Neglect of Wuthering Heights

Neglect of Wuthering Heights is not merely a backdrop but an active, corrosive force that mirrors the moral and emotional decay of its inhabitants. From its first description as a place exposed to 'atmospheric tumult' with 'stunted firs' and 'gaunt thorns,' the house carries an inherent wildness that, under neglect, deepens into ruin. The physical dilapidation of the building and its grounds becomes a tangible record of the cruelty, revenge, and despair that unfold within its walls, marking it as a space where human care has been withdrawn and nature's encroachment allowed to proceed unchecked.

Physical Decay and Architectural Ruin

The house's decline is evident from the earliest descriptions. The interior, once a 'huge, warm, cheerful apartment' with 'immense pewter dishes' and a 'vast oak dresser,' is later seen as a 'dingy, untidy hole' where the 'once brilliant pewter-dishes' are tarnished and dusty. The furniture is damaged: a 'handsome oak-bedstead' has its 'crimson curtains' wrenched from their rings, the iron rod bent, and the chairs are 'severely' indented. The very structure suffers; a 'huge bough' from a tree falls across the roof, knocking down a portion of the chimney-stack. Even the oak-panelled bed, a singular piece of furniture, is described as a 'singular sort of old-fashioned couch' that forms a 'little closet,' suggesting a cramped, claustrophobic interior. The neglect is so profound that when Lockwood first arrives, he observes the grass growing 'up between the flags' and the cattle serving as 'the only hedge-cutters,' a sign that even the most basic maintenance has been abandoned.

Moral and Social Degradation

The physical neglect is inseparable from the moral decay of the house's inhabitants. Under Hindley Earnshaw's rule, the house becomes a place of 'reckless dissipation,' where the master's 'bad ways and bad companions' set a 'pretty example' for Catherine and Heathcliff. The curate stops calling, and 'nobody decent' comes near. Later, under Heathcliff's dominion, the neglect continues. Isabella Linton, upon arriving as a bride, finds the house a 'dreary, dismal scene' where the 'formerly cheerful house' has become a place of 'neglect.' She notes the 'uniform grey' floor and the tarnished pewter, and the housekeeper Zillah describes the 'tiresome' and 'fainthearted' Linton Heathcliff, who is 'constantly getting coughs, and colds, and aches, and pains.' The house itself becomes a prison for Catherine Linton, who is 'starved a month and more' and forced to live among 'clowns and misanthropists.' The neglect is a form of slow violence, eroding the physical space and the spirits of those trapped within it.

The House as a Symbol of Heathcliff's Revenge

Heathcliff's deliberate neglect of Wuthering Heights is a key component of his revenge. He allows the house to fall into disrepair, mirroring the degradation he inflicts on its inhabitants, particularly Hareton Earnshaw, whom he reduces to a 'state of complete dependence' and keeps in ignorance. The house becomes a monument to his triumph and his bitterness. Even in death, the neglect persists. Heathcliff's own corpse is found in the oak-panelled bed, his face and throat 'washed with rain' from a window left swinging open, the bed-clothes dripping. The final image of the house is one of a 'grim house' that Nelly Dean is 'glad when they leave it,' a place where the dead are rumored to walk and where the living are haunted by the past. The neglect is not an accident but a deliberate, sustained condition that embodies the novel's central themes of revenge, isolation, and the inescapable weight of history.