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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - Barron's Booknotes
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THEMES
Wuthering Heights has always been controversial. Earlier
generations argued over the quality of the novel. Readers today
generally regard it as a high-quality work but argue over the
meaning of its content. Some readers believe the novel's most
significant theme is revenge. Until just before the end of the
book, Heathcliff's revenge against those who have wronged
him taints all the relationships at Wuthering Heights and
Thrushcross Grange. Other readers see Heathcliff in a more
favorable light and consider the most important theme to be
rebellion. Heathcliff, a penniless outcase, eventually beats his
oppressors at their own game. You can also widen your focus
and say that the book mainly explores the nature of love,
weighing definitions offered by Heathcliff and by Edgar.
Their actions, and the feelings and actions of other characters, help
you understand these definitions. You can also see Wuthering
Heights as principally concerned with the conflict between
stormy and calm sides of life. Wuthering Heights generally
represents the stormy side, Thrushcross Grange the calm side.
The conflict between these two ways of life causes great
suffering until the marriage between Cathy and Hareton-a
marriage in which both approaches to life are recognized and
accepted.
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