltrates and uproots the upper-class Lintons and Earnshaws. His marriage to Isabella represents a union between the lower class and upper class social spheres, characterized by a subversion of the house angel motif. In this context assessment is telling, Heathcliff does appear as a capitalist villain, yet it seems that he wants to precisely destroy the existing social system and not merely to dominate it. The destruction of the old modes of conduct and organization symbolized by this union would strongly resonate with the upper-class readers. The marriage, of course, is only a triviality in Heathcliffs revenge plan. His goal is to destroy the two families by depriving them on their estates the physical testament of their inherited status. Yet, in his capitalist ventures, he is not necessarily aligned with the world of the Grange, as Terry Eagleton suggests.

The Grange is largely a symbol of gentility in the novel.

eapons that Heathcliff employs, such as arranged marriages, are part of the old world order. If he is, truly, the aggressive industrial bourgeoisie of Emily Bronts own time, then he must also be an outsider within the eighteenth-century setting of the novel. Nevertheless, Heathcliffs domination of the old order is never complete, not as T.K. Meier stresses, because there is a final triumph of tradition in [Cathy] and Hareton, (in fact, as will be discussed further there is no such triumph), but because despite Heathcliffs modern tendencies he is part of the antiquated system. Heathcliffs objective the acquisition of the Heights and the Grange is interpreted by Neville Newman as a far cry from that of the capitalist whose aim is to amass capital money or the means of production of more money by the successful employment of capital itself. Heathcliff, in her opinion, symbolizes land ownership which is the prerequisite of a feudal society.

Yet, I would argue that the philosophy of capitalism is not necessarily the acquisition of capital in purely monetary terms, but rather the purpose is to amass assets, both liquid and real. It is not inaccurate, however, to perceive Heathcliffs dealing as antiquated, for he certainly uses contracts as status. It seems that the codification of contractual agreements, which would allow for a contract based, rather than status based, society that Maine describes, has not occurred on a level that would allow Heathcliff to be a true capitalist. Heathcliff goes about the destruction of individual family members by targeting the family aggregate. According to Henry Maine, society in primitive times was not what it is assumed to be at present, a collection of individuals. In fact, and in the view of the men who composed it, it was an aggregation of families.

Hence, the only way to destroy an individual was to obliterate the family, since the former did not exist. It is Heathcliffs single=handed battle, and perhaps even victory, over the Earnshaw and Linton families that pivots him as an individual capitalist who as Terry Eagleton described, reflects the behavior of a contemporary bourgeoisie class increasingly successful in its penetration of landed property. The penetrative task proved to be quite simple in the case of the Earnshaws. Hindley, the heir-in-law of the estate, either in fee-simple or mortgage form, has the estate mortgaged to the hilt as a result of his gambling with Heathcliff.54 In effect, Heathcliff became the sole mortgagee, and for all practical purposes the owner of the Heights. As with Thrushcross Grange, the matter is more complicated. Upon Edgar Lintons death, Heathcliffs son Linton, for the time he survived his uncle, became a tenant-in-tale in possession of the estate, this of course meant that Heathcliff had authority over the property, his son being a minor and of little concern to him.

would have inherited her fathers money had Edgar altered his will so as to settle Cathy as a primary and her husband as a secondary beneficiary, yet he was unable to do so for Heathcliff detained the attorney. Consequently, when Linton inherited Edgars money, by way of his marriage to Cathy, he was forced by Heathcliff to make a will of personalty bequeathing everything to Heathcliff.56 Nelly Dean rightfully points out in the novel that Cathy Linton destitute of cash and friends, cannot disturb his [Heathcliffs] possession regardless of the law. Naturally, the entire operation is unlawful given that Cathy and Linton did not marry out of free will. The outcome, however, demonstrates how singlehandedly Heathcliff is able to wheedle the two families out of property and money. Heathcliffs contractual, capitalistic maneuvering is more effective than class hierarchy; in fact Heathcliff breaks through the latter by means of the former. He uses contracts to usurp the property and subsequently the power of the Earnshaws and Lintons. To refine Arnold Kettles and Terry Eagletons classification, the weapons Heathcliff employs to achieve his goal, such as arranged acquisitive marriages, inherence, expropriation of property, and wills, largely belong to the old order. Although he does achieve his purpose and does so as an individual, his use of antiquated tactics leave a philosophical enigma not unlike Hamlets how long can one act out a role before one becomes what one is trying to portray?

