Portrayal of Marriage in Wuthering Heights and Scarlet...

â€Å"The convention of marriage is portrayed as a force which is detrimental to characters achieving their desires† Set in the North of England, the convention of marriage is prominent in Victorian society. This is shown as very detrimental to many characters in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s ‘Wuthering Heights’ leading to marriages in which, neither the bride nor groom know each other well enough to spend their lives together, causing a breakdown of their relationship and pain for surrounding characters. Brontà « shows that, without love, a marriage is unable to function and prevents those involved from achieving their desires. In ‘Scarlet Letter’, Nathaniel Hawthorne proves to the reader that an unfortunate marriage can lead to adultery, revenge and unhappiness,†¦show more content†¦After spending years so close to Heathcliff, her interest in Linton is mostly due to her prolonged stay with the Linton’s where ideas of propriety, wealth are encouraged by Mrs Linton as she tries to teach Catherine to be a proper lady. This no doubt, has a great effect on her as she do es focuses her attention on being a conventional lady and so, in turn becomes infatuated with Linton, a well-groomed gentleman, compared to Heathcliff who is dark-skinned, resembling a ‘bleak, hilly, coal country’. As her aspirations change and her ideas of propriety become entrenched in her mind, she accepts engagement with Edgar despite of her overpowering feelings towards Heathcliff. The convention of marriage is portrayed as a cause of deep destruction to the desires of characters as Catherine and Heathcliff are torn apart by marriage. Catherine is trapped inside a marriage without love and passion, thinking only of Heathcliff and the isolation that she is captured in. The idea of marrying for love was unheard of at the time ‘Wuthering Heights’ was set. Brontà « highlights the destructive nature of the general motives of the time to marry, through the dramatic downfall of Catherine’s character as she falls into terrible illness and then passes away due to her bad decision to marry Edgar, caused by the conventional ideals of marriage entrenched in her by Victorian society. This controversial idea (at the