Gender Roles In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights

Sally Mitchell, a professor of English and Women 's Studies at Temple University states: “Distinguishing factor of the class hierarchy in Victorian England was not necessarily how much money people owned, instead the class one belonged to was revealed through his/her manners, speech, clothing, education, and values.” In Emily Brontë 's novel, Wuthering Heights, Catherine and Heathcliff’s tumultuous relationship serves as the backdrop of the class struggle occurring in Victorian England. They are driven by the overwhelming passion of furthering their positions in life to achieve the goals that were previously not offered to them. The characters represent the different social classes of England; such as the working, middle, and upper class and are forced to confine to the roles that society has given to them. This unhealthy nature of class and gender roles leads to an endless cycle of abuse and toxicity that many of the characters of Wuthering Heights endure.
Hindley’s mistreatment towards Heathcliff throughout Wuthering Heights shows the bigotry that many of the lower class faced by others with a

Multiple characters over the course of the novel are often looked as inferior due to their race or gender. Heathcliff, the main character was repeatedly called racial slurs such as “gypsy.” These vile acts caused him to be consumed by hate in his later life and seek revenge instead of happiness that was offered to him. Proving that prejudice and injustice can negatively influence the rest of someone’s life. This drives many of the characters to reach for a higher standing in society and to reject their past identities. For Heathcliff to leave Wuthering Heights and later return a changed powerful cruel man and Catherine to marry Edgar even though her heart belongs to another. Greed and money mattered more than mentality during this time period and still transcends towards