Never have two more opposing places existed than Thrusscross Grange and Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is a dwelling characterized by fiery emotions, primal passions, bitter vengeance, and blatant evil. Thrushcross Grange is a peaceful, beautiful abode which epitomizes all that is good and lovely. Emily Bronte includes these two places in the Romantic novel, Wuthering Heights, to create a contrast which furthers the overall theme of good vs. evil.

Wuthering Heights is a house set high upon a hill where is exposed to extreme weather conditions. Storms often come “rattling over the heights in full fury.” - Storms which have “growling thunder,” and “great drop.” The name of the place itself is symbolic of it’s nature, “‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which it’s station is exposed in stormy weather.” The Heights are not very pleasing to the eye either. Bronte describes the building as a harsh, cold house where, “the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall and the corners defended with large jutting stones.” She depicts it as having a “pervading spirit of neglect,” being filled with un-cheerful things such as drab decor and cruel dogs. The description of, “a few stunted firs at the end of the house,” and, “a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun.” proves that even the vegetation surrounding the structure conjures images that lack warmth and happiness.

The people which occupy the house tend to be rather severe and brutal also. Heathcliff, the protagonist, is a very vile and wicked man who spends his entire existence on earth seeking revenge and ruining the lives of others. A character from the story proves this by her question: “Is Mr Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil?” Catherine, another tenant of the is a wild and willful girl who marries Edgar Linton, against her better judgement. Later, she dies because she cannot find a way to reconcile her passionate love for Heathcliff with her position as Edgar’s wife. Posthumously, she haunts Heathcliff for twenty years. Hindley Earnshaw is yet another example of the ferocity at the Heights for, “he neither wept nor prayed: he cursed and defied; execrated God and man, and gave himself up to reckless dissipation” He has a keen hatred for Heathcliff and a weakness of character - both of which inevitably destroy him. He dies of alcohol poisoning shortly after attempting to murder Heathcliff.

Thrushcross Grange however is altogether opposite from the Heights. Although Bronte’s description of the Grange is not as in-depth, the reader is still able to gather many images of the peaceful abode. The Grange is set within a lush, protected valley and is encompassed by a high stone wall. In our first encounter with Thrushcross Grange, we are told that, “the light came from thence.” The Grange is filled with music, books, and other lovely objects. It is described as “beautiful- a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs and tables and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver tapers.”

The occupants of Thrushcross Grange are also utterly diametric to those that dwell at the Heights. The Lintons are all very polite, respectable people who conduct themselves morally and justly. They are characterized as having, “pure, pale skin,” and, “light hair.” Edgar Linton is a good, kind man who marries Catherine. Although her heart belongs to Heathcliff, Edgar never loves her any less. She causes him much grief but at her death, “His young fair features were almost as death-like as those of the form [Catherine] beside him, and almost as fixed, but his were the hush of exhausted anguish .”

Important to theme of the book are the symbols that the two places represent. One can gather from the descriptions of Wuthering Heights, the people that dwell within its walls and the storms that rattle its windows that the place is symbolic of evil and passion. However, the reader is also able to deduct that Thrushcross Grange represents good and peace due to the light imagery used to portray it, its setting, and to the pleasant people that live there.

These contrasts offer much to the meaning of the novel. Throughout the work, the two houses are set against each other. This symbolizes the overall theme of good vs. evil. In the end, after a period when the evil of the Heights seems to have taken over, reconstruction occurs, and the Grange becomes the dominant house, proving the age-old adage, that good always conquers evil.