Social Class

Changing of Social class in Wuthering Heights
In the Victorian Era, social class was dependent upon the source of income, birth, and family connection.
And, significantly, most people accepted their place in the hierarchy. But Emily Bronte offers us in this
novel quite a few examples of changing of social class. First of all, as members of the gentry or the upper
middle-class , the Earnshaws and the Lintons occupy a somewhat precarious place within the hierarchy of
late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British society. At the top of British society was the royalty,
followed by the aristocracy , then by the gentry, and then by the lower classes, who made up the vast
majority of the population. The social status of aristocrats was a formal and settled matter, because
aristocrats had official titles. Members of the gentry, however, held no titles, and their status was thus
subject to change. A man might see himself as a gentleman but find, to his embarrassment, that his
neighbors did not share this view. A discussion of whether or not a man was really a gentleman would
consider such questions as how much land he owned, how many tenants and servants he had, how he
spoke, whether he kept horses and a carriage, and whether his money came from land or trade
gentlemen scorned banking and commercial activities.
Although the gentry, possessed servants and often large estates, they held a nonetheless fragile social
position, one who could change, this is why Bronte chose to portray her characters in this class.
Considerations of class status often crucially inform the characters motivations in Wuthering Heights.
Catherine
-She was raised in a certain social class, gentry, this is why she couldnt marry Heathcliff, not because of
social inacceptance, but because she couldnt have accepted to live a lesser life. (speech- great example):
It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that,
not because hes handsome, Nelly, but because hes more myself than I am.
Even more, she finishes this speech with the famous quote : I am Heathcliff. She says not, I love
Heathcliff, but, I am Heathcliff , proving that she has deep feelings for Heathcliff, that she
completely identifies herself with him, but that in not enough. Instead, Catherine decides to marry
Edgar so that she will be the greatest woman of the neighborhood . The love for class, beats love for
love.
Heathcliff
The shifting nature of social status is demonstrated most strikingly in Heathcliffs trajectory from
homeless waif to young gentleman-by-adoption to common laborer to gentleman again (although the
status-conscious Lockwood remarks that Heathcliff is only a gentleman in dress and manners).
Heathcliff is an orphan; therefore, his station is below everyone else in Wuthering Heights. It was unheard
of to raise someone from the working class as a member of the middle-to-upper middle class. Even Nelly,
who was raised with the Earnshaw children, understood her place below her childhood friends. When Mr.
Earnshaw elevates the status of Heathcliff, eventually favoring him to his own son, this goes against
social norms. When Heathcliff returns, having money is not enough for Edgar to consider him a part of
acceptable society. His social change comes from the desire to revenge on everybody who mistreated
him, but also he is a greedy and scheming man, managing to become the owner of both Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Even though he has plenty of money, he decides to lease Thrushcross
Grange, maybe because deep down he was afraid that his social class would change again, or he felt that
even if he was now a wealthy man he was never considered by anyone a real gentleman and living in that
house would be a continous torment because he doesnt belong to such a social class.
Hareton
If we pay attention, we notice that the only characters who improve their social class are the main
characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, and Hareton, who I believe has an extremely important role in the
novel.
Although born in the gentry, he is the new Heathcliff, yet completely different : comes form a poor
background, is an orfan(of mother), he has no educationWhen I say he is the new Heathcliff, I mean
that he embodies everything that Heathcliff should have been.
I think that this is the hidden meaning of the novel. Back then, everybody believed that where you were
born and who are your parents dictates who you are. Being born with class, means you will do everytinng
to live in class, while poor people dont even dream. But she shows that the important thing is how you
were raised. Hareton, being born in the middle class has nothing, while Heathcliff, being born an orphan,
but raised properly, captures the life vision of middle class and ends up having class. This will change the
society.

Social Class

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Changing of Social class in Wuthering Heights

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