Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Bronte wondered wuther her book would be well received.

“Nature is not merely a reality in which we live, not just the palpable context of our lives, but part of us. We are, in a sense, emanations of Nature, and our relationship to it has the intense and definitive intimacy of heart to body.”

(Lloyd Evans1982, p.121)

It is easy to treat humanity and nature as separate elements but in reality ‘the human presence' is a part of the natural world. But it is both a part and apart. According to Peckham, Romanticism embodies “an approving attitude towards the natural world.” (Peckham 1976, p.12)

The key word here is “approving”. At times, and especially in the case of Wuthering Heights, this approval is merely a nod in the general direction of what is perceived to be Romantic literature's ‘central inspiration.' Wuthering Heights seems to say that those who deny their nature, their ‘human nature' are doomed. Human nature is driven by desires and according to Schopenhauer this desire, or ‘will' as he put it, is “a violent force operating through us, creating desires and passions and provoking us to act.” (Solomon 2002, p.144)

This ‘will', or the lack of its implementation, is also a central theme, if not the theme, of the book. To be human is also to have the ability to design our fates. As Isabella says in her letter “I think the concentrated essence of all the madness in the world took up its abode in my brain the day I linked my fate with theirs!” (Brontë 1964, p.130), the linking of fates can produce madness or in the case of Catherine and Heathcliff, the linking of fates can be something that transcends the ‘natural' world.

The fates of each character of Wuthering Heights are well within their reach, only the matter of whether to take their fates and command them, conflicts. The character of Heathcliff is the driving force of Wuthering Heights and if we take will, desire, passion and the ability to design our own fate to be the driving forces of human nature, indeed what makes us human, then Heathcliff is the most honestly human and most real character of the novel. He also embodies the darkest, most infernal and perhaps repulsive facets of human nature but this dialectic only reinforces Heathcliff's humanity.

If we are to take at face value the notion that Romanticism finds its chief inspiration in the natural world then the setting of Wuthering Heights in the moors of Yorkshire may be no accident of authorial abode. Heathcliff could be said to personify the moors themselves: “an arid wilderness” (Vogler 1968, p.45). Even the name Heathcliff takes two very different features of nature (naturally, heath and cliff) and welds them together. This imagery is undoubtedly in keeping with the Romantic tradition but is misleading in its simplicity. To find where Wuthering Heights falls under the mantle of Romanticism we must look deeper into the terms that define it as a literary and cultural movement.

It is possible to see Romanticism as a reaction to the unfulfilled promises of the revolutions of the late 18th century (Lowy & Sayre 2001, p.16) or in relation to the cultural movement of the Enlightenment which preceded it and “the failure of which Romanticism was a response” (Peckham 1976, p.12). But more specifically, as in the case of Wuthering Heights , we find a sociological examination of “the conflict between bourgeois society and certain human values.” (Lowy & Sayre 2001, p.14) The Lintons and Earnshaws beingthe bourgeoisie and Heathcliff the humanity which opposed them.

The Romantic themes that Brontë explores are evident in what Peckham cites as “Romantic factors: alienation, cultural vandalism, and selfhood, or the distinction between self and role.” (Peckham 1976, p.22)

These factors see Heathcliff described almost completely. From the very moment Heathcliff is introduced he is alienated: “from the very beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house” (Brontë 1964, p.46)

Eventually Heathcliff revels in his own alienation and wreaks his revenge through “cultural vandalism” because as Peckham notes once “selfhood has been es tab lished by alienation…it was impossible for him to redeem himself” (Peckham 1976, p.24-25). It is only through destroying the culture of the families in Wuthering Heights that Heathcliff perceives he can redeem the wrongs perpetrated on him. He quickly revels in his alienation: “I'd not exchange, for a thousand lives, my condition here, for Edgar Linton's at Thrushcross Grange – not if I might have the privilege of flinging Joseph off the highest gable, and painting the house-front with Hindley's blood!” (Brontë 1964, p.54)

Here we see Heathcliff attempting to assert his selfhood through alienation, in other words “to maintain the sense of otherness and also to authenticate that sense” (Peckham 1976, p.45)

Nowhere is Heathcliff's set apart more clearly than in his relationship with Hindley. Hindley sees him as a “usurper” (Brontë 1964, p.46) and grows bitter at his presence (Brontë 1964, p.46) and once Mr Earnshaw dies, relegates Heathcliff to the role of a mere servant, belittling him at every opportunity and inadvertently sowing the seeds of his own doom and of those with whom he links his fate (Brontë 1964, Ch. VII).

Until this point in the novel Heathcliff's redemption could have been realised in the cosy apartments of Wuthering Heights itself. But Heathcliff's treatment and Catherine's decision to marry Edgar Linton result in a complete renunciation of any of the values he might have even had a notion to adhere to. (Brontë 1964, p.59) His transformation from mere outsider to absolute nemesis is complete:

“I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last…

“For shame Heathcliff!” said I. “It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.”

