them unusually "thorny," hard, and difficult people.

Later, when Lockwood asks Mrs. Dean about whether the Earnshaws are an old family, she says yes, and they discuss Heathcliff. A product of the rough environment of the isolated moors, he is, according to Nelly,

Rough as a saw-edge, and hard as whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better.

Wuthering Heights is also a name intimately connected with the moors. People on the moors, Nelly says again, are different from others, stronger, hardier, and more self reliant, because of the circumstances that have formed them. Both Catherine and Heathcliff, who spend so much time on the "wuthering" or windy moors, are "wild" children, according to Nelly.

Finally, Catherine shows the extent to which she is joined to the harsh, "wuthering" moors when she says to Nelly that she does not wish to go to a gentle heaven. She states,

I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy.

The formation the moors and Wuthering Heights offer set Catherine and Heathcliff apart. As Catherine goes on to explain to Nelly, she is different from people like Edgar, who are softer and more gentle because they have not had to face the harsh circumstances that she and Heathcliff have. The much more conventional Edgar is like the changeable foliage to her, while Heathcliff is, like her, made of the sterner rock of the moors.

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights is frequently used as a standard example of Romantic and Gothic literature. This is because one of the defining features of Romantic and Gothic literature is the setting, which is used to create the dark and foreboding atmosphere. The title of this novel is significant because it refers to the setting of most of the novel the house Wuthering Heights. This house is set in the moors, which also creates the eerie atmosphere.

In the opening of the novel, Brontë’s narrator, Mr. Lockwood, describes the setting:

Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. ‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather...Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quality of grotesque carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door (chapter 1).

Throughout the novel, the details about Wuthering Heights further cement it as a Gothic setting. The house reflects its inhabitants, which is another common element of Romantic literature. Heathcliff, the master of the house, is frequently shown in the guarding the doorway of the house. There is power in controlling property, as is displayed with Heathcliff’s actions.

His tumultuous emotional life and his need to show dominance are exhibited by his actions concerning Wuthering Heights. He was not initially welcomed into Wuthering Heights, so he continues this behavior by barring others from entering his emotional and physical sphere. This distancing of himself based on an emotional scar is a frequent element of Gothic literature.

As is usually the case with authors, Bronte chose her novel's title carefully. The title actually represents more than one important aspect of the novel.

The setting of Wuthering Heignts is the northern English moors, a rough, inhospitable climate prone to the harshest of winters.  The house by the same name sits high on a hill near some rocky crags.  The word "wuthering" means, as Lockwood tells us, being prone to "...atmospheric tumult...in stormy weather" (Bronte). The area is pummeled by high winds throughout most of the year.

As a result, the architecture of the house must be such that can deflect the wind's damage.  Deeply inset windows and jutted corners are two examples; this particular architecture can make the house appear dark and cold, both outside and inside.

The windy, stormy weather and the necessary architecture reflect of the lives of the family who lives inside.  Their relationships and situations are stormy and dark, just as their home and setting are stormy and dark, as contrasted with neighboring Thrushcross Grange, situated in a grassy, lower-lying area. Thus the reader is focused on the harsher setting and asked to consider its effect on the inhabitants of the home.

The title Wuthering Heights symbolizes contrasting themes of freedom and nature versus darkness and gloom. Initially, it symbolizes joy in the beauty of the outdoors and nature unfettered from materialism. Conversely, it also symbolizes the often bleak state of nature and its potential dangers amid stormy conditions.

While Mr. Earnshaw is alive, Wuthering Heights is a family homestead. However, after his death, Wuthering Heights symbolizes darkness and gloom, like the moors on which it is built often can be. As the “wuthering” in the name suggests, it symbolizes gusty winds and the dangers of nature.

Wuthering means characterized by strong winds, and heights means atop or maximum. The name itself tells of the inhospitable nature of the house, which was once a home but has become a cold, desolate structure in which there is no warmth or kindness.

Yet, early in the story, as Cathy and Heathcliff become inseparable, the location of the house at the height of the moors represents freedom to them and liberty from the materialism and classism that Cathy begins to yearn for at the Linton home.

Once Cathy leaves, Wuthering Heights truly becomes a cold, desolate place. Just as the moors can be characterized by stormy gales and craggy rocks, Wuthering Heights becomes inhospitable to human kindness and reflects the stormy darkness of its master, Heathcliff. The violence and fury that nature can unleash on the moors also characterize Wuthering Heights, as it reflects Heathcliff’s increasingly dark nature and violent temperament.

Wuthering Heights has a more distinctive atmosphere than any other English novel, and this atmosphere is created by the setting. Even people who have never read the book think, when they hear the title, of the dark, brooding Yorkshire moors, which reflect the personality of Heathcliff in an extended example of the pathetic fallacy.

