An obsession with the transgression of boundaries is a key element in the novel.

As a Gothic novel, Wuthering Heights may be expected to explore the transgression of boundaries as within this genre the blurring of margins and overstepping the line of acceptability is a key concept. Bronte portrays multiple oppositions such as life and death and wild and domestic which she continually subjects to pressure causing these dichotomies to blur, transgressing the boundary between two distinct elements. Bronte’s use of Gothic concepts such as doppelgangers and opposition allows exploration of where the boundary lies creating an unsettling narrative shrouded in uncertainty. However, whilst Bronte portrays many transgressions it could be argued she stays within the class structure of Victorian England, whilst Catherine transgresses the boundary between self and other in her affirmation of love for Heathcliff, she chooses to stay behind the boundary and marry for financial support and class status rather than for passionate love. Perhaps symbolically many boundaries are crossed yet social constraints prevent boundaries being literally transgressed. The novel focuses on many boundaries and limitations however some interpreters may suggests the obsession is with violence or with love, the countless acts of verbal and physical violence could suggest the novels main obsession is with aggression and pain or perhaps the eternal nature of love expressed in the novel could portray a novel obsessed with everlasting love.

Bronte’s use of characterisation can be argued as creating an opposition between wild and civilised. Lockwood is the epitome of the middle class man, educated and supposedly civilised he could be seen as a direct contrast or doppelganger to Heathcliff, the wild and uncultivated “gypsy”. The opposition between wild and civilised could be argued to be depicted through these conflicting characters, however the dichotomy is perhaps not as established as first thought. Bronte depicts one of the most gruesome and Gothic violent acts of the novel from Lockwood, a civilised man, he rubs Catherine’s ghost’s wrist against the window pane until “the blood soaked the bedclothes” suggesting a brutal and somewhat barbaric act carried out by the epitome of civility. This could be seen has transgressing the boundary between wild and civilised as Lockwood oversteps the line of what is accepted within the umbrella of “civilised”. Structurally, this act comes at the beginning of the novel suggesting that boundaries will be further transgressed and perhaps that within the Gothic setting of Wuthering Heights preconceptions are not set, the boundaries between oppositions are perhaps not as rigid as thought.

Catherine’s declaration of love in Chapter 9 “I am Heathcliff” suggests the transgression of the boundary between the self and the other. Whilst it suggests a transgression of boundaries it could also suggests her passion and outpouring of love for Heathcliff which could highglight the obsession here is with infatuation and passion not with crossing boundaries due to declamatory nature of the sentence. Catherine suggests “he’s more myself than I am” which could symbolise the boundary between two people is transgressed when love is concerned, the sheer emotional tie to each other is so forceful they have become one entity, this could be interpreted as blurring the boundary between the self and the other. However,  it could be argued despite Catherin’s speech, she chooses to marry over financial support rather than love, which could suggest unfortunately class may not be a boundary blurred in Victorian England. Symbolically Catherine has transgressed the boundary between her and Heathcliff, however in reality she must conform to societal constraints and cannot transgress the boundary between classes, this could suggest Wuthering Heights chooses to obsess with psychological boundaries rather than social, despite the Gothic tendency to challenge taboos class boundaries were not crossed.

A further boundary transgressed within Wuthering Heights is that of the supernatural and the margin between life and death. The use of ghosts within the novel such as Catherine’s childlike ghost at the window suggests a physical boundary between life and death as the window can be seen to act as a barrier between the living and the dead, with Lockwood on one side and the supernatural being on the other suggesting a clear boundary. However, the window is smashed allowing the two to merge and come into contact “my fingers closed on the fingers” this could suggest a literal transgression of the boundary between life and death as the barrier has been crossed. It could also be argued the boundary between heaven and hell is transgressed through the supernatural phenomena of dreams. Catherine suggests she has dreamt of heaven and yet she was more content on the “heath” on the moors than up in heaven with the “angels” suggesting that heaven is perhaps subjective, it could be argued Catherine’s heaven is wherever Heathcliff is, not the Christian interpretation of heaven as an afterlife after death.

Whilst the transgression of boundaries is a key element in the novel it is perhaps not the obsession, it could be argued violence is a predominant theme. The semantic field of pain is frequent in Wuthering Heights for example “dash’d”, “flung”, “fire” violent verbs and adjectives are used continuously throughout moments of happiness and sadness which could suggest the overwhelming sense of violence in the novel as it is recurring. Obsession could be interpreted as an overwhelming fixation, which suggests that the countless acts of violence such as Heathcliff throwing the applesauce, Hindley threatening Nelly with a knife and Catherine striking Edgar could suggest that violence is not only a key element also to the novel but in fact an obsession rather than the transgression of boundaries. The violence could be argued to become so frequent it becomes commonplace amongst the characters and perhaps therefore there is no boundary distinguished between acceptable and wrong to even transgress.

As with many Gothic novels, Wuthering Heights explores the boundaries between aspects such as gender, life and death and morality as it could be argued the transgression of supposedly fixed boundaries or dichotomies is truly terrifying. The confusion created when crossing these boundaries is perhaps what creates Wuthering Heights Gothic atmosphere and provokes characters to behave in such extreme ways. Whilst transgressing boundaries is a crucial component to the Gothic and to Wuthering Heights, it is not the only fascination explored as the novel delves into the realms of the supernatural, violence and love.