Wuthering Heights is a well structured story. The story begins and ends at Wuthering Heights. The title refers to the principal scene of action in the novel. Most of the incidents of the novel occur at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff is brought to the Heights from Liverpool by Mr. Earnshaw, the old master. Hindley, Heathcliff and Catherine, all group up at the Heights. It is at the Heights that the major characters of the novel have attachment for each other, and it is at the Heights that Heathcliff having been persistently ill- treated by Hindley becomes his inveterate enemy and swears revenge on him. So, the foundation on which is built the subsequent structure of the story is laid at Wuthering Heights. It is a story of love and revenge, and the first phase of love between he hero and the heroine is developed at the Heights. Likewise it is at the Heig… that the hostility between Heathcliff and Hindley is formed. so that the former decides to take revenge on the latter for the wrong done to him.
Wuthering Heights
The Principal Scene of Action-After three years’ absence from the Heights Heathcliff returns to the Heights again, and it is there that he works out his plan of revenge on Hindley. The Heights witnesses both the prosperity and the ruin of the Earnshaw family. Hindley is reduced to an abject, miserable state at the Heights, and it is there that he dies. After marrying Isabella Heathcliff brings her to live at the Heights. Likewise. younger Catherine is brought to the Heights to marry Linton Heathcliff, and after her father’s death she is made to live at the Heights till the end of the story. The hero, Heathcliff, lives and dies at the Heights, and it is there that he is spiritually united to his beloved, Catherine. The ghosts of the lover and the beloved reside in their final union at the Heights while Hareton and younger Catherine go to live at the Grange. So most of the events in the novel occur at Wuthering Heights, which is the principal scene of action in the story. Only three important events occur at the Grange, viz., death of Catherine, elopement of Isabella and death of Edgar Linton.
Characters Attached to the Heights
The characters are deeply almost inseparably, attached to the Heights. Catherine in a scene in the novel tells Nelly that she once dreamt that she was in heaven and was miserable because heaven was not the Heights. “Heaven was not my home,” she said, “and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy.”
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Heights in Consonance with the Violent Nature
The hard winds blowing around Wuthering Heights are in consonance with the stormy and violent nature of the hero and the heroine. The children of storm in the novel dominate the children of calm, or, in other words, Wuthering Heights dominates the Grange. Heathcliff becomes the master of the Heights, and afterwards becomes master of the Grang also. The inhabitants of the Grange are under his full control and he can do with them whatever he likes. Hence Wuthering Heights with Heathcliff as its master has a dominant position in the novel.
Conclusion
The story begins and ends at Wuthering Heights. In the opening scene Mr. Lockwood visits Heathcliff at the Heights, and towards the end he visits the Heights again to find that Heathcliff is dead, and that younger Catherine and Hareton are about to be married. Comparatively more scenes are laid at the Heights than at the Grange. Hence it is quite appropriate to call the novel Wuthering Heights.
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