REVENGE (Social Revenge?)

Undeniably, the entire project of Wuthering Heights is concerned with revenge. It is arguable however, whether Heathcliff has learned anything in his obsession, for he certainly has forgotten nothing, and yet stopped short of complete revenge, if we are to judge totality by how close reality parallels premeditated goals. Despite the conclusion, Heathcliffs adherence to the revenge code sheds a new light on Donna Reeds discussion of the savage Heights. If the Heights is truly tottering on the brink of barbarism, it is only after Mr. Earnshaw makes the strange acquisition on the streets of Liverpool, and consequently it is Heathcliff who is responsible for introducing the primitive into the novel. David Wilson could not be more correct when he described Heathcliff as pagan. Neither Heaven nor Hell matters to him, but only living ties, and this strict concern for the past, I must add, manifests itself within the pursuit of revenge. Modern society is oriented towards the future, and to some extent to the present, but not to the past. As Heathcliffs revenge is a concern of the past, he cannot be, and indeed is not, a modern in the fullest sense.

According to Daniel Hack in a number of nineteenth century novels such as Wuthering Heights and The Mill on the Floss, the very characters specifically identified with such signal features of modernity as geographical and social mobility, self-making, breaking with the past, and technological innovation become instead...agents of revenge.70 Why this occurs, Hack leaves unanswered. We could take Pall Mall Gazettes fictitious society in which characters have learnt nothing, as a ready explanation, but perhaps historic context is a better source of inquiry.71 With the drastic socio-political and cultural changes of the nineteenth century, it seems only natural that fictional characters, like their human counterparts, while pursuing modern notions would have some antiquated sentiments. Reverting to custom in a time of change is finding safety in habit, which is then psychologically justified through rationalization rather than reasoning.

Thus, individuals often retain certain customary principles within their psyche, while at the same time transcending tradition. Heathcliff, Tom Tulliver, and even Dracula are such individuals and within their fictitious reality, revenge might no longer be a duty, but neither is it an obsolete principle. In the novel, Edgar represents the epitome of status quo ante; he is genteel by both

birth and character, and consequently a perfect foil to Heathcliffs rugged and mongrel nature. Yet, despite his antithetic purpose he exercises his powers of Potestas much like Heathcliff and it is perhaps this factor that makes us questions Heathcliffs intentions as Patre familias. Stipulating that Edgar is truly Heathcliffs foil it is likely that Heathcliff was simply using the power of Potestas without succumbing to its ideology. However, it is also possible, and perhaps more likely, that Heathcliff is affected by, and operates within the confines of status and consanguinity, much like Edgar, for it seems that he is compelled by his personality rather than status. Nevertheless, Edgars reliance on patriarchy and its laws is significant. Gilbert, Gubar and Meyer proposed that Edgars power as a patriarch begins with words, they contest that Edgar does not need a strong, conventionally masculine body, because his mastery is contained in books, wills, testaments, leases...languages, all the paraphernalia by which patriarchal culture is transmitted from one generation to the next.

Consequently, subsequent her elopement, Isabella must be forever lost to Edgar and his family domain. We are eternally divided, is Edgars response to Nellys inquiry on behalf of Isabella; I am not angry, but Im sorry to have lost her.84 Edgars response is quite telling especially in comparison to Tom Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss, who is faced with similar circumstances. In response to his sisters digression Tom finds it necessary to at least support Maggie financially, Edgar, however, does not consider even writing or receiving a note from Isabella. The disparity of responses can perhaps be explained by the relative time-periods; in fact, little less than a century divides the two episodes. Edgar, who is on the earlier end of the time line, would have a stronger commitment to the traditional role and powers of Potestas. Tom, conversely, would be more attune to the modern principles of familial responsibility, his sense of consanguinity and status diluted albeit present.

