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Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte. The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centres (as an adjective, wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them.

Now considered a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights' innovative structure, which has been likened to a series of Matryoshka dolls,^{citation needed} met with mixed reviews by critics when it first appeared, with many horrified by the stark depictions of mental and physical cruelty.^[1]^[2] Though Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was originally considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works, many subsequent critics of Wuthering Heights argued that its originality and achievement made it superior.^[3] Wuthering Heights has also given rise to many adaptations and inspired works, including films, radio, television dramatisations, a musical by Bernard J. Taylor and songs (notably the hit "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush), ballet and opera.

Plot summary

The narrative is non-linear involving several flashbacks, and involves two narrators - Mr. Lockwood and Ellen "Nelly" Dean. The novel opens in 1801, with Lockwood arriving at Thrushcross Grange, a grand origins^[4]. He is often described as "dark" or "gypsy". Earnshaw's daughter Catherine becomes Heathcliff's inseparable friend. Her brother Hindley, however, resents Heathcliff, seeing him as an interloper and rival. Mr. Earnshaw dies three years later, and Hindley (who has married a woman named Frances) takes over the estate. He brutalises Heathcliff, forcing him to work as a hired hand. Catherine becomes friends with a neighbour family, the Lintons of Thrushcross Grange, who mellow her initially wild personality. She is especially attached to the refined and mild young Edgar Linton, whom Heathcliff instantly dislikes.

A year later, Hindley's wife dies, apparently of consumption, shortly after giving birth to a son, Hareton; Hindley takes to drink. Some two years after that, Catherine agrees to marry Edgar. Nelly knows that this will crush Heathcliff, and Heathcliff overhears Catherine's explanation that it would be "degrading" to marry him. Heathcliff storms out and leaves Wuthering Heights, not hearing Catherine's continuing declarations that Heathcliff is as much a part of her as the rocks are to the earth beneath. Catherine marries Edgar, and is initially very happy. Some time later, Heathcliff returns, intent on destroying those who prevent him from being with Catherine. He has, mysteriously, become very wealthy. Through loans he has made to the drunken and dissipated Hindley that Hindley cannot repay, he takes ownership of Wuthering Heights upon Hindley's death. Intent on ruining Edgar, Heathcliff elopes with Edgar's sister Isabella, which places him in a position to inherit Thrushcross Grange upon Edgar's death.

Catherine becomes very ill after Heathcliff's return and dies a few hours after giving birth to a daughter also named Catherine, or Cathy. Heathcliff becomes only more bitter and vengeful. Isabella flees her abusive marriage a month later, and subsequently gives birth to a boy, Linton. At around the same time, Hindley dies. Heathcliff takes ownership of Wuthering Heights, and vows to raise Hindley's son Hareton with as much neglect as he had suffered at Hindley's hands years earlier.

Twelve years later, the dying Isabella asks Edgar to raise her and Heathcliff's son, Linton. However, Heathcliff finds out about this and takes the sickly, spoiled child to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff has nothing but contempt for his son, but delights in the idea of him ruling the property of his enemies. To that end, a few years later, Heathcliff attempts to persuade young Cathy to marry Linton. Cathy refuses, so Heathcliff kidnaps her and forces the two to marry. Soon after, Edgar Linton dies, followed shortly by Linton Heathcliff. This leaves Cathy a widow and a virtual prisoner at Wuthering Heights, as Heathcliff has gained complete control of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. It is at this point in the narrative that Lockwood arrives, taking possession of Thrushcross Grange, and hearing Nelly Dean's story. Shocked, Lockwood leaves for London.

During his absence from the area, however, events reach a climax that Nelly describes when he returns a year later. Cathy gradually softens toward her rough, uneducated cousin Hareton, just as her mother was tender towards Heathcliff. When Heathcliff is confronted by Cathy and Hareton's love, notably Hareton's determination to protect the defiant Cathy from Heathcliff's attack, he seems to suffer a mental break from reality and sees Catherine's ghost. He abandons his life-long vendetta and dies broken and tormented, but glad to be rejoining Catherine. Cathy and Hareton marry. Heathcliff is buried next to Catherine (the elder), and the story concludes with Lockwood visiting the grave, unsure of what to feel.

