Wind - The home of the Earnshaws
and then Heathcliff is called 'Wuthering Heights,' and in the first chapter Mr. Lockwood says that 'wuthering'
is a significant adjective, as it is "descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is
exposed in stormy weather.� Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed;
����������� one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant
of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of ����������� gaunt thorns all stretching
their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun" (6).�
Indeed the wind is an important symbol for change in the novel. It is present during many of the significant
events in the lives of the characters.� When Mr. Earnshaw dies there is a 'high wind,' and the weather
is described as 'wild and stormy.' On the night that Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights there is a
great storm with wind and rain.� And on the morning that Ellen finds Heathcliff dead, the rain and wind
are coming in through his window and beating his lattice back and forth.�
Windows and Doors - Throughout the novel there
are instances of locked or open windows and doors symbolizing imprisonment or freedom.� In the very
beginning Lockwood encounters locked doors and gates at Wuthering Heights, and he sees the ghost of
Catherine trying to get in a window.� Ellen leaves a window open for Heathcliff to come in and see Catherine
in her coffin.� Most of the examples come later in the novel when Heathcliff has Isabella and then Catherine
locked up in Wuthering Heights.� Catherine cannot leave the house or her room because of locked doors,
and Ellen cannot leave either because she has been locked in.� It is only when Zillah lets her out of
the room that she is able to leave.� Catherine is only able to leave the house when Linton unlocks the
door for her, and she escapes though the window in her mother's old room. By the end of the novel when
everyone is free of revenge, Lockwood goes to Wuthering Heights to find the gate unlocked and the doors
open. The hair in the locket
- A symbol that shows up only once in the novel is one for the intertwined lives and destinies of Edgar
and Heathcliff because they both love Catherine.� When Heathcliff comes in to view Catherine in her
coffin, he takes the lock of Edgar's hair out of her locket and throws it to the ground, replacing it
with his own.� Ellen takes both locks, winds the yellow and black locks together, and puts them both
in the locket.�
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