Amy HowardCandidate Number: 6148Centre Number: 64175Word Count: 2,043

Connie in Lady Chatterley and Cathy in Wuthering Heights are shown to have totally rejected class and society’s expectations of women and thus lose much of the reader’s sympathy.

Although set in different eras, Wuthering Heights in the 1770’s and Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the 1920’s both novels present the same social boundaries. These are that it is expected that women should be the property of their husbands, should have firm control over their emotions and should abide by the rules set for them by men. Both novels also present the expectation that there should be no social interaction between the upper and lower classes. In Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Wuthering Heights, Connie and Cathy, both break through these constraints set by society, and both do this through the plot device of an illicit relationship, Connie with Mellors, and Cathy with Heathcliff. The fundamental idea that social class is a constraint which Connie and Cathy are tempted to reject is explored in different ways in the novels. In Wuthering Heights the consideration of social classes is what motivates Cathy’s actions, for example her decision to marry Edgar is because ‘he [is] rich, and [she] shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood, and [she] shall be proud of having such a husband.’ This causes the modern reader to feel unsympathetic towards her because she rejects these expectations of her in a way that makes her seem hypocritical, unlike the 1840’s reader that would understand where Cathy was coming from. On the other hand, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover Connie completely rejects these expectations set by society in the sense that she doesn’t worry about how her interactions with the lower class will be perceived by others in the upper class. This is made evident when Mellors asks Connie what they will do when people discover their affair, and she replies that ‘[she doesn’t] care what happens to [her.]’However, the reader still ultimately feels sympathy for her because her character is genuine throughout the entire novel.

In Lady Chatterley’s Lover, I think that Connie does not transgress the boundaries set by society as its idea that women should be passive and submissive to men is contradicted by Connie’s partial dominance over Clifford. This is made evident when Connie claims that, “she [is] not even free, for Clifford must have her there.” A modern reader could sympathise with this in a way that a 1920’s reader might be less capable of doing. This is because looking at context, a modern reader might presume that it should not be a woman’s job to care for her husband similarly as she would a child. Although her wedding vows expect her to support him emotionally, a modern reader might not think the circumstances of Clifford’s reliability on Connie were part of her wedding vows. She feels trapped and tells Clifford that "[he makes] eternity sound like a lid or a long, long chain that trailed after one, no matter how far one went." I see Connie’s dominance over Clifford to transgress the boundaries set by society, as for a modern reader it would be considered normal for them to be equals but in 1920’s society it was strongly believe that the husband should have the power, which Clifford has none of. Readers in the 1920’s would have been more likely to dislike Connie’s character due to the fact that she is completely betraying a man who has been injured in the war which a modern reader would be less able to relate to because affairs and divorces are no longer as frowned upon as they are more common, with divorces increasing to 3.5% per 1,000 people from 1.6 % in the 1920’s and a modern reader would therefore have been more sympathetic towards her. I would also argue that Connie does not transgress the boundaries set by society as Connie and Mellors ultimately seek a conventional marriage where Mellors is the dominant partner and Connie is his property, and expresses within a letter to Clifford telling him that “[she is] really in love with another man and [does] hope [Clifford] will divorce [her.]” The relationship is seen as ‘conventional’ in terms of male dominance and ownership with the exception of its adulterous nature by both the modern and 1920 reader. Clifford’s loss of dominance frustrates him as he agrees with society in that the husband should be the dominant partner and this right has been stripped away from him. I think that this is the reason for Clifford’s revelation that “it would almost be a good thing if [she] had a child by another man.” He suggests this because he sees it as inevitable and wants to be the one to make the initial decision so that Connie is not allowed to feel she has the most power within the marriage.

Amy HowardCandidate Number: 6148Centre Number: 64175Word Count: 2,043

The circumstance of Clifford’s injury placed upon Connie causes her to become ultimately the more dominant partner and regardless of her high social class, the constraints of society say that this should not be the case. Typically in the time that Lady Chatterley was written, women were intended to be the property of their husbands. Connie has an unusual amount of freedom for a woman in the time of her society. A person of her class and gender would be expected to have control over their emotions and to keep them hidden whereas Connie is not discreet about her feelings as shown when she confides in Mrs Bolton that “[she] might have a child.” It is possible for the reader to sympathise with Connie in relation to her emotions as she has been brought up this way and her relationship with her father probably influenced these actions because Connie was not submitted to his protection and control as “both Constance and Hilda had had their tentative love affairs by the time they were eighteen.” In a way, Connie probably felt that she was abiding by society’s rules by embarking on her affair as she was accepting her husband’s wishes and understandably found it tempting as ‘sex offered an escape from the world.’

Connie’s level of rejection of society’s expectations is subversive because although she transgresses societies’ boundaries through her affair, she also transgresses lower class boundaries through her social interaction with the upper class (Clifford) after choosing to demote herself to the lower class. Despite these transgressions, when she is with Clifford she does in fact abide by upper class expectations and when she is with Mellors, she abides by lower class expectations. As she attempts to belong to both classes, she therefore cannot be wholly placed into either class and be expected to completely abide by their rules. ‘The opposition between society [upper class] and nature [lower class] is one of the dominant structuring principles of the novel…the social self is defined by the ethical and linguistic conventions of society, but the natural self is grounded in experiences which trespass those conventions’ (Sanders.) Connie greatly trespasses those conventions because she seems to think she can belong both to society and nature.