Characters

Heathcliff is the central male character of the novel. A foundling raised by the Earnshaw family, he forms a bond with his foster sister Catherine Earnshaw and they share a passionate love, but it is founded on their sameness, of being different halves of the same soul, rather than just a romance or some physical attraction. Meanwhile he nurses a bitter rivalry with his foster brother Hindley, who resents the partiality his father shows Heathcliff and is cruel to him after his father's death. The only time he truly showed love or emotion was when it had to do with Cathy. He runs away from the heights when he is approximately sixteen (his age is unknown but he looks slightly older than Cathy) and returns three years later, having mysteriously made his fortune, education and refinement. He is a brooding, vindictive man, and his anger and bitterness at Catherine's later marriage to their neighbor Edgar Linton sees him engage in a ruthless vendetta to destroy not only his enemies but their heirs, a crusade that only intensifies upon Catherine's death.

Catherine Earnshaw is Heathcliff's foster sister. She has dark brown eyes which are characteristic of her family. A free-spirited, wild, passionate, and somewhat spoiled young woman, she returns Heathcliff's love entirely, but because Heathcliff had been made so low that if she married them they would become beggars, instead she chooses another, Edgar Linton, through which marriage she hopes to help Heathcliff and bring him back to the standing he would have had. Heathcliff leaves the Heights after overhearing that it would degrade her to marry him, and because of this she throws herself into a violent fit and is ill for a while. When Edgar asks her to marry him she is about fifteen; they are married three years after Edgar's father's death when she is about eighteen, presumably when Edgar comes into his inheritance. When Heathcliff returns after those same three years she renews their friendship, which makes Edgar unhappy. Always on the edge of madness, her physical and mental health are destroyed by the feud between them, and she descends into prophetic madness before dying in an angelic state shortly after childbirth at about nineteen.

Edgar Linton is a childhood friend of Catherine Earnshaw's who later marries her. His fair appearance, blonde hair and blue eyes, contrasts with Heathcliff's dark appearance. A mild and gentle man, if slightly cowardly and distant, he loves Catherine deeply but is unable to reconcile his love for her with her feelings for her childhood friend Heathcliff. This leads to a bitter antagonism with Heathcliff, and it is partly this which leads to Catherine's breakdown. He is well-mannered and gentlemanly but always remains something of a spoiled child. He is too afraid to fight Heathcliff and shows fear at the prospect, earning both Cathy's scorn and solidifying Heathcliff's contempt. Linton is incapable of competing with Heathcliff's guile and ruthless determination across the decades, and his health fails him while still a relatively young man.

Isabella Linton is the younger sister of Edgar who becomes infatuated with Heathcliff. She fundamentally mistakes his true nature and elopes with him despite his apparent dislike of her. Her love for him turns to hatred almost immediately, as she is ill treated both physically and emotionally and held captive against her will. When Heathcliff returns from the Grange after Cathy's death she taunts him and he responds by trying to attack her, but Hindley interferes and she escapes the Heights. She leaves for London after visiting Nelly at the Grange and gives birth to their son Linton Heathcliff about seven months later, whom she attempts to raise away from Heathcliff's corrupting influence.

Hindley Earnshaw is Catherine's brother and Heathcliff's other rival. Having loathed Heathcliff since childhood, Hindley delights in turning him into a rough servant upon inheriting Wuthering Heights, making him work the fields. However, his wife's death from consumption destroys him; he becomes a self-destructive alcoholic and gambler and it is this that allows Heathcliff, upon returning to Wuthering Heights, to turn the tables and to buy the mortgage to Wuthering Heights which Hindley created because of his gambling debts, and to become its owner.

Ellen (Nelly) Dean is, at various points, the housekeeper of both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, and is the primary narrator of the novel, told through M. Lockwood's journal entries. She is Hindley's, Heathcliff's and Cathy's foster-sister and servant, and is the same age as Hindley, seven years older than Cathy. Heathcliff genuinely likes her and is always glad to see her. She recognizes early on that Heathcliff is Catherine's true love and tries to dissuade her from the disastrous marriage to Edgar. Having been a disapproving witness and unwilling participant to many of the events between Heathcliff and both the Earnshaw and Linton families for much of her life, she narrates the story to Lockwood during his illness at the Grange. It is presumed that she never married as she keeps the name Dean throughout her life. It could be considered that she is the true hero of the story, and without her many of the events in the story would never have taken place; however, she is not the primary protagonist.

