Title: Wuthering Heights Author: Emily Brontë Published by: Colins Classics Published in: January 2010 (Originally in December 1847) Pages: 356
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
I have a hate-love relationship with Wuthering Heights, in which I hated it at first, then upon closer inspection, I miiiight love it. It's basically the same situation as Persuasion; I first read it in my early twenties, precisely after reading Eclipse where Bella compared her/Edward/Jacob love story with Catherine/Heathcliff/Linton.
Ya wish, Bels.
The story opens in the year 1801, when Lockwood paid a visit to his landlord living in a mansion deep in the moor. His name's Heathcliff, and he wasn't exacly the most pleasant man to be with. Aanyway, Lockwood was stuck due to heavy raining. He decided to spend the night, and we meet the other residents of the house through him. The servant, Joseph, was very old and spoke in a Yorkshire accent. I'm not even kidding, his dialogue is heavily accented and I barely understood a word he said. There was also another friendly lady servant called Zillah, along with two other: a young bloke dressing and speaking just like Joseph, along with a young girl named Catherine who was apparently Heathcliff's daughter-in-law.
Lockwood slept in a room that had always been locked by Heathcliff for reasons no one ever knew. In said room, he found carvings of 'Catherine Earnshaw', 'Catherine Heathcliff', and 'Catherine Linton'. As if it wasn't enough, he was plagued by a nightmare of a lady named Cathy knocking on his bedroom window, calling on Heathcliff.
The next morning, Lockwood returned home to his estate and tried to drag out stories from his servant, Nelly. Apparently, when she was young, Nelly was a servant in Wuthering Heights and was raised alongside the children of the previous master of the house, one Mr Earnshaw. Since Nelly was a huge gossip, she unleashed a barrage of information Lockwood didn't expect he would uncover.
Heathcliff was adopted by Mr Earnshaw, brought home from one of his trips. The old man seemed to care and love him more than his own kids, Hindley and Catherine. This resulted in Hindley abusing Heathcliff, though the latter became close friends with Catherine. When Mr Earnshaw passed away a few years later, Hindley automatically became the new master of Wuthering Heights.
Heathcliff and Catherine became very close. They played together, laughed together, even mocked the Linton children who were more sheltered, as compared to them who spent their time running wild around the moorland. However, an incident happened that turned everything sour. Next thing we know, a couple of years later, Catherine became engaged to Edgar Linton. We then came to the crux of the story as she confessed her love for Heathcliff to Nelly that night, yet admitting that she could not marry him due to his low status. Heathcliff only heard the last part and decided to leave.
Years later, Heathcliff returned as a wealthy man swearing revenge on the Earnshaws. But how much of that was for the abuse he'd received when he was younger, and how much was the act of a lover thinking he was scorned?
EGGLYSIS
First time reading it, I deemed Catherine/Heathcliff as the most toxic pairing of a classics I'd ever witnessed. Their love was burning, that's true -- but it was a wildfire out of control, scorching everyone in its wake. I basically pulled my hair and gritted my teeth through each page because, no Heathcliff stop doing that you idiot, OMG Cathy gurl what the fuck are you thinking? I was 100% sure Emily Brontë intentionally created these two unlikeable leads to torture us. Catherine was a spoiled, egocentric, selfish brat who always got what she wanted. Heathcliff, albeit having a tragic background, was a manipulative and vengeful bastard who wasn't capable of love -- but for Catherine, arguably.
But I think the point of Wuthering Heights is to not see things through rose-tinted glasses. Scholars have argued that as an orphaned child, the abuse and discrimination that Heathcliff had to endure could be race-related, and the situation taught him that revenge was the best dish served cold. He was quite proud, Heathcliff. This pride marred his relationship with Catherine, probably his last redeeeming quality. It is heartbreaking reading Heathcliff and Catherine's last scene together.
Volume II highlights the plight of the second generation, i.e. the children of Hindley, Edgar, Cathy, even Heathcliff. It was at this moment that poor, impressionable, young me realised that Emily didn't want to just write a love story. Wuthering Heights is a story of generational hatred and divide. Hate got passed on and it is basically up to each individual on whether they want to relive the cycle over and over again, or decide it is enough and call it quits.
Overall, Wuthering Heights...
