If the setting of a novel is 19th century Europe, there is a good chance that the women in the novel will be treated as a means to an end rather than as autonomous beings that have intrinsic value in and of themselves. This is the case of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. In the twelfth chapter, Catherine, who is feverish and desperate, cries "I wish I were out in the open - I wish I were a girl again, half wild and hardy and free" and then asks herself "why am I like this?" changed” (92)? The contrast she draws here between her childhood and her femininity indicates the freedom she felt as a child and the apparent oppression she experiences as an adult woman. In this novel, readers are introduced to a number of women, each of whom, like Catherine, faces the same fate: marriage, childbirth, and, for some, death. Being a woman in the world of Wuthering Heights means abandoning yourself to marriage and childbirth which, more often than not, leads to death; as a result, women lose all autonomy and this is why Catherine longs to be a girl again: she longs to free herself from her inevitable female destiny. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe first two important women are Mrs Earnshaw, mother of Hindley and Catherine, and Mrs Linton, mother of Edgar and Isabella, neither of whom have a storyline of their own because, outside of their husbands and children, they have neither existence nor value. Mr. Earnshaw is "the old master" of the Earnshaw family and his wife must stay home and wait with the children while he goes on a business trip (Bronte 25-26). He has no property, no money, no work to occupy himself with; her job, her place, her role are entirely tied to her husband and her children. He dies about two years after this business trip (27). His whole story is told in three pages because it's worth so little. Her husband goes on a business trip, she waits for him, feeds her children and puts them to bed, and when he returns he dies. Ms. Linton's plot is equally succinct. At one point, she is mentioned as allowing her children to go to a party at the Earnshaw house, as long as they are kept away from Heathcliff (39). Later in the story, he takes care of Catherine when she comes down with a fever, but Mrs. Linton also has a fever and dies soon after (65). Her story is told in just two pages because, like Mrs. Earnshaw, there is nothing important about her other than the fact that she has a husband and two children. They are its primary value and without them it would amount to nothing. Here are two adult women who are not given any freedom, who are not assigned any value. Their goal is simply to get married and have children; they are nothing more than a means to an end useful to men and children in their lives. Two women of the next generation have a similar fate. Both get married, both have a child and both die shortly after. The difference between Frances Earnshaw, Hindley's wife, and Isabella Linton, Heathcliff's wife, is that their deaths occur in a different timeline. Frances' death is a direct result of giving birth while Isabella's death occurs a few years after having a child. The first introduction to Frances is in chapter six, when Hindley returns home for her father's funeral and, to everyone's surprise, "has brought with her a wife" who is described as having "neither money nor name to recommend her" (32 ). This first impression implies that her primary value is that of being a wife, of having a husband. We learn nothing about his life, past, interests, or history beyond the fact that he married Hindley andshe is now a wife. The next step is for her to get pregnant and have a child and that happens in chapter eight. She gives birth to a boy named Hareton, but dies just a few days later (47). Her husband should be grateful because, as he is told, "it is a blessing that your wife was spared by leaving you this child" (46). His goal has been achieved. She married and bore Hindley a son. There's really nothing left for her to do, so she dies. This is being a grown woman: getting married, having children, dying. Isabella Linton's plot is almost the same, except that it takes her a few years to die after giving birth to a son for her husband and once again, we have an example of a female character who actually has no narrative outside of his marriage. and his son. She and Heathcliff flee together (97-98). A short time later “a son was born to her” who was “christened Linton” (135). Two chapters later, she dies and Linton is taken to Wuthering Heights to live with his father. Isabella's story is extreme because the only reason Heathcliff married her was to have a son who could marry someone in an attempt to get Thrushcross Grange as an inheritance. This is the clearest example of treating a woman like a tool. Heathcliff sees no value in Isabella other than her ability to marry him and bear him a child. Other than that, its plot is dead, just like its runtime. It is used as an object, it is a means to an end, it serves a purpose. Again, we learn nothing about her life outside of her husband and son because they are her main value. Without them, it means nothing to the world of Wuthering Heights. And with them it means even less. It is an object that completes a task and then is left to die. His fate is dark, sad. Indeed, the fate of all the adult women in Wuthering Heights seems increasingly bleak and colder with each depiction of a female character. With the appearance of Catherine Earnshaw Linton, we finally meet a female character who fights against that terrible female destiny, but is ultimately unsuccessful. . From the beginning, Catherine is depicted as an exuberant character, “too mischievous and rebellious” and writes in her diary that she and Heathcliff “will rebel” (28, 14). As she grows up, she falls in love with Edgar Linton and the two eventually marry (65). Part of her reasoning when she marries Edgar is to use his money to help Heathcliff achieve a better life, but she doesn't realize that, as a woman, she will have no say in how she and her husband spend their money and, in fact, she will have absolutely no control over money, finances or property because she is just a woman; she is not granted that power (60). After marrying Edgar, Catherine declines quite rapidly. She becomes withdrawn, grumpy and depressed. After giving birth to baby Cathy, she dies within two hours because she had been starving for several days before the birth (121). Why had he refused like that and why was he subjecting himself to such physical torment? Certainly her depression and anorexia had a lot to do with Heathcliff with whom she was much more in love than with Edgar. But even more than that, he had lost all sense of identity and value. This happened to all the women in this story because they were all treated the same: as objects whose main purpose in life was to marry a man, have a child or two for him, and then die. This is exactly what happens to Catherine just as it happened to Isabella and Francis before her and to Mrs. Earnshaw and Mrs. Linton before them all. He tried to rebel. She tried when she was just a child with Heathcliff. When she was engaged to Edgar, she tried to use his.