Class: Social Class and Wuthering Heights Essay

Submitted By mcbay2
Words: 588
Pages: 3
Open Document
The Earnshaws and lintons are middle to upper class, wealthy yorkshire farmers. Although as recognised by Lockwood, have, due to their isolation created their own customs in their social structure, they remain middle class. The Lintons are perhaps of a higher social class, as they have more property and mr and mrs lintn survived longer than the earnshaws. Heathcliffe is brought up in a middle class environment with the earnshaws and then into a working class when hindley takes over custody of heathcliff. Heathcliff originally was of low working class, being a gypsy (a poor nomadic race of people) and had dark skin. His ethnic disposition worked against him when being judged by the earnshaws an lintons. This constant beliitling of Heathcliff by the hindley and the lintons ultimately resulted in his loss of Catherine and his motivation in bring about the downfalls of the earnshaws and lintons
- Catherines actions are motivated by social class when she recognises due to her upper class background she can not marry down in class to Heathcliff. She tries to change her class by living with the lintons and learning class from them and then by rejecting Heathcliff
- Heathcliffs origins as a working class, dark skinned gypsy determined ultimately alot of the illtreatment he recieved in later life. Because of the discrimination Heathcliff recieves due to his social class, he develops the “underdog attitude” and ultimately becomes a defensive man. Heathcliffes class changes from a working class homeless gypsy to a middle class yorkshire farmers son, to a domestic servant and farm hand, and then again to a middle class yorkshire landowner.
- Class struggle is a central theme found in wuthering heights. Class determines hatred, marriage, financial situation and occupation in Wuthering heights. The strict guidlines of class structure break hearts, bring about marriages without love and affect the physical and emotional wellbeing of every character.
- nelly, Joseph and Zillah play the role of domestic servants, employed by their middle class families. They play the role of symbolic working class society
In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, the reader is introduced to the characters of Heathcliff and Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw Linton -- two people who, despite significant differences in their social class
Show More

Related Documents: Class: Social Class and Wuthering Heights Essay

What can we learn about the Victorian morality in Wuthering Heights Essay

low tolerance for crime and strong social ethic. Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 which was when Victorian morality began to peak in society, therefore this novel was seen as a shock to the readers. Grahams Lady Magazine said, in 1848, that the novel is “a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors,” this is because the themes explored in Wuthering Heights were unheard of during the reign of Queen Victoria due to her morality. Wuthering Heights is set between 1777 and 1803, which…

Words 1088 - Pages 5

What Is Heathcliff's Social Class

rural England, social class mainly defined a person, and how they lived. The high class resulted in wealthy, well-mannered people and the lower class resulted in uneducated poor humans who tended to act rude. Just like in the novel Wuthering Heights, author Emily Brontë strongly emphasizes a distinction between the high and low social classes and utilizes it mainly to characterize her characters, especially Heathcliff. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë illustrates Heathcliff's social class and demonstrates…

Words 754 - Pages 4

Wuthering Heights Essay examples

Strada English 3H 7 February 2015 Heathcliff’s Obsession: Wuthering Heights In Wuthering Heights written by Emily Bronte we are introduced to sinister, corrupt and nefarious characters that are fixated on furthering their social standing. Families become intertwined by marriage in order to obtain property in both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Passion is traded for domination and loyalty is bartered for a rise on an ongoing social ladder that is held by a slim thread. Even though some temporarily…

Words 689 - Pages 3

Wuthering Heights Research Paper

“second birth”, so she had no understanding of what it feels like to become her own person and separate from her mother. Bronte subconsciously exhibited this in Wuthering Heights, as all mother figures die young or have unrealistic relationships with their children. Cathy, Catherine Linton’s mother, dies in childbirth. Isabella Linton, Heathcliff’s wife, runs away to give birth to their son, Linton, and eventually leaves Linton with Heathcliff. The only real mother-figure in the novel is Nelly Dean…

Words 860 - Pages 4

Compare How Male Female Relationships in Two of the Following Emma, Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations-- Reflect the Mores and Values of Victorian Society Essay

Sankar Individual Assignment: Critical Essay- Compare how male female relationships in two of the following Emma, Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations-- reflect the mores and values of Victorian society “The Victorian period formally begins in 1837 (the year Victoria became Queen) and ends in 1901 (the year of her death)” (Kirschen). British novels such as Wuthering Heights and Emma reflect and uphold mores and values of the Victorian society. This is portrayed through the characters in…

Words 1461 - Pages 6

Essay about ANGER in English

anger in Wuthering Heights, Angela’s Ashes, and A Small Place. In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte anger is central to the plot line. Even in the title there is anger, the term Wuthering describes the fierce wind that blows during storms on the moors, in my belief the fierce wind and storms is a metaphor for the strength of the anger that is expressed by many of the characters throughout this book. In the first few chapters of the book you get a strange feeling about Wuthering Heights…

Words 1346 - Pages 6

Essay on Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations

Compare and contrast the function of genre in Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations. The nineteenth century is famous for many things, one of which being the Gothic revival. Both Emily Brontë and Charles Dickens can be seen to have been influenced by this period as their novels can be seen to embody various elements of the Gothic Genre. The nineteenth century can also be seen as the period that commercialised the romance novel; the rise in popularity demanded an increase of romance novels which…

Words 2969 - Pages 12

Essay on Nothing

society is driven by money and the economy. In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for example, Mrs. Bennett is the height of Marxism since her singular goal is to marry off all her daughters to wealthy men. Another example is that almost every character except Elizabeth and Darcy is preoccupied with the income of their potential partner. Since the Bennetts are brought up within an upper class society, the illusion of power is found within their characters. They have the freedom to do what they want and…

Words 1500 - Pages 6

Wuthering Heights Indecisiveness Quotes

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a paragon of the effects of excessive love on one’s actions. Heathcliff especially uses his love for Catherine as the main excuse to justify his wrongdoings. He believes his wrongs are righted by both his love and his need to be loved. Similarly, another character experiences such fickleness with the battle between what she wants and what is right—Catherine. She is simultaneously pulled by the luxurious of society that Edgar provides and Heathcliff's dark passion…

Words 1530 - Pages 7

Summer Reading Essay

programs. College students are held more responsible for what they read on their own than are most students in high school, for example. College instructors assign readings, not necessarily explicated in class, for which students might be held accountable through exams, papers, presentations, or class discussions. Students in high school, by contrast, are rarely held accountable for what they read independently. This discrepancy in task demand, coupled with the vast gap in text complexity, may help…

Words 2933 - Pages 12