Wuthering Heights (fictional location)

A dark and unsightly place, it is the focus of much of the hateful turmoil for which the novel is renowned.

It is most commonly associated with Heathcliff, the novel's primary male protagonist, who, through his devious machinations, eventually comes into ownership both of it and of Thrushcross Grange.

Although the latter is by most accounts a far happier place, Heathcliff chooses to remain in the gloom of the Heights, a home far more amenable to his character.

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.Many Gothic houses and manors have claimed or had claimed for them the title of Brontë's inspiration in creating the Heights.

The best known of these is Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse near Haworth in West Yorkshire which Brontë's biographer Winifred Gérin seems to favour primarily because of its name: the word "Top" suggests "Heights", while "Withens" sounds very much like "Wuthering".