‘The Gothic elements of Wuthering Heights are made credible by the novel’s setting and narrators.’
How far would you agree with this view?
Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s only novel and was published in December 1847 under the androgynous pseudonym Ellis Bell, due to having a, “vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice”. This initial perception demonstrates the lack of gender equality within the Victorian era, with autocratic male dominance being commonly viewed as an ideal within the restrictive patriarchal society; such varying social conventions resonate throughout the novel, perhaps providing a sense of stability, reality and authenticity among the primal passions, savage cruelty, and supernatural entities present within the boundaries of Wuthering Heights and the Yorkshire Moors. The juxtaposition provided by the arguably civilised, ornate Thrushcross Grange provides a rational foundation where societal norms are upheld, with the domestic, cultural setting providing a balance to the unruly natural passions; it is suggested further that cogency is gained not only through the historical and geographic settings, but also through the dual narration of Nelly Dean and Lockwood. Contrastingly, a deeper reading suggests that the societal beliefs and conservative, obstinate nature of the narrators would cause them to condemn individuals and demonise events that threatened the social balance, meaning the creditability can certainly be disputed.
Lockwood’s initial description of the eponymous location introduces the fundamentally gothic aspect of decaying grandeur, with a “grotesque carving” and “a wilderness of crumbling griffins” not only producing a metonymy of dejection, but also referring to sinister architectural forms which epitomise the 19th Century Gothic Revival. While such features commonly evoke unease, Lockwood’s