Wuthering Heights

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For other uses, see Wuthering Heights (disambiguation).

**Title** **Wuthering Heights**
The front cover of the Penguin Classics edition of Wuthering Heights
Author	Emily Brontë
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	Penguin Books
Released	1847
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	338
ISBN	NA

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 manor on which the story centres. 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 both themselves and those around them.

Now considered a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights' innovative structure, which has been likened to a series of Matryoshka dolls,^[1] met with mixed reviews by critics when it first appeared.^[2]^[3] Though Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was originally considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works, many subsequent critics of Wuthering Heights argued that its originality and achievement made it the best of the Brontës' works.^[4] Wuthering Heights has also given rise to many adaptations, including several films, radio, and television dramatisations, and two musicals (including Heathcliff). It also inspired a hit song by Kate Bush, which subsequently has been covered by a variety of artists.

1 Plot summary
2 Main Characters
3 Supernatural elements
4 Timeline
5 Allusions/references to other works
6 Allusions/references from other works
7 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
- 7.1 New versions
8 See also
9 External links
10 References

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The narrative is non-linear, involving several flashbacks to events in the past, and involves two narrators - Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean, whose stories are interwoven with each other. The novel itself opens in 1802, with Lockwood arriving at Thrushcross Grange, a grand house he is renting from Heathcliff, who at this point resides at the titular Wuthering Heights. After attempting - and failing - to win over his surly, unwelcoming landlord, and intrigued by the curious state of affairs he finds at Wuthering Heights, when confined to his sickbed after catching a cold Lockwood curiously asks his housekeeper, Dean, of the story of Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights.

At this point, Dean takes over the narration (although Lockwood occasionally breaks in during her narrative). Dean's story begins thirty years earlier, when Heathcliff - then an orphaned foundling living on the streets of Liverpool - is brought to Wuthering Heights by the then-owner, Mr Earnshaw and raised as his own. Earnshaw's own children, Hindley and Catherine, initially detest Heathcliff; over time, however, Catherine is won over by Heathcliff and the two eventually become inseparable childhood friends. Hindley, however, continues to resent Heathcliff, seeing him as an interloper in his father's affections, and the two boys become bitter rivals.

Upon Earnshaw's death three years later, Hindley comes home from college to take over the estate, surprising everyone by also bringing home a wife, a woman named Frances. As the new master of Wuthering Heights, Hindley brutalizes Heathcliff, spitefully forcing him to work as a hired hand. Despite this, Heathcliff and Catherine remain firm friends. Although initially something of a wild child, an accidental dog bite forces Catherine to stay at the nearby Linton family estate, Thrushcross Grange, for six weeks. During this time, she matures and grows attached to the refined and mild young Edgar Linton. When she returns to Wuthering Heights, she goes to some trouble to maintain her friendship with both Edgar and Heathcliff, in spite of their having an instantaneous dislike for each other.

A year later, Frances dies soon after the birth of Hindley's child Hareton. Destroyed by her death, Hindley turns to alcohol. Some two years after that, Catherine accepts a marriage proposal made to her by Edgar; when Dean confronts Catherine about her engagement, which will undoubtedly crush Heathcliff, Catherine explains that it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff - unaware that he is in the next room, listening. Heathcliff leaves at this point, never hearing her continuing declarations that Heathcliff is as much a part of her as the rocks are to the earth beneath. Catherine is mortified when she realizes that Heathcliff has overheard her, but by that point he has left Wuthering Heights, furious at the fact that he can no longer be with Catherine and unaware of the true bond that she feels towards him. Nevertheless, she marries Edgar, and the two initially live happily.

After Catherine has been married to Edgar for two years, Heathcliff returns, and it is soon revealed that he is intent on destroying those whom he blames for preventing him from being with Catherine. In the interim, he has amassed significant wealth (by means that are not revealed) and has duped the alcoholic, self-destructive Hindley into owing him Wuthering Heights. He is also intent on ruining Edgar, and when he learns of an infatuation Edgar's sister Isabella has developed towards him, Heathcliff elopes with her, much to Edgar's despair; not only does this ruin his relationship with his sister, but it also places Heathcliff in a position to inherit Thrushcross Grange upon Edgar's death. After his marriage, Heathcliff's true contempt for Isabella emerges and he treats her in a cruel and abusive fashion.

