Love In Wuthering Heights
For my GCSE school project i've been asked this question, and the essay below is my response. It's not exactly short, however any comments or constructive criticisms, or alternatively if you simply want to question or add your own input into the points i've included in my essay - all messages are welcomed
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With Particular Reference To Chapters 1, 2 and 19 of Volume 2, Explain How Emily Bronte Presents Love
What is love, and is it actually definable? A thesaurus definition is ‘a strong feeling of affection’, though I don’t believe this covers all aspects of love. The word ‘love’ is used all too commonly; it can be used to describe a number of emotions. I think it is this constantly changing meaning that makes it indefinable. In Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights, she portrays a vast array of the emotions connected with the word ‘love’. It is these emotions that the reader can relate to, and thus Bronte has created an enchanting tale that has lasted throughout the ages.
The book was written as a product of it’s time, first published in 1847, during a time when writers reverted back to Gothic tastes. Medieval buildings, churches, monasteries and castles were revisited, and stories featuring tragic heroes and damsels in distress began to surface. These aspects feature heavily within the storyline of Wuthering Heights, Bronte incorporating Gothic and Romantic ties, and then throwing all appropriate content of the time period out of the window – to create one of the best-selling novels of our time.
When Wuthering Heights was first published, it was not well received by the reading public. The book was considering appalling, vile and sordid – and Bronte died in 1848 believing her book was a failure. However in 1850, when her sister Charlotte re-printed and re-introduced the novel, it began to catch reader’s attention, as the time period and social/moral restrictions had begun to change. Bronte is now responsible for one of the most gripping storylines in English Literature, her astoundingly innocent past adding to the disbelief of the dark world created within the vaults of her mind.
Wuthering Heights begins at the end of the story. Lockwood having just applied for tenancy at Thrush-Cross Grange, he wanders upon Heathcliff’s dwelling during a storm and is caught up in the tail-end of a life-time of wrong decisions. Here, he meets the main narrator of the novel, Ellen (Nelly) Dean, who is able to account for Heathcliff’s mysterious past. The novel often jerks around a time line centred around two characters, Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, forcing the reader to keep up with one of the most complicated narrative novels written.
The reader undergoes the vast journey across the decades of Nelly’s memory, alongside Lockwood who is equally as confused. Although the narrative structure is written in extreme detail, it is still written from the viewpoint of another character, which must be taken into consideration when analysing its reliability. Nevertheless, Nelly is able to guide the reader through the complex love-life of the two generations of the novel.
The setting of Wuthering Heights is also something to take into account, as the two residences, Thrush-Cross Grange and Wuthering Heights are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Wuthering Heights reflecting Heathcliff’s mysteriously dark background, and Thrush-Cross Grange reflecting Edgar Linton’s pampered, fairytale existence. Bronte has created this setting as to almost set a scene of the classic love-triangle. Catherine’s heart lies with Heathcliff, though the price must be paid for his twisted love obsession and the darkness residing within his soul and that of Wuthering Heights. Her love of material possessions however, draws her towards the enchanting life of Thrush-Cross Grange. At the Grange, Catherine knows she can have anything she desires at the drop of a hat, though her price to be paid is she will never be complete, and thus Heathcliff’s obsessive nature rears its ugly head and plagues the novel. The two houses carry their own theme, taking shape within the landscape, grounds, facilities, people and character types. On the one hand, Wuthering Heights has the sparse, tangled vines and dark, foreboding attributes – coupled with Joseph’s rough accent that makes Wuthering Heights a dreadful place. On the other, the bright lights, the dancing ladies in elegant gowns, grounds well kept, the residents upper class snobbery and love of expensive living that attracts Catherine. It is the two themes that play a large part in her torn heart. By piecing together the aspects of life in the social and economical ‘food chain’, Bronte has laid down the foundations of Catherine’s longing for the upper class status, and her feelings of degradation at the thought of moving down the ladder.
Heathcliff’s character is the darkest in the book, creating the frightening aspect which although you would expect to discourage reading further, it is the bleakness of the novel that spurs the reader onwards, gripping them until the end. The name itself reflects Heathcliff’s unknown past, one name serving both as a first and a surname. It’s his murky past and unforeseeable future that neatly ties into the supernatural aspects of the book. Wounded by the disbelief of Catherine’s rejection of his love, he spirals down a path of obsession and twisted revenge that will not bring him peace on earth or beyond. Many different off-putting traits surround Heathcliff’s character: Obsession, insanity, necrophilia, the lust for revenge and uncontrollable desire and passion.
Catherine Earnshaw however is a headstrong, flighty female whose need for domination is boosted by the submissive beau’s featured in the story. Edgar Linton, a man who’s upbringing required little need of a backbone (as the pampered life-style he lived did not require one), and so he is afraid of losing Catherine. Heathcliff however is attached so deeply to Catherine that the thought of her love not being returned wounds him deeper than any blade or bullet could. Mr Earnshaw (Catherine’s father) was a well respected man, and the lifestyle that Catherine led before the arrival of Heathcliff wasn’t all that different to Edgar’s. However as Heathcliff was brought into the family, Wuthering Heights and the characters residing within began to change drastically. Although always a leading lady (shown from the riding whip she requested from her father), Catherine’s mood softened in the presence of Heathcliff - though the brutal and savage nature within the pair remained buried as their relationship met few obstacles. It is only as the course of true love began to divert that their primitive and demanding nature begins to surface.
