Section A Essay - Wuthering Heights - Setting

First essay I'm uploading - these aren't going to necessarily follow a logical order. I apologise in advance for any typos, and obviously this is just an example, don't take my opinion as fact, all that jazz. Oh and I'm shit at paragraphs. I never learnt how to do them, so my paragraphs are generally quite long, my bad. Also, for some reason the website won't let me format this essay properly, so apologies for the weird massive paragraph spaces.

‘Gothic settings are desolate, alienating and full of menace’

In light of this comment, consider some of the ways in which writers use settings

[40/40, A* - Not Timed]

Bronte uses setting in Wuthering Heights to impart a range of messages and symbolic imagery to the reader - embracing the gothic convention of duality/dichotomy with her two contrasting houses. While Wuthering Heights is clearly a conventional gothic setting, symbolic of nature and the untamed human psyche, and Thrushcross Grange its antithesis, representing the polished, civilised world of the upper classes, Bronte’s use of these settings extends far beyond this basic symbolism to instead offer a more subtle criticism of conformity and societal values at the time.

Wuthering Heights is the epitome of a gothic setting; isolated, primitive, and natural, it is used to symbolise the wild, untamed nature of man. Bronte uses a lexicon of war when describing the house; ‘[jugs] towering row after row’, ‘villainous old guns…horse-pistols’, ‘defended with jutting stones’ which, particularly when coupled with her frequent use of ‘primal’ language (‘a wilderness of crumbling griffins’, ‘lay bare’, ‘primitive structures’), gives off an intimidating, menacing feel – perhaps hinting to cruelty that has occurred within the house, or, on a deeper level, representing the wild, violent nature of a human psyche left untamed by society. Lockwood also brands it a ‘personal misanthropist’s Heaven’ (despite being far from a misanthropist himself) – hinting at the alienating, isolating nature of the house; a typical desolate gothic setting. Even the term ‘Wuthering’ is stated as a perfectly fitting adjective, descriptive of the ‘atmospheric tumult’ and ‘pure, bracing ventilation’ of the house, and presenting it as a place at the heart of nature and the sublime, perpetually instilling the gothic convention of the untamed power of the natural world in the reader. In this sense, Wuthering Heights is certainly desolate, alienating, and full of menace – an intimidating vessel of wild natural power.

Thrushcross Grange, by contrast, is an example of a very ‘un-gothic’ setting injected into a gothic novel, and is used by Bronte to symbolise conventional society – it is warm, well-furnished, and polished. As opposed to the thorns that govern Wuthering Heights, the Grange has a ‘flower pot’ – even the nature is tamed and gentle. The house exudes luxury and excess; ‘a splendid place carpeted with crimson’ (Bronte’s choice of ‘crimson’ over simply ‘red’ connotes greater majesty and wealth), ‘crimson-covered chairs’ (in contrast to Wuthering Heights’ green, ‘primitive structures’), and ‘a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver chains’ – presenting the Grange as ornate, delicate, and beautiful; even Heathcliff brands it as’ heaven’. This type of luxurious setting seems far more suited to a more conventional romance (rather than gothic) novel – it is well-kept, not desolate, warm and welcoming rather than alienating, and ‘heavenly’ rather than menacing. In fact, the Grange serves as a contrast the Wuthering Heights throughout the novel, and perhaps brings a sense of realism and a touch of the outside world to the isolated moors – while Wuthering Heights embraces nature entirely, and provides a sinister, wild setting for the supernatural element of the novel to occur, Thrushcross Grange brings a sense of realism to these otherwise-dubious events by acting as an anchor of ‘normality’ among the chaos.

That said, it could be argued that Bronte uses Thrushcross Grange to implicitly indicate the problems that lie beneath the surface of what appears to be ‘splendid’ and ‘heavenly’ – the house is not depicted as entirely devoid of darker, unpolished elements. When Heathcliff and Cathy first stumble upon the house they observe not peaceful harmony, but ‘quarrelling’, ‘weeping’, and screaming – the polished appearance of the house is not carried through in the behaviour of its inhabitants. Isabella is described as ‘shrieking as if witches were running red hot needles into her’ – connoting suffering, pain, and perhaps even a sense of sin (implicitly gathered from the term ‘witches’). In fact, Heathcliff implies that the grandeur of the setting has spoilt and tainted the spirits of the children, making them petty and ungrateful, and he would not ‘exchange [his] condition…for a thousand lives’. Perhaps here Bronte is hinting at a darker level of turmoil beneath the shiny veneer of the Grange; while it may still not qualify as a ‘gothic’ setting, it is far from ‘heaven’ and perhaps having such a luxurious setting leads to a corruption of the spirit.

While the settings do symbolise a lot individually, it is perhaps more interesting to note how the relationship/dichotomy between the two influence the characters within the novel; and what this represents for wider society. After merely five weeks at Thrushcross grange, Cathy has been ‘socialised’ – tamed from a ‘wild, hatless little savage’ to a ‘very dignified person’. The contrast of the nouns ‘savage’ and ‘person’ in particular suggests that Cathy was almost inhuman in wildness at Wuthering Heights – she was animalistic and in touch with nature, and has now been moulded into a perfect civilised young woman. Interestingly, the stay at Thrushcross Grange also appears to have forced Cathy to take on the stereotypical gender role that she was unbound by at Wuthering Heights (suggesting, perhaps, that gender is distinct from biology and is in fact a social construct imposed upon individuals). She leaves Wuthering Heights ‘barefoot’ (uncaring about her appearance, or even comfort – very untypical for a girl), but returns from Thrushcross Grange in ‘a grand plaid silk frock’ and ‘burnished shoes’, having been thoroughly ‘feminised’. In fact, this ‘socialisation’ seems to affect even the animals – while the dogs at Wuthering Heights are described as a ‘swarm’, the pet at Thrushcross Grange is branded ‘a heap of warm hair’ – domesticated, tame playthings, as opposed to the menacing connotations of ‘swarm’. This presents Thrushcross Grange as a place of conformity and civilisation – stripping people and animals of their natural form and domesticating them, and perhaps this relationship between the settings is used by Bronte to criticise this element of society (while Cathy was originally demonstrative in her affections, she seems to now value her appearance more than her affections – she ‘dare not touch’ the dogs for fear they would ‘fawn upon her splendid garments’ – perhaps this ‘socialisation’/’feminising’ has robbed her of her liscence to properly express her emotions). Thrushcross Grange is presented as the veneer of society – representative of the superficial ways we attempt to cover up our animal nature and present ourselves as sophisticated and dignified, losing touch with our real psyche.

In conclusion, while the line between gothic and non-gothic setting is often blurred in Wuthering Heights, Bronte’s use of setting perfectly epitomises the gothic conventions of duality, the sublime, and desolation. We can also gather much more about Bronte’s intentions when examining how the settings relate to each other and the characters within them, rather than observing them in isolation – and in this sense can see the two houses not merely as symbols of wilderness and civilisation, but as a synecdoche for the battle between human nature and society’s desire to conform and impose gender.