Is Wuthering Heights a proto-vampire story

[mona amon]

Well, Heathcliff says "as to repenting of my injustices, I've done no injustice, and I repent of nothing", so much for his redemption or remorse. Redemption requires judgement, so it finds no place in this marvelously neutral, non judgemental book.

The last lines of the book are among the most peaceful I've ever read, but it is the peace which comes from the complete removal of Heathcliff (and his offspring) from the scene by death, leaving Wuthering Heights and the Grange as if he'd never been. All his evil dies with him.

[Jackson Richardson]

T all Christian churches have some way of reassuring the dying, I would suggest that taking confession, laying on hands and praying with the dying to receive God's grace is a fundamental part of a minister's job.
Whether you call that the last rites or not or whether you argue about confession or not is irrelevant, the point is that Heathcliff would have accepted faith in God, forgiven (by) his foes, confessed his sins etc.

I would agree with you - it is what Nelly Dean is suggesting. As an Anglican with a strong catholic understanding Christianity perhaps I am particularly sensitive to the issues. I'm sure Emily would never have called such ministry the last rites. (I suspect Patrick Bronte would not have called himself a priest. There are plenty of Anglicans today who would naturally say "minister".)

Sorry for the pedantic digression.

[kev67]

Interestingly, I looked up Tuberculosis on Wikipedia and saw this reference to vampires.

^ Sledzik, Paul S.; Nicholas Bellantoni (June 1994). "Bioarcheological and biocultural evidence for the New England vampire folk belief" (PDF). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 94 (2): 269–274. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330940210. ISSN 0002-9483. PMID 8085617.

It says:

American vampire folk beliefs, which were particularly strong in 19th century New England, contained some European
features. The New England folklore is consistent in its incorporation of tuberculosis and examination of the body of the
vampire for putative signs of life. Following the death of a family member from consumption (i.e., tuberculosis), other
family members began to show the signs of tuberculosis infection. According to the New England folk belief, the "wasting
away" of these family members was attributed to the recently deceased consumptive, who returned from the dead as a
vampire to drain the life from the surviving relatives. The apotropaic remedy used to kill the vampire was to exhume the
body of the supposed vampire and, if the body was un-decomposed, remove and burn the blood-filled heart or the entire
body.

and

The New England vampire belief in based on a folk interpretation of the physical appearance of the tuberculosis victim and
the transmission of tuberculosis. As the name consumption implies, the disease caused sufferers to "waste away" and "lose
flesh," despite the fact that they remained active, desirous of sustenance, and maintained a fierce will to live (Brown, 1941).
This dichotomy of desire and "wasting away" is reflected in the vampire folk belief: The vampire's desire for "food" forces
it to feed off living relatives, who suffer a similar "wasting away."

[OrphanPip]

I would agree with you - it is what Nelly Dean is suggesting. As an Anglican with a strong catholic understanding Christianity perhaps I am particularly sensitive to the issues. I'm sure Emily would never have called such ministry the last rites. (I suspect Patrick Bronte would not have called himself a priest. There are plenty of Anglicans today who would naturally say "minister".)

Sorry for the pedantic digression.

In terms of literary convention the status of the priest isn't entirely important, it could commonly just be a lay character represented as particularly virtuous. The main point is to dramatize the repentance to make it accessible to the reader. The late 18th century novels of sensibility often contained those moments. Withering Heights is responding to that convention by alluding to it but also deliberately omitting it.

[kev67]

This essay, "The Satan Imp: The Vampire Archetype in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre" by Clifton Snider argues that both Heathcliff and Bertha Rochester are vampire archetypes, and that Catherine and Mr Rochester to a lesser extent share some vampiric qualities.

[Rachael Smith]

Whether or not Heathcliff is a vampire is explored in the text; Nelly -
’Is he a ghoul or a vampire?’ I mused. I had read of
such hideous incarnate demons. And then I set myself to
reflect how I had tended him in infancy, and watched him
grow to youth, and followed him almost through his
whole course; and what absurd nonsense it was to yield to
that sense of horror. ‘But where did he come from, the
little dark thing, harboured by a good man to his bane?’
muttered Superstition, as I dozed into unconsciousness.
And I began, half dreaming, to weary myself with
imagining some fit parentage for him; and, repeating my
waking meditations, I tracked his existence over again,
with grim variations; at last, picturing his death and
funeral: of which, all I can remember is, being exceedingly
vexed at having the task of dictating an inscription for his
monument, and consulting the sexton about it; and, as he
had no surname, and we could not tell his age, we were
obliged to content ourselves with the single word,
‘Heathcliff.’ That came true: we were.

