Wuthering Heights Symbolism

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

The Moors as a Reoccurring Symbol of Isolation in Many Forms

- Example 1 -

Moors: desperate, vast and lonely places

Repetition of second person, as if Heathcliff himself if not in danger of becoming lost on the moors and in isolation

Physically, mentally or emotionally adrift

"Do you know that you run a risk of being lost in the marshes? People familiar with these moors often miss their road on such evenings; and I can tell you there is no chance of a change at present."

- page 10

- Example 3 -

Description early on, along with a warning against wandering for Mr. Lockwood

Again, this concept of those familiar with the isolation that comes with and from the moors getting lost speaks to the power and wild nature of the steppe as a symbol

Powerful seclusion diction

Extended period of isolation: lifetimes of wandering and walking in physical and emotional isolation in his grief for Catherine

The Moors of England

"Grief, and that together, transformed him into a complete hermit: he threw up his office of magistrate, ceased even to attend church, avoided the village on all occasions, and spent a life of entire seclusion within the limits of his park and grounds; only varied by solitary rambles on the moors, and visits to the grave of his wife, mostly at evening, or early morning before other wanderers were abroad."

- page 155-156

This is a photograph of the bleak landscape that threatens to consume the characters, both physically and mentally. The moors are characterized by large expanses of land with low-lying vegetation. Its barren and unforgiving nature can be compared to Heathcliff and Catherine both as characters, as well as their marraiges with their respective Lintons.

- Example 2 -

Depth of Edgar's grief is captured in this quotation as he isolates himself in the face of his wife's death, despite having a child to care for.

Reiterates the isolation from people and things other than the grief and the mediation on being utterly alone.

Catherine's wild and contradictory nature stemming from the moors can be seen in her surprising burial choices.

Formal death/burial

Thrushcross Grange

- Analysis -

The moors, in this instance, are a place of refuge from emotion, particularly grief, as demonstrated by Edgar's self-imposed disassociation with things such as church, work, and other people, in favor of walks around the Thrushcross Grange and into the vast moors after Catherine's death. The moors alone, and their massive spaces act as a cushion for his sadness, though they physically separate him from the reminders of his late wife.

"The place of Catherine’s interment, to the surprise of the villagers, was neither in the chapel under the carved monument of the Lintons, nor yet by the tombs of her own relations, outside. It was dug on a green slope in a corner of the kirk-yard, where the wall is so low that heath and bilberry plants have climbed over it from the moor; and peat-mould almost buries it."

- page 143

Heath Plants = Heathcliff

The repetition of the moor motif symbolizes the physical, emotional and mental isolation that the greater part of the characters feel within the novel. Catherine and Heathcliff are separated in all ways from each other in their marriages to others, though they continue their love, and later are physically separated after Catherine's death. Edgar Linton also suffers this emotional separation in his marriage to Catherine, though he does love her. Emotional turmoil often causes this isolation and movement to the moors, such as Catherine's death, which lead both Linton and Heathcliff in their own time, to journey to the moors in grief.

The moors can also be seen as a physical representation, a characterization, of the inherent wildness in the family at Wuthering Heights, as illustrated within the early portion of the novel. As children, Catherine and Heathcliff are physically separated from the love of a parent figure after the death of the old master Earnshaw , leading them to a life of confused emotions and general unhappiness in the face of Hindley's abuse. The moors were a place of escape for both, and a way of isolating themselves against the hatred of the older sibling and acting guardian. The setting continues to serve in such a manner: insulation from the hurt of the world, though there are yet some differences between the characters and how they use their wandering time.

The differences in setting between Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights also adds to this concept of isolation that is symbolized with the moors. The Grange is characterized as warmer, fertile and more “nice” in a sense, and Wuthering Heights as a barren, bleak, and gray place. This juxtaposition is comparable to their respective owners, yet the call of the moor and isolation continues. The two houses are four miles away from each other, situated in the same area, and are similar to one another in their secluded and rather lonely nature, though characteristics of each are inherent and vastly different.

- Example 4 -

Already isolated from many

This quotation contains a great deal of imagery that details the moors and what can be found there - from the plants to Catherine's corpse. The image of her grave overgrown and wild with the native plants of the moor in a sense return her to the moor, her childhood and the wild nature that she suppressed in her marriage to Edgar Linton. The tangled plants are a physical manifestation of her love for Heathcliff.

"...no doctor visited the Heights, and no one saw Master Heathcliff to make report of his condition among us. I, for my part, began to fancy my forebodings were false, and that he must be actually rallying, when he mentioned riding and walking on the moors, and seemed so earnest in pursuing his object"

- page 218

Gothic element: supernatural

While he is dissociated with the rest of the population, including doctors and Nelly, he is becoming closer to the "object" of his love, Catherine.

Illustrates Heathcliff's need to be among the wildness of the moors, where he once roamed with Catherine in their childhood. Despite his sickness and "condition", he returns to the wild, wind-swept lowlands that surround him at the Heights

Wuthering Heights

Frame narrative that illustrates Nelly's bias in her retelling of the event

Again, the bleak and gray setting surrounding the Wuthering Heights manor that Heathcliff searched over for the "object" of his affection, Catherine, in his physical isolation from her in death.

Mira League