Catherine and Heathcliff’s love bears the signs of the ‘secret love’ featured in many great romantic tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet. In Volume 2, Chapter 1 Nelly is carrying a secret note from Heathcliff, who is waiting out of sight in the garden. The ‘passing of love-notes’ has been clichéd many times hereafter, included in novels to the love of schoolchildren. However what is interesting about the symbolism in this chapter is that the careful planning of Heathcliff’s visit during a Church service suggests that the two characters are separate from this universe, and not tied down by the belief of an existence in the afterlife. This plays a major part in the storyline, as Heathcliff and Catherine’s ghosts play their own parts. After speaking of their own idea of heaven, I believe the choice of meeting speaks of the world in which Catherine and Heathcliff’s love can be left undisturbed, a world not of the world they are currently in – a world only they can enter once they are joined after death.
Emily Bronte has written the passionate moments they spend together with more actions and symbolism than words. Catherine is depicted as someone wan and near death, which reflects the ‘helpless damsel’ that was considered attractive. In Chapter One Catherine is wearing ‘a loose, white dress, with a light shawl over her shoulders’. The colour white is often used to describe purity, which is ironic considering the viewpoint of Catherine’s unforgivable betrayal of her heart that the reader feels at this point in the story. The image of ‘looseness’ and the fact that her hair is now ‘simply combed in it’s natural tresses over her temples and neck’ contrasts the high-style image connected to life at Thrush-Cross Grange. This suggests that within her mind she is no longer bound by life at the Grange, possibly inclining her acceptance of her death in the foreseeable future. It could also be a reference to her mind set that she feels she is no longer bound by her marriage to Edgar, and her ‘dreamy and melancholy’ state takes her back to her previous existence with Heathcliff – and her regrets of letting her happiness slip through her fingers. An interesting term Bronte has included in the description of Catherine is that she is ‘doomed to decay’, like Heathcliff. This can be tied in with Catherine’s declaration of the similarity and closeness she feels her spirit is to Heathcliff’s – that she ‘is Heathcliff’.
The position of Heathcliff and Catherine at this point in the scene is quite alike to that of Act 2, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet – the famous Balcony Scene. Showing the classes of the two characters with their placing, but also the fact that Catherine is nearer heaven (or an afterlife) than Heathcliff through this placing. However as Catherine won’t come down to Heathcliff’s level, he comes up to hers, a featured plot that is centred in the story as Heathcliff constantly changes for Catherine, even after her death. The love Heathcliff and Catherine share is largely unspoken, it is felt. Stealing intimate moments that would have been shocking to the readers of the mid 1800’s, the heartbreaking story of their doomed love tears at the heart of readers today.
After Catherine’s death in Chapter 2, Heathcliff’s insanity begins to show more significantly. The self-harm he inflicts upon himself by brutally pounding his head upon a tree I believe is to compensate in his own mind for the pain he feels inside. The readers feel pity for his tragic existence and his denied love throughout the story. Heathcliff never wants to let go of Catherine, and pleads for her to be with him always, challenging her to haunt him – so that she will never leave his side.
Catherine died with two men carried with her. Both Edgar and Heathcliff were devastated by her death, to the point of their own demise. Nelly’s action of twisting the two locks of hair to remain inside Catherine’s locket within the coffin was an ingenious display of the devotion of the two men.
The book also carries on the tale of the second generation of Heathcliff and Catherine’s love, this time focusing it within the hearts of Hareton and Cathy (their names bearing obvious resemblances). What is remarkable with this generation of lovers is that the torment brought on by Heathcliff and Catherine’s warped lives have put in place the forcible bond between the two youngsters. By Heathcliff’s obsessive need for revenge upon those whom he feels have sent Catherine to the grave and have placed him in his miserable existence, he has brought together the two characters that are able to set aside the madness of the decades before, and pull together the fragments of their broken lives to complete each other.
Cathy continues Catherine’s legacy of outrageous behaviour where love is concerned, which is why Heathcliff cannot abuse her as he did Isabella. Catherine Earnshaw is everywhere to him, memories of her remaining with him always. It is the pain brought on by the ‘accustomed look of nervousness, and yet defiance, which he abhorred’ that reminds him of how alone he now is. The fire that once burned within Heathcliff has been extinguished with the death of Catherine, his ‘soul is in the grave’. Taking long walks out on the moors alone, and leaving the children unattended has only furthered their love. Cathy displays a total disregard for the accepted behaviour of the time period when she kisses Hareton – something unheard of in an unmarried couple. Her mischievous nature continues as she disrupts the meal in Chapter 19, putting ‘primroses in his [Hareton] plate of porridge’. This, coupled with her desire to replace the blackcurrant bushes, is very symbolic. Cathy wants to create a new life with Hareton, and the ways of the old are tying her down, hence her outrageous behaviour and her desire to make the word a brighter place for her and Hareton. This is also why when Nelly Dean returns to Hareton and Cathy’s Wuthering Heights, she takes note of the new life they have given the place; replacing the harsh exterior of the last generation with a softer, gentler touch of the next.
