“And the Lord God made to grow out of the earth every tree that was pleasant to the eye and good for food, even the tree of life in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil", we read in Genesis (Gen 2:9). In the Genesis story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, a serpent, the figure of Satan, forces Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen 2.17), which God specifically tells Adam and Eve that “they shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you will die.” The apple from this tree gives Adam and Eve “knowledge of good and evil” and they begin their fall from innocence. In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, there seem to be endless parallels to the story of the Garden of Eden, with recurring patterns of innocence and unity, then seduction and the fall. The closest parallels to Eden in Wuthering Heights come from the stories of Catherine and Heathcliff and their love for each other. Catherine and Heathcliff experience the story of Adam and Eve several times, with various events representing their blissful innocence, temptation, and fall from grace. Interestingly, the story of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve continues with Catherine's offspring, Cathy, and her relationship with Hareton Earnshaw. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One of the earliest examples of Eden in Wuthering Heights begins with the childhood friendship of Catherine and Heathcliff. As children, Catherine and Heathcliff are innocent and unaware of the prejudices and expectations that their society considers customary. One night, as Catherine and Heathcliff are “banished from the drawing-room, for making a noise, or for some slight offense of that kind” (Bronte 50) they decide to escape and “‘take a walk at liberty'” (Bronte 51). During this "free walk", Bronte skilfully mentions aspects of Eden and the history of the garden. Thrushcross Grange, with its walled park and fruit trees, is a very peaceful, almost heavenly place. Bronte rarely mentions the servants and the work they do when describing the Grange, making it seem as if within the house the inhabitants always live in idleness (Burns 184-5). Drawn by curiosity, Catherine and Heathcliff rush to Thrushcross Grange where they spy on the Lintons. While there, Catherine is bitten on the ankle by the bulldog guarding the Grange and is taken in by Mr and Mrs Linton. In telling this story to Nelly Dean, Heathcliff explains: "'the devil had seized her ankle, Nelly... I took a stone and stuck it between her jaws, and tried with all my might to force it down her throat.'" ( Bronte 52). This is an obvious parallel to the serpent in the Garden of Eden story. After the serpent tempts Eve to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, and God discovers it, he curses the serpent: "The Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, you are cursed above all animals and among all wild creatures. ... I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your descendants and her descendants: she will strike your head, and you will cut her heel" (Gen 3,14-5). the bulldog biting Catherine's ankle is a biblical allusion, as in the story of the Garden of Eden, the serpent was the figure of the devil. Furthermore, causing Heathcliff to exclaim that "'the devil had seized her ankle'",. and that "I took a stone and stuck it between his jaws", (Bronte 52) Bronte is parallel to Eden after God's curse on the serpent where the serpent would strike the man's heel, and the man would strike the head of the serpent.The next example of Eden in the story of Catherine and Heathcliff is the fall from innocence that Catherine experiences after beingwas cared for within Thrushcross Grange. After Catherine is bitten by the bulldog, she is taken to the house at Thrushcross Grange while Heathcliff is thrown out, beginning Catherine's fall from the innocence of childhood. Luxury seduces her. Catherine eats the produce of Thrushcross Grange, the 'plate of pies' and drinks the spicy, hot 'glass of negus'... Catherine's domestication has begun, a process that will lead her to leave behind her rough ways of girlhood and to assume good manners…The girl who five weeks before ran barefoot in the darkness…is now hindered by fashion and airs (Burns 186). This so-called “domestication” marks the beginning of Catherine's fall from innocence and her introduction to adult life. Catherine's Eden could be seen as the freedom of childhood on the moors with Heathcliff, or even childhood itself. When Catherine returns to the Heights, she seems very sophisticated to the world around her. The Highlanders say that “'they should have scarcely known her'” (Bronte 55) and that she seems “'like a lady now'”. Furthermore, with Catherine's new found manners, she even contemplates sacrificing her and Heathcliff's deep love for each other for class and rank in her social community. Edgar Linton is rich, handsome, and socially acceptable to the point that Catherine even says that she "'would be the biggest woman on the block'" (Bronte 80) if she married him. Over time, Heathcliff and Catherine grow further apart and when Edgar proposes to Catherine, she accepts. While talking to Nelly about Edgar's proposal, Heathcliff hears Catherine say "'it would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now'" (Bronte 82) and the fall is complete. It doesn't matter that he says he loves Heathcliff more than Edgar, the damage is done. Heathcliff escapes from the heights and childhood he represents and, on his own, will