Emily Brontë

Linda H. Peterson

Emily Bronte's only novel appeared to mixed reviews in 1847, a year before her death at the age of thirty. In the relationship of Cathy and Heathcliff, and in the wild, bleak Yorkshire Moors of its setting, Wuthering Heights creates a world of its own, conceived with a disregard for convention, an instinct for poetry and for the dark depths of human psychology that make it one of the greatest novels of passion ever written.

Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives

Wuthering Heights

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.

Anna Cassmer Ling-Vannérus

I seated myself in a chair, and rocked, to and fro, passing harsh judgment on my many derelictions of duty; from which, it struck me then, all the misfortunes of all my employers sprang. It was not the case, in reality, I am aware; but it was, in my imagination, that dismal night; and I thought Heathcliff himselt less guilty than I.

May she wake in torment!' he cried, with frightful vehe- mence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there - not in heaven - not perished - where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer -lrepeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest, as long as I am living! You said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe -I know that ghosts bave wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form fdrive me mad) only do not leave me in this. abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul! 

11 that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all. I'm tired tired of being enclosed here. I'm wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there; not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it, and in it. 

Catherine, what have you done?" commenced the master 'Am I nothing to you, any more? Do you love that wretch Heath - Hush!' cried Mrs Linton. Hush, this moment! You mention that name and I end the matter, instantly, by a spring from the window! What you touch at present, you may have; but my soul will be on that hill-top before you lay hands on me again. I don't want you, Edgar; I'm past wanting you ... Return to your books.. .I'm glad you possess a consolation, for all you had in me is gone.

I26 E RING HEIGHTS heather on those hills... Open the window again wide, fasten it open! Quick, why don't you move? 'Because I won't give you your death of cold,' I answered. You won't give me a chance of ife, you mean, she said sullenly, However, I'm not helpless yet, Ill open it myself.'

Catherine’s yearning to be wild is confessed 

VOLUME I, CHAPTER XI her ling I25 into this room desperate - As soon as ever I had barred unning into the door, utter blackness overwhelmed m me, and I fell on the iek. r Loouldn't explain to Edgar how certain I felt of having or going raging mad, if he persisted in teasing me! I had no mand of tongue, or brain, and he did not guess my agony, ou per orhans: it barely left me sense to try to escape from him and ice - Before I recovered suffciently to see and hear., it an to be dawn; and Nelly, I'll tell you what I thought., and what has kept recurring and recurring till I feared for my reason I thought as I lay there with my head against that table leg. and my eyes dimly discerning the grey square of the window, that I was enclosed in the oak-panelled bed at home: and my heart ached with some great grief which, just waking, I could not recollect -I pondered, and worried myself to discover what it could be; and most strangely, the whole last seven years of my life grewa blank! I did not recall that they had been at all. I was a child; my father was just buried, and my misery arose from the separation that Hindley had ordered between me and Heath- cliff- I was laid alone, for the first time, and rousing from a dismal doze after a night of weeping -I lifted my hand to push the panels aside, it struck the table-top! I swept it along the carpet, and then, memory burst in- my late anguish was swal- lowed in a paroxysm of despair -I cannot say why I felt so wildly wretched - it must have been temporary derangem for there is scarcely cause - But, supposing at twelve years old, I had been wrenched from the Heights, and every early association, and my all in all, as Heathcliff was at that time, and been converted at a stroke into Mrs Linton, the lady of Thrushcross Grange, and the wife of a stranger; an exile, and outcast, thenceforth, from what had been my world - You may fancy a glimpse of the abyss where I grovelled! Shake your head, as you will, Nelly, you have helped to unsettle me! You should have spoken to Edgar, indeed you should, and compelled him to leave me quiet! Oh, I'm burning! I wish I were out of doors -I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free and laughing at injuries, not maddening under them! Why am I so changed? why does my blood rush into a hell of tumult at a few words? I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the Or ce I

