Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, demonstrates the pressure felt by society to follow

the rules of the social class in the late 1700’s England. Wuthering Heights follows Heathcliff,
who is a mysterious gypsy-like person, who finds the girl of his dreams living at another estate,
called Thrushcross Grange. Catherine, who also falls in love with Heathcliff, cares too much
about her social advancement, causing her to choose another man. While Heathcliff cannot
control the class he is in at his age, they never are able to be together. Throughout the novel the
characters experience exile,which, while it is alienating, can also be enriching.
One of the main characters, Heathcliff, did not experience a traditional way of being
exiled. He was cast aside by the women he loved, and was treated poorly by the rest of his
living family. His lack of social class set him up poorly for being able to be successful in
marrying Catherine. She found that by marrying a more wealthy and proper man, she would
become the greatest lady in the region. Once Heathcliff’s adopted parents passed, his older
brother took over Wuthering Heights. They never truly got along because when Heathcliff was
brought into the family, everyone gave him more attention and the brother felt that he was being
ignored. Once the brother had control over the estate, he could finally get revenge on his
brother, telling him what to do everyday until his passing. Throughout this point Heathcliff had
been denied many things, his brother didn’t allow him to become educated and was forced to
work for him, which ended up hurting him more than he thought, because Catherine wouldn’t
want to marry someone who was a butler to their own brother.
Although Heathcliff’s life in greater part was depressing, he has pieces of time where it
was also enriching. While Catherine didn’t end up marrying him, they still shared a lot of love
which enriched both of their lives. Heathcliff's life was enriched just by Catherine being there,
she gave him something to love and care for, which really encourages someone to be a better
person. The way they interact with each other throughout the novel is positive in different ways
because even though they weren’t able to be together due to social status, they both still loved
each other even while they were in different relationships.
While Catherine has a positive and negative impact on Heathcliff’s life, other characters
only have negative impacts on his life, making him feel alienated. When Heathcliff was younger
he was adopted by the Earnshaw’s and lived there for his whole life, but the events that
happened at the estate throughout his life weren't ideal. He had to watch both his parents die
and once that happened he felt very alone and isolated. They were the only positive people in
his life besides Catherine, who wasn’t positive all the time. He began to feel alienated and
pushed to the side by everyone, specifically his brother. Heathcliff was abused by him and
treated unfairly, while also getting many things taken from him just because his brother wanted
to get his revenge. The alienation really sets in when all of these horrible things happen at once,
his brother taking over and treating him like he isn’t even a person, and Catherine denying him
multiple times.
Throughout the novel, Heathcliff experiences being exiled, which was both alienating
and enriching. This character and his experiences hold a lot of significance in the book. The
different examples of being exiled throughout the novel are brought to the reader's attention
during the reading of this book. The tone throughout the novel has a bottom line, which is that in
the late 1770s, class distinction was valued over love.