Back at Thrushcross Grange, Catherine - whose physical and mental health has been ruined by the ongoing feud between Heathcliff and her husband - dies in childbirth, giving birth to a daughter also named Catherine. Her death, however, only intensifies Heathcliff's bitterness and determination to continue his vendetta. Isabella flees Heathcliff's cruelty a month after Catherine's death, and later gives birth to a boy, Linton. At around the same time, Hindley dies, and Heathcliff takes ownership of Wuthering Heights. He also takes control of Hindley's son, Hareton, determined to raise the boy with as much neglect as he had suffered at Hindley's hands years earlier; despite this, Hareton remains intensely loyal to Heathcliff, viewing him as a surrogate father. Despite his grief over his wife's death, Edgar devotes himself to raising the younger Catherine, who grows into a gentle-natured girl who shares the flighty nature her mother had once possessed.

Twelve years later, Isabella is dying and sends for Edgar to come retrieve and raise her and Heathcliff's son, Linton. However, Heathcliff finds out about this and takes Linton from Thrushcross Grange back to Wuthering Heights. The boy is sickly and spoiled, and his father has nothing but contempt for him, but nevertheless delights in the prospect of his own son ruling over the property of his enemies. To that end, Heathcliff forces young Catherine and Linton to marry. Soon after, Edgar Linton dies, followed shortly by Heathcliff's son, Linton. This leaves young Catherine a widow and a virtual prisoner at Wuthering Heights, as Heathcliff has gained complete control of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Chronologically, it is at this point in the narrative that Lockwood arrives, taking possession of Thrushcross Grange, and that Nelly Dean tells her story. Shocked and horrified at the sordid details of what has transpired, Lockwood leaves for London.

During his absence from the area, however, events reach a climax; young Catherine, at first repulsed by and contemptuous of Hareton's rough, uncouth and uneducated nature, gradually softens towards him—just as her mother grew tender towards Heathcliff. In her lonely state of existence at Wuthering Heights, Hareton becomes her only source of happiness, and the two fall in love. Heathcliff, on seeing their love for each another, appears to no longer cares to pursue his life-long vendetta. Having been haunted for years by what he perceives as the elder Catherine's ghost, Heathcliff finally dies, a broken and tormented man, and Catherine and Hareton marry. Heathcliff is buried next Catherine (the elder), and the story concludes with Lockwood - who has learnt of these events from Nelly Dean - visiting the grave, unsure of exactly what to feel.

[edit] Main Characters

Heathcliff is the central male character of the novel. An orphaned foundling raised by the Earnshaw family, he fell passionately in love with his foster sister, Catherine Earnshaw, whilst at the same time nursing a bitter rivalry with his foster brother, Hindley. A passionate, vindictive man, his anger and bitterness at Catherine's marriage to Edgar Linton sees him engage in a ruthless vendetta to destroy not only his enemies but their heirs, a crusade that only intensifies upon Catherine's death.

Catherine Earnshaw is Heathcliff's adoptive sister. A flightly, free-spirited and somewhat spoiled young woman, she returns Heathcliff's passionate love but does not consider herself able to marry him, instead choosing another childhood friend, Edgar Linton. Upon Heathcliff's return, her physical and mental health is destroyed by the feud between Heathcliff and Edgar, and she dies in childbirth.

Edgar Linton is a childhood friend of Catherine Earnshaw's, who later marries her. A mild and gentle man, if slightly cold, cowardly and distant, he loves Catherine deeply but is unable to reconcile his love for her with his bitter antagonism with Heathcliff, and it is partly this which leads to Catherine's mental breakdown and death.