Catherine was fully aware of heathcliffs intentions and warns Isabella 

sorance of his character, child, and nothing lse, which makes ignorance of h rhat dream enter your head. Pray don't imagine that he conceals depths of benevolence and atfection beneath a stern exterior! He's not a rough diamond -a pearl-containing oyster ofa rustic; he's a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man. I never say to him let this or that enemy alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them," I say let them alone, because I should hate them to be wronged:" and he'd crush you, like a sparrow's egg, Isabella, if he found you a troublesome charge. I know he couldn't love a Linton; and yet, he'd be quite capable of marry- ing your fortune, and expectations. Avarice is growing with him a besetting sin. There's my picture; and I'm his friend so much so, that had he thought seriously to catch you, I should, perhaps, have held my tongue, and let you fall into his trap. Miss I inton regarded her sister-in-law with indignation.

In other words, I must wis for Edgar Linton'. eves, and even forehead, he replied. I o-and that won't helo ish for Edgar Linton's me to them.' SA cOod heart will help you to a bonny face, my a bntinued, if you were a regular blackG and a bad one will 's great blue the bonniest into something worse than ugly. And n now that He shall we've done washing, and combing, and sulking-tell me wheth ou don't think yourself rather handsome? Pl tell you. I do You're fit for a prince in disguise. Who knows, but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen, each SCALS Again. What you n set hold ot longer!" They They of them able to buy up, With one week's income, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange together? And you were kid- napped by wicked sailors, and brought to England. Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of my birth, and the peeping ache. I's He v but Hes thoughts of what I was should give me courage and dignity to appear even t first t the s that Support the oppressions of a little farmer!" So I chattered on; and Heathcliff gradually lost his frown,

Beginning on Hearhcliffs obsession with revenge. 

He went down; I set him a stool by the fire, and offered him a quantity of good things; but, he was sick and could eat litle: and my attempts to entertain him were thrown away. He leant his two elbows on his knees, and his chin on his hands, and remained wrapt in dumb meditation. On my inquiring the sub- ject of his thoughts, he answered gravely - Tm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it, at last. I hope he will not die before I do! For shame, Heathcliff! said I. It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.' No, God won't have the satisfaction that I shall,' he returned. "T only wish I knew the best way! Let me alone, and rll plan it But, Mr Lockwood, I forget these tales cannot divert you. I'm annoyed how I should dream of chattering on at sucha rate; out: while I'm thinking of that, I don't feel pain.'

so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,

You shouldn't lie till ten. There's the very prime of the morning gone long before that time. A person who has not done one half his day's work by ten o'clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.

Jacqui Spears

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same

Nelly is the only character I like so far and says it as it is😋

Rose Donovan

I went about my household duties, convinced that the Grange had but one sensible soul in its walls, and that lodged in my body.

Indi

My great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a might stranger. 

Because he’a more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.

Heaven did not seem to be my home; and it broke my heart to come back to earth.

All sinners would be miserable in heaven.

If I were in heaven, Nelly, I should be extremely miserable.

I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind.

It is no company at all, when people do nothing and say nothing.

Oof - what brats! A very human story about altogether unlikeable characters intertwined in incredibly toxic relationships. I read a review of this book that said “monsters love, too” and I think that sums it up entirely. 

Der alte Mr. Earnshaw hat aus den Elensquartieren von Liverpool einen kleinen Jungen auf seinen sturmumtosten Hof in Yorkshire mitgebracht. Seine Tochter Catherine empfindet für den schroffen und aufbrausenden Heathcilff, wie man ihn nennt, von Anfang an grosse Sympathie und Zuneigung, denn auch sie ist von schwierigem, leidenschaftlichem Temperament. Ihr Bruder Hindley begegnet dem Jungen mit eifersüchtigem Hass. Als Catherine im heiratsfähigen Alter jedoch einen anderen ihm vorzieht, verfolgt Heathcliff sie und alle, die ihr lieb und teuer sind, mit erbitterter und alles zerstörender Rache. Schon als Kinder waren sie unzertrennlich: Catherine von der Sturmhöhe und ihr Stiefbruder Heathcliff. Doch als Catherine einen anderen heiratet, verfolgt Heathcliff sie und ihre Familie mit seinem Hass bis in den Tod. Ein Roman um leidenschaftliche Liebe und alles zerstörende Rache.

