1. Felicity and Hostility:
The Role of Conflicted Space in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights
For some, a home may represent a reprieve from the chaos and tumult of daily life, a safe
and peaceful place for reflection and relaxation. For others, a home may represent the exact
opposite: a magnification of the complications of the outside world, an antagonistic environment
fraught with physical, mental, and emotional dilemmas. However, in some situations, a space
may embody both felicity and hostility; in other words, a space and its energy may be conflicted.
In the most recognizable and arguably the most brilliant works of Charlotte and Emily Brontë,
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights respectively, space becomes conflicted by its changing
relationships with characters and with time itself.
Jane Eyre, published in October of 1847 by Charlotte Brontë, stretches far across the
thematic spectrum. Through her characters, Charlotte Brontë examines morality, religion, love
and passion, mercy and forgiveness, and gender relationships, all of which may point towards its
recognition by feminists as a “proto-feminist” work, identifying that sexes are similar in “heart
and spirit” (Martin 93). Essentially, Brontë uses space in the novel in order to show the
intricacies of the human condition, intricacies which allow us an interesting look into character
relationships and personal growth versus stagnation.
One example of conflicted space in Jane Eyre is Jane‟s first house: Gateshead Hall.
Throughout her time at Gateshead, Jane is faced with hostility in nearly every corner of the
home. Jane is “...bullied and punished...not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in
the day, but continually” (Brontë 9). In the beginning of the novel, Jane is demeaned and
belittled in both the Drawing Room and the adjoining Breakfast Room. Later, Jane is punished

2. by being taken to the “red-room”, threatened with bondage, and is then locked in the room until
she has a “species of fit” (C. Brontë 17). Ultimately, in the red-room scene, the reader is privy to
important information concerning the space of the household. Brontë‟s language in describing
the hostile room allows us to imagine the red-room as a microcosm of the entire household:
...very seldom slept in, I might say never, indeed...one of the largest and stateliest
chambers in the mansion...Mrs. Reed herself, at far intervals, visited [the room] to review
the contents of a certain secret drawer in the wardrobe... a miniature of her deceased
husband; and in those last words lies the secret of the red-room— the spell which kept it
so lonely in spite of its grandeur...I was not quite sure whether they had locked the door;
and when I dared move, I got up and went to see. Alas! yes: no jail was ever more secure.
(C. Brontë 12)
The lonely feeling that Jane feels in the red-room reflects the loneliness that she feels in the
house as a whole, and perhaps, in the world. At this time in Jane‟s life, she is locked away from
the rest of the world as she is literally locked in the red-room and is forced to socialize only with
people who view her as “naughty and tiresome, sullen and sneaking” (C. Brontë 14). This
hostility in the space soon makes itself palpable as Jane begins to reminisce on her past at
Gateshead: “All John Reed‟s violent tyrannies, all his sisters‟ proud indifference, all his mother‟s
aversion, all the servants‟ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a
turbid well” (C. Brontë 13). It is fitting that Jane truly and honest releases her anger in this place
(if only in her mind), as the room represents the anger and oppression that she is subject to in the
house daily.

