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Characters and Setting in Wuthering Heights
is described as “grotesque”, with “strong...narrow windows...deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large, jutting stones” (page 4). This is similar to many descriptions of Heathcliffs personal appearance, his “savage” face is illustrated as having "brows lowering, the eyes deep set and singular...black eyes withdrawn so suspiciously under their brow" (page 93). His dark, immoral attitude is enhanced by his personal physical description, which is similar to that of the actual house, as well as by the described influence of his surroundings. This characters temprement is not only shown through the way he is personally portrayed, but also through the setting in which he is shown.
Thrushcross Grange and the Linton family represent culture, refinement, convention, and cultivation.
Thrushcross Grange, in contrast to the bleak exposed farmhouse on the heights, is situated in the valley with none of the grim features of Heathcliff’s home. Opposite of Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange is filled with light and warmth. "Unlike Wuthering Heights, it is elegant and comfortable...a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold’." Thrushcross Grange is the appropriate home of the children of the calm. The atmosphere of Thrushcross Grange illustrates the link the inhabitants have with the upper-class Victorian lifestyle. Although the Linton’s appearance was often shallow, appearances were kept up for their friends and their social standing. While Wuthering Heights was always full of activity, sometimes to the point of chaos, life at the Grange always seemed placid. Linton’s existence here at Thrushcross Grange was as "different from Heathcliff’s ‘as moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire’." The Linton’s often portrayed themselves as shallow, arrogant people, but life here was much more jovial than the inmates of Wuthering Heights lives were.
Quite a contrast to Heathcliff's malevolent character is the warm and gentle Edgar Linton, one whose personality befits that of his dwelling, Thrushcross Grange. a "beautiful, splendid place"(89), around which "the sky is blue, and the larks are singing, and the becks and brooks are all brim full"(171). Raised in a loving family and comfortable house, Edgar has become a well respected, dignified gentleman in the neighborhood and a "kind master"(131) to Ellen Dean. The Grange, in which all is orderly and pleasant, symbolizes the civilized and kindhearted Edgar. Instead of quarreling with Catherine, Edgar treats her with the utmost patience and affection, resolving to marry her despite witnessing her tyrannical conduct towards Ellen. Moreover, he regards those around him with kindness and hospitality--he even takes pity upon Linton, when others think of him as "the worst-tempered bit of a sickly slip that ever struggled into his teens"(275). The Grange holds elegant objects--"crimson-covered chairs and tables", a "pure white ceiling bordered with gold" and", a shower of glass drops"(89); similarly, Edgar handles his affairs with grace. Edgar is as gentle and gracious as the Grange, and he lives and dies a generous soul in the Grange,
Lastly, Catherine Earnshaw, who has spent her lifetime partly at the Heights and [next page]