Linton Heathcliff is the son of Isabella and Heathcliff. He bears no physical resemblance to Heathcliff whatsoever and takes after his mother completely, with big soft blue eyes, fair golden hair, and slightly effeminate in appearance. However he has a certain petulance, cruelty and selfishness, and exploits his ill health to get attention from others. He is a sickly child who grows up ignorant of his father until his mother's death when he is thirteen years old. He is forced to live at Wuthering Heights and grows into a bullied, trembling shadow of his father. Heathcliff arranges for him to marry his cousin Catherine Linton so that he may inherit both the estates of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He dies shortly after entering into the forced marriage.

Catherine Linton is the daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton. She inherits both her mother's free-spiritedness and dark eyes and her father's gentle nature, facial features and fair hair. Heathcliff takes advantage of her fundamental innocence and manipulates her into marrying his own son, Linton. She has a strong affection for Linton despite her father's and Nelly's attempts to keep her out of the reach of Heathcliff's machinations, and never wavers in her friendship to him. Unaware of Linton's failing health, she is manipulated into traveling to the Heights, where Heathcliff forces her to remain and marry his son before she returns home to her father, who is dying as well. Once she has become a captive of Wuthering Heights Heathcliff resorts to the same torture he applies to everyone against whom he bears a grudge; he is also violent towards her and cannot stand to have her in the same room with him. As a result, she becomes harpyish and unfriendly. When Nelly is allowed to move to the Heights she helps Catherine return back to her true nature and kindness. She later falls in love with her cousin, Hareton Earnshaw.

Hareton Earnshaw is the son of Hindley Earnshaw, who is adopted by Heathcliff upon Hindley's death. He is described as a handsome rustic with the dark Earnshaw eyes, and bears a likeness to his aunt and father. Heathcliff once saved his life; he caught him when Hindley accidentally drops him off the banister of the staircase; however he regretted the act. Heathcliff spitefully turns Hareton into an illiterate servant and has him work the fields, much as Hindley once did to him. Despite this, Hareton remains strangely loyal to him, and considers him his father. Quick tempered and easily embarrassed, he falls in love with Catherine Linton early on, and despite her contempt for him is thus inspired to improve himself. He is the only person who mourns Heathcliff upon his death.

Joseph is a servant of the Earnshaws and later Heathcliff. A bullying, lazy and snide man, he hates Heathcliff but is bound to serve Wuthering Heights and the sense of duty he feels to Hareton, who he calls the true master. Intensely religious, he is sanctimonious, self-righteous and largely held in contempt by those around him. He speaks in the traditional West Yorkshire dialect. This dialect was still used in the Haworth area up until the late 1970s, but there are now only portions of it still in common use.^[5]

Lockwood is the narrator of the novel. A newly-arrived tenant at Thrushcross Grange at the beginning of the novel, he is intrigued by the curious goings-on at Wuthering Heights, and persuades Nelly Dean to tell him the story of what happened during a bout of sickness. Lockwood is apparently a wealthy, relatively young man who comes to regret not approaching the younger Catherine Linton himself. Despite having a reserved manner and somewhat lofty ideals of himself, he is also a sensitive and romantic soul who is deeply affected by the saga of Heathcliff and Catherine. It is inferred that he lives in London and returns there after his stay at the Grange.

Frances Earnshaw is the wife that Hindley married while away at college. The fact that he did not tell his father suggests that Frances is not of high social standing. From her introduction she proves to be a kind woman to Nelly and Cathy but follows Hindley's example and dislikes Heathcliff. While Hareton is an infant she dies from consumption, or tuberculosis, a fate shared by most of the Brontë sisters. She had shown symptoms of her illness ever since Hindley brought her to Wuthering Heights, but at that time Nelly did not know what to make of her violent bloody coughs and fear of dying.

