The Images of "Dog"
    "Dog" is a quite important element in this gothic novel.  We know that Emily Bronte likes dogs very much.  Therefore, she had used varied kinds of "Dog" symbols to represent different things.  "Dog" is just as a  metaphor which was used to reflect various characteristics and personalities of different characters.  Besides, the features of the characters also revealed to the qualities of dogs, such as loyalty, violence, fierce etc.  Generally speaking, even the dogs in the Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange stood for the opposite type.  Dogs in Wuthering Heights were more wild, horrible and savage.  On the contrary, the dog in Thrushcross Grange was more tender and temperate.  To sum up, while reading this novel, we should put emphasis on the images of "dog" and see what was inside meanings.  Following are the examples we have found~
 

  * "You'd better let the dog alone." ...... "She's not accustomed to be spoiled- not
    kept for a pet." (Ch1 p.6) ----- It suggests that the dogs in Wuthering Height
    are not tend as a pet but wild as the nature around Wuthering Height. Besides,
    Heathcliff himself just as the dogs, he didn't get used to be comforted. There
    is no doubt that since Lockwood came to visited Wuthering Height, he tried
    to  be friendly to Heathcliff. But actually, Heathcliff couldn't get accustom  to
    it.
 
* " Guests are so exceedingly rare in this house that I and my dog." (Ch1, p.7) ---   The people and animals in Wuthering Height as it said above, they were not
       good at dealing with social diplomacy. It also reveals that Heathcliff
       usually did not like to contact with other people.

* "Off, dog!" cried Hindley,..... (Ch4, p.33) ----- Hindley viewed Heathcliff as a
   "dog". This description corresponded to his attitude toward Heathcliff. Because
   he thought that Heathcliff was a usurper of his parent's affection and his privile
   - ges, he had great hatred to Heathcliff. He looked down upon him and treat
   him as a savage in their family.  That's also why he viewed him as a dog.

* "They have let the bulldog loose, and he holds me." "The devil had seized her
   ankle, Nelly; I heard his snorting. She did not yell out." (Ch6, p.41) -----
   This description was a great example to explain and prove the wild and brave
   side of Catherine. Even the hard bite of dog, she would never yell out. As the
   following sentences suggested that "No! she would have scorned to do it, if
   she had been spitted on the horns of a mad cow." Catherine was belonged to
   the wild and nature side in fact. Because even in this horrible situation, she
   would not be scared but could handle the situation quite well.

* "Now, don't you think the lad would behandsomer cropped? It makes a dog
   fiercer, and I love something fierce." (Ch9, p.63) -----
   This is a hint of the relationship
   between Heathcliff and Haraton in the later times. Haraton grew up in almost
   the same environment as Heathcliff.  At the following chapters, we can find
   that their relationship was quite ambiguous. Here, Hindley also used dogs to
   described his son as he described Heathcliff. This suggested that Haraton and
   Heathcliff 's qualities and characteristics were somewhat the same.

* "Miss Isabella's springer, Funny, suspended to a hankerchief, and nearly at its
   last gasp." (Ch12, p.109) ----- This was the beginning of Heathcliff's revenge
   on Linton's family. Heathcliff hanged the dogs to declare that he would hang
   everyone of Edgar's family to make Edgar feel upset and hard. He won't
   revenge by killing Edgar himself but took away all what he love, such as
   Isabella. The hanging of the dog was just the symbol of Heathcliff's revenge.

* " The little dog was yelping in the garden yet. I spared a minute to open the
   gate for it, but instead of going to the house door, it coursed up and down
   snuffing the grass, and would have escaped to the road, had I not seized and
   conveyed it in with me." (Ch12, p.111) ----- The little dog was just as a symbol
   of Isabella herself. Although Nelly had persuaded her not to go withHeathcliff,
   she still leave with Heathcliff as the dog ran out to the road instead of got into
   the house. Unlike the dog, Nelly couldn't save Isabella at last. As a result, this
   was the beginning of Isabella's tragedy.

* "An oath, and a threat to set Throttler on me if I did not ' frame off ' " ( Ch13,
   p.116) ----- In Wuthering Height, dogs were used as weapons to threat or scare
   their enemies or guests. In p.118, Isabella said that " How powerful I should
   be possessing such an instrument.". So we can see how important dogs are in
   Wuthering Height.

* " ... for that pitiful, salvish, mean-minded brach to dream that I could love her"
   (Ch14, p.128) ----- Heathcliff did not like Isabella at all. He thought she just as
   a pitiful dog who couldn't face the reality. He even didn't view her as a person.

* "gnashed at me , and foamed like a mad dog, and gathered her to him with
   greedy jealousy." (Ch15, p.135) -----  This means their strong love that no one
   could get closer to them and seperate them. No  one even Nelly could not take
   Catherine away.
 
 *P 149 "Heathcliff, if I were you, I'd go stretch myself over her grave, and die
   like a faithful dog..."  ~  Here Emily Bronte had used the expressions that dogs
   stand for--loyal and tame, with no regret.

*P 149 "...thundered Heathcliff "...how the devil did you come to fasten me out,
  you toothless hound?..." ~  Heathcliff was scolding Joseph that why didn't he
  help open the door?  He meant that  Joseph was useless, low and evil.  "Hound"   is a kind of dogs that was used to help hunting, usually cunning and
  sly.  Besides, "Hound" contains another meaning--mean person.

*P 166 "Miss Cathy...demanded her own dogs, Charlie and Phenix.  They came
  limping, and hanging their heads; and we set out for home, sadly out of sorts,
  every one of us." ~  The two dogs exactly represented the mood of their
  master.  They felt down, because they were prisoned--so did young Cathy.

*P 176 "...Linton was engaged in timidly rebuffing the advances of a friendly
  sheep-dog." ~  A sheep-dog looks friendly.  But actually it is controlled by its
  master, the master wants the sheep-dog to watch the sheeps and not to let any of  the sheeps leave.  The sheep-dog pretended that he was cordial but he always  had other purpose.  It keeps an eye on the sheeps in order to win its master's praise--tricky!

*P 220 "...whistled to Minny, who obeyed her like a dog." ~  Again, "dog"
  symbolized that Minny obeyed her master's orders and was being loyal.

*P 234 (Linton)"...I wink to see my father strike a dog, or a horse."
  ~  "dog" means "lower standard" and "worthless".  It could even be a "tool" to
  reveal the awful emotions!

*P 259 "he(Hareton) is just like a dog, is he not..."
  ~  Here "dog" indicated a restricted life style.  Days after days a dog just eats,
  walks and sleeps, no other expecting goals or wishes.  A dog's life is "stable"
  and keeps on going in a same way.  Because there is no hopes, there is no
  dreams, which leads to its heart blank and dreary!  Just like Hareton, he was not well-educated, he could not know the realistic fancy world because he always
  stayed in Wuthering Heights, his mind was narrow.  Besides, due to the
  oppression of Heathcliff, he was hopeless.  Therefore, to use "dog" to describe
  Hareton's life is delicate.