The time period, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was, when the book was published in 1847, sufficiently long ago to seem old-fashioned and add to the gothic atmosphere, but it was still within living memory. However, it is the physical setting of the book that is paramount. The moors are bleak and lonely. Few people venture there, and dark secrets can be kept for a long time. The characters are described in terms of their setting. Heathcliff is, like the moors, "without cultivation; an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone." The contrast between him and Edgar Linton is like that of "bleak, hilly, coal country" and a "fertile valley." There are no fertile valleys around Wuthering Heights, so the contrast emphasizes that Linton is out of place here.

The house itself is grotesque and gloomy, built to survive in a harsh environment. It is hundreds of years old, apparently having been completed in 1500, and Lockwood describes it as being worthy of its strange name:

“Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.

The stormy weather that is an essential part of the atmosphere of the book is therefore integral to both the design and the name of the house. House, weather, and moors combine to reflect the tempestuous emotions of the characters in a perfect union of theme and setting.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a Victorian novel, which traditionally contains characters who lead a hard and difficult life in nearly every way and are then redeemed in the end by hard work and overcoming, in some way, their personal flaws. In other words, in a Victorian novel, the protagonists spend the bulk of their stories enduring their difficult circumstances (usually created by some injustice(s) in society) and perhaps wallowing in their sinful natures, and are then rewarded for their efforts, ensuring a happy ending to the novel.

Wuthering Heights is significant because it is not a typical Victorian novel. One thing it does have in common with most other significant Victorian novels is that it deals with the distinct economic differences between the rich and the poor. That is the crux of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, for example, and it is certainly an issue in Brontë's novel. In fact, this class distinction is one of the most significant factors in how things go for Heathcliff throughout the course of his life and this novel. In this way, Wuthering Heights is typical.

One of the ways this novel does not fit the norm, however, is that it is the only Victorian novel which places its characters outside the society in which they live. Of course the setting of this novel naturally isolates these characters, but they are additionally disconnected from a society that presumably does not matter much to them. In other words, society in this novel is seen only through the characters rather than as an entity which is as significant as any other character in the story.

That is not to say that society does not matter, as Catherine changes the course of both her life and Heathcliff's life based on her adherence to society's standards. She says,

"It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am."

While Heathcliff is the man she genuinely and completely loves, her adherence to society's dictates destroys any chance for them to experience happiness. Even then, though, we see society through her eyes, not her through society's eyes. 

Another way Wuthering Heights is unique is that it does not deal with social issues and problems like all the other Victorian novels. Instead, she concentrates on the inner workings of her characters' hearts and minds. She puts Heathcliff's rather violent emotions and feelings on display, and this focus on the inner workings of a man's soul is not something others were writing at this time. We are horrified by what things well up in Heathcliff's breast, but we connect to it, as well, because he is us.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this Victorian novel is that it provides the first indication of the next thing to be written. It is a Gothic Romantic novel, containing many of the elements of the modern novel. The setting is haunting, dark, and mysterious, and the presence of ghosts and other supernatural elements certainly characterize the novel more as Gothic than as Victorian. Even more, Brontë's protagonist is moved to act more by the dark or evil  side of his nature, another indication that this is a Gothic horror and more in the realm of Romantic than Victorian literature.

In short, Wuthering Heights distinguished itself both by being significantly different from nearly every other novel written during the Victorian period and by serving as a forerunner to the modern novel. 

Wuthering Heights is named for the home and farm where much of the action of the novel takes place. This location is central and formative to Catherine's and Heathcliff's lives, the main characters in the novel.

Catherine and Heathcliff grow up in this rugged stone sixteenth century house where they face the abuse and neglect that forms their characters. Here they become strong-willed, courageous, and hardy—and, to some extent, almost savage. In many ways, the house itself, rough-hewn and unpolished, reflects the souls of these two characters.

This home and the adjoining wild moors are where Catherine and Heathcliff grow close and fall in love. The moors—windy or "wuthering" like the landscape surrounding the house—become an extension of their home because they spend so much time outside to escape the family dysfunction.

As Nelly Dean points out, people from Yorkshire (the northern part of England) are different from the gentler souls who live and grow up in more inviting places. Catherine and Heathcliff exemplify this hardiness and depth—the roots of their love are deep and intertwined.

The novel was titled Wuthering Heights because much of the plot takes place at the titular manor. Cathy and Heathcliff grew up there and fall in love as teenagers.

Cathy's childhood activities on the moor were not considered appropriate in the Victorian era, especially not for a well-born lady. Rather than singing, sewing, drawing, reading, and so on, Cathy spent most of her childhood playing on the moors. She only transforms into a proper lady in the few years before her marriage to Edgar Linton.

The wild and rugged setting of the moors surrounding Wuthering Heights also mirrors Heathcliff's personality. He was a rude, angry, and bitter child, and these characteristics are accentuated in adulthood after Cathy's death.

Wuthering Heights also plays a key part in the second half of the story, which revolves around the next generation.

Cathy's daughter, Catherine Linton, leads a sheltered childhood at Thrushcross Grange. Her father does not permit her to leave the property, and one day, when in her early teens, Catherine leaves without his permission and visits Wuthering Heights. She learns that she has a cousin named Linton living only a few miles from her house.