As a quintessence of the old order, Edgar largely fails to answer the needs of the

changing social landscape. His civilized virtues are a point of derision, while his social refinement is coupled with his weakness and impotence. After Catherines death, Edgar remains largely within the confines of his estate, as if this testament to his status could shield him and Cathy from Heathcliff. A perfect gentleman, he is unable to confront Heathcliff, instead turning to servants to accomplish what he himself is unable to do. The reliance on servants is in itself an act that further associates Edgar with the upper class. In effect, the encounter between Heathcliff and Edgar evokes class tension. The dichotomy between the incompetent and anxious Edgar, and the unsure while menacing Heathcliff, is an embodiment of the contemporary society. Heathcliff, in this context is a representative of the middle class, unsure of how to exploit the newly acquired and growing power; he threatens and grumbles, but without issue. In contrast, Edgar a representative of the upper class is weak in his authority, failing to offer a viable solution to the concerns of his class. At one point in the novel, Nelly offers an insightful comparison of the two men. Heathcliff, she says, is like a bleak, hilly coal-country and Edgar a beautiful, fertile valley.85 Not only is Edgar tied to the past because he is a symbol of patriarchal law,86 but also because the novel seems to suggest his connection with the pastoral. Aside from Nellys prejudiced opinion, the contrast she chooses to evoke carries certain implications.

The coal-country that Heathcliff represents is a symbol of the industrial revolution where Heathcliff does indeed function as the proletarian, unlike Neville Newman surmises. Emily Bronts use of Heathcliff does not (mis)-represent the working class,87 for although he might seem a poor representative at times, it is because, as I have previously delineated, he represents both the proletariat and with it the rising individual, as well as, the ancient concepts of consanguinity and patriarchy. Bronts refusal to employ the mining community as a metonym does not eliminate the working class from the novel, for in fact, the very narrator of the saga belongs to the working class.88

In this context, the fertile valley that Edgar represents is a reference to the pre-

industrial landscape, and as such, pre-industrial notions of social organization. Before the bleak...coal-country of the industrial England, the dependence on agriculture manifested itself in literature as the genre of Pastoral, where the open valleys, and later the enclosed pastures, were celebrated. Perhaps unknowingly Nelly, in one phrase, has encapsulated the motifs that define the two men throughout the novel. Despite Edgars limitations, his upper class status earns him social respectability and Catherines regard. Eighteenth century England was still subject to aristocratic

privileges and kinship alliances - associations that would begin to dissipate in the next era. Consequently, it was enticing to have a husband like Edgar for he will be rich, as Catherine notes, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighborhood, and ... [will] be proud of having such a husband. Though expressing pan-historic parasitism of a gold-digger, Catherines reasoning is particularly telling in this situation, for it expresses the social implications of not only status and wealth, but also education. She argues that it would degrade ...[her] to marry Heathcliff;92 his lack of education prevailing as the primary concern. Moreover, when Edgar inherits Thrushcross Grange, as Gilbert and Gubar aptly point out, Edgar practically rules his house from his library as if to parody that male education on in Latin and Greek, privilege and prerogative.The role of education, and specifically genteel education, is immense in the novel, in fact, it is more powerful than status and kinship, for as we see in Heathcliffs unlikely experiment with Hareton and Linton, education makes the difference between a churlish brute and an knowledgeable, albeit peevish cobweb.94 As Heathcliff rightly notes, Hareton is gold put to the use of paving stones; and ... [Linton] is tin polished to ape a service of silver--- Mine [Linton] has nothing valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit, of making it go as far as such poor stuff can go. His [Hareton] had first-rate qualities, and they are lost---rendered worse than unavailing.Education + Class Difference