Hindley Earnshaw is Catherine's brother and Heathcliff's other rival; having loathed Heathcliff since childhood, Hindley delights in turning Heathcliff into a downtrodden servant upon inheriting Wuthering Heights. However, his wife's death in childhood destroys him; he becomes a self-destructive alcoholic, and it is this that allows Heathcliff, upon returning to Wuthering Heights, to turn the tables and to swindle the property away from him.

Nelly Dean is, at various points, the housekeeper of both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, and is one of the two narrators of the novel. Having been a disapproving witness to much of the events between Heathcliff and both the Earnshaw and Linton families for much of her life, she narrates the story to Lockwood during his illness.

Catherine Linton is the daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton. She inherits both her mother's free-spiritedness and her father's gentle nature, and Heathcliff plays on this to manipulate her into marrying his own son, Linton. Despite initially regarding him with cruel contempt and disgust, she later falls in love with Hareton Earnshaw.

Hareton Earnshaw is the son of Hindley Earnshaw, who is adopted by Heathcliff upon Hindley's death. Heathcliff spitefully turns Hareton into a downtrodden, illiterate servant, much as Hindley had once done to him; despite this, Hareton remains loyal to him. Quick tempered and easily embarrassed, he falls in love with Catherine at an early point despite her contempt for him, and is thus inspired to improve himself.

Lockwood is the other narrator of the novel. A recently-arrived tenant at Thrushcross Grange at the beginning of the novel, he is intrigued by the curious goings-on at Wuthering Heights, and persuades Nelly Dean to tell him the story of what happened during a bout of sickness.

[edit] Supernatural elements

A number of apparently supernatural incidents occur during the novel, although their true nature is always ambiguous. The mystery of Heathcliff's parentage is never solved, and at one point in the novel Nelly Dean entertains the notion that Heathcliff may be some hideous changeling. At the beginning of the novel, Lockwood has a horrible vision of Catherine (the elder) as a child, appearing at the window of her old chamber at Wuthering Heights, begging to be allowed in; not only does Heathcliff, on hearing of this, lend it credence, but when he dies it is noted that the window of his room was left open, raising the possibility that Catherine returned at the moment of his death. After Heathcliff dies, Nelly Dean reports that various superstitious locals have claimed to see Catherine and Heathcliff's ghosts roaming the moors, although in the closing line of the novel Lockwood discounts the idea of "unquiet slumbers for those sleepers in that quiet earth."

[edit] Timeline

1762	Edgar Linton born
1764	Heathcliff born
1765	Catherine Earnshaw born
1766	Isabella Linton born
1771	Heathcliff is brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw (late summer)
1773	Mrs Earnshaw dies
1774	Hindley is sent off to college
1777	Hindley marries Frances; Mr Earnshaw dies; Hindley comes back (October); Catherine goes to stay at Thrushcross Grange (November), then returns to Wuthering Heights (Christmas).
1778	Hareton is born (June); Frances dies (autumn)
1780	Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights; Mr and Mrs Linton both die
1783	Catherine marries Edgar (April); Heathcliff comes back (September)
1784	Heathcliff marries Isabella (January); Catherine dies and Cathy is born (20 March)' Hindley dies; Linton Heathcliff is born (September)
1797	Isabella dies; Cathy visits Wuthering Heights and meets Hareton; Linton is brought to Thrushcross Grange and is then taken to Wuthering Heights
1800	Cathy meets Heathcliff and sees Linton again (20 March)
1801	Cathy and Linton are married (August); Edgar dies (September); Linton dies (October); Mr Lockwood goes to Thrushcross Grange and visits Wuthering Heights, beginning his narrative
1802	Mr Lockwood goes back to London (January); Heathcliff dies (May); Mr Lockwood comes back to Thrushcross Grange
1803	Cathy marries Hareton

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Allusions/references to other works

Traditionally, this novel has been seen as a unique piece of work conceived in solitude by a genius confined to the lonesome heath, and as almost detached from the literary movements of the time. However, one may be surprised to learn from the Biographies that, besides Charlotte, also Emily (even though she kept up a somewhat monkish behaviour and returned to England sooner than Charlotte did) received some thorough literary training at the Pensionnat Héger in Brussels by imitating and analyzing the styles of classic writers, and also learned German. In this way, she could also read the German Romantics in the original, apart from Lord Byron, who was admired by all three sisters.

