Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations

1. “Wuthering Heights” written by Emily Bronte and “Great Expectations” written by Charles
Dickens are examples of the Victorian novel.They reflect conditions of the 19th century
England which progressed in many aspects.The growth of the English Empire, industrialism
and capitalism caused dramatic changes in the society.Changing social roles, cultural
differences among the classes and financial concerns created conflicts in people’s lives as we
can understand from the characters of these novels; thus, they mediated between their
individual desires and expectations of the society especially during the process of transition
from youth to maturity.
Firstly, one of the main characters of “Wuthering Heights” is an orphan whose both Christian
name and surname are Heatcliff, which demonstrates that his origin is unknown.According to
Nelly’s narration, Heatcliff is “a sullen, patient child, hardened perhaps to ill-treatment” just
like other children ,particularly orphans, who lived in the Victorian Era in which children
were supposed to be raised very strictly.(32) At the beginning, when he is introduced to the
Earnshaw family, he arouses bad feelings among the family members.In the course of time,
Hindley Earnshaw gets more and more jealous of Heatcliff, because his father loves him, and
he increases cruelty towards him.As Nely states ”It was a disadvantage to the lad, for the
kinder among us did not wish to fret the master, so we humoured his partiality; and that
homouring was rich nourishment to the child’s pride and black tempers.”(35) Heatcliff takes
advantage of Mr.Earnshaw’s love and he uses it against Hindley, which reveals his bad
nature.
On the other hand, Miss Catherine Earnshaw - the other protagonist - gets fond of him in
time.After the death of her father, they console each other innocently without Nely’s
interference.(38)I think this moment is the beginning of their both childish and passionate
love.After Hindley comes back from the college to the Heights, Heatcliff loses his priviliges,
and he falls down into the position of a common servant, which is an indication of the

2. precariosness of social class at this period, as we can infer from Nely’s statement that “He
draw him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate,
and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead, compelling him to do so as hard as any
other lad on the farm.”(40)In spite of Hindley’s tyranny, Catherine and Heatcliff carry on
their intimate relationship.They are naughty, careless and savage while they are
together.However, their relationship breaks when Catherine is attacked by the dog in the
Grange where the gentry dominates , and this attack represents her transition from genderless
childhood to adulthood and sexuality.(42)She remains in the Grange for a while, and when
she returns to the Heights, she has become a lady whereeas Heatcliff remains in his old
condition.The better Catherine’s social clothing gets, the darker his biological clothing gets,
so she says “Heatcliff shake hands, at least!What are you sulky for?It was only that you
looked odd – If you wash your face and brush your hair, it will be all right.But you are so
dity!”(47)Catherine’s self-respect increases when she is dressed in accordance with her class,
and she learns what the society expect from her.Therefore, Heatcliff would not be her partner
anymore.Consequently, she decides to marry Edgar Linton, and she tells Nely:
I’ve no business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and, if the wicked
man in there had not brought Heatcliff so low, I shouldn’t have thought of it.It would
degrade me to marry Heatcliff, now;so he shall never know how I love him;and that,
not because he’s handsome, but because he is more myself than I am(71).
Heatcliff and Catherine are so unified that Catherine cannot regard him as a separate identity
who gives her pleasure, but she chooses to marry Edgar Linton because of his financial
superiority.In other words, she prefers socially recognizable love for Edgar to socially
unrecognizable unity with Heatcliff.When Heatcliff hears some part of this conversation, he
departs from the Heights, so Catherine loses her reason.However, the marriage occurs and she
starts to live in the Grange.Whereas the Grange becomes the center of civilization, the

3. Heights becomes more savage especially after the return of Heatcliff.He has become a
gentleman in appearrance , and he has acquired power to conduct his revenge plan.In spite of
Catherine’s warnings, Isabella Linton falls in love with him, because she evaluates him as a
chivalrous romance hero.However, what is meaningful for her is actually mockable for
Heatcliff as we can deduce from his reaction that “I can hardly regard her in the light of a
rational creature, so obstinately has she persisted in fabulous notion of my character, and
acting on the false impressions she cherished.”(133)He marries her in order to take possession
of the Grange, which means that he is a predatory rational “gentleman” who has the logic of
Darwin’s Evolution Theory.Catherine and Heatcliff come together again and again in the
Grange despite Linton’s objections.At their last meeting, he says “I have not broken your
heart – you have broken it – and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”, that is, he accuses her
for their misery.(142)She dies after the birth of her daughter, Catherine Linton.Heatcliff
performs his plan over the second generation afterwards.The passsionate love between
Heatcliff and Catherine destroys both the Grange and the Heights.Towards the end of the
novel, Heatcliff secludes himself, and he stays with dreams of Catherine until he dies.
Similar to Heatcliff in “Wuthering Heights”, the protagonist of “Great Expectations” is an
orphan whose name is Pip, a polindrome that has no meaning literally, which means that he
does not know his origin.Therefore, he constantly searchs signs of his past throughout the
novel.At the very beginning, he introduces himself in the churchyard in which his family
members are buried.This scene is interrupted by a convict named Magwitch who orders him
to bring food and a file in order to get rid of his leg irons.Then, Pip goes to the home in the
marshes where he lives with his sister, Mrs.Joe who raised him “by hand”, and her
husband.He hides the file and food to take them to the convict, but he feel very guilty as Pip
the narrator states that “Conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses man or boy; but when,
in the case of a boy, that secret co-operates with another secret down the legs of his trousers,

