“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte

*Warning there will be spoilers*

This is Emily Bronte’s first & only novel. It remains one of literature’s most disturbing explorations into the dark side of romantic passion.

An unpolished and devastating epic of childhood playmates who grow into soul mates. Wuthering Heights revolves around the willfully childish Catherine & Heathcliff, who in the words of Charlotte Bronte, “exemplifies the effects which a life of continued injustice and hard usage may produce on a naturally perverse, vindictive, and inexorable disposition.” 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.

If you thought Romeo and Juliet was a tragic love story , you have no idea. This is a tragic love story, but on a whole different level.

I am still confused on how Mr. Heathcliff earned his money & learning.  He came back after 3 years & was so able to overcome his past & take control with ease with no leverage. Yet Catherine (marries in his absence) loved him no matter his faults & he refused to admit them to her on her imposing death.

I did feel sorry for Heathcliff on only one page(277). I will let you find out how the younger Catherine degrades him on such a level I almost cried at it. I will keep this page bookmarked for all eternity.

I will say I have never met a family who hates their entire family, especially their children, so much. When you throw your own child over the stairs for no reason, that says enough.

In ending, I feel I truly pity Heathcliff, the heroine dies too early, and these people are the epitome of pride & selfishness beyond all I’ve ever seen. There is no hero or heroine.  Although I think these characters are copiously malevolent, it is a brilliantly executed novel.

~Geneva