Emily Bronte's novel, Wuthering Heights can be categorized as a gothic novel for many reasons. Her use of the "dark element" of the ghost, the many nightmares by characters, allusions to the devil, and the many references to the dead all include themes associated with the gothic novel. Her use of these reoccurring ghosts intensifies the darkness of her work and emphasizes the beliefs of the supernatural. An example of this ghostly theme is included in Lockwood's nightmare. .
Lockwood mistakes a branch of a firtree tapping against his windowpane with the ghost of Catherine begging to come in. He even stacks up a pile of books in front of the window to prevent Catherine from coming in. Lockwood wakes up and dismisses the whole event as a nightmare, but Bronte leaves it to the reader to decide how "real" the event really was. Even Heathcliff was stunned that a ghost would appear to the usual rational Lockwood which indicates that maybe his incident was more than just an ordinary dream. Bronte uses these gothic undertones throughout her novel.
The gothic novel intrigues our interest in the dark and uncanny, with supernatural and unexplainable phenomena. This interest emerged at the end of the Enlightenment as a reaction to the "Age of Reason." The gothic novel was very popular during this time and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights fits into this category well. The terrifying dreams, the appearances of Cathy as a ghost, her haunting of Heathcliff after her death, the suggestion of Heathcliff as a horrible figure that possesses black magic, the frequent occurrences of bad weather, and the visits to the graveyard all prove that Wuthering Heights is a great gothic of its time.
