Wuthering Heights- Relationships/Obligations

Question #8

Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights is written about relationships, and Miss Bronte projects her opinion that every person has an obligation to the other people in the world. For example, romance plays an important role in the novel. Both people in the relationship owe love to each other, in addition to the civility that is owed to a common person. Heathcliff and Catherine were a fine example of that love. Each character has a certain obligation, or a certain responsibility, to another. Not all of the relationships are romantic, but they are all important, or so Miss Bronte believes.

In addition, each character is obligated to civility towards the others, although this responsibility is often ignored or even thrust aside. For example, Nelly says, “Heathcliff had not the habit of bestowing a single unnecessary civility on Miss Linton, I knew.” By disregarding the simple obligation of civility, Heathcliff resigned himself to a life of loneliness. Instead of showing examples of how people should act, Emily Bronte used many examples (such as Hindley, Heathcliff, and Mr. Earnshaw) to illustrate how people should not act. For example, Miss Bronte used Heathcliff’s tragic life to set an example of what happens when the responsibility towards others is not met.

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: Random House, 1943. Print.