i think it’s a love story but it’s a very melodramatic toxic tragic kind but it’s a love story for them in how they see each other, if that makes any sense lol. i don’t think it has to be the perfect kind you would want to emulate in order for it to be true~~
@@ririschannelx Yeah that's it exactly for me too! :) Not the kind of relationship that a sane person would want, but then, those two aren't very sane people! :P Thanks for your comment
I would not characterise it as a love story. What bothers me the most that there are a lots of mentions about this book in romcoms. I find it very funny how these movie characters refer to Heathcliff as a romantic, tragic lover and how they want a man to love them so passionately as he loves Catherine. I started to read Wuthering Heights and after the 1/3 of the story I was like who are these morons?! What are they doing with each other?! Where is the love story in this?! I had the feeling that I read about people, who live in a very narrow-minded community, went nuts because of the bad weather and lack of sunshine and their only amusement to bully each other. So all in all, for me, Wuthering Heights is an interesting story which was romanticised by the mainstream media, but in the reality relationships in it are tragical, dark and abusive as you well said!
This comment ☝❤ I always thought Cathy and Hareton's love mirrored Catherine and Heathcliff's love and in a way redeemed them. They even have the same initials.
I think they "love" the best they can. Do we see Healthcliff or Catherine show any "better" love to anyone? We hear nothing of Catherine's love for her maternal mother. We don't know the background of Heathcliff, but we can imagine he had no love in his very young years, especially being left in the streets. Maybe the most love we see is Heathcliff's love (or is it just gratitude?) for Mr. Linton, Their love is wild and unthinking (read: passion without thought of consequences). It is just another form, more primitive. As far as lust? not sure. there is no carnal description of what happens on the moors, but we can let our imagination run to think that two yougins' who are going through puberty don't just look at the heather on the hill..... LOL
I'd say it is love. But love 'aggravated' by trauma and attachment issues. Wuthering heights is a 'family saga' in which Emily Brontë shares her ideas about the world and the human condition. The love story is one if the key element of the story, but the real topics are wild passions versus civilisation/ education and even religion and the importance of upbringing. There is also an interesting take on religion in the novel. Thanks for the videos, I just re read WH and they feed my thoughts
I think that to describe Wuthering Heights as a love story or anything else really does it a huge disservice. It is a story...it shouldn’t be put in a box and to be honest I think Emily Bronte was the last author ever to want to be characterised by her writing in that way. Yes I do think Heathcliff and Cathy loved each other..it was a passionate love...and I don’t think it can be judged by how we want to see loving relationships now. They were deeply selfish because what upbringing did they have to be otherwise. But also women then had little choice. Cathy couldn’t be independent or earn money for her keep. It is easy to say she could have married Heathcliff and been happy in poverty, but life was hard, there was no social structure to help the poor. I think Emily recognised that and certainly that reality is reflected in the book. Better to profess hatred and loathing for Heathcliff because she knew she could never have a future with him. Better kid herself and him that they had nothing to keep them together. Also they were young..young people make mistakes...get wowed by money and social strata and try to deny themselves and the truth in the process. So I don’t think wuthering heights is a love story but it is about passionate love and mistakes...revenge...all those things. I don’t think it can be judged and put down because it doesn’t fit with how we think love should be handled...rather read and enjoyed for its rawness, bleakness, passion and bad behaviour...and ghost!
I think you are quite right! Love is just one element of the story, but there is also a lot more to it than that, even if adaptions tend to reduce it to class romance, which is a shame. I think another reason why Cathy chooses Linton as well, which I'll take about in my character analysis of Cathy in the future, is that the Linton family actually give her affection in a way that her own family never do. She's described as nobody's favourite as a child, but when she meets the Linton's, they actually favour her over Heathcliff. I think that is one of her reasons for being attracted to the more "civilised" side of life. Since it's with the Linton's that she gets the kind of affection, care and support, that a child needs. Thanks for your comment! :)
This love = love built out of shared trauma. I love this book. It's raw and beautiful. It's the worst of people with generational trauma but with a chance at redemption at the end with Catherine and Hareton.
I've only gotten this far so haven't seen your last part, but commenting on the sibling relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff, i feel that part of Emily Bronte's inspiration for the characters, both Hindley and for Heathcliff seems to have been her brother, Bramwell. (Based on biographies of the Brontës, not my own insights) Bramwell had been the golden boy of the family and the 4 children were known to spend hours playing together pretty much left to their own devices as their father was working and their aunt didn't really know what to do with them! But of course, things turned very different when Bramwell became addicted to alcohol and Opium. I feel that on the subject of sibling relationships Emily is highlighting how you can love someone so much as a young person, And how that love changes when someone starts to self-destruct. The alcoholic can become very abusive towards even the most loved family members. And now you're walking down that love-hate road. Abusive and self abusive people are usually not happy just destroying themselves but flushing everyone else down the same toilet. I'm really enjoying your videos, very insightful and interesting! Look forward to the last part.
Esta novela esta llena de reflexiones metafisicas, siempre me hace pensar en las dicotomias y como esta compuesta el alma o el ser, el amor como expresion del ser. Creo que si es una historia de amor.
I think it is a story of impulsive dysfunction, a toxic relationship. Which is something modern people can relate to, that it's something born out of childhood trauma and lack of coping skills. I told you on another video that it would be an episode of Fatal Attaction or Snapped today because it would be a trailer park murder-suicide.
