Love in Wuthering Heights Essay

Audience: the readers of Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights

Purpose: To show the difference between Catherines love for Edgar and her love for Heathcliff

Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights is considered to be one of the most controversial novels of the 19th century. Catherine is at an impasse where she torn between Edgar and a good social standing, and Heathcliff, her true love. Not wanting to soil her reputation Catherine chooses Edgar over Heathcliff, bringing up the idea of superficial lover versus true love. Bronte uses a variety of imagery and ideas to separate superficial love from true love.

Readers are shown that her love for Edgar, the owner of the estate Thrushcross Grange, is indeed superficial. Catherine tells Nelly, I accepted him, Nelly; be quick and say whether I was wrong! This indicates that she does not have confidence in her own judgment. She seeks assurance and comfort by pleading to Nelly. Nelly knows that Cathy isnt truly in love with Edgar but she asks Catherine if she loves him in which she replies, Who can help it? Of course I do (79).Her manner in responding contradicts the words she actually speaks. Her tone is very matter-of-factly, which suggests that her reasoning behind her love should be visible and obvious to all. She suggests that no woman could resist him, which implies that he is desirable due to his outward appearance and status. Hence, Catherine has shown that her love for Edgar is the same love that any woman would feel for him, which is not true love, but an attraction. She furthers this by declaring that she does not want to be a beggar, which she believes would be the outcome of marrying Heathcliff.

Catherine is also trying to convince herself of her love for Edgar. When Nelly asks her if she loves Edgar, she replies, I love the ground under his feet, and the air over his head, and everything he touches, and every word he says-I love all his looks, and all his actions, and him entirely; and altogether. There now (79). She uses a list of clichs, and instead of furthering her argument that she truly loves him, she shows that her feelings for Edgar are common and shallow. The conclusion of there now! gives the impression that she is only saying these declarations to convince Nelly of her love, of which she herself is unsure.

The idea of superficial love is explored throughout the novel. Catherine only wishes to marry Edgar because he is handsome, young, and cheerful (79). She wants to have a proper husband and does not wish to become a beggar. She dresses up when she expects Edgar, whereas she does not for Heathcliff, because she feels as though Edgar loves her for the same reasons as she loves him-outwardly looks. Catherine also furthers the argument that her love is superficial when she compares it to the foliage in the woods and says that time will change it, Im well aware, as winter changes trees (83). She admits that her love will not last as it is only appealing on the outside, and once the pretense has worn off, it will not be the same at all. If she is to feel all these doubts on the day of their engagement, it shows that she knows something or someone is missing-Heathcliff.

Catherine has known Heathcliff all her life and believes him to be her soul mate. She believes that if all else perished and he remained, she will also continue to be; and if all else remained and he was no more, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger and she would not be a part of it (83). She cannot bear the thought of parting with him saying that talk of their separation was impracticable.She believes that they are one and the same saying that her great miseries in the world have been Heathcliffs miseries and she is Heathcliff (83). This amplifies her idea of not being able to survive without him and expels any hint of superficial love from the situation as she does not find him visibly appealing in the way that she finds Edgar. Heathcliff is the eternal rock that lies beneath the foliage of Edgar, a source of little visible delight, but necessary.

Bronte gives a clear indication that her feelings are for Heathcliff are far deeper than those for Edgar through Catherines dream. In the dream, Catherine goes to heaven, an image normally associated with happiness and tranquility, yet she says that she hated it and broke her heart crying. Her only comfort came when she was returned to Wuthering Heights, which shows that she prefers the stormy, dark abode to the typically light and happy idea of heaven, Thrushcross Grange. In addition, it shows that her decision to marry Edgar was a complete contradiction to what her inner-self was trying to convey to her through her dream-she is happier with what she knows, Heathcliff, than what is thought to be good, Edgar.

Wuthering Heights strongly questions marriage, both the reasoning and necessity, and also the idea of love. She marries Edgar though she loves Heathcliff more, yet as long as he is still in her life she can exist. This shows that she does not need to be married to Heathcliff to love him, as long as he remains in her life. Readers can see that her love for Edgar is superficial, but the love for Heathcliff runs so deep that it transcends the bond of marriage.