Intruders and Exiles in Wuthering Heights

Assignment 3 ENGL 2211 Awbbie March 20 2012 Dont attempt to copy, I got a bad mark

1 One of the most enigmatic and complex works of fiction is Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights. In the book, there are many themes and motifs but one of the most common is exile and intruder. In the best and most memorable fiction, the themes are conveyed through the characters. Wuthering Heights is no different. Heathcliff, Catherine, Linton, Catherine Jr.; all characters in the novel are either the exiled or the intruder in some way. The best way to analyze these two themes is to break them down into groups and then compare the main characters that fall within that group. The first and most obvious theme is that of the intruder. The most foremost example is Heathcliff. Out of the dark night Heathcliff comes, like a cuckoo, to be raised in the home. He is immediately disliked by his other siblings. However, like the cuckoo which plants its egg in another birds nest to be raised, he manages to convince the father to love him instead of the natural children. Nelly recalls that the father took to Heathcliff strangely, believing all he said and putting him up far above Cathy, who was too mischievous and wayward for a favourite.1 While the cuckoo kills its siblings right off, Heathcliff was content with slowly driving the only male (Hindle) mad. After this he then begins to appeal to the women of the house. He loves and is loved by Catherine, while Nelly also loves him. Bronte uses Heathcliff in this way, to explore the stereotypical effect of intruders; this more or less boils down to the effect that the one whos different is the desirable one. This ensnares Nelly and Catherine so much that they cant see Heathcliff for the cuckoo he really is. The other intruder is Linton. Linton was born into this world and intruded on the world that Heathcliff had made. He intrudes because he is not wanted, like Heathcliff was not wanted. Even though he is the son of Heathcliff, he is a different kind of intruder. Whereas Heathcliff is the cuckoo, Linton is the being who came in as to no fault of their own. He is born into this terrible family because of a petty grudge held by Heathcliff. This makes him a different intruder on a fundamental level and contributes what he is left with at the end of the novel. The second theme is that of exiles. There are a lot of exiles and a lot of people that could be considered exiles. The two most obvious, however, are Catherine and Catherine Jr. In the first act of Wuthering Heights, Catherine becomes the outcast as she leaves Wuthering Heights for the increased social status of her new husband. While this is not in fact being exiled, she made the choice herself, she considers it to be an exile. In the epitome of that spoiled brat style she continues to whine and complain about what she cant have. She even tries to force the people she thinks are her exilers to do what she wants. Feeling powerless to hold her control over Edgar and Heathcliff, her self-imprisonment and starvation are a desperate attempt to regain control.2 Catherine Jr. however, is not in a self imposed exile. Catherine Jr. is forced stolen and forced into exile with Linton who she only sort of likes. Catherine Jr. plays the other side of the exile, however. She plays the woman who will make the best of what she has. When Hathcliff has trapped her and is forcing her to marry Linton she says: hes your son. But Im glad Ive a better, to forgive it; and I know he loves me, and for that reason I love him.3 This shows how she has the determination to see the best of a very bad situation. This makes her fundamentally different from Heathcliff and Catherine Sr. This shows the two sides of exiles, the ones who will pine away for something and the ones who will make the best of it.
1 2

Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Planet Ebook, p. 47-48. Crouse, This shattered Prison: Confinement Control and Gender in Wuthering Heights. Bronte Studies p. 87 3 Bronte, p. 363.

2 The last thing to be discussed is how these themes fit in with the ending of the story. At the end of the story the Intruder (Heathcliff) is still in love with the exile (Catherine). Heathcliff assumes that he will be united with Catherine when he dies so after slowly starving himself he dies a happy death on the assumption that he will go and intrude upon wherever Catherine is and be with her forever. But, Catherine is the outcast. Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Hades, it doesnt matter where she went because she was outcast to the world to roam as a ghost. This means that, for Heathcliff and Catherine at least, the theme of the story ultimately took them apart. The intruder cannot intrude on someone who has no place. For Linton and Catherine Jr. a different ending takes place. For them it works its self out. Linton, for lack of a better word, has a soul when Heathcliff doesnt. Catherine decides to make the best of living as an exile. This means that whatever they are they will still be happy. That is what Emily Bronte was trying to say when she wrote Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights is one of the most famous and dreaded stories of English literature. When Emily Bronte wrote it she was trying to voice her opinions on many things but perhaps the biggest is the theme of Intruders and Exiles. Being able to convey the theme through the characters is essential to any story and Bronte has succeeded in doing this in her Wuthering Heights.

Biography
Bront, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Retrived on March 10th 2012 from: http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/Wuthering-Heights.pdf Crouse, J. S. (2008). 'This Shattered Prison': Confinement, Control And Gender in Wuthering Heights. Bronte Studies, 33(3), 179-191. doi:10.1179/174582208X338496 Spark Notes. Retrieved March 10th 2012 from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/