(an AP Literature FRQ #3 practice)
In her novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte explores the conflict between old, elite society and new outsiders like Heathcliff and Hareton Earnshaw attempting to assimilate. By contrasting the former’s failure against the latter’s success, Bronte suggests that drastic attempts to resolve the societal tension between old and new always result in failure and destruction, and that progress comes only through gradual steps and compromise.
Heathcliff wants to erase all tension between old and new and stand on equal footing with Catherine Earnshaw, but this uncompromising vision leads only to destruction. Despite the societal gap between noble, refined Catherine and his uneducated, servant self, Heathcliff still wants to marry her as equal partners. When Catherine denies him this desire, he refuses to compromise and instead opts to abandon their friendship completely by running away from Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff sees no intermediate between total revolution and inaction; he must have either all of Catherine or none at all. Thus, when he returns to Wuthering Heights three years later, he fuels his relationship with Catherine not through friendship but vengeance, as he insults Edgar Linton, reprimands Catherine, and manipulates Isabella Linton to fall in love with him to provoke Catherine’s jealousy and secure her generational wealth. Heathcliff’s uncompromising desires corrupt his love with vengeance, and his resultant rampage only widens the chasm between old and new.
Unlike their predecessors, both Hareton and Catherine “Cathy” Linton approach the tension between old and new through compromise, and they work to resolve it step by step rather than all at once. Cathy initially prejudices herself against Hareton due to his servant status and even refuses to accept him as her cousin. However, she later softens her stance and offers to provide Hareton with reading lessons. Although Hareton declines at first, he also puts his pride aside and acquiesces in the end. Thus, where Heathcliff and Catherine failed, compromise enables Hareton and Cathy to successfully initiate a loving relationship.
Cathy still holds the upper hand in the power dynamic with Hareton due to the tutor-student nature of their relationship. However, the gap between them has shrunk from before and may eventually dwindle to equality, and they have certainly resolved the tension between old and new far better than Heathcliff’s uncompromising approach with Catherine.