Similarities between Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are two of my favorite books of all time. I know they are very different novels, with different plotlines, styles, characterization, and narration, but I could still notice many interesting parallels between them.
Let me think of a few examples:
1) Products of Romanticism: Although they were written during the Victorian period, both novels are products of Romanticism. We know that Charlotte and Emily Bronte were greatly influenced by the Romantic poets (Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge) and their ideas. Their influence can be seen in all of their works.
Charlotte and Emily Bronte were also forerunners of Gothic fiction, and both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are, in my opinion, perfect Gothic Romances. This is why I find it strange when people say that we are not supposed to find the relationships in these books romantic because they are dark or unconventional. Is that not the point? The creepiness and shock factor of it is exactly what makes the romances Gothic. It is also why their male leads are perfect for their stories.
2) Byronic heroes: Edward and Heathcliff are both Byronic heroes. Both are dark, brooding, strong and masculine. Both are tormented by their past. They love passionately, hate fiercely, and allow their passions to consume them. Yet I would argue that Edward has a much stronger moral compass than Heathcliff. Edward feels guilt and shame, acknowledges when he errs, and seeks forgiveness. Heathcliff lives outside the world of morality. In his world, there is no distinction between right and wrong. He does what he wants without feeling a hint of remorse.
3) Fatal flaws and repeating the suffering inflicted upon them: Both Edward and Heathcliff have fatal flaws, and both try to inflict upon others what was inflicted upon them. Edward was deceived and manipulated by his family into a miserable marriage that ruined his life. Yet later, he is willing to deceive Jane into a bigamous marriage. Heathcliff was abused and treated like a monster by everyone around him. In the end, he becomes a monster himself and enjoys inflicting the same suffering upon others.
4) Unloved and abused orphan: Both novels feature an unloved and abused orphan. Jane Eyre and Heathcliff are mocked, beaten, and treated as inferiors because they lack the status others have. They are made to feel ugly. They are locked away when the adults around them find them troublesome. Jane suffers because she is poor. Heathcliff suffers because he is poor and also, an outsider with mysterious origins.
5) Bad parenting and parental favoritism: It is quite evident. In Jane Eyre, Mrs Reed favors John Reed, who then uses his position to abuse Jane. I think this favoritism is mostly what makes him the person he becomes, and also leads to resentment between him and his sisters. In Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw openly favors Heathcliff over his own son, Hindley. This makes Hindley spiteful towards Heathcliff, creating a rivalry between them that eventually destroys both.
6) The role of the household servant: Since Jane and Heathcliff are orphans, the household servants (Bessie and Nelly) become motherly figures in their childhood. Bessie's love for Jane is flawed, but she does show occasional moments of kindness. Nelly raises Heathcliff, but unlike Bessie, she does so more out of Christian duty, and has no genuine love in her heart for him.
7) Gothic elements: Both novels share many Gothic similarities - dark secrets, haunted house, moors, volatile weather, obsession, death, madness, suffering, cruelty, and violence.
8) Passion beyond human reasoning: This is another similarity I find in both the novels. The love between Jane and Edward, and more so between Heathcliff and Catherine, has a supernatural or metaphysical quality in them. In Jane Eyre, Edward has a strong connection to Jane. He tells her that the cord between them will snap if she leaves him, and that he will bleed inwardly. When Jane does leave, he is completely shattered. He is almost suicidal and begs God to take him to Jane. Then, Jane hears his voice calling her from miles away, and she suddenly has a premonition that he is in some terrible danger, and she returns to help him. Wuthering Heights takes this connection even further. Heathcliff begs Catherine's ghost to haunt him until he dies. He even digs up her grave to embrace her, because he cannot bear the separation. It is almost as if the Brontes were trying to tell us about the idea of soulmates - two people whose connection is so strong that it goes beyond human reasoning, and even beyond physical separation.
