Wuthering Heights
Uploaded by krazy_gurl on Jan 31, 2001
In Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, the characters are quite intricate and engaging. The story takes place in northern England in an isolated, rural area. The main characters involved are residents of two opposing households: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Wuthering Heights is a tale of a powerful love between two people, which transcends all boundaries, including that between life and death. The author, Emily Bronte, uses parallelism in this novel. Much of what happens in the first half of the story corresponds to events in the second half. This parallelism also extends to the characters; the first generation of characters is comparable to the second generation. Some might argue that these characters are duplicates of each other and that they share many traits. This is not the case for Catherine Earnshaw and Cathy Linton, a mother and her daughter. These two characters are different in numerous aspects of their personalities and lifestyles.
Catherine Earnshaw and Cathy Linton differ a great deal when it comes to their family life. Catherine’s father did not love her because she was forever misbehaving. He once told her, “[N]ay Cathy, I cannot love thee; thou’rt worse than thy brother. Go, say thy prayers, child, and ask God’s pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue the day we ever reared thee!” Relating to Lockwood, Nelly noted that young Catherine was such a “wild, wicked slip” (37) that she never seemed as content as when she was being scolded. She was born into a rich, well to do solid family. Her dad, Mr. Earnshaw, was strict man; her mom, Mrs. Earnshaw, was a devoted, quite snobbish woman. Catherine was conceited all throughout her youth, which is clearly a contributing factor to her immaturity. She also shows how she likes and loves to be given excessive attention. This causes her problems all the way until she becomes an adult. A very important aspect of Catherine is, of course, her personality. She can be described as conceited, mischievous, willful, and “had the bonniest eye, and sweetest smile” (45). The readers can clearly see the special traits and features that make her unique in a special way. As a little girl, she has a very strong attitude. She is the type of girl that will react in a rather aggressive way when she doesn’t get what she wants. She is so used to always getting what she wants,...