[Link].

org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 9 September 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882

THE INTANGIBLES: FEMINISM, REVENGE

AND REORDER IN EMILY BRONTË’S
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Dr. LEEMA DHAR
Guest Lecturer

ABSTRACT

The Brontë sisters were way ahead of their times. Even though Wuthering Heights was the only known novel
by Emily, she made sure that she became a voice of the future generations as well. Through the characters of
Catherine and Heathcliff, Emily highlights on the complexities of human nature. Love, obsession, revenge and
spiritual connection are the themes that resonate throughout the novel. Emily becomes the guiding light as she
walks her readers through the dark tunnel of female subjugation, abuse, dominance and oppression. This paper
studies the aspects of feminism, the strengths and weaknesses in the character of Catherine and her decision to
reject her love just to gain social acceptance.

Keywords: Brontë Sisters, Fiction, Feminism, Gender Roles, Patriarchy

FULL PAPER

The Brontë sisters wrote during a time when there was widespread gender discrimination, strict patriarchal
rules, biased opinions and restricted women roles. Initially they wrote under male pseudonyms, unable to find
support for their original female voices. During the Victorian age people dared to approach the subject of
gender bias, inequality and the right to have an opinion. On one hand, while male writers wrote about their
times, the Brontës wrote on topics that were way ahead of the times.

Emily Brontë chose a free voice and even though she wrote one prominent novel, she indeed paved the path
for the voice of future generations. Wuthering Heights was a powerful novel that directly addressed the
patriarchal Victorian society. It spoke of obsession, love, class, rank, revenge and reorder. Some female writers
(contemporary to the Brontës) had different approaches in writing. Often, in most of the Victorian novels, one
may find female characters who are nothing more than a ‘trophy wife’ or a puppet in the hands of men.
Very few novels included the gender roles that was required to bring about a transformation in the society.
While on one hand, men were allowed to do anything they wanted and pursue any profession as per their
desires. Women were mostly restricted to domestic confines and their role of pleasing their man. They had no
voice for themselves. At the most, they could be a teacher in an elite family or a governess. Women during
those times were expected to be obedient and follow the social norms set by the dominating society.

Jan Marsh writes an article on the gender expectations and shifts which says, "the process was vigorously
contested and by no means achieved.” Gender roles and boundaries were not flexible and therefore it did not
to give the necessary autonomy and a sense of freedom to women. Men had opportunities at their disposal
which women could not question.
Marsh continues, “ As women gained autonomy and opportunities, male power was inevitably curtailed.
Significantly, however, men did not lose the legal obligation to provide financially, nor their right to domestic
services within the family.”
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The power hierarchy and gender roles were so rigid that many nineteenth century women writers started
voicing their opinions. They looked within their own homes and experiences in order to highlight the struggle
of women. Through their writings the women writers (especially the Brontes) tried uplifting women and also
create a sense of self awareness of what was happening around them. It was a way to educate ‘the Second Sex’
and make them feel driven towards a cause.

Writers such as Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Jane Austen and the Brontë Sisters tried
questioning the injustice prevalent in society and focused on the historical background of their age in their
writings. But the Brontës tried to present a clearer and a more realistic picture of the issues during the times.
Emily Brontë chose to write this novel with a purpose.
She focused on the character of Catherine in Wuthering Heights who is stuck between what the society wants
and what she wants for herself. At times we find the intangibles gaining a personified shape in the novel and
it is there that we realise that had Emily written more she could have been the ‘female Shakespeare.’ She had
a vision in the novel and included the elements of Gothic and supernatural to highlight the mystery of human
emotions. The characters, surrounding and landscape constantly haunt the readers making them aware of the
setting of the novel.
Brontë displayed “profound knowledge of human emotion” which is evoked within Wuthering Heights
(Bhattacharyya 1). The characters in the novel have a mind of their own and through the scenes and dialogues
we can clearly identify the emotional rush and turmoil that they are experiencing. “Through nearly all the
characters in the novel emotional energy rushes in with the turmoil and elemental force of a storm”
(Bhattacharyya 3). “What Brontë is trying to convey to her readers is the scope and danger of these
emotions.”(Bhattacharyya 3).

Critics Peck and Coyle write that the novel seems to be “caught between an old way of life and the new world
of the Victorians” (Peck and Coyle 178).
The book gives a thorough narration of how the Victorians “withdrew into themselves or detached themselves
from other people” (Peck and Coyle 178).

The characters were a representation of the symbolic chaos in the novel and takes us deeper during the British
times which included dominance, suppression and subjugation. Literature during that time emphasised the
“masculine point of view that is oppressive to women” (Homans 9).
“He shall never know I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, but because he’s more myself than I
am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.” (Bronte, 74).
Emily Brontë never lets the reader forget that the governing force of the house will always be men.
If Emily Brontë made women the governing force in the novel the story would have taken a different course
but she knew that a more realistic representation of the times would allow the reader to feel more connected
with the characters.

The novel has its own share of Gothic elements and at times points out the raw form of love. Just like
Heathcliff’s words when he dug out Catherine’s body from the grave.

“I got the sexton, who was digging Linton’s grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I
thought, once, I would have stayed there, when I saw her face again—it is hers yet—he had hard work to stir
me; but he said it would change, if the air blew on it, and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered
it up—not Linton’s side, damn him! I wish he’d been soldered in lead—and I bribed the sexton to pull it away,
when I’m laid there, and slide mine out too. I’ll have it made so, and then, by the time Linton gets to us, he’ll
not know which is which!” “You were very wicked, Mr. Heathcliff!” I exclaimed; “were you not ashamed to
disturb the dead?” (Bronte, 256).

