Fall has finally come, scented candles are out, cozy blankets are at the ready and the perfect music for your reading session is already picked. And what better way to pair your warm cup of tea—or coffee for the real ones—than a classic literary masterpiece? Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is the perfect read to get you in a dark mood and make you question love and life while cradling it to your chest and staring at the ceiling. Especially after the controversy on BookTok regarding the casting for Heathcliff’s character, we think it’s time to revisit this classic and even watch some of the adaptations that have been made throughout the years to prepare yourself.
Combining the gothic element with romanticism and questioning Victorian morality, Wuthering Heights is characterized by many as one of the greatest novels to have ever been written in English and one that should not be missing from any respectable bookworm’s collection. Not only is this tragic romance intoxicating, but it’s Brontë’s extremely volatile yet intriguing characters that make it stand out as a unique analysis of the human condition and the precarious nature of life.
Let’s dive head first into this timeless romantic tragedy, dear bookworms! And if you are a fan of gothic fiction and the classics, stay tuned and join crewfiction.
Before we focus on the book in its entirety, it is worth it to take a few moments to get to know the woman behind the story. Emily Brontë, the second youngest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, shared the same passion for writing as her sisters Charlotte and Anne. Emily taught herself German and was an accomplished pianist. Some of her favorite reading material was Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Sir Walter Scott.
In 1846, a collection of poems by the three sisters called “Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell” under their pseudonyms was released to the public and predated their later success. Briefly before the publication of Wuthering Heights in 1847, Charlotte, the eldest Brontë sister, publishes Jane Eyre which becomes a staple in gothic literature. In answer to her sister’s success, Emily went on to publish Wuthering Heights under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Both works became timeless classics that are taught worldwide until today.
Tragically, Emily is the first of the three sisters to leave this world. Three months after the passing of their youngest brother, Branwell, the unsanitary conditions of her stay and consumption of contaminated water led to Emily catching a cold, which led to her extracting tuberculosis. She strictly refused to receive medical health until it was too late and passed at the age of thirty on the 19th of December 1848 with her dog Keeper by her side.
In the West Yorkshire moors, there lie two families of the gentry, the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Mr. Earnshaw, a generous and kind figure, finds the orphaned Heathcliff wandering the streets of Liverpool—foresight in the author’s concern about the workers and the awful conditions in Liverpool, and decides to bring him to Wuthering Heights to raise him as his own. His wife and son, Hindley, do not take kindly to the “dark-skinned gypsy” coming to live with them. But Catherine, Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, immediately takes a liking to the charismatic foundling, and the two become inseparable.
As the years pass, Mrs. Earnshaw and Hindley constantly bully and belittle Heathcliff, but his growing fondness for Catherine keeps him going. When Hindley is finally sent to college, there is some semblance of harmony in the Earnshaw family. On the other side of the moors, Edgar and Isabella Linton find themselves on a sort of play date with the Earnshaw children, which sparks a tender friendship and admiration between them. However, when Mr. Earnshaw dies and Hindley returns with his new wife Frances as the new Master of Wuthering Heights, and Heathcliff’s life is turned into a living hell. Catherine is sent to spend a month with Lintons at Thrushcross Grange, leaving Heathcliff alone. The constant abuse leads to Heathcliff running away, leaving Catherine devastated.
A few years later, Frances dies, leaving Hindley to take care of their son Hareton. After her death, Hindley turns to alcohol, and the cycle of violence continues with the neglect of his son. In the meantime, Catherine, aspiring to rise on the social ladder, marries Edgar Linton and becomes the Lady of Thrushcross Grange. Unexpectedly, Heathcliff returns to find a pregnant Catherine, who still longs for him, but is torn between her love and her ambition. Heathcliff clashes with Edgar and in retribution marries his sister Isabella. Some time later, Catherine tragically dies giving birth to her daughter Catherine Linton—nicknamed Cathy. Isabella, who is abused and mistreated by Heathcliff, gives birth to their son Linton.
Hindley dies, bequeathing Wuthering Heights to Heathcliff along with the custody of Hareton, who Heathcliff treats him horribly. His erratic behavior is constantly reinforced due to unexplained phenomena happening around him, which he interprets as Catherine’s ghost haunting him, delivering one of the most iconic lines in literature; “You said I killed you-haunt me, then!” When his wife dies, his son Linton is brought to Wuthering Heights where he is forced to meet and wed Cathy despite his sickly disposition, thus ensuring a claim on Thrushcross range. Linton dies, making Cathy a widow. Mr. Lockwood enters the picture soon after. Heathcliff being haunted by his lost love for Catherine gives up on his sanity and dies from self-imposed starvation.