3. However, Jane finds one place of solace in Gateshead Hall, one small corner of the
household where she is able to immerse herself in felicitous space: “...the window-seat...having
drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close, I was shrined in double retirement. Folds of scarlet
drapery shut in my view to the right hand; to the left were the clear panes of glass, protecting, but
not separating me from the drear November day” (C. Brontë 6). In order for Jane to be happy, or
as Jane remarks, “happy at least in my way” (C. Brontë 8), she must be enveloped in a space
separate from, and yet joined with Gateshead, whether that space is literal (in the case of the
window seat and the separating curtain) or metaphorical (in the case of literature housed in the
manor). In this way, it is easy to see the conflicting nature of space in Gateshead Hall; while the
Reeds make it an increasingly hostile space for Jane, she is able to escape into several corners of
the household in order to preserve herself.
Lowood School, her second housing situation, is incredibly hostile from Jane‟s arrival.
Her journey to Lowood, a vivid and detailed account of scene, helps to set the mood of the space:
“...we ceased to pass through towns; the country changed; great grey hills heaved up round the
horizon: as twilight deepened, we descended a valley, dark with wood, and long after night had
overclouded the prospect, I heard a wild wind rushing amongst trees” (C. Brontë 41). Miss
Scatcherd, a “cross and cruel” teacher, treats Jane and her friend, Helen, particularly harshly (C.
Brontë 56). Combined with the extreme moral hypocrisy and brutality of Mr. Brocklehurst,
Lowood is a space composed of antagonism.
Despite this, certain space in Lowood is clearly felicitous. For example, Miss Temple, the
superintendent of Lowood, embodies goodness provides happy space for the girls, even at the
mention of her name. When Jane asks Helen if Miss Temple is “as severe” as Miss Scatcherd is,
Helen explains Miss Temple‟s good nature quite succinctly: “At the utterance of Miss Temple‟s

4. name, a soft smile flitted over her grave face. „Miss Temple is full of goodness; it pains her to be
severed to any one, even the worst in the school: she sees my errors, and tells me of them gently;
and, if I do anything worthy of praise, she gives me my meed liberally‟” (C. Brontë 56). It‟s clear
that Miss Temple‟s effect on the young girls of Lowood is impressive; even in the darkest of
places, in the most hostile of spaces, there is felicity to be found for them. The space affected by
Miss Temple is most certainly felicitous, making the whole of Lowood to be conflicted space for
Jane and probably for the rest of the young ladies.
Similarly, both Jane‟s experiences at Thornfield Hall tend to conflict with each other.
Firstly, Jane enters Thornfield, a felicitous space, with greetings from the kind yet unpredictable
Mrs. Fairfax and the exuberant, intelligent, yet spoiled Adele. Altogether Jane finds life at
Thornfield to be enjoyable and calm and her appointment with Adele to be fulfilling.
However, Mr. Rochester‟s return home proves to alter the space drastically. Rochester is
“changeful and abrupt” when dealing with Jane and Adele (C. Brontë 129). From his return on,
the space is quite conflicted, mirroring the mood changes of Rochester: “...my acquaintance with
him was confined to an occasional rencontre in the hall, on the stairs, or in the gallery, when he
would sometimes pass me haughtily and coldly, just acknowledging my presence by a distant
nod or a cool glance, and sometimes bow and smile with gentlemanlike affability” (C. Brontë
130). Eventually, Rochester‟s mood seems to warm to Jane; however, the space continues to be
conflicted. When Bertha, Rochester‟s clinically unstable wife, attempts to burn Rochester alive,
Jane is first alerted by her “demoniac laugh—low, suppressed, and deep” (Brontë 150). Jane
quickly douses the flames and is misled into believing that the arson was committed by
seamstress Grace Poole. While Jane saves Rochester and eventually forms a close and loving
relationship with him, she is plagued by the mysterious goings-on in the household, in the

5. conflicted space. This confliction comes to a head when Jane is informed of Bertha Mason‟s
existence and her relationship to Rochester. After, Jane leaves Thornfield, only to return when
called by Rochester‟s supernatural voice months later. Once at Thornfield, Jane learns of
Bertha‟s suicide and her destruction of the house, literally and metaphorically destroying the
conflict of the home, leaving Jane and Rochester to marry in felicitous space.
Emily Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights, published in December of 1847 after the success of
Charlotte‟s debut novel, deals explicitly with conflicted space and its effect on character
relationships and personal growth. Cathy Earnshaw, daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and sister of
Hindley Earnshaw, finds The Heights and the surrounding heath to be a particularly felicitous
space, an open space full of adventure. However, once her father returns with Heathcliff, “a
dirty, ragged, black-haired” and orphaned child, the space turned quickly hostile (E. Brontë 31).
Hindley Earnshaw‟s hate for Heathcliff was immediate and forceful and “from the very
beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house” (E. Brontë 32).
After Hindley‟s departure for college, spurred by Mr. Earnshaw, Cathy and Heathcliff
find themselves to be close friends. In this time, The Heights seem to be quite a felicitous space,
as Cathy and Heathcliff grow together. However, when Mr. Earnshaw dies, though Cathy and
Heathcliff find comfort in each other, Hindley soon returns with new wife Frances in order to
assume his place as master of the house and to exact revenge on Heathcliff, beginning a new
phase of confliction at The Heights.
Under Hindley‟s “tyrannical” rule, Heathcliff was made to live with the servants and was
restricted from his education, instead spending his days working in the fields (E. Brontë 39).
Floggings were issued as punishments for Heathcliff and the hostility of the space was clear.

