Explore the varying ways in which Bronte and Hardy present the idea of freedom in the societies they create.

In 'Wuthering Heights' and 'The Return of the Native', both Emily Bronte and Thomas Hardy create societies that are enclosed by both natural and man made boundaries. In both novels people try to escape these boundaries and breach them with varying success. Freedom within these societies is very much dictated by the morals and social confines of the Victorian age.
One way in which Victorian society affects people's freedom is through marriage. In both novels a female character chooses to marry a man not so much for love but for social reasons. In 'Wuthering Heights', Catherine Earnshaw choo…