Roman

Sturmhöhe

Die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Catherine und Heathcliff ist tragisch wie sie schön ist. Gefallen hat mir vor allem die geheimnisvolle Stimmung, die die Geschichte begleitet und trägt. Die Erzählweise fand ich ich leider immer wieder ermüdend, man merkt doch, dass "Sturmhöhe" aus einem anderen Jahrhundert stammt.

Marlene Renkl

A beautifully written storm of love, revenge, and human nature.

Tanishq Khandelwal

Kind of heart breaking. Actually, it was super sad but I couldn’t tell if I was sad for the characters or feeling so much pity for heathcliff. 

soph 

it’s the drama mick I just love it xxxx

half a star taken off because I want to execute joseph every time he speaks xx

Laura Layden

it’s the drama mick I just love it xxxx

it’s giving big brother <3 

half a star taken off because I want to execute joseph every time he speaks xx

Mon livre favoris pour l'instant j'ai adoré cette tragédie même un lecteur pas très aguerrie peut le lire cependant il y a un récit enchassée dans le livre faites attention à ce détail et c'est une tragédie vous risquez de connaître qui meurt dans le récit juste en consultant l'arbre généalogique des personnages.

TEKZero

Karla

One of those books that's really cool in theory but absolutly drags on to read

Yvette

The classic tale of tormented love and the inexorable pull of the past, from one of history’s greatest literary talents, with an introduction by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic When young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by a wealthy gentleman, he quickly forms a close bond with his benefactor’s daughter, Cathy. But over the years, their childhood friendship morphs into a desperate, twisted, possessive love, as they wrestle with the violent and tyrannical rule of Cathy’s brother and the confines of social class that keep them apart. What follows is an ingenious and darkly captivating narrative of frustrated passion and tortured heartbreak reverberating through the generations, wrought with all the brutality, power, and wildness of the Yorkshire moors. With striking force, Emily Brontë’s mesmerizing prose claws at the nature of human folly, defying the gender, religious, and social mores of its day. Wuthering Heights is a transcendent, mystifying masterpiece that examines the cruelty of love, and the ways in which the past, scratching at a windowpane with ghostly fingers, never lets us go. The Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.

‘He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’

‘My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. 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.’

‘I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free.’ 

‘Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then!  The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe.  I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!  Oh, God! it is unutterable!  I cannot live without my life!  I cannot live without my soul!’

‘I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.’

Wuthering Heights is intense, haunting and a quintessential gothic novel. Emily Brontë beautifully captured the turmoil, passion, and obsession through deeply flawed characters and poetical writing. While there are elements of love, it is more a tale of death, tragedy, and toxicity demonstrated through complex characters and metaphorical prose.

It is a classic that’s been on my reading list for a while and I switched to the audiobook after starting the book a few months ago and not picking it up again. Admittedly, I had to pull up a family tree to follow the family dynamics, but that highlights how well Brontë created a complicated and messy family. It goes without saying, the characters are deeply unlikeable and it is not your typical love story, but it’s clear this was Emily’s intention when creating this novel. 

It was a trudge at times but by the end I was definitely more engaged, so glad I pulled through and finished. It is easy to see why this is a classic.

Eleanor 

‘He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’

‘My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. 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.’

‘I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free.’ 

‘Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then!  The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe.  I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!  Oh, God! it is unutterable!  I cannot live without my life!  I cannot live without my soul!’

‘I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.’

