In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte challenges the notion of belonging and identity through constructing the complex characters of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Both characters are displaced in the middle-class Victorian society of rural northern England, where Heathcliff is considered a social “other” while Catherine defies the prescribed traditional gender role of her time. Through examining the treatment of race, gender roles, social class, and religion, discuss some of the ways in which Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw are displaced in their society. Do they try to defy their sense of displacement and “otherness’ to fit into society? How? Do they succeed? Cite specific examples from the novel to support your argument.
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