The differences between the two generations can be formulated in terms of genre, and genre, in turn, can be analyzed in terms of human life history. The species-typical needs of an evolved and adapted human nature center on sexual and familial bonds within a community—bonds that constitute the core elements of romantic comedy and tragedy. romantic comedy typically concludes in a marriage and thus affirms and celebrates the social organization of reproductive interests within a given culture. in tragedy, sexual and familial bonds become pathological, and social bonds disintegrate. (on the structure of romantic comedy and tragedy, Frye, after more than half a century, remains the most authoritative source.)3 Wuthering heights contains the seeds of tragedy in the first generation, and the second generation concludes in a romantic comedy, but the potential for tragedy takes an unusual turn. in most romantic comedies, threats to family and community are contained or suppressed within the resolution.