Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is an interesting read. The characters are not a pleasant lot and they make their lives complicated and tiresome by their actions and behaviors. Though this has sometimes been called a love story, that is not the most apt description, in my opinion. Actually, I’m not sure what it is! Heathcliff and Cathy – what a couple. Both are emotional, passionate, easy to anger, quick to take offense, aggressive and challenging. But both also have the capacity to love deeply … to the point of obsession, though I’m not sure it is still considered love at that point. The problem is that although they are obsessed with each other, they bring out the worst in each other.
One of the weaknesses of the story for me was that we really didn’t have a good background for these characters. Sometimes in stories, it’s not necessary to have a full background – we understand or can relate to the characters. But, these characters are unique and not easy to understand. In some ways, it was comforting to know that I don’t think the way they do! Cathy is spoiled, yes, but there seems to be some other factors that drive her behavior. Her father seems to have a love-hate (or at least love-indifference) to her and, particularly, to her brother, who is largely displaced when Healthcliff arrives. Did these expressions of indifference or dislike by the father feed his children’s bad behavior or result from their challenging temperaments?
Heathcliff seems to swing from neglected to spoiled to degraded to hostile to perhaps mentally ill over the course of his life. He and Mr. Earnshaw have an odd relationship when Heathcliff is a child, as he supplants the son and thus incurs the son’s anger. He obviously is intelligent and could have really turned his life into something wonderful were it not for his overriding ambition for vengeance against all those who wronged him. His obsessive love of Cathy is also a source of misery. He left and remade himself, only to use those gifts and his wealth to seed unhappiness. They love each other in the most unhealthy and excessive way. Might they have been happy in a different context? Maybe, but given that each thought the other abandoned him/her, probably not. These misunderstandings, the need to control, an inability to communicate and engage in a constructive and positive manner, and the inability to control their emotions ended up keeping them apart. They couldn’t let go of each other, resulting in an ongoing toxic relationship.
Nearly all of the characters in the book engage in an unhealthy exercise of temper, suspicion, judgmental attitudes, violence and a need to “get even”. They don’t seem to realize that they really end up hurting themselves and those they love. It’s a vicious, toxic cycle that seemed to spiral out of control for most of the book. The two main generations of Earnshaws, Lintons and Heathcliffs are so intertwined that it’s hard to keep them all straight. The younger generation reflects combinations of their parents’ traits, though these behaviors and emotions generally are less extreme. Perhaps this moderation is why at least two of the descendants are able to break the cycle of violence, anger and aggression to find happiness. This second generation is not the one discussed when people think of Wuthering Heights – it is often forgotten but the fact that there seems to be some softening of the intense behaviors and drama offers some hope to a challenging group of people.
If George Eliot’s Middlemarch is about “real” and “grown up” relationships, Wuthering Heights is, to some extent, about people who indulge in melodramatic, indulgent and somewhat adolescent relationships – regardless of the age of the characters. Most of the characters don’t seem to grow and change … nor do they seem to want change. The only ones who seem to change are young Catherine and Hareton, who manage to find peace and happiness. This is a nice development and yet, this seemed to happen so quickly that it seemed felt a bit unreal. The book could have used a little more peace and happiness.
