Wuthering Heights: Negativity In Domesticity

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for many years, but the domestic norms forced her to marry Edgar Linton because he was an acceptable suitor. Although she loved Heathcliff, he still remained an unattainable husband because he did not live up to the domestic standards of what a husband should be. He lacked a family background, wealth, and an ideal appearance that led Catherine to realize that “it would degrade [her] to marry Heathcliff” (Bronte 80). She was aware of the domestic norms, but it upset her because her love always remained true to Heathcliff, regardless of what he lacked.
It seemed that everything Heathcliff lacked, Edgar Linton had by the plenty. He was a man with light features, a respectable family, and an inheritance that led Catherine to believe that she should marry this respectable man. She did love Edgar, but it was not like the true love that existed between her and Heathcliff. She loved him partly because he put her in her place of society. If she had married Heathcliff she would have ...

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probably more hurtful than optimistic because she constantly felt the need to keep Heathcliff in her life. She initially married Edgar out of duty and social respectability but this act led her to feel that her and Heathcliff’s “souls” are the same, and “Litton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire” (Bronte 80). Catherine’s dutiful act of marrying Edgar caused the couple and Heathcliff all to lack the emotion and passion that exists in true love.
Catherine’s domestic duty in her marriage to Edgar also effected Heathcliff. Heathcliff overheard Catherine telling Nelly Dean that it would degrade her to marry him (Bronte 80) and this tremendously effected the ...

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