Mr. Kenneth, the local doctor and drinking partner of Hindley. Kenneth often sees to the ill or dead characters: Cathy in her madnesses, Frances during childbirth and TB, Heathcliff and his early illness, Edgar's final hours, and Hindley's death. Nelly tells Heathcliff that he should send for Kenneth to tend to his ill son, but does not tell him that Heathcliff's death is suicide by starvation. He also reports to Nelly that he saw Isabella leaving with Heathcliff.

Timeline

Local background

Though tourists are often told that Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse, near the Haworth Parsonage (Bronte Parsonage Museum), is the model for Wuthering Heights, it seems more likely that the now demolished High Sunderland Hall, near Halifax was the partial model for the building. This Gothic edifice, near Law Hill, where Emily worked briefly as a schoolmistress in 1838, had grotesque embellishments of griffins and misshapen nude men similar to those described by Lockwood of Wuthering Heights in chapter one of the novel:

The originals of Thrushcross Grange have been traditionally connected to Ponden Hall near Haworth (although it is far too small) and, more likely, Shibden Hall, near Halifax.^[6]^[7] A feud centred around Walterclough Hall is also said to have been one inspiration for the story along with the story of Emily's grandfather, Hugh Brunty.

Literary allusions

Traditionally, this novel has been seen as a unique piece of work written by a woman confined to the lonesome heath, detached from the literary movements of the time. However, Emily Brontë received literary training at the Pensionnat Héger in Brussels by imitating and analysing the styles of classic writers. She also learned German, and was able to read the German Romantics in the original. The work of Lord Byron was also admired by all three Brontë sisters. The brother-sister relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is reminiscent of the brother-sister couples in Byron's epics. The character of Heathcliff is reminiscent of the Byronic hero.

Gothic and supernatural elements

The novel contains many Gothic and supernatural elements. The mystery of Heathcliff's parentage is never solved. All film interpretations have failed in accurately depicting Heathcliff's appearance; He is described as "a dark skinned gypsy in appearance," with black hair and black eyes. It is assumed that he is a gypsy; there were, from what M. Earnshaw said, no people in the town who knew him or claimed him; he belonged to no one. /In literature, the smoky, threatening, miserable factory-towns were often represented in religious terms, and compared to hell. The poet William Blake, writing near the turn of the nineteenth century, speaks of England’s “dark Satanic Mills.” [Sparknotes]/ He is described by Hindley as an 'imp of Satan' in chapter four. Near the end of the novel Nelly Dean wonders if Heathcliff is a ghoul or vampire, but then remembers how they grew up together and dismisses the thought. The awesome but unseen presence of Satan is also alluded to at several points in the novel, and it is noted in chapter three that 'no clergyman will undertake the duties of pastor' at the local chapel, which has fallen into dereliction. Heathcliff is constantly described as a devil or demon by many different characters throughout the course of the book. His wife, Isabella Linton, asks Nelly if Heathcliff is a man at all, after she marries him and is exposed to his true nature.

An important part of the novel is often overlooked and has never truly been conveyed in any film adaptation; Heathcliff and Cathy are two halves of the same soul, and are good and evil, angel and devil. Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is based on their shared perception that they are identical. /Their love denies difference, and is strangely asexual. The two do not kiss in dark corners or arrange secret trysts, as adulterers do. (Sparknotes)/ Cathy famously proclaims "I am Heathcliff!" In that same conversation with Nelly, she talks about a "dream" she had, where she was in heaven, but was very unhappy and wanted to be back on earth. The angels grew so angry with her that they cast her onto the heath and onto Wuthering Heights, and when she woke, she wept for joy. Cathy goes through a transformation in the book; during an argument with Edgar Linton she starts going crazy, biting and ripping the pillows and then lying still as though dead. She is ill for a period of time but never fully recovers; she asks Nelly "Why am I so changed?" Her angelic nature, previously frustrated, surfaces, but she cannot live for long afterwards. Nelly wonders often if she will get into heaven, because of her less than saintly life, but when she watches her on her death-bed she is filled with a wonderful feeling of calm and release, and is assured that she has entered heaven. While Cathy's soul is angelic, Heathcliff's is demonic. Heathcliff's long-lasting malevolence and gratuitous violence can only be explained by his being a demon incarnate. Moreover, Heathcliff, upon Catherine’s death, wails that he cannot live without his “soul,” meaning Catherine.