The brother-sister relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy (who are brought up together) is reminiscent of the brother-sister-couples in Byron's epics (together with the idea of a shared identity, as expressed in the famous "I am Heathcliff!"), with the role of the Byronic hero quite well-cast. More evidence for a Romantic and Gothic influence can be seen in the supernatural elements mentioned above, but there may still be a multitude of other influences yet uninvestigated, as, e.g., the scene of a woe-begone Catherine plucking feathers from the sofa-cushion and naming the birds they once belonged to evokes Ophelia handing out her various flowers.

[edit] Allusions/references from other works

In Albert Camus' essay "The Rebel", Heathcliff is compared to a leader of the rebel forces. Both are driven by a sort of madness: one by misguided love, the other by oppression. Camus juxtaposes the concept of Heathcliff's reaction to Cathy with the reaction of a disenchanted rebel to the ideal he once held.

Maryse Condé's novel Windward Heights adapted Wuthering Heights to be set in Guadaloupe and Cuba.

Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes both have poems titled "Wuthering Heights".

Ann Carson wrote a poem titled "The Glass Essay" in which is woven multiple references to Wuthering Heights and the life of Emily Brontë.

James Stoddard's novel The False House contains numerous references to Wuthering Heights.

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels often mention Heathcliff as the most tragic romantic hero.

In the preface of his novel Le bleu du ciel, the French writer Georges Bataille states that, in his view, Wuthering Heights belongs to those rare works in literature written from an inner necessity.

The opening line of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a reference to Nellie Dean and to the inset narrator used to recount the stories from both novels.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

1920: the earliest version of Wuthering Heights is filmed in England, directed by A.V. Bramble. It is unknown if any prints still exist.^[5]
1939: Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon as Catherine Linton, Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff, David Niven as Edgar Linton, Flora Robson as Ellen Dean, Donald Crisp as Dr. Kenneth, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella Linton and Leo G. Carroll as Joseph Earnshaw. The film was adapted by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. It was directed by William Wyler. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It did not depict the entire novel, portraying only half.
In 1948 BBC Television staged a live 90-minute version of the novel. This was not recorded.
A 1953 adaptation on BBC Television was scripted by Nigel Kneale, directed by Rudolph Cartier and starred Richard Todd as Heathcliff and Yvonne Mitchell as Catherine. This version does not survive in the BBC archives. According to the Kneale, it was made simply because Todd had turned up at the BBC one day and said that he wanted to play Heathcliff for them; Kneale was forced to write the script in only a week as the adaptation was rushed into production.^[6]
A 1954 (loose) Spanish-language adaptation filmed in Mexico by Luis Buñuel, titled Abismos de Pasión.
In 1962, BBC Television screened a new production of their 1953 version. This was again produced by Rudolph Cartier and has been preserved in the archives. Kneale's adaptation concentrates on the first half of the novel, removing the second generation of Earnshaws and Lintons entirely. Claire Bloom played Catherine and Keith Michell was Heathcliff.^[7]
1970: Wuthering Heights starring Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff and Anna Calder-Marshall as Catherine (the elder). It does not cover the whole story.
1970: Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 episode # 15 featured a sketch "The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights".
1978: Another BBC adaptation, directed by Peter Hammond and produced by Jonathan Powell, with screenplays by Hugh Leonard and David Snodin. Ken Hutchison plays Heathcliff and Kay Adshead plays Cathy. This adaption covers the whole story, and has been reissued on DVD.
1985: French film adaptation Hurlevent by Jacques Rivette.
1991: A Filipino film adaptation Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit, starring Richard Gómez and Dawn Zulueta. It was reprised in 2007 with an English title, The Promise, starring Richard Gutiérrez and Angel Locsín.
1992: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights starring Juliette Binoche in two roles, Catherine Earnshaw and her daughter, and Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff.
1998: Adaptation by Neil McKay for London Weekend Television directed by David Skynner and starring Sarah Smart as Catherine and Robert Cavanah as Heathcliff. Also broadcast by PBS television as part of Masterpiece Theatre.
2003: Wuthering Heights for MTV. It starred Erika Christensen, Mike Vogel, and Christopher Masterson.

