Wuthering Heights Theme Essay

Wuthering Heights contained many themes throughout the book. However, there are some that were more prominent. Revenge and social classes surround the novel. It shows how the two main characters, Heathcliff and Catherine, were brought together and had this strong connection between them, but the division of society separated them from happiness. Revenge acts like a stimulus for Heathcliff throughout the plotline and builds up the story so it is not some let down love story.
The novel opens up with a man, Lockwood, who rented a home in Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire. He meets this housekeeper, Ellen Dean, who was very close with the Earnshaw family. Due to Lockwood’s curiosity, Ellen shares her knowledge about the history between the Earnshaw
and Linton families. This eventually leads up to a flashback around the time where the main storyline starts.
A farmer, Mr.
Earnshaw, went from his fields, Wuthering Heights, to Liverpool for a business trip where he finds a young boy who was abandoned on the streets. Mr. Earnshaw takes him home with him to join his family. He names the boy Heathcliff after his own son who passed away. Heathcliff then meets Catherine and Hindley, the daughter and son of Earnshaw. He becomes close friends with Catherine, however Hindley doesn’t take a liking to him because he felt liked he was being replaced. After Earnshaw’s wife passed away, he sent Hindley away to college to become more worthy and to put less stress on the household. Soon, Earnshaw’s health was declining and after he passed away, Hindley returned home married to a young woman. He became true heir of their household and used his powers to reduce Heathcliff to a servant of the house. However, Catherine and Heathcliff continued their relationship and didn’t care about punishments. One day, they ran to Thrushcross Grange where they met the Lintons. They also had a son and a daughter, Edgar and Isabella who were polar opposites of Heathcliff and Catherine. The Lintons welcomed Catherine, but rejected Heathcliff making him feel like an outsider again. Heathcliff starts to think of revenge after and is soon filled with jealousy after seeing Catherine spending more time with Edgar. He then runs away from Wuthering Heights after overhearing Catherine telling Ellen she can never marry
Heathcliff.
During the three years he was gone, Catherine and Edgar had gotten married. However, their relationship was strained after Heathcliff returned. After a while, Heathcliff marries Isabella, Edgar’s sister, and Catherine gives birth to a girl, Cathy. Due to the complication with labor, Catherine dies right away after giving birth. After hearing the news, Heathcliff desires revenge and craves to gain control and power of Wuthering and Thrushcross Grange. Since he was so hungry for revenge, he actually waited for 17 years so his son and Cathy could get married. When he got what he wanted, he didn’t know what to do since the only thing that was keeping his mind off of Catherine was working on revenge. He then saw how all he desires now is to be reunited with his love so willed himself to die to be united with his loved one.