Wuthering Heights

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For the song by Kate Bush please see Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. First published in 1847, under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, the name comes from the house which is one of the three main settings in the book. A posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte.

Though now taken to be a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights’s initial reception was lukewarm at best. Its innovative structure, which has been likened to a series of Matryoshka dolls, puzzled critics when it first appeared. Some contemporaneous critics even believed it to be an earlier, less mature work from Charlotte Brontë (who had published Jane Eyre that same year under the pseudonym Currer Bell). Subsequent critics revised this view, and most agreed that Wuthering Heights’s originality and achievement exceeded her sisters Charlotte and Anne's works.

Wuthering Heights has given rise to many adaptations, including several films, radio and television dramatisations, and a musical, as well as a hit song by Kate Bush.

Contents

Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Brontë's novel tells the tale of Catherine and Heathcliff, their all encompasing love for one another, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them both.

Beginnings

The novel begins with the introduction of Lockwood who is new to the dark Yorkshire moors where Heathcliff resides. He is to be a tenant of Heathcliff, and through Lockwood's recounts of his meetings with his dark and brooding landlord we are told the tale of how the foundling Heathcliff came to reside with the wealthy Earnshaw family; how Heathcliff's friendship with Catherine Earnshaw developed to a point of mutual dependence and infatuation, much to the distaste of her brother Hindley; how Heathcliff's bitterness developed after the death of old Earnshaw and marriage of Catherine to Edgar Linton (a man of similar social standing to herself) and how being separated from Catherine set Heathcliff on a path of destruction fueled by bitterness and hatred.

Half-way through the novel the narrator changes and we are told the conclusion of the story by Nelly Dean, housekeeper to Wuthering Heights and its current residents and longstanding servant to the Earnshaw family.

Repercussions

Through Nelly Dean we gain more insight into how the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine was to have far reaching repercussions for their families and children. Heathcliff's passion for Catherine is so dark and sinister that he has become hellbent on destroying the happiness of her sister-in-law, her child and indeed the happiness of his own child. This mission of destruction, whilst fervent during Cathy's lifetime, becomes more empassioned after her death.

Demise, Difference and End

Only through the union of young Hareton and young Catherine can the pattern of hatred and darkness be broken and of course this can only come with Heathcliff's eventual demise at the end of the novel. The difference between young Hareton and young Catherine and Cathy and Heathcliff is, of course, that they are matched in social status and experience and therefore have more in common than just their love for one another.

Critical Analysis

Analysis Foreword

The story is told using the first-person narratives by two quite minor characters, Lockwood and Nelly Dean. One might assume that this would mean an 'observers slant' on the events that unfold within the novel. Indeed, Lockwood appears to maintain a distance from the story he tells, Nelly, however, tells an empassioned tale which appears to stem from her involvement within it. Regardless of narrative voice however, part of the appeal of this novel, and the reason for its revolutionary position in the literary cannon is the passion that the reader encounters at every stage. There are many threads to the novel and many ways of reading it and what follows is by no means a definitive analysis but a starting point for discussion and exploration of the text, that deals with the idea of the text being both passionate and revolutionary.

Analysis Main

One way of reading Wuthering Heights is to see it as a story about passion. Heathcliff and Catherine are passionate about one another. Their childhood friendship develops into a pubescent and eventual adult passion that remains unresolved. Their childhood friendship develops as a result of similarly passionate temprements that society cannot contain or control and therefore frowns upon. The love felt between Catherine and Heathcliff is so passionate that it eventually destroys them both. Only when passion is controlled and occurs within the right setting can it be answered and therefore be found to be fulfilling, as in the case of young Hareton and young Catherine at the end of the novel. Indeed some may argue that the reason that their relationship is even possible is because it is not founded on passion, but on true feeling and social match.

The child Cathy is initially described as "too mischevious and wayward for a favourite" and was practiced in "grinning and spitting" to incite a reaction; certainly a pattern of behaviour that cannot be described as calm and becoming. The child Heathcliff on the other hand is described as "uncomplaining as a lamb" and portrayed as most obliging in his early days with the Earnshaw family. However, Heathcliff's presence is bitterly resented by Hindley and as a result Heathcliff is mercilessly bullied by him. It is this that turns the "uncomplaining lamb" into the dark tyrant of the latter part of the novel. Another point about Heathcliff that would not have escaped Brontë's readers is of course that Heathcliff was apparently from Gypsy stock, and therefore immediately seen as unpredictable, empassioned and untrustworthy. Futhermore whilst Heathcliff becomes a victim of circumstance and more and more empassioned, Catherine grows and gains control of her passions to the point that she will marry Edgar Linton

However, what makes this story remarkable is the power and emotion that Brontë bestows on her heroine; Heathcliff's desire to destroy Cathy and Linton is equally matched in Cathy's manipulation of Heathcliff. This novel centres around an all encompasing love between the characters of Catherine and Heathcliff and the consequences that occur as a result of their not being able to be together. This is perhaps best captured in the last meeting between Cathy and Heathcliff, as Cathy lays dying. Heathcliff is likened to the devil by many critics; he is dark and has a foreboding appearance. His love for Catherine is all-encompassing although he ruins her life and that of her daughter in order to avenge her betrayal, but how far is Catherine (and perhaps society) responsible for the situation that unfolds? The reader should be aware that at no stage through the novel are we given an 'unbiased slant' on events and the emotion never subsides; indeed, why would we want such detatchment? Surely part of the point of the novel is the rollercoaster that Brontë places us on when getting to know and love her characters?

In Other Literature

In Albert Camus' essay The Rebel, Heathcliff is compared to a leader of the rebel forces. Both are driven by a sort of madness: one by misguided love, the other by oppression. Camus juxtaposes the concept of Heathcliff's reaction to Cathy with the reaction of a disenchanted rebel to the ideal heh once held. Maryse Conde's novel Windward Heights adapted Wuthering Heights to be set in Guadaloupe and Cuba.

Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes both have poems entitled Wuthering Heights.

Film & Television Adaptations

Perhaps the best-known of the film adaptations was released in 1939. It stars Merle Oberon as Cathy Linton, Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff, David Niven as Edgar Linton, Flora Robson as Ellen Dean, Donald Crisp as Dr. Kenneth, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella Linton and Leo G. Carroll as Joseph Earnshaw. The film was adapted by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. It was directed by William Wyler. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Sadly, it failed to depict the entire novel, having only portrayed half.

In 1970, another film adaptation was released. It stars Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff.

A 1992 film adaptation was the first one to show both generations from the story; that is Heathcliff, Cathy, Edgar, and Hindley, as well as their children. Juliette Binoche plays two roles, Catherine Earnshaw and her daughter. Ralph Fiennes plays Heathcliff.

A 1953 adaptation on BBC Television was scripted by Nigel Kneale, directed by Rudolph Cartier and starred Yvonne Mitchell as Cathy. Sadly, this version does not survive in the BBC archives.

See Also

  • A feud centred around Walterclough Hall is said to have been the inspiration for the story.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
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