This article proposes to observe a convergence between two works that can be placed within the gothic literary tradition: Wuthering Heights (1874), by English writer Emily Brontë, and Alias Grace (1996), by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. Based on the identification of an intertextual dialogue, this article discusses the presence of the window as metaphor in both works and interprets it as a sort of literary topic that represents the liminal nature of the characters, crushed by a series of interdicts. The window can also render the feasibility of escape, at times, accomplished only with supernatural assistance. It is argued that the presence of this metaphor in novels of distinct periods implies both the necessary and productive process of appropriation of the literary heritage, and the permanence of fears and tyrannies of the past in the present, suggesting that the gothic narrative might be seen as a space for women’s resistance.