One could say the ending is cathartic, with Hareton finally being able to win Cathy’s heart and taking his place as the rightful master of Wuthering Heights.
Let’s meet some of the most complicated and fascinating main characters in English literature.
Heathcliff is mean, abusive, vicious, and stern, but underneath this hard and vile exterior lies a little boy who was bullied relentlessly. His love for Catherine is obsessive, dark, toxic and almost demonic. He is clearly starved for affection and having been labeled the villain, chooses to stick to his harsh ways. His marriage to Isabella is the highest form of torture he can think for Catherine and for himself, but it also brings the worst out of him. Definitely not the typical romantic hero, Heathcliff adopts the anti-hero persona and makes us hate him and root for him at the same time.
The perpetuation of the violence is definitely a remnant of his painful memories and rejection. Hareton, Linton and, in a way, Cathy will be the unfortunate victims of his obsession with revenge on Catherine’s spirit. No matter how many times Heathcliff shocks the reader, the masochistic tendency to hope for a change of heart keeps readers glued to the page. Unlike the Byronic hero, Heathcliff constantly reinvents himself, making categorizing him impossible. There is really no easy way to approach such a complex character, and does this author think Jacob Elordi can embody this persona? We shall have to wait and see.
Catherine is wild, free-spirited, beautiful yet spoiled, arrogant, and at times snobbish. Despite how it may seem, she is greatly in love with Heathcliff, claiming that “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This toxic infatuation will always remain in Catherine’s heart, even after she marries the kind and pleasant Edgar and officially becomes Mrs. Linton. Her ambitions and yearning for social advancement clash with her love for Heathcliff, with her need for an elevated social status prevailing at the end.
She is prone to having fits of temper, melancholy, and breaking social conventions. Full of contradictions and toxic tendencies, she brings misery to both men she loves.
Her health degenerates as her pregnancy progresses, and Heathcliff seems to feel her oncoming demise. Heathcliff tries everything in his power to save her, but neither his love nor the physician Mr. Kenneth saves her as she dies at childbirth, bringing the next Catherine to life. After her death, she is buried at the edge of the kirkyard between the two estates and the two men in her life.
Truly in love with Catherine, Edgar will give her the riches and title she craves. He is handsome, wealthy, and pleasant to be around, and his love for his wife is to his detriment. He is Heathcliff’s counterpart in all aspects. The moment Heathcliff comes back into their life, Edgar is constantly on edge and opposes greatly to his sister marrying him. When Catherine dies, he devotes his whole life to loving Cathy and keeping him away from Heathcliff, alas she will be trapped in Heathcliff’s game of revenge.
Isabella is a simple girl, dreaming of love, a knight in shining armor and a love story for the ages—she is Catherine’s delicate and conventional counterpart. When Heathcliff returns, she is instantly drawn to him. Not realizing he is leading her on with his charming ways and pretty words, she elopes with him, breaking the social norms and rebelling, only to regret it soon after. Heathcliff breaks her in a way, and she even thinks of letting him die at Hindley’s sinister plot, but her morality prevails. However, she is turned vile and enjoys Heathcliff’s suffering. Seemingly fragile, she defies the odds yet again by fleeing to London with her son, and will remain there until her death.
Nelly Dean is the caretaker and a motherly figure for most of the characters. She is the main narrator of the story and is deeply involved in it. Almost a child herself when she started working at Wuthering Heights, she has grown up alongside Catherine and Heathcliff and later on, takes Hareton and Cathy under her wing. Her sensible, caring and compassionate nature make her a beloved confidante, but her love and eagerness to help sometimes leads to trouble, like Cathy’s visit to Linton which results in their marriage.
Her mother was born an Earnshaw but became a Linton, while Cathy will trade her Linton heritage for the Earnshaw name. A true byproduct of Edgar and the first Catherine, Cathy combines her mother’s impetuous and stubborn nature with her father's gentle and compassionate touch. The reader meets her as an unhappy widow trapped in Wuthering Heights under Heathcliff’s vigilant stare. Despite being trapped by Heathcliff’s machinations, she manages to maintain her humanity and persevere, representing hope and change. She finds beauty in unexpected places and her affection for Hareton, the son of Hindley, teaching him to read and write brings a smile to every reader’s face. When Heathcliff finally dies she is free to move on and be with the one she loves, breaking the patterns of generational trauma.