4. it is (as I can testify) a great punishment.” ,which indicates that in Victorian culture, children
were associated with depravity, and they were assumed to be convicts when they were not
raised properly , namely “by hand”.(12)However, there is a sincere relationship between Pip
and his sister’s husband, Joe Gargery as Pip the narrotor says “Joe’s station and influence
were something feebler (if possible) when there was company, than there was none.But he
always aided and comforted me when he could, in some way of his own…”(24) He constantly
strives to protect him from Mrs. Joe’s and other people’s ill-treatments throughout the novel.
The turning point in Pip’s life is that he is taken to Satis House, which resembles the Grange
in “Wuthering Heights” in terms of wealth and civilization.He gets acquainted with Miss
Havisham, who is abondoned on her wedding day, and her adopted daughter Estella.Even
though time has stopped since the wedding day in this gothic house, Miss Havisham’s
physical appearance shows effects of the passing time as Pip says “I saw that the bride within
the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left
but the brightness of her suken eyes”(52).On the other hand, Estella is an arrogant,
unreachable and beautiful girl who is projected for Miss Havisham’s revenge on men.Her
beauty and contemptuous manners demonstrate that the perception of beauty is linked to the
perception of status.Pip loves her miserably, because he knows that a certain kind of love
between them is not possible until he becomes a gentleman.Therefore, he gets more miserable
when he enters a legal-binding state and he is apprenticed to Joe.In his conversation with
Biddy, he expresses that “I am not at all happy as I am.I am disgusted with my calling and
with my life.I have never taken to either, since I was bound.”(116)In fact, he is in love with
high status, and Estella is just a figure for this love.The most inner core of Pip is ambition for
gentility, so Pip the narrator says “In a word, it was impossible for me to separate her, in the
past or in the present, from the innermost life of my life.”(216)After he gains a sudden fortune
from an unknown source, he goes to London in order to achieve his ambition.During this

5. travel, he feels guilty because he leaves Joe and Biddy behind, and he knows that he will not
come back to the village as Pip.Nonetheless, a new world where many oppurtunities of
advancement take place spreads before him.(146)
When he arrives at London, he realizes that the city is full of filth, blood and grease, which
reminds him of criminal stains in his past.Additionally, as we can infer fom the dialogue
between Mr.Wemmick and Pip, there is no logic of violence in London.In the course of time
he recognizes the conditions of London.He befriends a young gentleman named Herbert
Pocket who “makes his fortune in his own mind”, that is, believes that he will be engaged in
many jobs such as insurance, trade and stock market, which reflects the diversity of the
possibilities of prosperity in the capitalist city.(169)He helps Pip to learn how to behave like a
gentleman.Even though Pip gets used to live in London, a movement pushes him to his
unmastered past continously, and this process involves recurrrences and confusions, which
corresponds to the repetitions in “Wuthering Heights”.
While Pip enjoys benefits of his new status, he becomes estranged with his old acquiantances,
especially Joe, because he disdains their “commonness”(205).However, he continues to love
Estella as a part of his commodity.He assumes that his fortune comes Miss Havisham, and she
wants Estella to marry him as he states:
She reseved it for me to restore the desolate house, admit the sunshine into the dark
rooms, set the clocks a going and the cold hearths a blazing, tear dwn the cobwebs,
destroy the wermin – in short, do all the shining deeds of the young Knight of
romance, and marry the princess(212).
This statement reminds us of Isabella’s feelings and misinterpretations about Heatcliff in
“Wuthering Heights”.Towards the end of the novel, Pip learns that his benefactor is
Magwitch.Therefore, his fantasy falls apart when it is revealed that his gentility and wealth

6. come from a criminal source.Additionally, he learns that Estella is Magwitch’s biological
daughter, which means the suggestion of incest because Pip is Magwitch’s adopted son.
Lastly, after the death of Miss Havisham and Magwitch, Pip loses his fortune and goes to the
village.Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in Satis House, and he notices that
Estella’s coldness has been replaced by sadness.At the end, Pip and Estella leave the ruined
house hand in hand like Adam and Eve.(442)
In conclusion, these novels point out that in a world of industrialism, people were obliged to
improve themselves in accordance with the expectations of the society rather than their
desires and fantasies of romance during their lives.
Works Cited
.Bronte, Emily.Wuthering Heights New York: Oxford University Press.
Dickens, Charles.Great Expectations New York: Oxford University Press