Humanity In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

Humanity craves for a greater understanding of the world around us. In most cases, people subscribe to a religion in the hopes of gaining higher knowledge. However, when faced with a make-or-break situation, we as individuals potentially abandon our beliefs and religion for others, and then attack the beliefs and religions of individuals in order to reduce anxiety and insecurities. This is relevant in the case of Wuthering Heights, since we see Heathcliff struggle with his psycho-spirituality when he grieves over the death of Catherine Earnshaw and how he copes with this trauma by tormenting others and their beliefs.

In Wuthering Heights, the death of Edgar strikes Hindley’s wife with fear. In the quote “Then she began describing with hysterical

Only do not leave me in this abyss… I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” (Bronte 183-184). Here, we see Heathcliff’s life with Catherine Earnshaw has ended at the time of her death. However, Heathcliff refuses to let go of his love. As the quote demonstrates, Heathcliff is clearly praying, but he isn’t praying to a god. Heathcliff, it seems, is praying to Cathy and is begging her to not leave him. He does not do this with a cool head, though. Instead, he begs and pleads with her to haunt him and drive him mad. He would rather suffer madness than be alone. In this fit of anxiety, Heathcliff abandons his religion for a new one-- Catherinism. Why abandon one religion for another? Well, as we saw with Mr. Hindley’s wife, hysteria can utterly destroy the religion one subscribes to. After said destruction, one is left in a void, but still wishes to believe in something greater. As Abraham Cronbach explains, the truth-seeking attitude (called “the reality principle” in psychoanalysis) potentially launches individuals into the quest for deeper knowledge about the world around them (Cronbach, 1922). It is during this quest that we have established religion, of which we may partake

I bribed the sexton to pull it away, when I’m laid there, and slide mine out too... by the time Linton gets to us, he’ll not know which is which!” (Bronte 315). In the Victorian Era, as Walter Arnstein and others explain, religion was at a point of revival and integrated deeply in the social and political corners of Britain, and not subscribing in a religion would label you as an outcast (Arnstein & others, 1989). So, as we see in this quote, after one loses faith in their religion, that same individual may find shelter within another religion. However, a switch in religion can understandably cause anxiety, which the individual inevitably hides behind. To reduce anxiety, one uses a defense mechanism. In this case of “switching religious sides,” projection works best. The individual will blame the religion for their own insecurities. This is what we see in this scene in Heathcliff’s personality. Heathcliff defiles the casket of Cathy (which can also be seen as displacement as well) in order to “get even” with his former