gain the “wealth and outward trappings of civilization which Catherine has learned to appreciate” (Burns 186). In this Catherine and Heathcliff reconstruct the part of the story of Adam and Eve in which Adam participates in Eve's fall. Heathcliff, like Adam, will bite the fruit that Catherine (Eve) bit, and will fall from his childhood innocence as Adam and Eve gained the knowledge of what is good and what is evil (Burns 186). The Garden of Eden in Wuthering Heights unfolds with the love triangle of Catherine, Heathcliff and Edgar. After Catherine marries Edgar and Heathcliff flees, the Eden-like paradise of Thrushcross Grange returns. Again, the inhabitants remain inside the house and do not venture beyond their beautiful garden. Nelly states that she saw a “'deep and growing happiness'” (Bronte 93) in Catherine and Edgar's lives. However, this veneer of peace and paradise is short-lived and this happiness is soon lost. One night, as Nelly was “coming out of the garden with a heavy basket of apples,” (Bronte 93) breathing “breaths of the sweet, sweet air,” she saw a “tall man, dressed in dark clothes, with a dark face and dark hair . ” This mention of apples and the sweet, warm air of the garden is a biblical allusion to Eden and the fruit of which Adam and Eve were tempted to eat. This dark man in the garden is Heathcliff, and in his return to the novel, he is transformed into a diabolical figure or a lying demon, like the serpent in Eden, as Catherine calls him in chapter 11 (Burns 187). When Nelly sees Heathcliff upon his return in the novel, Bronte describes him as a dark intruder in the garden of Thrushcross Grange. This parallels the serpent in the Eden story who was one of Satan's servants and an intruder in the Garden of Eden. Like the serpent, Heathcliff tries to convince Nelly to disrupt the peace in heaven, or Grange in the context of this story. Referring to Nelly bringing his message,Heathcliff tells Nelly that he is “'in hell until you do it!'” (Bronte 94). Furthermore, Heathcliff, with his hand on the door, “raised the latch and I entered” (Bronte 94). It seems that Heathcliff wanted Nelly to enter the house without his consent. When Nelly enters the house and introduces Heathcliff, Edgar Catherine and Heathcliff all get involved in a big argument, which ends with Catherine going up to an extremely sick room. Once again, paradise has been invaded and shattered into chaos. During her illness, Catherine longs for her childhood days with Heathcliff. This childhood was her Eden and, remembering its loss with Heathcliff's return, she is very troubled. Catherine is delusional, wanting to be a child again, and even imagining it, saying, "'all the last seven years of my life have become empty!'" (Bronte 124). This longing for her childhood represents her regret of biting society's apple and losing her Eden as a child with Heathcliff. Now, Catherine sees that social status is worth nothing if it doesn't make her happy. Furthermore, even though Nelly tells us that it is impossible to see the heights from the Grange, Catherine still claims to see her “'room with the candle in it, and the trees swaying before it'” (Bronte 125). This delusional statement shows the extent to which Catherine longs for her past. It even seemed like she was going crazy over it. (Burns 188). The allusions to Eden in Wuthering Heights continue with Catherine's daughter, who is named after her mother. Young Catherine, known henceforth as Cathy, is isolated from the world outside the Grange. At the age of thirteen Cathy had "not once been out of range of the park alone" (Bronte 183). This isolation causes Cathy to become curious about the outside world and often asks Nelly about it. Nelly tells Cathy to be content and "'Thrushcross park is the most beautiful place in the world,'" but Cathy is not happy, saying that "'I know the park and I don't know those'" (Bronte 184). This mention of the Garden of Eden comes directly before another "fall" in this book. Overwhelmed by curiosity, Cathy scales the walls of her Eden, Thrushcross Grange, on the moor and is tempted on the heights by our Satan figure Heathcliff (Burns 189-90). Once she arrives in the Heights, Cathy finally, after a long time, begins to appreciate Hareton Earnshaw. Eventually, the two appear to fall in love and, in a reversal of the Eden story, begin to restore Eden once again. As Cathy and Hareton get closer, Cathy tells Hareton to clear some land to import some trees from Thrushcross Park. In doing so, Hareton removes the “blackcurrant trees,” which ironically turn out to be the “apple of Joseph’s eye” (Bronte 300). After doing this, Joseph complains to Heathcliff, who, like God in the story of the Garden of Eden, threatens to expel Cathy and Hareton from the Heights, "'As for Hareton Earnshaw, if I see him listening to you, I will send him him who seeks the his bread where he can find it! Your love will make him an outcast and a beggar!'” (Bronte 304). voice of your wife and you ate of the tree about which I commanded you, 'you shall not eat of it', it is the earth because of you... By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread"" (Gen 3,17-9 ). In these two statements from Heathcliff and God, they both threaten to throw Hareton (or Adam) out and threaten to make him “find his bread where he may find it!” (Bronte 304) Furthermore, both threats are made because a woman, Cathy in Wuthering Heights and Eve in the Bible, orders a man to do a forbidden thing. Unlike the Garden of Eden, Heathcliff does not complete his, 1992. 184-194.