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Yes, I do agree, but the terms "savage" and "civilized" should not be considered as reflective of the characters' relation to other human beings or of their position and conduct within human society. Rather, the terms "savage" and "civilized" stand for two antithetic (not necessarily conflicting) temperaments, two antithetic attitudes towards life, love, nature, the universe. The plot of the novel unfolds in three locales: Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange and the moorland that on the one hand connects the two houses and on the other, separates them from the rest of the world. The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff, Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw are of a savage temperament: passionate in their love and hatred, freedom loving, unable to compromise or to control their feelings. Their physical appearance is reflective of their 'savagery': they are black-eyed and black haired, Heathcliff is even described as having a dark complexion. The men are robust, but they have no advantage from this for their health and bodily strength only lengthens the spiritual agony they feel in face of their doomed passions or/and thwarted hopes.

The inhabitants of Thrushcross Grange, on the other hand, "civilized" Edgar and Isabella Linton, take a very different stance on life. While intense in their feelings, their behavior is not entirely controlled by passion. Deceptions in their expectations do not result, like in the case of their neighbors, in destructive or self-destructive behavior.