Raised by Hindley after Frances Earnshaw’s death, Hareton is neglected and shackled by the violence. Under Heathcliff’s cruel direction, he will be raised as an uneducated field worker and will not even inherit the estate after his father’s death. Constantly mocked and ridiculed for his lack of manners and decorum, he reacts with anger and rage to mask his aching heart. The most tremendous example of this is his burning his books after being made fun of by Catherine. Hareton’s perseverance, however, is to be admired, as he will not only learn to read and write, but he will also reclaim his birthright and his life. I think we can all universally agree that Hareton is the gentlest soul in the moors, and he deserves all the love in the world.
Son of Heathcliff and Isabella, he was raised in London by his mother and did not meet his father until after his mother’s death. Sickly and constantly complaining, he is definitely not a joy to be around. Heathcliff treats him with contempt and forces him to woo Cathy Linton in order to get his hands on Thrushcross Grange after Edgar’s death. Despite his weak disposition, he is particularly demanding, and Cathy loathes him after getting to know him better. Unfortunately—or fortunately for Catherine— he dies shortly after their wedding, having served his purpose by acquiring the Linton family estate.
It is clear from the start that Hindley does not take kindly to Heathcliff being a part of the Earnshaw family. As the spurned son, he takes the role of the villain early on, and when he inherits the estate he not only terminates Heathcliff’s education but forces him to work the land, leading to Heathcliff escaping three years later. When Frances dies, he slowly succumbs to alcoholism and depression, cruelly neglecting his son. When Heathcliff returns, Hindley makes the awful mistake of accepting financial assistance from the boy he resents, putting him in debt, and giving him the estate. Hindley dies alone, hated, and having lost all agency in the novel.
A visitor of Wuthering Heights from a more posh region of England, he is haughty, arrogant, vain and in the mood for trouble. He is fascinated by the lack of decorum the Earnshaws and the Lintons show, and wants to know them and annoy them in a way, despite their lack of interest in him. We often see him conversing with Zillah and Joseph, the other members of the estate’s staff. He learns most of the facts from Nelly and is an even more unreliable narrator, often unable to comprehend their motivations and experiences—and as you can tell, we are not big fans of him.
If you have not read Wuthering Heights, then we really don’t know why you prefer reading other books than torturing yourself with this heart-wrenching and spooky romance. Digesting the dynamics and relationships between these characters can be a lot, but rest assured, dear bookworms, we will come back to this masterpiece with a detailed article explaining this complicated family tree.
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë includes domestic violence, abuse, and bullying in a time when social conventions and decorum govern society. The love story of Catherine and Heathcliff is toxic and obsessive, with the characters making questionable choices and crossing the line of morality. Its dark themes along with the element of Catherine’s ghost haunting Heathcliff make for a heavy and controversial read.
Actually, Heathcliff is only one year older than Catherine, being born in 1764 and Catherine was born a year later. Their close age makes Catherine’s death even harder to accept, realizing she is only eighteen. Heathcliff will live for almost twenty more years, dying at the age of thirty-seven due to starvation and insanity.
Wuthering Heights is narrated by Nelly Dean and Mr. Lockwood. Both of them are unreliable narrators, with the former being too invested and emotionally involved in the story, while the latter is too distant which leads to inaccurate assumptions. The perspectives of other characters like Heathcliff and Zillah also briefly appear in the story.
Always living in her own enchanted little world, Christina discovered the magic that can be hidden within the pages of a book when one dares to take a closer look from a tender age. An avid reader, she is constantly inspired to delve into the secrets woven between the lines and challenges herself to find her own voice amidst the chaos. She is a dedicated fan of the classics, but the supernatural creatures that have tormented readers for years are her kryptonite. The mastery it takes to infuse the author's essence, molded by the era they grew up in to their innermost desires fascinates her. Undoubtedly, putting her passion and knowledge on paper has a mesmerizing allure on her, and following the steps of so many other dreamers before her she wishes to leave her mark in the literary world. Guided by T.S Eliot’s haunting words: “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” she intends to wreak havoc in the minds of her future readers.
