Wuthering+Heights+-+Outsiders+&+Identity

= = =Outsiders and Identity = Heathcliff: // “ Unhappy in your conjectures, sir! Observed my host “ we neither of us have the privilege of owning your goo fairy; her mate is dead. I said she was my daughter–in –law, therefore, she must have married my son.” // Lockwood//: “And this young man is-“// Heathcliff: //“Not my son. Assuredly!” p.16//
 * **Wuthering Heights is the history of two families and how an outsider tries to reconstruct that history. Lockwood one of our narrators is a sophisticated, educated, gentleman; who is an outsider, a city man, unable to communicate with or understand the complex relationships at the heights.**

Nelly: //" When he picked it up and inquired for its owner - Not a sould knew to whom it belonged" p. 43//
 * **Nelly, the main narrator of the story enlightens Lockwood by telling him the history of the Earnshaws and the Lintons. As she does it becomes clear that she belongs to Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange in a way that the outsider Lockwood and even Heathcliff never can.**
 * ** The first indication of outsiders in Nelly’s tale is the arrival of Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights as a child. Mr Earnshaw returns from a trip to Liverpool with Heathcliff and the children take an instant dislike to him calling him a ‘gipsy brat’ and ‘ a dirty ragged black haired child’. His gypsy like appearance makes him an outsider in the closed world of the moors and Wuthering Heights. A position reinforced by the fact that Heathcliff is never given a proper last name, meaning that Heathcliff’s identity or legal connection to the family cannot be legitimised. **
 * **Heathcliff’s past is unknown, so there is a question of identity,**

//" 'Wuthering' being a provincial adjective, descriptive of atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather"p4.// Wuthering Heights is the epitome of the storm, representing the ungovernable passion of its inhabitants and all that is wild and uncivilised**.**
 * **Heathcliff doesn't know where he comes from, where he belongs and he is never given a distinctive position in his childhood at the Heights. He is never clearly a servant or part of the family, until he is reduced to the status of a servant by Hidley and made an outcast after Mr Earnshaw's death.**
 * **In //Wuthering Heights// the identities of the characters are inextricably linked to the two house holds and the natural world. The contrast between the contained and enclosed Thrushcross Grange and the wild Wuthering Heights is a relfection of the differences between the upbringing and personalites of the characters of each house.**

//" a few stunted firs.. a range of gaunt thorns stretching thier limbs one way as if carving the arms of the sun"p4// In this description of the vegetation surrounding the house the stunted plants reflect the inability of anything to grow or flourish at Wuthering Heights, just as characters find it difficult to fulfill thier own strong passions and establish thier own identity. > Nelly://“ The curate might set as many chapters as he pleased for Catherine to get by heart, and Joseph might thrash Heathcliff till his arm ached; they forgot everything the minute they were together again, at least the minute they had contrived some naughty plan of revenge” p 54// //Heathcliff: "Two words would comprehend my future - Death and Hell. Existence after losing her would be hell." Catherine: " Nelly I am Heathcliff!p 96"// > //...surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be, an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning; my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and, if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the Universe would turn to a mighty stranger. I should not seem part of it" (Ch. ix, p. 64).// not finished yet . . ...
 * **Meanwhile the grange** "buried in trees", **with its neat little hedges is a more comfortable and welcoming environment. The natural surroundings are reflective of the comfortable and sheltered lives of Edgar, Isabella etc. who are devoid of the passion for life that consumes Catherine and Heathcliff.**
 * **In //Wuthering Heights// the identities of the characters are of an elemental nature. For instance Catherine refers to Linton as being her "moonbeam" and "frost", as he is more distant, cool and rational then Heathcliff who is "fire" and "lightning" a man governed by his emotions. Her love for Linton is " Like the foilage in the woods" while her love for Heathcliff "resembles the eternal rock beneath"**
 * **Throughout the novel personification and pathetic fallacy are used to portray futher the importance of the natural world in shaping an individuals identity eg.**
 *   **In the novel the deepest attachments are based on characters' similarity or affinity and so Catherine and Heathcliff form a very close relationship as they share similar beliefs and wishes. They identify with one another in the face of a common enemy (Hindley, even Joseph), they both rebel against a particular way of life, which both find intolerable and love the wildness of the moors.**
 * **As Heathcliff and Catherine grow up, they become closer and eventually their identities become one.**
 *  **Their love is an attempt to break the boundaries of self identity and to fuse with one another to transcend the inherent separateness of the human condition; fusion with one another will create a whole self and achieve new sense of identity, a complete and unified identity. **
 * In becoming one identity and finding meaning in their relationships Catherine and Heathcliff overcome the empitiness of the universe, social institutions and thier realationships with others. Catherine explains to Nelly:
 * **Alone Catherine and Heathcliff are tormented, overcome with emptiness for they complete each other, thier existence is intertwined to the very core.**
 * **Because of the merging of their identities or, because of their intense desire to merge and refusal to accept their separate identities,** “//So don’t talk of our separation again – its impracticable” p 96// **Catherine's betrayal of her own nature destroys not only her but threatens Heathcliff with destruction also.**

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