9) Rebellion against class snobbery: They also feature a rebellion against class snobbery. Jane is a poor, plain orphan, but she refuses to let people of a higher social position look down on her or treat her as inferior. She stands her ground and demands to be treated as an equal. Heathcliff is also an orphan who is always reminded of his inferior position, and instead of accepting the unjust treatment, he is determined to destroy the very class that looked down on him and abused him.
10) Contrast between two houses: There is a contrast between the two houses in both the books. In Jane Eyre, Thornfield Hall represents the dark, dangerous, and passionate life Jane could have with Edward. While at Moor House, Jane would have a more religious, disciplined, stable life. In Wuthering Heights, Wuthering Heights represents the feral, untamed, and primal life Catherine sees with Heathcliff. Thrushcross Grange offers a more comfortable, stable, and civilized life she could have with Edgar Linton.
11) Rejection of the proper Victorian men: St. John and Edgar Linton are both honorable men with refined manners. Edward and Heathcliff, on the other hand, are bad, mad, and dangerous men, with unrestrained passions. In a way, you could say that both novels question the idea of whether a woman should just accept a respectable but cold and passionless marriage. Jane realizes this early on, and rejects St. John, choosing Edward instead. Catherine gives in to societal pressure and marries Edgar, and realizing that she can never be her true self without Heathcliff, pays for her choice with her life.
12) Hypocritical religious figures: Mr. Brocklehurst and Joseph are both deeply religious, yet they use God as a tool to bully, judge, and oppress others. Both are especially cruel to those who are weaker than them.
13) Feminist female characters: Jane Eyre is a fiercely independent character from the beginning. She has agency and makes choices of her own. She refuses to let others decide what kind of life she should live. Most importantly, she refuses to compromise her principles and self-respect, even if it means losing the man she loves. Isabella Linton is another example, and I see her as the most feminist character in Wuthering Heights. She begins as a naive young woman, and falls for Heathcliff (I cannot blame her for this because of her sheltered upbringing). But once she realizes her mistake in marrying an abuser, she runs away to London and raises her son there entirely on her own. At a time when women were often treated as their husband's property, to be used and abused, Isabella's decision to leave her abusive husband was very daring for her time.
14) Maiming the Byronic hero: Neither Charlotte nor Emily allows her Byronic man to remain unpunished. Edward is eventually redeemed through Jane's love, but also through suffering and his own repentance. He changes from a selfish and impulsive man into someone much more selfless, who learns to put the thoughts and needs of others before his own. Not only does he try to save Bertha's life from the fire, but he also acknowledges his terrible sin of trying to commit bigamy against Jane. His redemption is moral, religious, and spiritual.
However, we never see Heathcliff atoning for his wrongdoings. Heathcliff is never redeemed, but that is because Wuthering Heights is not a book we are supposed to read morally. Unlike her sister Charlotte, Emily Bronte rejects that kind of moral framework for Heathcliff's story. Still, I think Emily maims Heathcliff well by killing him at the end, while also making us sympathize with him because of his tragic past.
15) Criticism then and now: Both books also attracted strong criticism when they were first published. Jane Eyre was criticised for lacking morality, for being anti Christian and for its negative depiction of Christian characters, for its unfeminine and unconventional heroine, and for an immoral, ungodly and flawed hero. The criticism of Wuthering Heights was even more brutal. It disgusted many Victorian critics and readers. The story was criticised for its complete lack of morality, its vulgar language, its wild and savage heroine, and its evil, almost demon like hero who seemed to have no redeeming qualities at all.
Fast forward to today, not much has changed. People still judge these novels according to the standards of their own time. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights still remain polarizing, the latter even more so. They have their fans and haters alike. Now we hear that Jane Eyre is antifeminist, and that both novels romanticize unhealthy relationships and bad men. Then there is also the argument that Anne Bronte was the superior Bronte because she called out bad men in her novels, while Charlotte and Emily had terrible taste in men.
It is funny to me that Jane Eyre was once criticized for being too feminist and unconventional, while now people criticize it for not being feminist enough. How times and opinions change. The standards by which we judge books change as well. I would not be surprised if, some hundred years from now, people find even more things to condemn in these novels. Nothing stays the same, after all.