Wuthering Heights is a highly
cyclic book, essentially everything from characters to housing comes full
circle by the conclusion of the novel. Bronte uses these cycles to point to the
need for balance in society.
The similarities between both
generations of Catherines is evidence enough of Bronte’s use of circular
patterns in her novel. Most evident is the similarity between their names. Catherine
Earnshaw marries Edgar and becomes Catherine Linton; then she gives birth to
Catherine Linton, who marries Hareton and becomes Catherine Earnshaw. This
specific example not only shows the similarities between the two generations of
Catherines, it also shows, through the reversal of their last names, the
contrasts between them. As a child, Catherine Earnshaw (I) was a rugged tomboy and
“as rude as a savage”, learning to be more proper when she married into the
Linton family. As Nelly, one of the main narrators of the story and a personal
friend of Catherine’s family, describes her transformation, “instead of a wild,
hatless little savage jumping into the house, rushing to squeeze us all
breathless, there lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified person”
(Bronte 50). Conversely, Catherine Linton (II) was a proper and sheltered
child, learning to embrace her tough side only through her marriage back into
the Earnshaw family.
Readers can also find circular
patterns through several other characters, such as the characters of Edgar
Linton and his nephew, Linton Heathcliff. According to Nelly, both Edgar and
Linton are weak and cowardly men who each marry one of the Catherines, although
Catherine (I) and Edgar’s marriage was more successful than that of Catherine
(II) and Linton. Another great example is the abusive relationship between Hindley
and Heathcliff in the first generation, and Heathcliff and Hareton in the
second generation. After his father passed away, Hindley “drove (Heathcliff)
from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the
curate, and insisted that he should labor outdoors” (Bronte 44). Hindley took
his (often drunken) rage out on Heathcliff, often having him flogged for little
to no reason. This childhood trauma came full circle for Heathcliff when he was
an adult through his constant abuse of Hindley’s son, Hareton, once he was
under Heathcliff’s care.
These circular patterns all point
to one central theme: the second generation, though in the same circumstances,
thrived exceedingly compared to the first generation. One example of this
success is the marriage between Catherine (II) and Hareton, whose love was much
healthier than that of Catherine (I) and Heathcliff, and their happy ending at
Thrushcross Grange. There are many speculations as to Bronte’s intention behind
this circular pattern of tragic endings followed by happy endings. One theory
that intrigued me was the idea that through the generations, Bronte was trying
to display the ways in which primitivism and civilization clash, but one can
only succeed when there is a good mix of both. The Earnshaws (Heathcliff,
Hindley, Catherine (II), etcetera), who were all uneducated and brutal, ended
up dying in the end. On the other hand, so did the educated and sophisticated
Lintons (Edgar, Linton, etcetera). However, the people who were open to change
and realized that a mix of primitive instincts as well as civility were the
best way to live (Catherine (II), Haretone, Nelly, etcetera), prospered in the
end of the novel.
Works Cited: Brontë, Emily. Wuthering
Heights. New York: New American Library, 2004.
Print.
