Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I really loved Wuthering Heights, in the same way that I love watching reality TV: this was a train wreck I could not look away from. When I first picked this book off my library’s shelf, I was expecting a swoon-worthy romance, reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice. I had no idea about the tragic, winding, captivating mess I would soon find myself sucked into.

Wuthering Heights is a frame narrative. Mr. Lockwood is intrigued by his new, mysterious neighbors: Mr. Heathcliff and his daughter-in-law. Mr. Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Ellen Dean, if she knows any gossip about them. Ellen Dean reveals the intricacies of Heathcliff’s life while Mr. Lockwood and the reader listen.

I’m not going to go too in-depth with the twisty and turny plot; this post would be way too long and convoluted. Basically, Heathcliff is an orphan who is pseudo-adopted by Mr. Earnshaw. While Mr. Earnshaw dotes on Heathcliff, other members of the Earnshaw family feel much differently towards him. Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw’s son, despises Heathcliff, while Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine, is strangely fascinated with him.

As the story progresses, Heathcliff feels wronged by both Earnshaw siblings. He hates Hindley because Hindley abused and belittled him, and he is cruel to Catherine because, even though Heathcliff and Catherine love each other, she married another man, Edgar Linton.

When Catherine dies in childbirth, Heathcliff refuses to let her rest in peace and begs her to haunt him, to not leave him alone. Any goodness Heathcliff had died with Catherine, and he spends the rest of his life trying to make Catherine and Hindley’s children miserable. Although he succeeds for a while, after Heathcliff dies the two cousins fall in love and live, presumably, happily ever after.

The two elements of this story that caused the most heartache for me were Heathcliff and Catherine’s doomed romance and the cyclical nature of the children’s lives. Heathcliff and Catherine are both horrible people. They are nasty and cruel to each other and to everyone around them. Catherine is spoiled and stubborn and walks all over her husband. Heathcliff is unyielding in his anger and desire for revenge. Honestly, the two of them deserve each other. Edgar Linton and his family are the real victims in this story–nice, ordinary people sucked into the destruction that was Catherine and Heathcliff.

The only real moment of humanity the reader sees from Heathcliff is when Catherine is on the brink of death. Heathcliff is still harsh, but he vows he will never forget Catherine, saying, “I could as soon forget you, as my existence!” Heathcliff weeps as he realizes just how ill Catherine is, just how soon she’ll leave him alone.

There’s a strange, dark romance to the whole thing. I mean, it’s not Mr. Darcy declaring his love for Elizabeth, but there’s something horribly beautiful about needing someone so much that you beg for them to haunt you, torment you, after they die. Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is dark, and desperate, and damning, and it ruins everyone around them, but it’s still love.

The cyclical, yet contrasting nature of the children’s lives only makes Heathcliff and Catherine’s love more of a tragedy. Hareton, Hindley Earnshaw’s son, is belittled and abused by Heathcliff throughout his life, denied every opportunity to better himself, wholly reliant on Heathcliff for food and shelter. Catherine’s daughter, also named Catherine (I’ll call her Cathy, for clarity), grew up rich and pampered. When Cathy meets Hareton, he is fascinated by her and she is repulsed by him. However, Cathy is kinder than her mother, and Hareton is less prideful than Heathcliff. Cathy begins to teach Hareton to read, and the two fall in love. At the end of the story, Cathy, Hareton, and Ellen Dean are the only ones alive who were impacted by Catherine and Heathcliff’s cruelty. Instead of repeating the mistakes of their parents, they choose to be happy together.

Cathy and Hareton’s happiness is heartbreaking because it allows us to see what Catherine and Heathcliff could have been if their world had been a little kinder.

I loved this story so much. I’m an Emily Bronte fan now, and I hope to read more of her work soon. I’d recommend this book enthusiastically, but I’d probably give a heads up that it’s not a typical romance.

Thanks for reading with me,
Katie