Wuthering Heights versus Thrushcross Grange is a study
of Storm versus Calm. Discuss.
Or
Examine the Significance of the title Wuthering
Heights.
In the novel by Emile Bronte,
Wuthering Heights, a strong contrast exist between storm and calm. Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange, illustrate this concept, as they are binary
opposites in the story, where Wuthering Heights represents storm, and Thrushcross
Grange represents calm. The physical characteristics of the two places and the
people that reside there are the driving forces for this opposition.The novel
shows the domination of storm, i.e. Wuthering Heights over calm, i.e.
Thrushcross Grange and brings about the ultimate victory of calm or Grange over
the Heights. Though there is ultimate victory of Thrushcoss Grange over the
Heights , most of the incidents take place in the Heights and the title names
after it in spite of Grange’s victory in the novel.
The name of the residence, Wuthering
Heights, in itself shows us how this storm is illustrated.
"Wuthering" meaning subject to persistent blustery or noisy winds
and"Heights"referring to the hill on top of which it resides. There
are physical storms described in the book that "[rattle] over the Heights
in a full fury"(p. 248), that have "growling thunder, and great
drops" (p. 248) . On the night of Mr.Earnshaw's death "a high wind
blustered round the house [...] it sounded wild and stormy" (p. 43). The
house is described by the author as cruel one, the "narrow windows are
deeply set in the wall, and the corners are defended with large jutting
stones" (p. 4). Furthermore, there are in the house cruel dogs that bite
Mr. Lockwood upon his arrival. These dogs are said to be "robbing [the]
wood of pheasants" (p. 328). The vegetation also illustrates the misery of
the house, there are "a few stunted firs at the end of the house"
(Chapter I) and "a range of gaunt thorns" (p. 4), the word
"gaunt" demonstrates effectively the coldness of the house. The
physical description of the house makes the reader believe that Wuthering
Heights is not a calm place.