In Wuthering Heights, it is debatable whether or not the reader should feel sympathy for

Catherine despite her complete rejection of society’s expectations. This is due to her fickle personality

which is an interesting attribute as ‘it [has become] customary to consider Wuthering Heights as

virtually an extension of its author. It was possibly a way to express her...thoughts [about]...the way

women were treated as ‘women writers of the period [typically] avoided confronting…difficult

question[s]’ (EMag.) The nineteenth century expectation of women is also presented in Wuthering

Heights through representations that come ‘uncomfortably close to the unpleasant reality of many

women’s lives in Victorian England, where wives...could legitimately be [beaten]’ (EMag.) This is

depicted in the novel when Heathcliff fantasies about physically abusing his wife, exclaiming that he

wants to “[turn her] blue eyes black, every day or two: they detestably [resembled] Linton's."

Heathcliff’s ill treatment of his wife causes the reader to feel sympathy for all women in the novel,

including Catherine because many women at the time were treated this way.

Pivotal to the novels is the idea the women should stick to their boundaries set by society otherwise they will be punished, and in Wuthering Heights Cathy is punished in the sense that she partially loses the reader’s sympathy. The most expected constraints placed upon Cathy are those relative to her class. She is expected to behave appropriately for a middle class woman; and to marry within her own class. Even when Cathy realises that Edgar is too good for her this still doesn’t stop her as despite the fact that "[she has] no more business to marry Edgar Linton than [she has] to be in heaven…if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, [she] shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade [her] to marry Heathcliff now." Cathy first rejects this expectation through her relationship with Heathcliff who is initially lower down within the class system that her because he is thought to be an orphan. Cathy’s initial purposeful rejection of society through her relationship with Heathcliff causes Cathy to lose the readers sympathy. When Heathcliff becomes similarly ranked to

Amy HowardCandidate Number: 6148Centre Number: 64175Word Count: 2,043

her, she finally conforms to societies expectations of her and marries Edgar Linton, regaining the reader’s sympathy as she does the right thing despite not loving Edgar. It could be perceived that Heathcliff’s revenge is directly linked with the transgression of classes as he chooses to steal Isabella from her higher class and sees this as a fitting punishment because class is what gives her power. “[Isabella’s] brother…was appalled at this fantastic preference. Leaving aside the degradation of an alliance with a nameless man, and the possible fact that his property, in default of heirs male, might pass into such a one's power.” The purpose for his revenge could also be seen to prove he is a man. Cathy has stolen Heathcliff’s masculinity so his revenge is intensely tied to regaining it. He thinks men are there to control their wives as this is all he has witnessed. Thrushcross Grange therefore represents the upper class and conformity whereas Wuthering Heights represents the lower class and rebellion. The contrast is made evident due to both houses being so isolated by the moors from any type of community. Heathcliff’s revenge causes the reader to feel sympathy for Catherine, as she and the reader realise what Cathy has escaped by choosing not to marry Heathcliff.

Cathy most evidently rejects society’s expectation of her as that of a woman by not remaining within her gender role, despite the expectation that women should be submissive and feminine. However, Cathy is not the only character guilty of this as both men and women in the novel have traits that stereotypically belong to the opposite sex. It could technically be argued in Wuthering Heights that we should sympathise with Cathy as she does not break through society’s constraints upon her because society doesn’t have any constraints upon her, in the sense that she is given very masculine attributes by the author as she is bold and manipulative. She goes on to exclaim that Heathcliff is “more [herself] than [she is]”, which blurs the gender roles and presents the idea that if she cannot be fully placed into either gender role then she cannot be constrained by society’s expectation of that role. It seems all women that pass through Wuthering Heights undergo masculine transformations in the sense that characters are endowed with male attributes to make them strong enough to break through society’s boundaries. Although the reader’s sympathy towards Cathy wavers throughout the novel, the reader ultimately feels sympathy for her because there is an intense sense of confinement due to society’s expectations of her.

To conclude, both novels present female characters that are constrained by society’s expectations of them. Both transgress the boundaries but in different ways, sometimes intentionally and sometimes by mistake. These transgressions of society’s boundaries influence the reader’s sympathy towards Connie and Cathy. The novel would have been interpreted differently by 1920 and 1840 readers compared to a modern reader, and they would most likely be less sympathetic towards both characters. As a modern reader, I do sympathise with Connie and Cathy because nowadays society does not have these types of constraints upon women. I therefore think that both Connie and Cathy are ultimately worthy of a modern reader’s sympathy.

Word Count: 2,043

Bibliography:

Wordsworth Classics; Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H Lawrence Wordsworth Classics; Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte D.H. Lawrence: The World of the Major Novels, Scott Sanders D.H. Lawrence, Essay ‘The State of Funk’, 1930 EMagazine April 2012 (Wuthering Heights)

Amy HowardCandidate Number: 6148Centre Number: 64175Word Count: 2,043