Hareton and Cathy’s generation shows no signs of the former troubles that occurred during Catherine and Heathcliff’s. Neither Hareton nor Cathy has a love for anything other than each other, they are content within their own world, and little distracts them. As one by one, the elders of the troubled past die, they take with them the legacy of the superstition, madness and obsessive passion that helped destroy the lives of two families, but also that brought the two together again.
Emily Bronte died at a very young age, too young then to have experienced the overwhelming message of love that Wuthering Heights sends out. This sets her apart from other writers and makes her unique in the extraordinary way she can communicate the feeling of love through the novel. I believe the point Bronte is trying to get across to the reader is that even when the course of true love does not run smoothly, the end result is always brighter if the two people try and devote themselves to each other. Heathcliff and Catherine’s ‘perfect’ love created decades of hatred and remorse because Catherine betrayed her heart through temptation of a better life for herself. The second generation of lovers however, set the mistakes of the past right through their undisturbed devotion to one another. Hareton and Cathy represent the completion and wholeness of love, the love I believe Emily Bronte never had and longed for. The world she had created within her head played through into the novel, and Hareton and Cathy’s love for one another was something Bronte coveted and desired, though was taken away by the early death she was fated to.
Lol, nice to see everyone's nice and chatty
This is my take on the book, and may be you could put this in your paper:
Wuthering Heights, to me, is overrated. How come this piece of work is termed a classic and has stood through times? Is it simply because there were not much writers in the world before? Or that literature is predominantly western, especially in the academe?
I think that there were a lot of times when the reason is weak for certain characters to act as they have. For example, that Catherine would love such a cousin, against all odds, who's demanding and sickly and uninteresting. Emily Bronte wasn't able to convince me of Catherine's reason behind loving Linton Heathcliff; more so, to marry him under pressure, and even to say she would willingly marry Linton. As a reader, I didn't feel the love; only that the writer wants a tragic story. Even Catherine Linton's decision to accompany Linton Heathcliff to the house, resulting in their detainment in Wuthering Heights, was so plainly stupid. I didn't even feel bad for them that they were detained, coz it was just all stupid. And Heathcliff was so triumphant in all the evil that he has planned, it's actually like a telenovela.
The whole novel was atmospheric. Bronte was good in describing landscapes and making the reader feel how time crept ever so leisurely and slowly in those days. However, the tragedy of the story was not convincing. It didn't make me feel for the characters. I am from theatre and hence I can easily place myself in the characters, but in this book, I just felt so distant from them, even looked down on them. The pathos was so stupid. It's not intelligent tragedy. It is helpless, unthinking tragedy. The characters were tragic because they were so dumb to act as they had.
Heathcliff's wrath was so external. It was so vengeful that it's like food that's overly flavored you can't taste it anymore. The focus was so much on Heathcliff's anger and regrets that his character even became predictable- -even without depth. He seemed like a villain with no other preoccupation but to hurt others coz he was hurt too- -exactly like a telenovela. What went wrong is not much in the profile of the character, but of how the story was written. In fact, I could say the plot and the characters were predictable as I was reading it.
Under another pen, the plot and the characters would have been given justice. It could have been a good book. But, to my judgement, it fell short.
Interesting viewpoint. Here's my own intake in response to your comments.
With reference to Catherine Linton's 'love' for Linton Heathcliff, is that there was none. The love she had based her desicion to accompany him to Wuthering Heights was founded upon Heathcliff's lies. It was not Linton that wooed her, and secretly enslaved her heart to become a captive at the Heights, it was Heathcliff. Heathcliff wrote love letters and told her fantasies he knew she would enjoy and would entrance her. I believe this stems from his love for Cathy Earnshaw, as the theme of 'secret love notes' is used often in their relationship.
Catherine Linton was tricked into the Heights, and Heathcliff would not let her return until he knew he had her. She couldn't bear not to say a final goodbye to her father, and she did not love Linton Heathcliff. She loved the idea of him, the idea placed in her mind by Heathcliff.
I find it interesting that you found it difficult to relate to the characters, maybe I simply get involved deeper into the story. I could clearly see the viewpoint of eachof the characters, even the 'villains' such as Heathcliff. I could see the heart-rendering pain e had endured - beginning life as an outcast, growing up as an outcast (clinging to Mr Earnshaw and Cathy). The old saying 'give me a child til' seven, and i'll give you the man' springs to mind, as it's the events of his younger years (the realtionship he built with Cathy, Hindley abusing and belittling him) that sent him down his spiral to his demise.
I agree though, Bronte is very atmospheric. She surrounds the reader in the time period, and allows them to watch the story take place (if you can invision her words in your own mind that is). The restraints of the time period however, made it difficult for written expression. As Bronte herself had to conceal her identity in order for her work to be published, and even then it wasn't admired until after her death.
Thanks for your input, i'll take that into consideraton. You've raised some fair points.
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