Wuthering Heights Parallelism

Wuthering Heights is a book of mirrored parallelisms. The ruinous and dark estate of Wuthering Heights stands opposite the lavish and high class house of Thrushcross Grange. The residents of each home carry the same demeanor as their houses with the miserable and cold people who inhabit the Heights sharing the moors with the refined Lintons of Thrushcross Grange. As the book progresses the reader will find that Bronte has not only chosen locational parallels but also parallels which transcend the two generations of characters present in the novel. The most stark example of these mirrored pairs is that between Heathcliff and Hareton. Heathcliff’s evolution is one of extreme ups and downs. The novel begins with him being taken in as a street orphan by Mr. Earnshaw and in effect becoming his son. He lives a life of prominence in the household of Wuthering Heights and falls in love with Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine. Soon after the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff is forced to work as a servant under Hindley. To compound the pain he feels from being forced back into the lower class of
They both arrive in the story into the life of the upper class with Heathcliff being essentially one of Mr. Earnshaw’s children and Hareton being born into the upper class with Hindley as his father. After this, an older and more powerful person comes into their life and forces them to work as common laborers, dropping them into the lower class. This causes their inherently violent sides to come out though Hareton’s is much more direct than Heathcliffs. Upon the death’s of their tormentors, each regains power. Heathcliff becomes more powerful with the death of Hindley and Hareton is free to pursue his education with the death of Heathcliff. Perhaps most importantly, they both end up falling in love with essentially the same people, Catherine and Cathy. This is where the similarities between the two