The setting plays such a powerful role in Emily Brontë's epic tale of star-crossed lovers, at times it seems to be one of the central characters. Wuthering Heights takes place in the windswept moors of Yorkshire, in a fictional village, not unlike the Brontës hometown, Haworth.
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The novel opens at Longbourn, the Bennet family's home in Hertfordshire. Most of the story takes place at fictional locations in Hertfordshire (Longbourn, Meryton, Netherfield Park and Lucas Lodge). Austen doesn't give many clues about the actual location of these places, except for their distance from Gracechurch Street in London, where the Gardiners live. There's a great article on Jansa.org, which makes a strong case for Harpenden, Redbourne and Kimpton being the real locations. We can pinpoint some real places that Austen used towards the end of the novel, when Elizabeth travels to the Derbyshire Peak District with her aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs Gardiner. They visit Lambton, a fictionalised version of Bakewell, and stay at the inn, which is though to be based on The Rutland Arms. They also visit some real stately homes in the area, including Chatsworth House. And then go on a tour of Mr Darcy's Pemberley, which some believe was modelled after Chatsworth.
There are several important settings in Jane Eyre and although Charlotte Brontë never uses actual place names, we can draw some clues from the author's own life experiences. The novel begins with Jane's childhood at Gateshead Hall and Lowood School, which was based on Charlotte Brontë's experiences at the Clergy Daughter's School in Cowan Bridge in Yorkshire. After Jane leaves Thornfield, she wanders the moors until she comes to the town of Morton, a place she based on Hathersage in Derbyshire. She stays with her cousins, the Rivers, at Moor House (Moorseats Hall). One of the novel's most important settings is Thornfield Hall, Mr Rochester's estate, where Jane comes to be governess to his young ward, Adèle. Both North Lees Hall in Hathersage and Norton Conyers in Yorkshire lay claim to being the original Thornfield. When Jane finally returns to Thornfield Hall, she finds that it has burnt down and that Mr Rochester (now maimed and blind) is living at Fearndean Manor , which Brontë modelled after Wycoller Hall near Colne in Lancashire.
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