Wuthering Heights

I have a weakness for shy, reserved, and tragic characters, which is the only saving grace for Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. A more painfully depressing book is almost assuredly in existence, but I have (thankfully) never read it.

(As a side note, another author spent some time listening to all the depressing songs he could put his hands on, and then wrote a book called I Hate Myself and I Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You’ve Ever Heard, criticizing the utter gloom of these songs. Now if that isn’t humorous, I don’t know what is. But back to Wuthering Heights, keeping depression in mind...)

It is the story of Heathcliff, a gypsy orphan whose inhuman love and hatred ruin the lives of two families on the English moors. Heathcliff is no hero: he is wild, cruel, malicious, and vengeful. And the object of his obsession is equally anti-hero. Catherine Earnshaw is proud, wild, ambitious, selfish, and irrational. With such a pair as main characters, can you doubt the direction of story?

Because of mistreatment by Catherine’s elder brother, Hindley, and his hatred of the man Catherine marries out of social ambition, Edgar Linton, Heathcliff practices his revenge on them and their kin in a way that makes the reader cringe. He leads Hindley into gambling and alcoholism, causing his death, and mistreats his son Hareton, only because he is Hindley’s son. He marries Edgar Linton’s sister to spite him, and is both verbally and physically abusive to her, causing her to run away to raise her son apart from his father’s influence. He eventually causes the death of Catherine and Edgar, and so one would think the story would be over: all those he hates are dead.

But no, this man is no human, but some sort of dark demon. He continues taking revenge on the children of his enemies, forcing Catherine’s daughter to marry his son, and keeping Hareton ignorant and enslaved.

This is not a happy story, though well written and gripping. But the only reason not to hate it comes from my own partiality, which I mentioned earlier. There are only two good characters: Edgar and Hareton, and they almost make up for the rest. Edgar is kind, loyal and gentlemanly, but he is a little bit of a coward (though to be just, standing up to Heathcliff takes more strength than you would think). Hareton is shy, loving, eager to learn, and eventually is the only one to stand up to Heathcliff. Both live unfortunate lives, and only Hareton ends up happy. These two are such wonderful characters, that I almost forgave Emily Bronte for creating Heathcliff and Catherine as well.

In the Mobil Masterpiece Theatre version of this book, I was happy to learn that Edgar was played by Crispin Bonham Carter, who did an excellent job as Mr. Bingley in Pride and Prejudice (1995). Also, that Hareton, who was my favorite character, was played by Matthew Macfadyen, whose caliber I had realized recently when he expertly played Mr. Darcy in another Pride and Prejudice (2005). According to one interviewer, MM did not have to act to play Darcy, it came naturally, so I had no doubts about his ability to play the even-more shy Hareton.

But other than those two actors, the movie was over-condensed, and focused too much on Heathcliff for it to be enjoyable. Even worse was the Lawrence Olivier version, which only did half the book, condensed it, and changed the story so that Heathcliff was a hero. Eww.

It’s hard to rate this book, because although it is gloomy and sad and painful, it is a good book, and I would read it again. So...

I’d give it a 5 out of 10