6. However, the conflict between hostility and felicity arises, as Heathcliff and Cathy “forgot
everything the minute they were together again” (E. Brontë 39). Despite the space‟s antagonism,
Heathcliff and Cathy‟s relationship allows certain space to become felicitous, as the two are able
to find and then relish in their love for one another. The two eventually resemble twin spirits,
roaming the moors daily together. Ultimately, when Cathy and Heathcliff are alone and allowed
to indulge themselves on the moors or at The Heights in general, when the twin spirits are free,
the space is felicitous and joyful. However, when the space is plagued by Hindley or Frances or
the Lintons, when the spirits are imprisoned, hostility wins out and all characters are doomed to
unhappiness.
On the other hand, Thrushcross Grange embodies similar conflicted space. Thrushcross
Grange, the home of the Linton family, is truly felicitous at the beginning of the story: the
spoiled but loving Edgar and the dainty, naïve Isabella live comfortably in the Grange. Cathy‟s
arrival at the Grange changes almost nothing; Cathy is warmly accepted into the household and
begins a physical (but not spiritual) transformation into a proper young lady. However, this
transformation is quickly undone whenever she is in Heathcliff‟s presence. Despite this, Cathy
declares herself to Edgar and accepts his proposal of marriage. Heathcliff, overhearing Cathy
saying that it would “degrade” her to marry Heathcliff, flees from Wuthering Heights, leaving
Cathy to marry Edgar (E. Brontë 68).
Cathy is left in Thrushcross Grange‟s felicitous, if boring, space. Heathcliff‟s return to
The Heights brings hostility and vengeful spirit, the same spirit that eventually propels him to
marry Isabella out of spite. As Heathcliff continues to seek his revenge on Hindley and his son,
Hareton, Catherine falls ill and after giving birth to her daughter, dies.

7. Heathcliff finds himself at odds with the past, and thus chooses to exact revenge on the
present and in the future. Heathcliff, in setting up young Catherine and Linton, finds himself in
control of the Grange, a final if ineffective measure to appease his vengeful conscience. After
Cathy‟s tragic death, the whole of Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights are doomed to be
hostile space: the final separation of Cathy from Heathcliff acts as the determining factor in the
conflict.
In Charlotte Brontë‟s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë‟s Wuthering Heights, the main
characters are directly influenced by the mood of the space that they inhabit, which is constantly
in conflict between happiness and sadness, felicity and hostility. However, it is clear that, at the
close of the story, a resolution to the conflict must be found, for space cannot continue in conflict
forever.

8. Works Cited
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Jim Manis. Pennsylvania State University, 2003. Penn
State Electronic Classic Ser. Pennsylvania State University, 2003. Web.
<http://www.saratogahigh.org/ourpages/auto/2009/5/28/48299248/Jane-Eyre.pdf>.
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ed. Jim Manis. Pennsylvania State University, 2003.
Penn State Electronic Classic Ser. Pennsylvania State University, 2003. Web.
Martin, Robert B. Charlotte Brontë's Novels: The Accents of Persuasion. NY: Norton, 1966.