Wuthering Heights is intense, haunting and a quintessential gothic novel. Emily Brontë beautifully captured the turmoil, passion, and obsession through deeply flawed characters and poetical writing. While there are elements of love, it is more a tale of death, tragedy, and toxicity demonstrated through complex characters and metaphorical prose.

It is a classic that’s been on my reading list for a while and I switched to the audiobook after starting the book a few months ago and not picking it up again. Admittedly, I had to pull up a family tree to follow the family dynamics, but that highlights how well Brontë created a complicated and messy family. It goes without saying, the characters are deeply unlikeable and it is not your typical love story, but it’s clear this was Emily’s intention when creating this novel. 

It was a trudge at times but by the end I was definitely more engaged, so glad I pulled through and finished. It is easy to see why this is a classic.

all passion and madness, where love isn’t sweet, it’s raw, destructive, and leaves scars.

TB and personality disorders are a deadly combo

Michelle Guo

we have finally reached the book that took me a whole year to finish because i refused to let it end, and made me sob and mourn its final pages like a madwoman! behold, my favorite novel ever!

 a novel, it's a tempest. a maddening whirlwind of passion and intensity that had me hooked from the first few pages (which i now have memorized, naturally). this is emily brontë’s sole masterpiece, and it transcended any standard i'd ever set for a book, ever. heathcliff and cathy? these two are not just characters, they’re forces of nature. their love isn’t beautiful in the traditional sense. it’s savage, obsessive, and all-consuming. but, it’s also undeniably raw in a way that few literary relationships are. it was kinda impossible not to see parts of myself in their hunger, their need to possess, to be seen, to be loved in a way that’s borderline selfish. 

this novel didn't just tell me a story, it showed me a mirror of sorts. it invaded my thoughts, my emotions, until i realized that it wasn't just about heathcliff and cathy anymore. it was about my own heart, my own fears of losing love, of loving too fiercely, of being consumed by something that feels like it could either save you or destroy you. and by far the best part about this is how polarizing it is; if you hate this, i don't really care, if you're lukewarm on this, i understand. if you think it's overly dramatic and ridiculous, i concede; agree, even. but if you feel what i felt, if it makes you see love for all it's beautiful, ugly glory, then you’ll know exactly why this book is worth every bit of praise as a romance novel. <3 

mandatory shoutout to all the secondary characters on this who i strongly love as well but if i were to get into cathy and linton and hareton this review would be five miles long.

carlota

we have finally reached the book that took me a whole year to finish because i refused to let it end, and made me sob and mourn its final pages like a madwoman! behold, my favorite novel ever!

wuthering heights isn't really a novel, it's a tempest. a maddening whirlwind of passion and intensity that had me hooked from the first few pages (which i now have memorized, naturally). this is emily brontë’s sole masterpiece, and it transcended any standard i'd ever set for a book, ever. heathcliff and cathy? these two are not just characters, they’re forces of nature. their love isn’t beautiful in the traditional sense. it’s savage, obsessive, and all-consuming. but, it’s also undeniably raw in a way that few literary relationships are. it was kinda impossible not to see parts of myself in their hunger, their need to possess, to be seen, to be loved in a way that’s borderline selfish. 

this novel didn't just tell me a story, it showed me a mirror of sorts. it invaded my thoughts, my emotions, until i realized that it wasn't just about heathcliff and cathy anymore. it was about my own heart, my own fears of losing love, of loving too fiercely, of being consumed by something that feels like it could either save you or destroy you. and by far the best part about this is how polarizing it is; if you hate this, i don't really care, if you're lukewarm on this, i understand. if you think it's overly dramatic and ridiculous, i concede; agree, even. but if you feel what i felt, if it makes you see love for all it's beautiful, ugly glory, then you’ll know exactly why this book is worth every bit of praise as a romance novel. <3 

mandatory shoutout to all the secondary characters on this who i strongly love as well but if i were to get into cathy and linton and hareton this review would be five miles long.



