Wuthering Heights is a novel written by Emily Brontë which was first published in 1847. The Story is set in Yorkshire on the moors. Wuthering Heights is a story about doomed love and passion. The narration of the book is divided by several people including a traveler called Lockwood and a servant, Ellen who raises the Earnshaw children and is like a second mother to them.
The two main characters of the novel Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff create a very obsessive and unhealthy love for one another. They are brought together in the beginning of the novel by Catherine’s father who finds a young gypsy boy named Heathcliff in the streets all alone. Mr. Earnshaw decides to raise Heathcliff as his own son, so that Catherine and her brother Hindley would become the boy’s siblings. Neither of them, Catherine nor Hindley develop a normal sibship between Heathcliff. Hindley dislikes Heathcliff immensely and he hates living in the same household as a dirty, filthy little gybsy. Together Catherine and Heathcliff behave very badly and test the limits of Joseph, a servant at Wuthering Heights. Growing up Catherine and Heathcliff are like two peas in a pod, they spend every waking moment together. All this changes, when they spy on their neighbours, the Linton’s and a dog comes after them. The dog bites Cathy and she is taken inside by the Linton’s who want to care for her as long as she is ill. This is one of the main reasons why Catherine and Heathcliff fall out with one another. After these happenings their lives change irrevocably.
Wuthering Heights is a novel which contains a lot of dark and gothic tones. It is set on the Yorkshire moors which is a gloomy and daunting place in itself. The Wuthering Heights mansion is also filled with paranormal and unexplainable happenings. It is said in the beginning of the novel that this very building is haunted by Catherine Earnshaw. Emily Brontë has written a novel which captures the essence of a brilliant horror story. Even though Wuthering Heights is best known for its amazing tragic love story, it isn’t the only definition of this boundary breaking novel of its time. It is a story about an imperfect family and how they help a little orphan boy but also destroy the little goodness that is still left in him.
Catherine and Hindley seem to be spoilt brats even before Heathcliff comes into the picture. It seems that the only person that Mr. Earnshaw really loves is Heathcliff. He has tries to compensate, for the lack of love that he has forgotten to express towards his children, by buying presents and spoiling them. Probably one of the main reasons why Hindley treats Heathcliff the way he does is because he has been jealous of him, ever since that day when his father brought Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff is a certain kind of replacement of a son, or that’s at least how Hindley feels about the whole situation. Catherine cares for Heathcliff much more than she cares for Hindley although in this case Catherine’s relationship with Heathcliff is a romantic one, and a platonic one between her and Hindley.
Although the novel contained a lot of violence which isn’t normally my cup of tea, I really enjoyed it. I also disliked both of the main characters vastly I really enjoyed the story. It was like, together Catherine and Heathcliff seemed nearly human. Together they were like one complete human being but separately two individual monsters. It felt like that the only real goodness in both of them was their love for each other. There are a few parts in this novel that explain the situation quite well for example Catherine says: “Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. “Also later in the novel Heathcliff says: “I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul.” Even though it contained a lot of kinks, altogether it was an enjoyable read which didn’t disappoint.
