In parallel, the Grange is “a splendid place, carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of golden glass drops hanging in silver chains from the centre and shimmering with little soft tapers.” However, in the midst of this lavishness are a weeping Edgar and apoplectic Isabella screaming “as if she had red hot needles of witches in her.” Heathcliff is surprised and comments after the ordeal to Nelly, “Shouldn’t they have been happy? We should have thought ourselves in Heaven!” Ironically, Thrushcross Grange has been alluded to as ‘a hell within heaven’ and Heathcliff despite on first impressions exclaiming “ah- it was beautiful!” would “not exchange for a thousand lives, [his] condition here, for Edgar Linton’s at Thrushcross Grange”.
Contradicting primary impressions and the clichés imposed from the very names of the two houses, the nature of the Heights is not assiduously harsh in comparison to the cultured Grange. Culture can be equally perilous and notably the initial mention of violence in the book is associated with the Grange. Catherine does not so much as choose to enter the placidity of the Grange but is seized by it when she is attacked by the Lintons dog after they mischievously and rather callously taunt the Linton children, who react with childish trepidation to the wayward two outside.
Bronte is hasty to prevent us from feeling too comfortable from the “homely” kitchen of the Heights and comments that there were other dogs “haunting” other recesses; suggesting the dogs are not to be deciphered as a theme of reassurance. Later when Lockwood caresses the “ruffianly bitch” he receives a “long, guttural gnarl” and Heathcliff admonishes Lockwood for his action “You’d better let the dog alone….she’s not accustomed to be spoiled- she’s not kept as a pet”. The presence of dogs is a similarity between the two houses, which Bronte portrays with clarity. Despite the culture of the Grange, the Lintons’ dog savages Catherine and “[seizes] her ankle; [Heathcliff] heard this abominable snorting”. Heathcliff describes the tussle between Catherine and the dog in revolting details, with the phallic “huge, purple tongue, hanging half a foot out of his mouth”. The appealing description of the Grange has already been thwarted with the incident where the dogs “pendant lips streamed with blood slaver” hinting that it is not as harmonious as it would primarily appear.
In chapter 13 the reference by Isabella to the gun is indicative that violence is as much a part of civilized life (which Isabella hitherto represented) as the natural brutality of the Heights. Instead of adopting a stance of horror at Hindley’s desire to use the gun to injure Heathcliff, she receives this information with fervor, “How powerful I should be possessing such an instrument!”
Lockwood, a man of cushy upper middle-class principles identifies himself, as a man of culture, to be more at ease at the Grange. The partition between nature and culture is played out in the relationship of the two houses and its inhabitants, their particular upbringings lucid in their attitudes. Wuthering Heights obviously represents the nature; Cathy and Heathcliff are wild, raw and brutal. Thrushcross Grange controversially, depicts culture with its reserved serenity reflected in the mild-mannered Isabella and the antithesis to Heathcliff, Edgar. Both children cannot fathom the uncultured and unpredictable world of the Heights which has both enlivened and traumatized those living there. Heathcliff exclaims of the Linton children “the petted things! We did despise them” and Heathcliff and Catherine “made frightful noises” to terrify the “good children.” The cultured upbringing of the Lintons is essentially their downfall; they become respectively infatuated with the powerful Catherine and Heathcliff and are incapable of seeing the two can never reciprocate their tentative love as they are entirely captivated in their own passion for each other. Isabella is unable to view Heathcliff in anyway but a haunting and glamorous Byronic hero and Edgar becomes besotted with Catherine.
With the second generation of these families there has been an inappropriate role reversal of whom lives in which residence, Catherine’s vivacious daughter resides at the Grange and Isabella’s peevishly frail son, at the turbulent Heights. In their respective habitats neither children flourish; Linton mocked and bullied by Heathcliff, Catherine constricted by her life at the Grange.
The Linton parents prove snobbish and disregard Heathcliff while accepting Catherine eagerly, “washing and combing her beautiful hair” because she is a far more socially acceptable houseguest than the “gypsy”. It is apparent the household they grow up in bears responsibility for some shaping of its inhabitants character as when Catherine returns after her residing at the Grange, “she [looks] like a lady now” and notices “how very black and cross Heathcliff looks” because she is used to the civilized appearances of Isabella and Edgar. Yet her love for Heathcliff has not diminished and despite obstacles never does; “she [flies] to embrace him and bestowed seven or eight kisses on his cheek.”
At the end of the novel, Wuthering Heights is revealed to now be a combination of both culture and nature; themes that have rallied against each other, often tragically, throughout the book. At the end of the novel, the rationally founded relationship of Hareton and Cathy that has overcome social impossibilities and hostility reflects itself upon the Heights. The Heights has been converted by Cathy into a place of pleasure and she digs up the pious Joseph’s plants to replace them with flowers, which are the essence of docility. Despite this, Lockwood last ruminate is how “[he doesn’t] like being left in the grim house…… [He] shall be glad when they leave it, and shift to the Grange”. Having looked beyond the perceptions and clichés of both the sumptuous Grange and the stormy Heights I believe them to be equally volatile and threatening households. Lockwood’s last comment is one of an unreliable narrator, who believes the Grange to be more comforting purely based on the appearance of the house and its inhabitants, unappreciative of the legacy within.