𝒜

Hannah L 

This book has like 10 killer lines in the beginning and the end and the middle is just a Modern Family style sitcom revolving around an exhausted maid who’s surrounded by sad goth idiots.

Bowie 

Les Hauts de Hurle-Vent sont des terres balayées par les vents du nord. Une famille y vivait, heureuse, quand un jeune bohémien attira le malheur. Mr. Earnshaw avait adopté et aimé Heathcliff. Mais ses enfants l'ont méprisé. Cachant son amour pour Catherine, la fille de son bienfaiteur, Heathcliff prépare une vengeance diabolique. Il s'approprie la fortune de la famille et réduit les héritiers en esclavage. La malédiction pèsera sur toute la descendance jusqu'au jour où la fille de Catherine aimera à son tour un être misérable et fruste. Ce roman anglais, le plus célèbre du XIXe siècle à nos jours, a été écrit par une jeune fille qui vivait avec ses soeurs au milieu des landes de bruyère. Elle ne connut jamais cette passion violente ni cette haine destructrice. Elle imagina tout, même le fantôme de la femme aimée revenant tourmenter l'orgueilleux qui l'a tuée.

Source: https://www.livredepoche.com/livre/les-hauts-de-hurlevent-9782253004752

les Hauts de Hurle-Vent

Camilla

anjali

Gothic wilderness, madness, first loves, betrayals, childhood best friends parting and meeting again, castles, the highlands, wild, unbridled, intoxicating passions. 

Wuthering Heights is phenomenal. Emily Bronte only ever wrote one book during her lifetime, and died not long after this one was published, but as it stands, Wuthering Heights is rightly enough to put her on the list as one of the best writers in the history of English literature.

This book is moody, fierce, brooding, intense, tragic and very, very beautiful. The prose alone is a pleasure to read.

When I first read Wuthering Heights, I spent the first half despising Heathcliff and Cathy. They were whiny bitches for the larger part, and when I was finished with the novel I couldn't figure out just why it was that I put the book down having another perspective to look back at those same characters now. Of course, they still made you want to punch them in the stomach, but you couldn't really avoid liking them as characters. It was the first book that inspired such intense dislike and yet made wonderful reading all the same.

This book is one of my all time favourites.

Patrick Book

Readable enough I suppose but I rarely found it compelling. Perhaps that’s due to the antiquation.

Charlize

3.75

i anticipated how much worse everything would turn out, given that all hell already broke loose early on! emily did not pull herself back (especially during the time she wrote it in)!!!! even with the unlikeable characters too, to the point that i don’t know who to root for… well aside from hareton, which i only did when i was about to finish the book.

i have grown to like the narration style. it was difficult to grasp the multiple narratives at first, but i eventually got the hang of it. love me a good gossip!! the prose is also breathtaking! 

it felt to me that catherine and heathcliff’s romantic relationship was only fully emphasized after her confession and death. i wanted to see more of them together before she had anything to do with edgar, perhaps it would make me feel more strongly about them. regardless, i am convinced enough that they have an affinity for each other. 

“It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you—haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe—I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

insufferable and destructive as they are, i have to admit their fervent love is out of this world.

wuthering heights is a story of passion—a harrowing one at that. the revenge plot of heathcliff was abysmal, to say the least. in my humble opinion, his character is past the point of redemption, for he has evolved to become The Devil incarnate™, even more so than hindley. truly gave satan a run for his money. (edit: i’d also like to add that while his cruelty is not justified, i understand where he’s coming from: heathcliff had suffered abuse for too long: judged and reproached by everyone, enslaved by hindley, and betrayed by catherine. and to think he was just a child when it all began.)

usually not my cup of tea, but i appreciate how this book was able to provoke such intense emotions from me. mostly anger, disgust, and sometimes pity. an opposite of a snoozer read!

i hope to reread this book and get a fresh perspective! who knows i might give this 5 stars by then :]

sani

❝catherine earnshaw, may you not rest, as long as i am living! you said i killed you—haunt me, then!❞

the world can never make me hate this book. from the beginning, heathcliff is shown as a villain, a bad character which in turn makes me want to love him even more. and despite everything, despite every immoral thing that he had committed, his love for his cathy was raw true. 

a match made in hell. neither of them were angels and they deserved each other. although, i feel bad for edgar and isabella because they were two innocent people who got caught in this wild affair. 

and yet, i would always, always, always love heathcliff and catherine. when i say that i want to be a writer, i mean this. i want to be a writer to the likes of the brontë sisters. 

