Women in the 18th and 19th centuries lived in a patriarchal society dominated by men. They faced great oppression; a lack of social, familial respect and political rights." Women were "sentenced" to a very narrow lives - managing their households, producing children and attending to the needs of their husbands. The cliche, "woman should be barefoot and pregnant, whipping up dinner in the kitchen," is an accurate depiction of what was expected of wives and mothers during this period in history. .
In Emily Bronte's bittersweet classic, "Wuthering Heights," the character of Catherine Earnshaw bravely (and stubbornly) bucked the system, refusing to be controlled by the overbearing constraints of men. Catherine understood that the lopsided social system she was born into, was implemented by men, was an unfair, biased, Catherine did not let men control her illustrating that she does not posses the traits traditional women contained during the 18th century. Catherine showed that she does not confined to society's placement of women in a domesticated role all throughout the novel. .
A unique digression from the rule of women placement in society during the 18th century is seen in Bronte's characterization of the Catherine Earnshaw Linton, the heroine of "Wuthering Heights." Catherine is a strong, passionate and deeply flawed character. She is a curiosity in her disobedience of the role society has prescribed for her. It is significant that the first appearance of Catherine in the novel is in the form of a ghost. Just as ghosts reject sequential and structural limitations, Catherine rejects every kind of limitations and boundaries throughout the novel. She feels isolated in the confines of the house walls, and thrives on running free outside in the moors. .
When her brother instructs her to stay within the house as punishment, Catherine writes in her diary, "we should appropriate the dairy woman's cloak, and have a scamper on the moors, under its shelter.
