The idea of the place of women in society that has come up in readings by George Eliot, Martineau, Ada Lovelace, Margaret Fuller, etc. Through these readings we see the societal expectations of women during the Victorian era in England. Also though, we hear the viewpoints of women who want more than the lives that their society allows them to have. These women are interested in giving women the vote, allowing them to explore their interests and passions and more autonomy for women in general. I enjoyed seeing a Victorian woman up close through the Wuthering Heights character, Catherine. In many ways Catherine seems to defy the expectations for women during this time. She often does what she wants; she rarely follows her fathers’ discipline. She seems free-spirited, self-serving, aggressive and sometimes maybe even rude. In these ways Catherine breaks free from control that is placed on her. Interestingly, in other ways though, Catherine definitely sticks to society’s idea of a woman’s role. We see this in Catherine’s pursuit of Edgar Linton. When she talks to Ms. Dean about marrying Edgar, her reasoning is essentially that she wants to be a rich wife and join an influential family. In this way we see her acceptance of her role as a wife and her disinterest in further exploration of passions/interests or other personal pursuits. It will be interesting to see how Catherine’s character unfolds as the novel goes on. 

Poor Heathcliff. I’ve read Wuthering Heights once before and have always felt the most sympathy for his character, though it’s hard to root for any of the characters in Bronte’s novel wholeheartedly. As Nelly’s flashback narration begins and we learn more about Heathcliff’s childhood, I am reminded of “The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning because of its portrayal of children in Victorian England. In Chapter 4 of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw brings the young, orphaned Heathcliff home from the dirty streets of Liverpool. He is immediately seen as a threat by Catherine Earnshaw’s brother, Hindley, as well as everyone else who comes in contact with him save Cathy and her father.

In Browning’s poem, a sorrowful scene is painted of the conditions under which poor Victorian children live, and indeed it seems as though Heathcliff came from such a background–However, I see the strongest connection between Heathcliff and the poem in Heathcliff’s treatment due to his race. Hindley calls Heathcliff a “gipsy” and “imp of satan”, with both comments being racially-motivated and meant to knock Heathcliff down a few rungs in the social order. This hearkens back to Browning’s poem in the sense that both texts are dealing with the mistreatment of children, though Wuthering Heights delves into the racial aspects and “The Cry of the Children” focuses on hardship brought on by poverty. Clearly, unless one came from an upper’class background and had the world handed to them on a silver platter, live for kids in the Victorian era, whether they lived in a big city of the countryside, was gritty and miserable.

After reading the first chapters of “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte, I couldn’t help but notice the obvious underlying racial tension that arise due to social status. It’s obvious that Lockwood feels superior to Heathcliff as almost ever comment he makes about him is negative or degrading to the way he looks. It appears to me that Lockwood is so accustomed to the privileges he’s had in life and has no regard for anyone who isn’t of the same social standing as himself. It’s important to note that growing up Heathcliff was a homeless orphan who had no money to his name but now, years later, he has acquired both power and money and has made something of himself. This sort of made me think of the poem we read last week called “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake. This poem talks about a child who is forced to become a chimney sweeper due to financial troubles at home. These jobs were life threatening as they caused major damage to children’s lungs. It was during this time in the Victorian Era that poverty effected many families and children were out on the streets looking for ways to make a living. In Heathcliff’s childhood he was just like this boy in the poem, poor and doing anything to get by. 

After reading Wuthering Heights, I noticed a theme of social class. The Earnshaws and the Lindons were apart of the gentry, or the upper middle class. Because people in this group have no titles, their status is subject to change. We see this when Catherine talks about marrying Edgar so she will be “the greatest woman in the neighborhood”. Another example of this theme is how Heathcliff goes from being homeless to getting adopted and becoming a gentleman in “dress and manners”. This idea of status in the working world reminded me of the short poem we read earlier for class “The Chimney Sweeper”. In this poem, it discussed children becoming chimney sweepers to help support their families. Although they had to work hard for every penny they made, they were expected to put a smile on their faces and make the best of their situation. This can be compared to Catherine trying to make a better world for herself by marrying and moving up in status or Heathcliff moving up a social class by getting adopted. I’m interested to read further and uncover more details to support this theme of social class.

Something that strikes me in Wuthering Heights, and especially interests me because I do not recall it from high school, is the portrayal of the female characters. Of course, it is much less surprising than if the author had been a man, but it is still exciting to see. The first woman that is introduced to the reader is Mrs. Heathcliff, and though she seemingly embodies the qualities of an ideal lady, is cast in a decidedly negative light. Isabella, another prim and proper, is similarly criticized by the author. A particular line in chapter two reminded me greatly of Eliot’s essay on Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft. After an argument between Heathcliff and Mrs. Heathcliff, Lockwood observes, “Mrs. Heathcliff curled her lip, and walked to a seat far off, where she kept her word by playing the part of a statue during the remainder of my stay.” In Eliot’s piece, she recalls an ancient Roman quote, ” Sit divus, dummodo non sit vivus” meaning: let him be a god, provided he be not living. She applies this to Fuller and Wollstonecraft’s views on how men treat their wives at the time; let them be thoughtless idols, in other words, let them be statues like Mrs. Heathcliff. She is a doll sitting in her shrine, just as Eliot says. Eliot also comments on Fuller and Wollstonecraft’s ideas of encouraging female independence. Eliot dismisses this, claiming that women lose strength through this “false position.” It seems that Catherine exists to defy that. She is described multiple times as independent, wild, and strong; all things that were unacceptable for women to be. And yet, Catherine is the female character that Bronte wishes her audience to favor. This in itself is a rather radical position for an author to encourage.

One character in “Wuthering Heights” I find particularly interesting is Mrs Heathcliff, the widow. Her introduction in chapter 2 makes her out to be particularly cold and rude. But what I find fascinating about her, and what I believe connects her to the texts of Martineau that we read last week, is her refusal to acquiesce in the face of domineering males. Mrs Heathcliff is a widow, and a young one at that, and yet, rather than spend her days feeling sorry for herself or attempting to remarry, she instead lives in the home of her father-in-law. When our narrator, Lockwood, attempts to help her with the slightest of house chores, she turns upon him viciously, scolding him, and asserting her independence. Indeed, it appears as if her desire not to be dominated by her male peers goes so far that she is willing to come across as rude and inhospitable if it means asserting her independence.

I find it really interesting how so far, across the Victorian literature we have read there’s a lot of thematic commonalities, particularly in regards to the treatment of the working class. This makes perfect sense considering the historical context, with the Industrial Revolution changing the makeup of the work force and the looming threat of revolution after both the American and French Revolution. In my blog post last week I touched on the racial aspects and comparisons used in the readings we had done. The poems from last week, however, instead of appealing to their audience through the degradation of the work class by comparing them to members of lower racial and socioeconomic. status, there was a greater call to religion and its corruption as a place of blame for the conditions the working class experienced. For example, in “The Chimney Sweeper”, the final couplet reads, “And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King/ Who make up a heaven of our misery.” These lines suggest that the elite are not only turn a blind eye to the misery of the working class but also that they revel in it and even prosper from it.