Wuthering Heights

By Maria Santos

If you’re looking for a feelgood romantic read, Wuthering Heights will thoroughly disappoint I’d heard that Wuthering Heights was a timeless classic and when I struggled to trudge through it, I questioned why I was unable to appreciate this literary masterpiece I realized that one cannot read this novel through the lens of romance and love but rather recognize the deep-rooted themes of abuse, revenge, and destructive love.

The story follows two starcrossed lovers, Heathcliff and Catherine. Catherine comes from the respectable and wealthy Earnshaws, who adopt Heatchliff, an orphan. Both Catherine and Mr. Earnshaw adore Heathcliff, and favor him over their own flesh and blood, Hindley As Heathcliff and Catherine become more infatuated with one another, Hindley’s resentment for Heathcliff grows. Hindley begins to rain down hell upon Heathcliff, treating him like a servant and physically and mentally abusing him Silently and passively, Heathcliff wordd accepts this ill-treatment Heathcliff endures further trauma when Catherine abandons him to climb the social ladder by marrying Edgar Linton. Heathcliff runs away and returns years later as a prominent, wealthy man, capable of seeking revenge. He redirects the cruelty and abuse he suffered as a child to inflict pain and suffering upon Hindley until his dying breath. The abuse doesn’t stop there, however Heathcliff becomes increasingly more sinister, abusing his own wife and child. By the end of the novel, it was impossible to sympathize with Heathcliff as he became the very thing he loathed: the villain. Bronte uses Heathcliff’s devolution from the victim to the villian to shed light on the harsh reality of intrafamilial abuse, common at the time she wrote the novel

By the same token, Bronte uses Heathcliff and Catherine’s destructive love to suggest that healthy relationships require change and compromise Catherine’s wordd choice to marry Edgar ultimately leads to her demise since she is unable to fully accept her new role as a dutiful wife due to her lingering love for Heathcliff. Throughout her marriage she longs to return to her childhood, refusing to adapt to life without Heathcliff Heathcliff, unable to move on from Catherine, “dies” when she does since their “souls” were intertwined. He thus continues his life in unrelenting misery, projecting his unhappiness onto everyone around him

To further emphasize the need for change in relationships, Bronte introduces two new characters: Catherine, Catherine’s daughter, and Hareton, Hindley’s son, whose love prevails in the end of the novel Heathcliff raises Hareton as an uneducated servant to fulfill his desire for revenge Ironically, he treats Hareton the same way Hindley treated Heathcliff, yet Hareton, unlike Heathcliff, gets the girl. Hareton’s desire to improve word himself and become educated eventually led Catherine to accept and love him Their marriage demonstrates the necessity of growth and change in relationships

In the end, I can’t say Wuthering Heights was an enjoyable read I wanted to read a nice love story and instead read a dark, gothic novel exploring serious issues still word present in modern-day society. If you choose to read this novel, just remember: this is NOT a romance!

Courtesy of bbc com