Ghosts also play a role in the novel. Lockwood has a horrible vision of Catherine (the elder) as a child, appearing at the window of her old chamber at Wuthering Heights and begging to be allowed in. Heathcliff believes this story of Catherine's ghostly return, and late in the novel behaves as though he has seen her ghost himself. When Heathcliff dies, he is found in the bedroom with the window open, raising the possibility that Catherine's ghost entered Wuthering Heights just as Lockwood saw in his dream. At the end of the novel, Nelly Dean reports that various superstitious locals have claimed to see Catherine and Heathcliff's ghosts roaming the moors. Lockwood, however, discounts the idea of "unquiet slumbers for those sleepers in that quiet earth."

Allusions/references in literature

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

New versions

In 2006, it was reported that a new film adaptation was in development, with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp attached to star, however, no further developments appear to have been forthcoming. M. Night Shyamalan was once offered the project to direct, but he turned it down to work on The Village, which he later revealed to be inspired partly by the novel.^[12]

ITV has commissioned a new adaptation, to be written by Blackpool writer Peter Bowker. The three-hour Brontë is expected to be broadcast in early 2008.^[13] It will star Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy.

In early 2008, a highly publicized fight for the role of Catherine made headlines across the UK with both Keira Knightley and Lindsay Lohan vying for the role. John Maybury is slated to direct the latest adaptation.^[14]. In April 2008, Natalie Portman was cast as in the role^[15] although she had to leave the project soon after.

On August 1, 2008, director John Maybury pulled out of the film.^[16] On August 8, the Yorkshire Post reported that Australian actress Abbie Cornish had signed on to play Catherine Earnshaw. ^[17]

Other

References

^ Excerpts from Contemporary Reviews
^ Wuthering Heights: Publication & Contemporary Critical Reception
^ Later Critical Response to Wutheirng Heights
^ "Who knows but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen, each of them able to buy up, with one week's income, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange together?" (Chapter 7)
^ E.M. Petyt, Emily Bronte and the Haworth Dialect, Hudson History, Settle, 2001
^ Robert Barnard (2000) Emily Brontë
^ Ian Jack (1995) Explanatory Notes in Oxford World's Classics edition of Wuthering Heights
^ Romney, Jonathan (15 June 2000). "The passion killer". The Guardian. Retrieved on December 21, 2007.
^ Wuthering Heights (1920) at the Internet Movie Database
^ Murray, Andy (2006). Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale (paperback), London: Headpress, p. 34. ISBN 1-900486-50-4.
^ Wake, Oliver. "Wuthering Heights (1962)". Screenonline. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
^ Bellamy, Alison (20 January 2006). "Depp and Jolie to play Heathcliff and Cathy in Yorkshire". Leedstoday. Retrieved on January 27, 2006.
^ Oatts, Joanne (November 13, 2006). "Mammoth brings Cathy home to ITV". DigitalSpy. Retrieved on November 24, 2006.
^ Lindsay Lohan's Wuthering fight
^ Portman to star in new Wuthering Heights | News | guardian.co.uk Film
^ [1]
^ [2]Sheena Hastings: Let's store away these costume dramas in favour of some modern talent
Musical allusions and adaptations

Opera
- Bernard Herrmann wrote an Opera based on the novel in 1951. The libretto was by his former wife, radio play writer Lucille Fletcher. The opera was first performed in a concert version in London in 1966, with the composer conducting the Pro Arte Orchestra. It featured the soprano Morag Beaton in the role of Cathy, and baritone Donald Bell as Heathcliff. The opera was later recorded on a Unicorn-Kanchana records. However, a fully staged version of the opera was not done until 1982 when Portland Opera premiered the production.<ref>[http://www.wkms.org/programming/roulston.htm WKMS.org - Commentary Template]</li>
<li id="cite_note-17">'''[[#cite_ref-17|^]]''' [http://www.bernardjtaylor.com/Heights/Heights.html Wuthering Heights] by Bernard J. Taylor</li>
<li id="cite_note-18">'''[[#cite_ref-18|^]]''' [http://www.jimsteinman.com/backtome.htm The Artist's Mind]</li></ol></ref>

Wuthering Heights.html

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