[edit] New versions

In 2006 it was reported that a new film adaptation was in development, with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp presently attached to star, however, no further developments appear to have been forthcoming. M. Night Shyamalan was once offered the project to direct, but he turned it down to work on The Village, which he later revealed to be inspired partly by the novel.^[8]

ITV has commissioned a new remake, to be adapted by Blackpool writer Peter Bowker. The three-hour Bronte is expected to be broadcast in early 2008.^[9]

[edit] See also

Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse, is supposedly the model for the Earnshaw home.
A feud centred around Walterclough Hall is said to have been the inspiration for the story.
Bernard Herrmann wrote an opera based on the novel in 1951.
- The libretto was by Lucille Fletcher, and it was first performed in London in 1966, with the composer conducting the Pro Arte Orchestra. It featured the soprano Morag Beaton in the role of Cathy, and the baritone Donald Bell as Heathcliff. It was subsequently recorded on Unicorn-Kanchana records.
Carlisle Floyd also wrote an opera based on the novel in 1958.
The novel Glennkill by German writer Leonie Swann, published in 2005, is in some way centered around Emily Bronte's novel, and is perhaps the main reason why said novel is set in Ireland. The book, as we discover in the last pages, is being read to the sheep by the shepherd's daughter, and in a strange and dreamy way helps the main character of the novel, a sheep-detective called Miss Maple, to guess the identity of the murderer.
"Wuthering Heights" is a song by Kate Bush, which appears on her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside, and was also released as her debut single. It has been repeatedly covered by other artists, including Pat Benatar, on her 1980 album Crimes of Passion, the Brazilian power metal band Angra, on their 1993 album "Angels Cry", and Hayley Westenra, on her 2003 album Pure (Hayley Westenra album). The Puppini Sisters have released a swing version of the Kate Bush song, as have the Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain.
The title and cover art of the second 1976 album "Wind & Wuthering" by the British progressive rock group Genesis were inspired by the novel. It also includes two instrumental pieces titled "Unquiet Slumbers For The Sleepers..." and "...In That Quiet Earth", respectively, which are the last words in the novel.
"Wuthering Heights" is a Danish heavy metal band.
Wuthering Heights has been made into a musical by Bernard J. Taylor. The 1992 concept recording stars Lesley Garrett and Dave Willetts.
Song writer Michael Penn makes reference to Heathcliff in his song "No Myth".
The Wuthering Heights roleplay game is a role-playing game based on the French "René le Jeu de Rôle Romantique" by Philippe Tromeur. It is a parody of the original story, free for download here
Song Cycle version of the novel using Emily Brontë poems as libretto.
In 2003, Japanese singer-songwriter Chihiro Onitsuka penned and released a b-side track on her maxi-single "Beautiful Fighter," which was entitled "嵐ヶ丘," a name taken from the Japanese translation of the title Wuthering Heights.
In a scene of Cold Mountain, Ada Monroe is reading to Ruby Thewes an excerpt of Wuthering Heights.
In 2005, Japanese violinist Kawai Ikuko composed an instrumental piece of the same name. Its slightly more elaborate variation includes the subtitle, "Dear Heathcliff."
Egyptian television did a serialized version in the early 70's.
Korean pop artist Eugene has a song entitled "Wuthering Heights" released in 2004.
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a power ballad written, composed, and produced by Jim Steinman, inspired by the classic novel, Wuthering Heights. It was originally performed by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler in 1983.