The novel begins by defining Wuthering Heights as 'a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheris tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather'. This initial description gives the reader a meaning for 'wuthering', and also explains its significance. It can also be seen as a premonitory indication of the mysterious happenings to come. The bleak and stormy weather also symbolises the forthcoming events. Wuthering Heights, and its surroundings, depict the cold, dark, evil side of life. As Lockwood explains to the reader, the Heights built in 1500, have suffered from a form of malnutrition. Its thorns have become barren, its firs stunted, and everything is 'craving the alms of the sun'. This personifies the building, giving the image of it begging the sun. Lockwood also describes the inside of the house as he enters.
'its entire anatomylay bare to an enquiring eye......the floor was of smooth white stone; the chairs high backed, primitive structures, painted green: one or two heavy black ones lurking in the shade'
The house is not homely or inviting, and chairs being described as lurking personify them and create a sinister mood. The windows are deeply set in the wall, defended with large jutting stones. This is a gothic architecteral design, which reflects the negative feelings that come from Wuthering Heights, such as Catherine's selfishness, Hindley's jealousy and Heathcliff's revenge. They are also a mirror to Heathcliff's black eyes, 'withdrawn so suspiciously under their brow'. Wuthering Heights sits on a high barren moorland where it is exposed to all of the elements of nature, which could be seen as the large amount of tragedy that the house comes across. It is a world of violence and cruelty, and it is the inhabitants that bring the strom to the house.
The Earnshaw and Heathcliff family grew up with violence, as there was constant hair pulling, pinching and slapping. Wuthering Heights is a paralell to the life of Heathcliff, as they both began as warm and loving, but as time went on bothered withered to become less of what they once were. He is a symbol of the cold, dark and dismal setting of Wuthering Heights.
Thruchcross Grange, in contrast to the bleak exposed farmhouse on the heights, is always described as a magnificant place by every interpretation. It is set in the valley, giving a sense of protection, and contains none of the grim features of Heathcliff's home. The first glimpse of Thrushcross Grange is through Nelly Dean's description.
'I admired the shining kitchen utensils, the polished clock, decked in holly, the silver mugs ranged on a tray ready to be filled with mulled ale for supper; and above all, the speckless purity of my particular care - the scoured and well-swept floor'.
Here Nelly is able to give the reader the image of a homely, inviting house, and is able to describe its refined splendour. Heathcliff also makes it clear to the reader that he admires the house.
'ah! it was beautiful, a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver chains from the centre, and shimmering with little soft tapers'.
Unlike Wuthering Heights, this house is elegant and splendid, filled with light and warmth. This kind of home is very appropriate for the calm children that live there. The atmosphere of the home shows the links that the family had with the upper-class Victorian lifestyle. While Wuthering Heights was always full of activity, maybe to the point of chaos, life at Thrushcross Grange was distinctly more calm and relaxed.Children are seen playing with dogs and laughing, and when Catherine visits, she stays for months. This contrasts to the dogs living in Wuthering Heights, where they are only wild and not kept as pets. Linton's life here was extremely different from Heathcliff's life. It was 'as moonbeam from lightening, or frost from fire'.Catherine Earnshaw, a child of the Heights, provides a link between the two houses. Although she holds a position in between, she is a product of the Moors ( Much like Thomas Hardy's Eustacia was a product of the Heath). In a sense, she belongs to both worlds and is constantly been pulled into the two, first by Heathcliff, then by Edgar.
The setting throughout the novel, corresponds with the characters emotions. It is shown clearly in the passage describing nature's obviousness and Heathcliff's grief over Cathy's death. An image is created in his tears being as 'the dew that had gathered on the budded branches, and fell pattering around him'. Even though Heathcliff was a truly coarse and hardened person, Cathy's death devastated him. Heathcliff's emotions are also mirrored with nature when he disappears into a raging storm, after hearing Cathy say that it would degrade her to marry him. Cathy's actions are described after she realises that Heathcliff heard what she said, and went out in search of him.
'where heedless of my expostulations, and the growling thunder, and the great drops that began to plash round her, she remained calling, at intervals, then listening, and then crying outright'.
This shows very well the relationship and internal bond that the characters had with the nature around them. It is Bronte's handling of dialect, emotional power and imagination that make the characters realte so closely with their surroundings. It is also her ability to personify objects and elements, to transform them into characters of the novel.
The contrast between Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights lies in their external appearances, their interior and their surroundings. Without these the novel would not have such powerful meaning and be so complex. The contrast between them is not just physical, but they also represent apposing forces which are inbodied in their inhabitants. Emily Bronte creates the image of Wuthering Heights and the character of Heathcliff being as one, both being cold, dark and menacing, similar to stormy and forbidding weather. In contrast, Thrushcross Grange and the Lintons are welcoming and peaceful. The personalities of both the house and the family are warm and inviting, due to the exterior and interior of the house, and its protected surroundings.