“No, God won't have the satisfaction that I shall.” (Brontë 1964, p.64)

Heathcliff's vow is exemplification of Schopenhauer's theory of the will beinga “violent force…forcing us to act.” (Solomon 2002, p.144) It is difficult not to sympathise with Heathcliff in the sense of fair play and so called ‘humanity'. Other than that, this episode elicits sympathy via another recognised feature of Romanticism, that of “the rebel as an heroic figure.” (Peckham 1976, p.68)

All cultural movements need their archetypal heroes, those that embody the absolute spirit of an age orgenre, to hold up as examples of or a mould in which to pour their ideals. In the case of Romanticism, being ideologically rooted in the world of imagination and mythology, (McCredden 1997, p.1) it follows that it would take its heroic figures from that tradition. For the Romantics this resulted in the “conversion of Satan from a villain into a hero.” (Peckham 1976, p.68)

This is especially pertinent in examining Heathcliff. Throughout Wuthering Heights Heathcliff is referred to variously as “an imp of Satan” (Brontë 1964, p.47) and “that devil Heathcliff” (Brontë 1964, p.239) Isabella asks “is he a devil?” (Brontë 1964, p.124) and Nelly Dean describes his eyes as “devil's spies.” (Brontë 1964, p.60) Also, Heathcliff's banishment from Wuthering Heights mirrors that of Lucifer being demoted, disgraced and cast from heaven (Isaiah 14:12 -15).

The comparisons between Heathcliff and Satan can be found at even more fundamental levels. For example, the Hebrew root of the word Satan ‘stn' means “one who opposes, obstructs, or acts as adversary” (Pagels 1995, p.39) or consider “the Greek term diabolos, later translated “devil,” literally means “one who throws something across one's path.” (Pagels 1995, p.39) Both these definitions are eerily evocative of Heathcliff's adversarial role.

Further Satanic comparisons can be found in Heathcliff but in a humanist sense rather than a mythological one. Satanism as a philosophy is essentially humanism, that is: a philosophy which adheres to human or earthly values rather than spiritual ones. At its core, Satanism espouses an indulgence in “natural desires. ” (La Vey 1969, p.81) and an encouragement to “act upon your natural instincts” (La Vey 1969, p.53). Heathcliff is nothing if not driven by “natural desires.” As if to complete the inversion of values set in motion by the conversion of Satan from villain to hero, a tenet of Satanism is to “let no wrong go undressed” (La Vey 1969, p.47) This encapsulates Heathcliff's modus operandi almost wholeheartedly.

To understand how Heathcliff can be elevated to heroic, or even a more resolutely human status by comparison with a traditionally evil and despicable figure we must recognise that Satan (and indeed Satanism) is a human creation. The devil and the nature of evil are a necessary component by which we measure what it is to be human; they are what we pit our better qualities against togauge the strength of what we see as ‘good'. Maybe what we see in characters such as Satan and Heathcliff is a part of ourselves that we find uncomfortable to acknowledge; they “express qualities that go beyond what we ordinarily recognise as human.” (Pagels 1995, p.xvii)

It may be difficult to recognise Heathcliff's human nature in the legacy of brutality left by his saga of revenge. But human nature is not as pretty as some would have you believe. Furthermore, the Lintons and the Earnshaws are not model characters either. Their prejudices, petulance, expedience and cowardice are hardly admirable qualities. They are indeed less deservingof our sympathies than Heathcliff, for the cold and rigid codes of a society which they perpetuate affords Heathcliff the means by which to destroy them. By condemning Heathcliff as an amoral and nihilistically destructive character we may fail to recognise “the most intimate enemy of all – the enemy we call our own self” (Pagels 1995, p. 173)

References

Brontë, E. 1964, Wuthering Heights , Penguin Books Ltd, Middlesex,

La Vey, A. S. 1969, The Satanic Bible , Harper Collins, New York

Lloyd Evans, B. andg. 1982, Everyman's Companion To The Brontës ,

J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London

Lowy , M. and Sayre, R. 2001, Romanticism Against the Tide of Modernity , Duke University Press, London

McCredden, L. 1997, Romanticism , Deakin University , Geelong

Pagels, E. 1995, The Origin of Satan , Random House, New York

Peckham, M. 1976, Romanticism and Behaviour, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia

Solomon, R.C. 2002, The Big Questions: A Short Introduction To Philosophy , Harcourt College Publishers, Orlando

Vogler, T.A. 1968, Twentieth Century Interpretations of WutheringHeights , Prentice Hall, New Jersey

-- Luke McKay