Catherine as is very evident from the beginning of the novel actually loves Heathcliff but simply because
Heathcliff lacked the societal rank, status, class and wealth she chose Edgar. She was a representative of what
most Victorian women had to go through. Eagleton, a critic writes that “she rejects Heathcliff as a suitor
because he is socially inferior to Linton” (101). In doing this, Catherine trades her authentic selfhood for social
privilege” (Eagleton 101).

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Heathcliff's dejection in the hands of Catherine shocks the reader because it eventually comes to a point when
we realise that Catherine married Edgar only to climb the social ladder. What Catherine wanted was a proper
husband or husband who actually fits the societal role model of an ideal man. She valued her own selfish nature
as compared to her truest feelings. She rejected Heathcliff because as a woman she wanted social acceptance.
Most women during the Victorian times suffered violence and abuse in their households. If they knew any way
out to escape from the trap of being ‘classless’ they knew they had no other choice but to marry a man of higher
rank.
Since women were being controlled by men they had no other way of controlling themselves. Probably men
would be afraid to give away their charge because that would mean a newer world away from the strict
authority. Women knew that they needed stability in their lives and the goal of the novel was to remind both
the sexes that nothing is permanent in a life that is temporary.

’My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the
trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but
necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff!…You know as well as I do, that for every thought she spends on Linton she
spends a thousand on me! . . . If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in
eighty years as I could in a day. And Catherine has a heart as deep as I have: the sea could be as readily
contained in that horse-trough as her whole affection be monopolized by him…It is not in him to be loved like
me . . . ’ (Bronte, 76).

Women were expected to lead an ideal life, marry a suitor who was in a higher social position than herself,
give birth to children, look after the household and raise the children in their best capacity. They were hardly
considered individuals with a free mind. Women had no option to choose a career for themselves or to gain
financial stability because as per the societal roles women should not step out of the house. The earning member
was usually a man. So the woman was either dependent on the father, brother or husband. Brontës highlighted
that women were also expected to be beautiful, lovely and pleasing for their husbands and their only job was
to keep the man satisfied. Catherine is mostly a powerful female protagonist but we see her weakness being
highlighted in her hesitant confrontation with her father. That exchange between a daughter and a father
highlights the deepest aspects of female subjugation.
Catherine can also be studied in the context of a ‘damsel in distress’ where she is unable to fight for her own
rights. As the character develops we see that she has the potential to establish her identity but fails to do so and
gives in to the rules of the age.

Emily Brontë wanted the readers to feel the pain that Catherine was going through. She wanted the readers to
know that her female protagonist was always supposed to be judged by the male characters and society and
was constantly in a dilemma.
Also, women during the Victorian age and even during the contemporary times are often objectified by men.

Even Lockwood finds it hard not to study Catherine’s physical appearance.

“Her position before was sheltered from the light; now, I had a distinct view of her whole figure and
countenance. She was slender, and apparently scarcely past girlhood: an admirable form, and the most
exquisite little face that I have ever had the pleasure of beholding; small features, very fair; flaxen ringlets, or
rather golden, hanging loose on her delicate neck; and eyes, had they been agreeable in expression, that would
have been irresistible. (Brontë, 12)

Bronte was aware of the discrimination that existed in the society. Even as a woman herself she was subjected
to various forms of oppression.
Bronte“ develops the idea of passion that is so intense that it
transcends individualism which directly reflects how Victorian society [was] restructuring
itself” (Peck and Coyle 178).

Even Catherine’s daughter, Cathy’s words throughout the novel is a conscious attempt to remind the reader
that somewhere her heart resonates her mother’s emotion. And love as an emotion surpasses social wealth and
rank.

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“‘Oh, you see, Nelly, he would not relent a moment to keep me out of the grave. That is how I am loved! Well,
never mind. That is not my Heathcliff. I shall love mine yet; and take him with me: he’s in my soul. And, added
she musingly, ‘the thing that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all, I am tired of being enclosed here.
I’m wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there: not seeing it dimly through tears, and
yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart: but really with it, and in it. Nelly, you think you are better
and more fortunate than I; in full health and strength: you are sorry for me- very soon that will be altered. I
shall be sorry for you. I shall be incomparably beyond and above you all. I wonder he won't be near me!’ She
went on to herself. ‘I thought he wished it. Heathcliff, dear! you should not be sullen now. Do come to me,
Heathcliff.’” (Bronte, 143).

In the end of the novel, we find death finally unites Heathcliff and Catherine. Because in death there is no
judgement, no rules.

REFERENCES:

1. Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New Delhi, Fingerprint! Classics, 2013.

2. Coyle, Martin, et al. Encyclopedia of Literature and Criticism. Routledge, 2013.
3. Eagleton, Mary. Feminist Literary Theory : A Reader. Malden, Mass., Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
4. Gilbert, Sandra M, and Susan Gubar. Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism : A Norton Reader. New York,
W.W. Norton & Company, 2007.
5. Hannam, June. Feminism. Taylor & Francis, 2016.
6. Homan, Sidney. Playing Offstage : The Theater as a Presence or Factor in the Real World. Lanham,
Maryland, Lexington Books, 2017.
7. Marsh, Jan. Bloomsbury Women : Distinct Figures in Life and Art. London, Pavilion Books, 1999.
8. Susmita Bhattacharya. The Victorian Perception of Child : A Study Based on the Novels of Dickens, George
Eliot, Charlotte Bronte & Emily Bronte. Varanasi, Kala Parakashan, 2002.

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