Since the dawn of human thought, man has sought to define the relationships between all things surrounding him. He categorizes every living creature, labels every natural element and names every phenomenon. He then connects each object to another with a line and draws the line back to himself. This way, he feels omnipotent, confidently grasping the ‘essence’ of his world in his hands. Such behavior seems to have peaked in the nineteenth century when many intellectuals around the world were pre-occupied with defining the relationships between man and the society, man and God, man and nature, and man and man. The preservation of order intrigued them and the concept of entropy frightened them. Many of the writers from the nineteenth century were also captivated by these relationships and Emily Bront was no exception. Although Bront’s Wuthering Heights is best known as a tale of tragic love, it is also a very provocative study of relationships, especially those between social classes. Bront creates a microcosm of the upper-class English society in Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. It is a relatively controlled environment until Bront allows ‘factors’ from the outside world (and different social classes) to seep into the society. Immediately, the balance of the two families is disturbed and when the pillars of support (the parents) disappear, the entire society is thrust into complete turmoil. From this premise, Bront begins to highlight contrasting, paradoxical and complimenting relationships between the characters. These pairs are formed and/or destroyed by the interjection of influence from the ‘outside.’ Wuthering Heights is an incredibly poignant suggestion of the dangers of disrupting equilibrium and in the story, serenity is only returned when the disturbing factors are destroyed and nature is allowed to run its course again.Bront’s narrator Lockwood, introduces us to the bleak...
