One universal theme in Wuthering Heights is the tragic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Their love story was tragic because Catherine and Heathcliff loved each other so much. Yet Catherine married Edgar Linton, still truly in love with Heathcliff (Bronte 102). Likewise, Heathcliff was still in love with Catherine even after she married Edgar (Bronte 207). When Catherine finally dies, Heathcliff was tormented by her death and even says "I cannot live without my life, I can not live without my soul" (Bronte 213). Another universal theme which occurs in this book is jealousy. We may get jealous if someone is smarter, prettier, more sports orientated, etc. than we are. In the story, however, Edgar becomes jealous of Heathcliff for for another reason. When Heathcliff comes to visit Catherine at Thrushcross Grange, Edgar can only notice that Catherine seems to be very fond of Heathcliff, and he becomes jealous of how his wife treats the visitor (Bronte 146). The next theme is that sometimes a parent may love one child more than another because of some feature such as their character. When Hindley, Catherine, and Heathcliff were growing up, their father loved Heathcliff the most because Hindley and Catherine were trouble-makers (Bronte 48). This judgmental behavior, of course, is wrong and it made Hindley decide that someday he would get even with Heathcliff for stealing his father's love. The final theme is the belief that the higher up in a social class someone is, the better quality of a person they are. Edgar Linton apparently felt this way since he told Catherine that if she were to marry Heathcliff, it would degrade her. This also is wrong. It is much better to marry someone for love than for money. Having the themes of jealousy and unjust love means that the author understands that these are apart of human nature.
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights. David Daiches. London: Penguin, 1985
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