Social Class in Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinderella. She lived with her mean stepmother and two ugly stepsisters, who treated her as their servant. This story could go on, but almost everyone has heard of Cinderella’s story. Many stories, including Cinderella, show differences in social class and how characters are constantly trying to climb the social ladder. Cinderella’s family treats her poorly and shows how orphans are considered to be part of the lower class. Also, the stepsisters attempt to move up the social ladder by doing everything they can in order to marry the prince. By marrying Prince Charming, Cinderella is able to make a dramatic climb to the top of the social ladder. Brontë writes sentences that are very effective in highlighting the differences in social classes. “‘I shall not!’ replied the boy, finding his tongue at last, ‘I shall not stand to be laughed at, I shall not bear it!” (Brontë 54). The previous statement characterizes Heathcliff as a young, orphan boy being rejected by the Earnshaw family and the servants (Meier 310). The author uses exclamatory statements, anaphoras, repetition, and short phrases to express Heathcliff’s anger. This particular statement is worded carefully by the author to foreshadow Heathcliff’s revenge and rise in social status later in the story. Heathcliff states, “I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed, and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!” (Brontë 57). The last statement shows the desires of characters of lower status. Through the use of another exclamatory statement, Brontë shows the strong emotion and desire that Heathcliff has to be a wealthy man for Catherine. Heathcliff dreams to be like the high class Edgar Linton. The syntax the author chooses to write with always shines a positive light on the upper class and highlights the dramatic differences between the social Especially for a woman of the 1800s, marriage is particularly important because a husband determines her social class and future. Catherine chooses not to marry the love of her life because she claims, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff” (Brontë 81). Instead of marrying for love, Catherine marries Edgar because his wealth and high social status are convenient (Meier 310). The violations of social class in this story reflect a period of social change and a delicate system of social classes (Newman 319). Heathcliff is born an orphan and becomes a rich gentleman by playing a game of cat and mouse with the people of the higher class (Newman 313; Meier 310). Heathcliff plays with inheritance and marriage to manipulate the system of social class to turn in his favor. By taking advantage of the Earnshaw family and his son Linton’s poor health, he uses marriage as a way to inherit land and climb up the social ladder until all of the other characters are beneath him. Although marriage is supposed to be for love, it is often twisted into convenient ways of climbing the social
The initial downward spiral of Heathcliff’s life was predominantly caused by harsh influences in the environment in which he was raised. Heathcliff, an adopted child, grew up in Wuthering Heights, a desolate and dystopian estate when compared to the beauty of the neighboring Thrushcross Grange. In childhood, Heathcliff displayed evidence of a sympathetic personality through his emotional attachment to Catherine and kind attitude towards Nelly. At the time of Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Nelly describes a scene where, “Miss Cathy had been sick, and that made her still; she
Over a long period of time, an individual’s social status has always had a great impact on relationships between others. Relationships such as friendship, romance and even family relationships are greatly influenced by one’s social status. When people value social status to the utmost importance, it often acts as a barrier to further solidify relations with others. “Wuthering Heights” is a classic novel written by Emily Bronte which illustrates how social status gets in the way of relationships. This story (set in eighteen hundreds) displays the true nature of the people at that time because they excessive had pride. Since they had excessive pride, they often judged people based on their social class; hence changing their relationship between each other. In this novel social class was measured by observing an individual’s wealth, appearance and manners. Heathcliff happens to be the male lead character of this story that lacks social class due to his rebellious relationship with Hindley. Afterwards, Hindley degrades Heathcliff’s status this affects his connections with Catherine and Nelly. Since Heathcliff’s status diminishes, Catherine becomes reluctant to continue her affair with Heathcliff. Nelly also becomes wary of Heathcliff because his personality changes after restoring his own status. Thus, it is clearly seen that social class has an impact on the story by altering Heathcliff’s relationship between Hindley, Catherine and Nelly.
Heathcliff is a character who was abused in his childhood by Catherine’s brother, Hindley, because of his heritage as a “gypsy”, and Hindley was jealous of the love that Heathcliff got from Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley’s father. This is also selfishness upon Hindley’s part since he only wanted his father’s love for his sister and himself. So to reprimand Heathcl...
The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.
He gains the wealth needed to achieve social standing, but in so doing he destroys himself and his family, including Catherine's daughter whose own happiness he disregards. Instead of the love that he wanted so much, he finds that others now fear him and his anger. Bronte again is telling the readers a moral lesson, to follow the heart and one's deepest desires, ignoring what society tells you is the only 'right' way to lead your life. Only in death can Heathcliff and Catherine be free again as when they were children, to love one another no matter what others think of them. She suggests that in death they have at last freed themselves from society's restrictions, and can finally be together again, walking along the moors, as they did when they were children, and ignorant of the unspoken 'rules' which would keep them apart in life.