✧ my favourite quotes :

❝because he’s more myself than i am. whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.❞

❝my love for heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath—a source of little visible delight, but necessary. 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—so, don’t talk of our separation again.❞

❝if he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years, as i could in a day.❞

❝be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where i cannot find you! oh, god! it is unutterable! i cannot live without my life! i cannot live without my soul!❞

arwen

changed the trajectory of my life forever

Emily Brontës only novel, Wuthering Heights remains one of literature's most disturbing explorations into the dark side of romantic passion. Heathcliff and Cathy believe they're destined to love each other forever, but when cruelty and snobbery separate them, their untamed emotions literally consume them.

Set amid the wild and stormy Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights, an unpolished and devastating epic of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates, is widely regarded as the most original tale of thwarted desire and heartbreak in the English language.
(back cover)

Monicap

Wuthering Heights is difficult for me to talk about because I just don't get it. Like I understand it's capital a About obsession and it's consequences but I just don't buy it.

Like why is Cathy obsessed with Heathcliff? She initially disliked him (because of kind of racist reasons which is always cool) and then got over it because why? And then they were BFF's and in love to the point where his anger over her betrayal of him literally killed her? And also this I Cathy who marries Linton because "he is handsome and pleasant to be with...young and cheerful... because he loves me...he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman in the neighborhood" but she loves Heathcliff because "whatever souls are made of his and mine are the same"? Like forgive me but that second assertion comes out of nowhere for me.

And I guess I do have a read on why Heathcliff would be obsessed with Cathy... Spurned by his childhood best friend and love (who had initially hated him because she's kind of racist) and her brother basically Cinderella-d him and all that... But that's just not interesting? At all? Like I get this was written a long time ago but I just don't think that's good motivation?

And the second part of the story totally loses me. Is Cathy 2's relationship with Linton 2 meant to be the reconciliation of Cathy and Heathcliff's relationship (and all that entailed) or is Cathy 2's and Hareton's eventual marriage the reconciliation??

Like I just don't get it. And I I'm not particularly interested in digging through the text *to* get it, you know?

I agree with Past Monica's rating of three stars, give me Jane Eyre over this any day

Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him.

I was not too keen on the second part since I absolutely adored Cathy (the OG) as a heroine but I actually think that the focus on the second generation was executed incredibly well as a means of exploring trauma (funny that I read this at the same time as Cassandra Clare's "Chain of Thorns").

The enclosed, horribly narrow, world of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange becomes the perfect system within which trauma and abuse, perpetuating the cycle and breaking the cycle, can be explored. The characters are fascinatingly monstrous and cruel but nothing but the product of their environment; this makes all the more important that this vicious cycle cannot end until a whole generation is dead and the newer one chooses kindness and companionship instead.

I was not too keen on the second part since I absolutely adored Cathy (the OG) as a heroine but I actually think that the focus on the second generation was executed incredibly well as a means of exploring trauma (funny that I read this at the same time as Cassandra Clare's "Chain of Thorns").

The enclosed, horribly narrow, world of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange becomes the perfect system within which trauma and abuse, perpetuating the cycle and breaking the cycle, can be explored. The characters are fascinatingly monstrous and cruel but nothing but the product of their environment; this makes all the more important that this vicious cycle cannot end until a whole generation is dead and the newer one chooses kindness and companionship instead.

Wuthering Heights Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives

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