Heathcliff is Linton's father, and eventually Heathcliff tricks Catherine into visiting Wuthering Heights and traps her there. Heathcliff forces Linton and Catherine to marry so that he can one day own Thrushcross Grange, which would leave Catherine penniless—this was a result of Heathcliff's relentless revenge plot, wherein Heathcliff had become obsessed with getting revenge on the Lintons after Cathy married Edgar.

Wuthering Heights, as a location, evolves throughout the novel. It is first the happy and comfortable home of the Earnshaws before it transforms into a place of misery during Heathcliff's ownership. After the deaths of Heathcliff and Linton, Catherine and her other cousin Hareton restore Wuthering Heights to its original positive state.

Toward the end of the novel, the author describes townfolk who believe they have seen the ghost of a young girl wandering the moors. Based on the description, we can assume this is the ghost of Cathy, wishing to return to her happy childhood.

The novel makes clear that the setting of the moors and the stony, rugged Wuthering Heights home itself form the characters of Catherine and Heathcliff. The moors and the house are harsh, bleak, and isolated. As Nelly Dean points out, such a setting forces people to go deeply into themselves and develop strength. In the case of Catherine and Heathcliff, the setting mirrors their bleak, harsh lives in a severely dysfunctional family ruled by an alcoholic.

The setting in which Catherine and Heathcliff grows up influences them to be hard, wild, and daring, and bonds them together in an indissoluble way. Catherine likens the relationship between them to the "eternal rocks" of the moors. Catherine, as she is dying, protests against going to heaven, and wants to be flung on the beloved moors which have formed her.

Catherine and Heathcliff are strong and fierce because of the harsh, wild, stony setting in which they have been formed. This is directly contrasted to the beautiful, soft setting the Linton children grow up in. As Heathcliff tells Nelly:

ah! it was beautiful—a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver chains from the centre, and shimmering with little soft tapers. ... Shouldn’t they have been happy? We should have thought ourselves in heaven!

The direct implication is that the Lintons are soft and weak, no match for Catherine and Heathcliff, because they have grown up in a pampered setting. Environment, not birth, the novel asserts, is what forms us.

Your question is subjective, of course. It would certainly be possible to ask it of a given person, and that person might answer, "nothing". After all, difficult as it is for me to understand, there ARE those persons who do NOT find the novel interesting!

Also, we might ask the question of 20 persons, and all would have different answers, none totally agreeing with the others.  Therefore, I cannot tell you exactly what is interesting about the book.  You will have to read it and decide for yourself.  However, I can give you a couple of suggestions of what makes it interesting to me.  Perhaps these will give you some clues as to how to begin formulating your own answers.

First of all, I find the setting of the book to be quite interesting.  The description of the heather, the rocky topography, the wind, etc., always evoke, for me, a land that is far removed from my own, and one that I would like to view.

I also like the Gothic nature of the book.  The dark, brooding, questioning, uncertainty, passionate nature of the characters draw me into their personalities.  "What makes them tick?"

And, of course, one cannot overlook the fact of the romances between the two main couples.  Love and romance for one couple is extremely different from the love and romance of the other.  The place of status in society of the era has much to do with their relationships, and makes their actions extremely interesting.

The fact that the novel was written by a woman, during a time when female writers were neither so numerous nor so appreciated as they are today, also gives me another reason to be interested in the book.

These are only some of the reason I find "Wuthering Heights" to be of great interest, and a novel that I have read more than once. I hope this will give you some starting places for your own conclusions.

I will start off with my reason why the novel 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte is so interesting - hopefully other editors will chime in with some more variations for you. It's interesting because the book broke the mould of its time. In the first half of the 1800s, femininity was everything to the upper classes - in fact girls would fail to have a good match or living without it. Girls were expected to be delicate, gentle, passive, talented in the gentler arts of music, conversation, sewing and to be learning to be good hostesses - in other words to be ladylike accoutrements their rich husbands could be proud of. Emily Bronte was different - not only did she pursue the unladylike occupation of writing for money, but she wrote 'coarse' or 'vulgar' stories involving passion and rage. In other words she was more honest than many writers of her day.

Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte is named after the primary setting in the novel, the estate of Wuthering Heights, home to the dark and heroic Heathcliff.  The estate of Wuthering Heights figures so predominantly in the novel, from setting the tone to affecting the action, that it almost feels like another character.  The wind-swept, mysterious estate sits upon a high hill in the moors of Northern England. 

Bronte makes full use of the popular Gothic elements from her time period in Wuthering Heights: the creepy haunted mansion,  supernatural happenings, romance, mystery.  Perhaps by naming her novel after the intriguing estate in her story, she follows the convention of other popular Gothic writers who also named their novels after their settings: Castle of Otranto (Horace Walpole), Northanger Abby (Jane Austen), The Mysteries of Udolpho (Ann Radcliffe).