Gimmerton in Wuthering Heights

Abstract

Of no little significance in Wuthering Heights (1847) is the prominent part played by Gimmerton for various aesthetic purposes both serious and humorous. Thus, for example, whereas the village is referred to here and there for its geographical features and for its usefulness as a centre of commercial, professional and travel facilities, it is also noted for the extent to which its inhabitants are given to malicious gossip and mindless credulity. Especially striking for its structural and poetic functions, on the other hand, is the occasional mention of Gimmerton Kirk, chiefly as pertinent to the presentation of Catherine, Heathcliff and Edgar in their childhood and adulthood. Perhaps the most remarkable thing, however, is the fact that it is only on hearing the word 'Gimmerton’ mentioned while on his way to a quite different destination in the North that Lockwood is prompted to pay his final visit to Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, thereby ensuring not only the completion of his diary but the very existence of Emily Brontë’s masterpiece.