In the words of Professor Fred Botting, within Gothic, "transgression is important not only as a questioning of received rules and values , but in the identification, reconstitution or transformation of limits”. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights focuses on the transgression of social and moral boundaries not only as a response to the stereotypes of the early Victorian context, but also as a broader metaphor for human nature and emotion. The relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is the focus of the novel because of the implications it has for the characters' contemporaries, for the next generation, and for the narrative as a whole. Arguably, it is the almost supernatural nature of this fundamental relationship that taints the rest of the novel, both in narrative and theme, with angst, and denies all the characters a "normal" life. Heathcliff and Cathy redefine the reader's perception of love, demonstrating a passion that transcends status and defies God. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The all-consuming intensity of this passion leads both characters to abandon morality and compassion and inflict agony on those around them. Bronte's Heathcliff embodies otherness; the essence of his character is the violation of social norms. Since his arrival, Heathcliff disrupts the established structures of Wuthering Heights. Nelly suggests that "from the beginning, [Heathcliff] aroused bad feelings in the house", suggesting the tension that his otherness created within the otherwise traditional family of a gentleman farmer. The principle of patriarchy – inheritance – has been attacked since Heathcliff's very existence. Nelly describes Heathcliff as "the poor fatherless child, as [Earnshaw] called him", suggesting the possibility that Heathcliff is actually Earnshaw's illegitimate son. Nelly's ambiguous and pointed statement may suggest that Earnshaw calls Heathcliff that to hide the fact that he is not fatherless, but rather is Earnshaw's son. However, the potential unreliability of Nelly's narration introduces a further element of uncertainty to the reader regarding Heathcliff's origins. This uncertainty accentuates Bronte's portrayal of him as a strange and complex antihero. It can be argued that Heathcliff's position as Earnshaw's favorite, which arises from the transgression of Earnshaw's infidelity or the equally liminal position as an abandoned and ethnically diverse orphan, triggers the cycle of jealousy and abuse that runs throughout the novel. It is Hindley's view of Heathcliff as "a usurper of his parents' affections and of his privileges" that makes Hindley "bitter," a bitterness that will continue to make both Heathcliff's and Cathy's lives unlivable. Not only is Heathcliff's genealogy unclear, but he is also probably the symbol of the xenophobic stereotypes of the time, with a reading that sees him as Roma. Isabella Linton supports this interpretation with her comment "he is exactly like the fortune teller's son who stole my tame pheasant". Bronte's depiction of prejudicial and destructive attitudes towards the Roma, a nomadic minority originating from India and persecuted for centuries throughout the world, can be seen in the reference to the "fortune teller", a typical but culturally inaccurate representation of the 'gypsy' , and Isabella's dehumanizing line “Scary thing! Put it in the cellar, dad. Heathcliff's ethnic otherness is most likely used to expose racial tensions within white-dominated Victorian society - the slave trade was notabolished long ago when Bronte was writing - but it is also a metaphor for his deeper isolation and separation from the world of Caucasian etiquette. , cultivation and morality. Heathcliff is one character in a long line of "gothic wanderers", characters like Stoker's Dracula who exist on the fringes of society, looking in. Nelly reflects on Heathcliff: "Is he a ghoul or a vampire?" Rather than reading Heathcliff as a supernatural being one might argue that the pleasure he takes in the suffering of others and his eventual disconnection from mortal life is the product of the brutal marginalization he experienced during the critical stage of childhood development, perhaps suggesting that if one is treated like a demon, they will become one. The love between Cathy and Heathcliff overwhelms and contravenes the boundaries of society and morality. Cathy's account of her dream vividly clarifies the uncertainty of her relationship. “I just wanted to say that heaven didn't feel like my home; and my heart broke with tears to return to earth; and the angels were so angry that they threw me into the midst of the moor at the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke up sobbing with joy. For Cathy, the paradise of her dream symbolizes her marriage to Edgar Linton, a choice that in a sense represents Cathy's “repentance” of her sins and acceptance of hierarchical, patriarchal, and Christian values. If Cathy were to fully commit to marrying Linton, it would mean giving up her transgressive and wild love for Heathcliff, choosing the life of high society in favor of poverty. The dream suggests a life of Christian virtue, mortally with Linton and immortal in heaven. , will not bring Cathy to fruition and her expulsion by the angels, which recalls Satan's fall from grace in Paradise Lost, in fact makes her cry with "joy". The connection between Cathy and Heathcliff challenges the philosophical and theological notion of the soul. Cathy suggests that her and Heathcliff's souls are made of a different material than Linton's, thus challenging the idea that all humans have the same kind of soul, each a fragment of God. Instead, Cathy suggests in a way controversial that she and Heathcliff have souls from somewhere else, perhaps from hell: “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire. Part of what makes Wuthering Heights so powerful in its subversion of traditional principles is the ambiguity and lack of clarity regarding the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy. As exemplified in the passage about souls, Cathy never really explains what makes her and Heathcliff so similar. and so in love, yet their connection is almost omnipotent. Perhaps one element of their bond is the galvanizing force of suffering, which has defined both their identities since childhood, as Cathy expresses: "My greatest miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I have observed and felt each from the beginning." The reference here to the "beginning" is perhaps biblical, and recalls the story of Adam and Eve, from which original sin derives. The presence and oppressive power of original sin can be felt throughout Wuthering Heights as no character is freed from misfortune or misery. , despite their initial innocence. One might see Cathy and Heathcliff's love as children as a confusing allegory of the story of Adam and Eve, since it is the children's mutual curiosity in violation of the rules of class, age, ethnicity, and perhaps rules against incest that leads to the love that will destroy them both. The strange and anti-feminist concept of Eve created by Adam, from his rib to be.”