[kev67]

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A nice bit of writing.

[Emil Miller]

The offices of Megacrap Entertainments.

‘Say Mort, I was messing around on the Internet yesterday and I came across this site called Literature Network Forums and, guess what? There’s some guy who’s suggesting that Wuthering Heights could be a proto vampire story.’
‘So what?’
‘Well it gave me another idea for a movie.’
‘Well you got it right on the nail with Downtown Abbey, Art; they simply fell over themselves to see it, so what’s the griff on the new movie?’
‘Well I’m thinking we could call it Withering Bites and set it in the Okefenokee Swamp; that way we could get alligators into the story as well.’
‘Sounds good but isn’t it supposed to be love story with some guy called Cliff Heath as the lead.’
‘Yeah, in the book he leaves his girl to come here for the big bucks but when he goes back she’s already got hitched to some other dude. But as it’s going to be set in the US of A, we could have him go to England instead.’
‘Good thinking Art but where do the vampires come in?’
‘Well this guy on the forum was suggesting that Cliff Heath is really a vampire but, not only that, they say that Rochester from Jayne Eyre is also a vampire. So what I’m thinking is that we could combine both stories and have Rochester’s wife as the queen of the vampires and get her to break out of her room and bite Cliff Heath’s dame and they all chase Jayne Eyre into the swamp but the vampires are attacked and destroyed by giant alligators that have been massively enlarged by Rochester who is really a mad scientist,’
‘Well its definitely got potential Art but who’s going to play Cliff Heath?’
‘Well I thought maybe we could get Arnie to play him and Bruce Willis as Rochester. Madonna could be Mrs Rochester, and Cliff Heath’s dame played by Hilary Swank with Jayne Eyre played by that Bonham Carter dame.’
‘I gotta hand it to ya Art; it sure makes those ***holes who keep going on about movies being dumbed down look stupid.’

[kev67]

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A rubbish bit of writing.

[Emil Miller]

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A rubbish bit of writing.

[AuntShecky]

That "Withering Bites" satire/parody (reply #23) needs only one more thing: a couple of slobbily-dressed guys combing the estate for antiques to sell/pawn/ or refurbish -- then you've got yourself another hit series on The History Channel. Oh, and could you squeeze in a singing contest?

[Emil Miller]

That "Withering Bites" satire/parody (reply #23) needs only one more thing: a couple of slobbily-dressed guys combing the estate for antiques to sell/pawn/ or refurbish -- then you've got yourself another hit series on The History Channel. Oh, and could you squeeze in a singing contest?

'Hey Mort! There's some dame on that literature site suggesting that we make Withering Bites like the History Channel with a singing contest.'
'Let well alone Art, we don't want to ruin a great movie with superfluous rubbish.'

[Wayne Jr]

I just came across your post about Wuthering Heights and Vampire.
I recently skimmed through this book;

Demon-Lovers and Their Victims in British Fiction By Toni Reed

This might mention some connections between Heathcliff, Vampire, and Dracula.
This is very interesting book. This explore the motif of English old ballad, "Damon Lover" in Tess OTD, Wuthering Heights, etc.
If you haven't read it, I think you might like it.

[Elnorn]

I think, Heathcliff may not be a human. He sees humans as inferior beings, that's where his cruelty comes from.

To go into detail, We don't know where he came from. Mr. Earnshaw was unusually obsessed with him, he even risked his life for him. He was prone to pain, he felt it but he didn't make much of a problem out of it. To go further along the timeline, Catherine lost her consciousness in his arms and never recovered. Her corpse was still fresh after years. And what do you make of loosening the nails of her coffin and keeping the lid open? For her to get out easily when the time comes? Why did Heathcliff wanted to get buried next to her so bad, and most of all, he wanted the lid of his coffin unnailed too. He didn't want to have a service too as far as I remember. He just wanted to be taken next to Catherine and get buried. He even kept his eyes open to stare around while acting dead on the bed.
Consider that all story is narrated by certain characters in the book, they think realistic and have a realistic explanation for everything they have encountered. But the single vampire reference done by Ellen is quite enough for me to think that there are some unnatural things going on.
Remember the last sentences of the novel. The soil over Heathcliff's grave was fresh. Maybe two of them went out through the same way. Who knows?