Wuthering Heights Social Class Quotes

“What good is social class and status? Truthfulness is measure within. Pride in one’s status is like poison – holding it in your hand and eating it, you shall die”. This was stated in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the central religious text in the religion of Sikhism. The quote is used to describe the social class system in society and how it will lead to a downfall to those who become contemptuous with their status. In the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the author illustrates two separate households in which both houses represent inverses from one another. Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the two houses in the novel, are in many ways set in opposition to each other. Wuthering Heights is depicted as an intimidating household

with strong magnetism representing savagery. On the other hand, Thrushcross Grange is portrayed with refinement and a pleasant appearance representing civility. Both households are scaled in different social classes throughout the course of the novel. Their social status, along with several other differences, help reveal the corruption of social class in society by demonstrating different ways characters in the novel have violated their social casting.
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are two exact opposites separated by the neutral territory of the moors, but although both estates are wealthy, there is a distinct difference in class between both households and this bears greatly on the characters from both estates ability to socialize with each other. The author makes sure to emphasize on the nature of the environment surrounding each of the estates so the reader can distinguish the difference in class of the estates. Bronte depicts Wuthering Heights as being very strong with prominent structure and is said by Mr. Lockwood in the novel that it is “completely removed from the stir of society.  A perfect misanthropist’s heaven: ... such a suitable pair to divide the desolation”. In comparison, the author illustrates Thrushcross Grange as a very classy and civilized estate that is quite sheltered down in the valley. The characteristics that Emily Bronte assigns to each estate have a strong association with the people who live in them regarding their appearance, attitude, and emotion. Heathcliff and Hindley are both dark and stormy characters and both have the greatest association with Wuthering Heights. At the beginning of the story, old Earnshaw finds Heathcliff alone on his trip to Liverpool and brought him back to Wuthering Heights and introduced him to his children, Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw. In the academic journal Family Complexes and Dwelling Plight in Wuthering Heights by Magdalen Wing-Chi Ki, the writer explains how the actions of old Earnshaw of bringing back Heathcliff “greatly angers young Hindley, and his murderous desire hardens him into a savage bully” due to an unwanted brother. Hindley is constantly mistreating Heathcliff and making him feel as if he is not part of the family. This results in Heathcliff becoming more antisocial and puts up a barrier when it comes to showing his emotions when transitioning into adulthood. Both characters reflect the environment given to Wuthering Heights by the author because it displays they display both strength and roughness. Isabella and Edgar Linton are the characters in the novel that reside in Thrushcross Grange and are the characters that best associate with the characteristics given to the estate. Isabelle and Edgar are pleasant, well-educated people that have the soft and civilized characteristics of Thrushcross Grange. In the novel, Heathcliff decides to marry Isabella as a way to seek revenge on Catherine for marrying Edgar and in order to inherit both estates. Isabella was not aware of Heathcliff’s intentions, so she is taken in by his magnetism and she is too soft of a character to stand up to his oppression over her. The differences the households have in the novel and the association of characters that reflect the traits of the houses demonstrate the difference in social class that the houses are placed in, and will help understand the concept of class violation by several characters.
In Family Complexes and Dwelling Plight in Wuthering Heights by Magdalen Wing-Chi Ki, the essay argues that central to the novel is the connection between troubled homes and unresolved family complexes. The essay demonstrates how the troubled family and their family complexes lead to a divided home, thus leading the houses to be placed in different areas of the social class system. What begins the family quarrel was old Earnshaw bringing Heathcliff into his home, which angers young Hindley. Hindley then stages an Oedipal revolt against his father by bringing home his bride-to-be, Frances. Hindley “came home to the funeral; and—a thing that amazed [them], and set the neighbor’s gossiping right and left—he brought a wife with him. What she was, and where she was born, he never informed us: probably, she had neither money nor name to recommend her, or he would scarcely have kept the union from his father”. Frances eventually shows a dislike towards Heathcliff, which causes Hindley’s intrusion complex to rise at a new height. He mistreats Heathcliff and “drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labor out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm”, which causes Heathcliff to shut out the people in his life when it comes to his emotions. The essay also talks about Edgar and Isabella’s relationships with their spouses, saying that they both have failed to impress their partners because they “have internalized the law so well that their fight for the little dog eventually leads to guilt and tears on both sides”. Their failed attempts in trying to impress their partners is mostly due to dwelling plights already existing between the Earnshaw family. This demonstrates how the divided family create their own differences because they each act differently towards each other and hold different attitudes, morals, and values. Furthermore, the differences between the estates and the people living in them contribute to the social class that is assigned to them in the novel.
As a whole, Wuthering Heights demonstrates a corruption in the social class system by demonstrating various ways characters in the novel have violated their social class.

In the academic journal Wuthering Heights and Violation of Class by T. K. Meier, the writes about the elements which transcend social class and a related theme of moral decline due such violations of class. An important character this journal talks about is Heathcliff. He is seen as a man who “seeks not to destroy the existing social system but merely to dominate it”. His demonic vengeance is directed against individuals, and his aim is to secure the traditional prerequisites of economic power and social elevation for his posterity. We see Heathcliff as a nameless illiterate savage at the beginning of the novel and is transformed into a gentleman’s son after being picked up by old Earnshaw. He achieves in time a violent communion with Catherine and toleration from Nelly Dean, two members of the household who are going undergoing a reduction from their former positions. Heathcliff humbly accepts his new status, but it becomes a foreign concept to him once he realizes his status is higher to that of Hindley’s given where he started at the beginning of the story. While in this depraved state, he seeks vengeance towards Catherine and Edgar, however, he abandons his lust for revenge “in favor of a mystical communion with Cathy’s soul, leaving two generations of economic and conjugal ruin behind him”. Heathcliff demonstrates a prime example on how he violated his class status and became contemptuous with it by seeking revenge on the people he loved. Yet, he chose not to seek his revenge because of his love for Catherine and realizes that all of his hate was for nothing and only made himself more miserable than he already was, showing his moral decline in the

novel.