The stranger archetype in Wuthering Heights

¶ … Consequence of Strangers Explored in Wuthering Heights

Strangers appear to us in a variety of ways and while we pass strangers on the street every day, some strangers are haunting and compelling. One example where an encounter with a Stranger is transformation occurs in Emily Bronte's novel, Wuthering Heights. When Heathcliff sees Catherine for the first time after she returns from Thrushcross Grange, he encounters a Stranger. This Stranger speaks to him in such a way that he is humiliated and elicits such feelings in him that he will never be the same. Through characterization, Bronte utilizes this scene as the one that destroys the love that Heathcliff and Catherine spent so much time trying to avoid and deny.

The new and improved Catherine is remarkably different from the one that left Wuthering Heights just five weeks earlier. Instead of a "wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house" (Bronte 50), she emerges as a "very dignified person with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit which she obliged to hold up with both hands that she might sail in" (50). This first image of Catherine is important because it disrupts and literally destroys her and Heathcliff's relationship. Before she left, they were equals and now she has risen above him. The Stranger is one Hindley hardly recognizes and he is compelled to tell her she looks like a lady. Beneath her habit, Catherine wears a silk frock, trousers, and polished shoes. Beneath her gloves her hands were white and clean and she does not reach to pet the dogs for they run to greet her for she they might soil her clothing.

In sharp contrast, Heathcliff is "hard to discover" (51) at the scene. He was "ten times more" (51) unkempt than he ever was before Catherine left. He was dirty and his clothes had seen "three months' service in mire and dust" (51), his was unbrushed and his face and hands were "dismally beclouded" (51). It is worth noting that even Catherine does not recognize him and when she does, she kisses him and tells him he looks "black and cross" (51) as well as "funny and grim" (51). She does not simply says this -- she follows by saying she has become accustomed to Edgar and Isabella, as if to point out a vast gulf between her and Heathcliff.

Heathcliff's reaction to the Stranger is no doubt shock and disappointment, for he has lost the one with whom he felt a connection in this world. While Catherine may be a lady, he sees in this new stranger something to fear because this new image has replaced his dear friend. There can be no surprise when the "shame and pride threw a double gloom over his countenance" (52). He is so taken aback by Catherine and what she says that he must be commanded to shake her hand. When Earnshaw tells him to shake her hand in a way this is "permitted" (52), it becomes more than Heathcliff can bear. While Catherine claims she did not mean to laugh at Heathcliff, the damage is done. She does not realize the extent of her damage and continues to do even more damage by telling Heathcliff he is "sulky" (52) and looks "odd" (52) and things would not be so bad for him if he would just brush his hair and wash his face. This scene only lasts a few moments but it is critical in that it drives much of the plot after this point. It drives Heathcliff to do what he does but more than anything else, it establishes a division in Catherine that she will never be able to overcome.

The Stranger Heathcliff encounters at this point are not a stranger that will go away. Catherine's transformation is one that will last a lifetime and this is Heatchliff's greatest fear as he runs away. Catherine inability to figure out why her remarks would hurt him so reinforces the presence of a Stranger. However, the cut works both ways. Catherine is divided and from this point forward, she will always have difficulty being loyal to the two worlds from which she came. The world of silk frocks and polished shoes draw Catherine in. This world entices her and wins her over but she never gives herself completely to it. Her affection for Heathcliff is too strong to allow her to forget what they shared and she spends a great deal of her life dealing with and repressing these feelings. Catherine did not see her new and improved self as a Stranger because all she wanted to experience was a better station in life. The Stranger not only changed Catherine and Heathcliff, she changed their story and their fate as well.