The Devastating Impact of Lord Wharton's Bible Charity in Wuthering Heights

Since 1695, the Lord Wharton Bible Charity has bestowed distinctive Bibles and two religious books to Yorkshire children able to recite certain Psalms and the catechism. Evidence for the Brontë' siblings' familiarity with the charity's project includes their respective literary criticism of the misuse of rote Scriptural memorization and quoting and the presence of two Wharton Bibles owned by the Brontës in the Brontë Parsonage Museum Library. Descriptions of the charity's project appear in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847), representing the catalyst for Catherine and Heathcliff's growing alienation and resistance to Christianity.