Wuthering Heights Moors Essay

The Moors
The landscapes of Wuthering Heights play an important part in the novel, in particular the moors which are instrumental in establishing the mood of the novel and advancing the plot. In addition, different perceptions of this wild terrain also give us a deeper understanding of various characters. To these characters, the moors can be seen as a symbol of freedom or a mysterious and dangerous place. Through them, we see the strong passions that blow wildly through Wuthering Heights; Heathcliff is like the moors: undomesticated, full of savage and unrestrained passions, untamable. This wildness in him is mirrored in Cathy's nature, but she tries to repress that very part to which Heathcliff gives free reign.
But the moors mean different things to different people. To Lockwood, the moors serve as a confusing expanse that's almost impossible to navigate on his own. This is especially true after his second venture to Wuthering Heights when it snows and the moors appear to be "one billowy white, ocean" People familiar with these moors often miss their road on such evenings, “full of pits, depressions, rises, and deep swamps”, as they are. The boggy parts of the moors can mean death for some people. When Heathcliff imprisons Nelly and Cathy in Wuthering Heights, he spreads a rumor in Gimmerton that the two had "sunk in the Blackhorse marsh" and that he had rescued them.
As much as the moors represent threat and menace, they are also full of mystery and mysticism. They are a source of comfort and a respite from the prison-like atmosphere of Wuthering Heights. To Catherine and Heathcliff, the moors exist as a supernatural, liberating, and boundary less region. For them, the ultimate freedom is associated with wandering on the moors. As Catherine tells Nelly Heathcliff is “more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” They often describe their love and their own individual identities through metaphors of nature. Catherine's dying wish to be released on to the moors reinforces Heathcliff's analogy of Catherine as an oak contained by the strictures of Thrushcross Grange: "I wish I were out of doors – I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy…I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills.
Like her mother, Cathy yearns to escape the confines of the house and play on the moors. Hareton slowly earns her trust by giving her a guided tour of some of the natural features of the surrounding countryside: "He opened the mysteries of the Fairy cave, and twenty other queer places.” In this way, the moors are instrumental in bringing Cathy and Hareton together. Although similar to an element of Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship, this love is not a tragedy.
The tragic nature of the novel is shown in conjunction with a love of the freedom the moors provide: “I sought, and soon discovered, the three headstones on the slope next the moor: the middle one grey, and half buried in the heath; Edgar Linton's only harmonised by the turf and moss creeping up its foot; Heathcliff's still bare. I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.”
Ultimately, the moors in Wuthering Heights play an important part, serving to give insight into the personalities of many characters. They help establish the mood of the novel and advance the plot.