The difference between the two men was the result of education. Cathy, though no measure of wisdom, picks Lintons company over Haretons partly because the former is articulate and literate, despite also displaying characteristics of a selfish and petulant pessimist. Education in this context, however, is limited to the concept of a gentlemans education; the particular notion that only a century later would present no functional value to Tom Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss. Contemporary to the novels setting was a period in which education was the invisible boundary between nobility and the masses. While general schooling that provided little less than literacy existed, it was the study of Greek and Roman classics available only to the highest echelons that was a mark of a cultivated mind. In this context, Heathcliffs discourse on the difference between Linton Heathcliff and Hareton can be perceived as an expos on the privileges afforded to the often undeserving nobility, as compared to the working class. Inadequate though Linton Heathcliff is, he is given all the comforts that his class implies, yet ironically and much to Heathcliffs pleasure, education is a means to an end, but not vice versa. Manipulating the tools of the upper classes the instruments of which he himself was a victim Heathcliff is able to turn their own contrivances against them. The unjust denial of the means for intellectual improvement in the novel is an allegory of the working class struggle against the assumed privileges of the nobility. With the opening pages, Wuthering Heights expresses a preoccupation with class

and descent. Amongst the first descriptions of the estate is a curious date inscribed above the doorway the year 1500 spells the completion of house, and we later learn Hareton Heathcliff is also inscribed above the egress. Not only does the date connect the Heights with the Renaissance when the social landscape was largely based on heredity and status, it serves as a necessary validation of the narrative, given that the story is told by working class narrator. The credibility of the story could be questioned, as in The Turn of the Screw, for the narrators class can discredit the storys authenticity or import. The connection of the Heights to the Renaissance becomes a sort of justification of the readers interest in a working class tale. Readers might not care about Nelly, but they very well would care about the world of the Heights and Thrushcross grange in which, as signaled by the inscription, property and heredity are as paramount as they were in the Renaissance.

If the disintegration of the class system occurs within the novel as T.K. Meier suggests, then the primary manifestation of this change is Nellys narration. Whether we perceive Nellys station within the household as part of the feudal or the modern social construct, her class is undeniably below the Earnshaws and Lintons. It is significant that not only does she lead the novels narration, but that at the end she and the bourgeois Lockwood are the sole bearers of the Earnshaw-Linton combined family history(s). As the upper echelons of society work hard to preserve testaments of their power in form of contrivances such heirlooms, written histories, art etc. having only a middle class businessman and a working class servant as the only bearers of the story gives them the power that historically resides within the family that is the power over the entire family history. It is a dangerous prospect indeed, as now the lower class is in a unique position, with a power to subvert the honor and prestige the family endeavored to maintain throughout generations. The sole progenitors of the family, Cathy and Hareton, do not know their own history. They cannot partake in the chivalric associations contained by heirlooms, to be sure, they cannot, enjoy the satisfaction which is derived from saying, My father or my grandfather or my ancestor sat in that chair, or looked as he now looks in that picture

The estates they inherit cannot function as heirlooms or any semblance of family history, for in order for them to do so the history itself must be known. The estates function as inheritance solely in a legal sense with no hereditary associations. To be exact, the historical heritage that the Heights and the Grange contain cannot offer any meaning or satisfaction for Cathy or Hareton, and if there is no meaning the entire function of heirlooms is deleted. The marriage of Cathy and Hareton can then be perceived as a union free from familial ties, which are epitomized by heirlooms.

Critics differ in their interpretation of the engagement at the end of the novel. Margaret Lenta insists that a hybrid variant of both Earnshaw and Linton lifestyles survives with the marriage of Cathy and Hareton, while Susan Meyer proposes that the marriage brings an end to class inequality, as Hareton, the former servant, marries the once pampered and wealthy young [Cathy].

Andrew Abraham believes that patriarchy gradually regains a stronghold towards the end primarily because Cathy develops into the ideal Victorian angel in the house, a patriarchal legal construct symptomatic of the law, Terry Eagleton, however, contests that the marriage allows for a future containing a fusion rather than a confrontation of interests between gentry and bourgeoisie. I suggest that the novel introduces modern domesticity with the union of Hareton and Cathy, who effectively become a nuclear family, cut off, as they are from generational ties. The novel begins with old ideals of domesticity, complete with patriarchs at the head of the families and a self-consciousness towards lineage as exemplified by the inscription above the doorway. The novel ends, however, with a modern construct of a nuclear family and while the ghosts of Catherine and Heathcliff still haunt the landscape, neither they, nor the members of the family(s) long gone, can affect their peace.

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