English moors are an area of barren strips of land covered with grass and heather. In Wuthering Heights, they are described as an empty and bleak territory. Their central role is to reflect the characters’ life events and feelings that they subdue.
Detailed answer:
Wuthering Heights, a novel written in 1847 by Emily Brontë, takes place in the Yorkshire Moors. A vast territory covered with wild grass and heather serves as a background for the novel’s actions. This remote land is full of dangers and beauty. It reflects the inner world of characters and emphasizes the struggles they have to go through.
Depending on whose feelings and mood the author writes about, the moors appear in a different guise. In her argument with Linton, Cathy reveals that the moors are a part of heaven for her. Nelly or Isabella associate them with nightmares and ghosts. For Heathcliff and Catherine they represent their passionate relationship: sincere, wild, dangerous, and untamable.
To understand the role of the landscape, one shall consider other setting sites. They serve as a symbolic barrier between the two worlds of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange in the novel. These are the names of the two houses where the plotline develops. The moors separate the good and light atmosphere of Earnshaw estate and the dark energy of Wuthering Heights.