His assertion focuses on how their relationship is a displaced version of symbiotic relationship between mother and child. Emotionally, Heathcliff is the world to Catherine just as a mother is to a child and a child to a mother. (p. 366). This statement is supported by a passage in the novel in which Heathcliff has left and she seeks him calling for him at intervals and crying hard enough to beat out any child (p. 88-90). Upon Heathcliff’s return, Brontë uses language that Wion believes depicts the cessation of their relationship’s development in the Freud’s oral stage of libidinal development (p. 368). Brontë uses phrases such as “drank from hers” when discussing them gazing at each other and “They were too much absorbed in their mutual enjoyment…” (p. 99, 368). The use of this language is interesting and begs us to question if its use was intentional to display the basicness and necessity of their relationship as if to say that they could just as easily not be together as they could stop consuming sustenance. The novel demonstrates many times that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is fundamental to their existence. A major piece of evidence supporting this is Catherine’s breakdown when Heathcliff leaves as well as when Heathcliff and Edgar’s disagreement reaches a point where Edgar forces Catherine to decide between himself and
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
Social class can be defined in a variety of ways. As Alexander Hamilton once said, “all communities divide themselves into the few and the many”. To elaborate on Hamilton’s words, social class is what divides society into different rankings based on several factors. Amongst these factors are income, wealth, occupation, personal prestige, association, socialization, power, class consciousness and social mobility. As a result, these are the factors that define us as human beings in regards to society. A person’s well being is overall, heavily dependent upon this system of stratification in that it helps decide who gets what and the quality of the things that a person is receiving. This concept is defined as life chances developed by sociologist
Perrault’s “Cinderella” begins with a young maiden and a set of stepsisters who treat the maiden badly (Perrault 236). The young maiden, called “Cinderella,” responded with kindness to this harsh treatment (Perrault 237). Cinderella could
In America it is based on the relations of property and power and the division of social classes in the United States, the most basic class distinction is between the powerful and the powerless. Social classes groups are the upper class have a great deal of power which usually are viewed as the elites within their own societies. In general usage, the elite is a hypothetical group of relatively small size that is dominant within a large society, having a privileged status perceived as being envied by others. Various social and political theories propose that social classes with greater power attempt to strengthen their own ranking above the lower classes. The upper class has more power because there are some people who are wealthy and do have
Although, Mr. Earnshaw tried to make Heathcliff an equal part of the family, Heathcliff never truly fits in. Heathcliff is from a completely different social class than the rest of his “family”. This led to the hatred that Hindley felt towards Heathcliff. Hindley robs Heathcliff of his education, forces him to work as a servant at Wuthering Heights and frequently beats him. Throughout this all, Heathcliff never complains.
According to him, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is not only just a romance, but it is about class origins, and how industrialization in Britain had an impact on the culture of the English and found its way to the far reaches of the wild English countryside, that is. Heathcliff was not a Romeo, he was a dark-skinned outsider who reminded the reader of the dramatic social change that happened at that time.
The story teaches us that society expects women to be passive. Cinderella’s abuse by her stepsisters and stepmother cause her to live in grief silently without expressing her emotions. She does nothing to fight for her freedom except sing about all the dreams of happiness that she hopes will come true someday. She only wishes for things to change rather than attempt to do anything to change it for herself. Cinderella waits to be rescued by Prince Charming instead of fighting for her own freedom. This teaches women that they should suffer in silence without doing anything for themselves.
In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the Earnshaws, a middle class family, live at the estate, Wuthering Heights. When Mr. Earnshaw takes a trip to Liverpool, he returns with an orphan whom he christens “Heathcliff”. During their formative years, Catherine, Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, plays with Heathcliff on the moors and becomes close with him. As a result, they form a special bond and Heathcliff and Catherine fall in love, unlike Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw’s son, who does not get along with Heathcliff. While Heathcliff benefits from his relationships, his connections are disadvantaged in terms of status, reputation, financial stability, and happiness.
In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Bronte uses the issue of social class to focus in on how an outsider, Heathcliff, is treated when he enters in a new society with a changing class structure to show the idea that class is something that begins with ancestors and current members conform into it is present. At the time, the industrialization of England caused the levees in place to yield to allow for a new middle class. This rise of middle, working class stirs up conflict between the dominant upper class and the rising lower classes. This class conflict, the oppression against the lower classes serves as the basis for Heathcliff’s interactions, treatments, and future tyrannical actions in Wuthering Heights to show the class struggle placed on society by industrialization.