Title: Wuthering Heights
Rating: 5 Stars
Wuthering Heights is, to say the least, an intense novel. All of the characters are intertwined and are either madly in love with, or screaming in hatred at, each other.
There are two families. The Earnshaw family lives at Wuthering Heights. The Linton family lives at Thruscross Grange.
One day Mr Earnshaw returns back from a trip to Liverpool with an abandoned urchin that he found on the streets. The child is filthy dirty and is basically feral. He is named Heathcliff (just Heathcliff, no first name or last name) and becomes a favorite of Mr Earnshaw, much to his son’s, Hindley, dismay. Heathcliff becomes intimate friends with Mr Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. Mr Earnshaw dies and Hindley inherits the estate. Hindley now brutally treats Heathcliff like a servant. Hindley marries Frances. Frances dies giving birth to Hindley’s son, Hareton.
One day, Heathcliff and Catherine steal away to Thruscross Grange. There Catherine meets the two children of the Linton family, Edgar and Isabella. Edgar and Hindley mock the common Heathcliff. Even though Catherine is passionately in love with Heathcliff, she cannot bring herself to marry a poor orphan. Edgar and Catherine become engaged. Heathcliff, in great rage and sorrow, runs away.
A couple of years later, Heathcliff comes back, now a wealthy man. Catherine is now pregnant and deathly ill. Edgar and Heathcliff fight over Catherine. To make Catherine jealous, Heathcliff marries Edgar’s sister, Isabella. In despair, Catherine dies after giving birth to a daughter named Cathy. Nearly mad with grief, Heathcliff drives away Isabella. Isabella later gives birth to a sickly child named Linton.
Heathcliff swears revenge on all. He drives Hindley to bankruptcy and early death through drink and gambling. Heathcliff buys Wuthering Heights. He intentionally keeps Hareton unschooled and vicious. As Edgar lies dying, Heathcliff forces a marriage between Cathy and the dying Linton so that he’ll also become the master of Thruscross Grange upon Linton’s death.
Heathcliff is now the undisputed master. All are either dead or directly under his thumb. Even so, Heathcliff is tormented by thoughts of Catherine and wants nothing more than to join her in death.
In this unholy mess a spark of love starts between Cathy and Hareton. Cathy begins to lovingly teach Hareton to read. Heathcliff sees his revenge plan start to come undone but no longer has the will to fight it. One night, Heathcliff goes out into the dark night to die. After his death, there are occasional spectral sightings of Heathcliff and Catherine, walking together at night.
There is a LOT going on here. First of all, so much young death. For those keeping score, Linton does at 17. Catherine dies at 18. Frances dies at a young age. Hindley dies at 27. Edgar dies at 39. Heathcliff dies at 38. Even Isabella, who essentially disappears from the story, dies off page at 32. One of the characters in the novel is the local doctor, Mr Kenneth. I have to say that he kind of sucks at his job. This was set in the late 18th century, so maybe that is a true reflection of reality.
Every now and then you hear talk of a Gothic novel. Well, if you ever want to see a perfect representation of a Gothic novel, look no further. You have brooding characters. You have emotionally overwrought characters. You have grand houses falling into disrepair. You have vaguely supernatural elements. This is truly a classic Gothic work of fiction.
It’s also interesting that, I think without exception, none of the characters come off as particularly likable. Heathcliff, who I guess is kind of the protagonist, is really a piece of work. His great love Catherine kind of enjoys torturing Heathcliff. Edgar is basically kind but even he is basically a pretentious prig. The two most positive characters are probably Cathy (a silly spoiled mean rich girl that finally shows love, but only to someone that she can totally dominate) and Hareton (a rude and crude brute that apparently just needed the love of a silly young girl to motivate him).
How does the novel compare to the 1939 film version starring Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff? First of all, the film greatly simplifies the plot. It essentially stops the story at Heathcliff, Catherine, and Edgar. This is understandable. Trying to force all of that plot into a two hour novel would have probably rendered it incomprehensible.
I know that Olivier is an all time great, but I just don’t think he makes an awesome Heathcliff (and yes, I know that he got an Academy Award nomination for it). First of all, he’s simply too pretty to be Heathcliff. Heathcliff is a brutal force of nature. Olivier just does not project that animalistic energy. Now, if they’d just waited ten years, watching Brando try to tackle it might have been interesting.
Also, in 1939, it’s pretty clear that people are still figuring out how to act in a film with sound. Olivier, even at that time an acclaimed stage actor, was just a bit too stilted and kind of declaimed his lines more than acted them. Some of the other actors had the exaggerated acting styles that seemed more reminiscent of silent films.
So, in my estimation, the novel is a clear winner.
Wuthering Heights is essentially a maelstrom of violence, yelling, crying, pouting, decadence, and dying. For me, Dostoevsky is the gold standard of emotionally overwrought novels of operatic intensity. Emily Bronte definitely gives him a run for the money with this novel.
dorkenstein 