What I find interesting in the book is that Emily leaves a lot for the imagination and doesn't plainly show us some stuff and then just surprises us out of nowhere. Like, we (or at least I) had no idea that Cathy and Heathcliff had a romantic love for each other until Cathy's speech to Nelly. The book doesn't show even one scene of them together in the moors, kissing, or hugging, or showing affection...Nelly just casually and briefly says that they became closer while growing up, and did some mischief together, but it doesnt put much emphasis to it. I sincerely did not think much of the pair Cathy-Heathcliff until that speech to Nelly and then I was like whoooa where did all that come from lol Yet, somehow (maybe because of the movies), your mind kind of fills in the gaps and creates the visions of the two together in a romantic way. I do wonder if up until that speech they had actually been together romantically (like, kissed or something) or if it was just the feelings, but nothing concrete ever really happened between them up until that point. Another thing that surprised me was when Cathy gave birth out of nowhere. The book didn't mention that she was pregnant until she actually gives birth and dies shortly after. I was so shocked! It says that the baby was 7 months, therefore, premature. I wonder 2 things... 1) How did she manage to give birth when she was so weak and 2) did Heathcliff know she was pregnant before she died? It seems a silly question but she was only 7 months and she had been bed-ridden and presumably all covered up in blankets... Maybe he didn't even notice it when he went to see her when she was dying...
The 1970 version, in spite of skipping the second half, actually does a really good job of showing the brutality of the characters and their various dynamics. The critics hated it because it was too different from the 1930s version, and Timothy Dalton's Heathcliff wasn't menacing enough. Which... is kinda the point, honestly. The film ends right after Catherine's funeral, with her ghost luring Heathcliff back to the house where Hindley shoots him. We don't get Isabella's account of his abuse, and the worst of his actions have been written out, so he never really makes the transition from traumatized child to monstrous adult.
I think it’s a story of a difficult, abusive, and highly dysfunctional love. Both things can be true, and then we eventually see in the next generation a couple who learn (albeit with difficulty) to set boundaries and communicate their needs, leading to a healthier relationship.
I read Wuthering Heights last week and I really badly wanted to talk to somebody about it so these videos have been exactly what I was looking for in terms of a breakdown, thank you for your insights! If you ever read Anna Karenina or Wives and Daughters, I'd love to hear your take.✨✨
Charis 💗 It was a Gothic novel and a revenge story with love in it, albeit twisted because Emily was a rebel. Charlotte and Anne write more classic love stories.
My first experience of the Wuthering Heights story was watching the 1939 Lawrence Olivier film when I was 14 years old and into romantic stories. My impression of it was a tragic story of star-crossed lovers rather like Romeo and Juliet. A few years later, I came across a copy of the book, read it, and was disappointed. It did not meet my expectations and found the violence and abuse uncomfortable to read, expecting the opposite. Over the years, I warmed to it once I realised what the story was really about. I found it intriguing.
I was wondering if there might be any chance that young Catherine is actually Heathcliff's daughter and not Linton's daughter, since chronologically, it would be possible in theory considering the lapse of time between Heathcliff's return to the premises and th birth. Or if at least that thought crossed Emily's mind, to plant a seed of doubt in her paternity. Or if that possibility was never even considered by Emily. Since I'm kinda not the best at picking up stuff that is very very subtle in literature, I ask my fellow readers that might be sharper than I am: is it in any way shape or form implied or even the possibility hinted, that Heathcliff and Cathy ever got to the point of actually being intimate with each other sexually?
I don't think so. Cathy 2 is said to look a lot like the Lintons, aside from her mother's dark eyes. Heathcliff loathes her, I don't know if he would despise her as much if he even remotely believed her to perhaps he his lovechild with Catherine. But no, they repeatedly emphasize how Cathy 2 is more like the Lintons. That's why Heathcliff isn't obsessed with her as a way of connecting with the memory of Catherine. The person that reminds him of Catherine is Hareton.
@@mariadorronsoro2282 you're right it does say that Cathy 2 looks like Linton. But I do wonder if Heathcliff and Cathy were ever intimate with each other or was it just platonic love
absolutely loved this analysis - I think the reason this book is met with such polarized reviews is because it's advertised as a standard romanticist era love story, when it's far from such (and besides the inaccurate film portrayals, I think Emily Bronte being naturally associated with the works of her sisters also contributes to this notion that she's a romance writer). And it's a shame that no film adaptations have been able to capture the sheer raw emotion, the obsession, depravity, isolation and violence juxtaposed with innocence, civilization with wilderness that the book perfectly depicts. That being said, I do wish there was a good film adaptation, and I'm naively hoping there will be one (I mean, with generational trauma being the current big thing in cinema as of late, surely someone's going to try to adapt this again? and hopefully they depict the second half and accurately cast Heathcliff this time. Like the 2011 adaptation came closer than the others, but please. if his ethnic origin wasn't important to the story Bronte wouldn't have mentioned it like fifty times) anyway, end of rant. but yeah. loved this video :)
Yeah I would love to see a good adaptations of this. It would need to embrace the violence and the melodrama, which I think is unlikely to happen any time soon!
Have read Gone With the Wind? I many people have big opinions about it, but it's another novel that the film has overshadowed public perception. I keep coming back to it as such solid story-telling and character development, with definite Southern Gothic elements. Scarlett is not presented to us as some perfect heroine. She is flawed and you don't always like her but you root for her just the same. Melanie survives everything that Scarlett does, but she comes through it with her kindness and grace intact. Scarlett is hardened, and it is Melanie's pureness of heart that Scarlett is jealous of, not so much Ashley. Scarlett is self aware enough to know she lacks that, and she knows she is doing immoral things, yet she holds her nose and dives in, vowing over and over to just get through this current tribulation and she will be a great and good lady and think about it tomorrow. Scarlett is a terrible mother, and her vulgar tacky taste is used to comic effect, so you can't say Margaret Mitchell is glorifying her or anything else. Mitchell was not writing some glorification of the Old South, quite the contrary. From the opening scene, you are given 3 spoiled teenagers who think nothing bad can ever happen to them. The black characters often have an intuition that the white characters do not. She does a good job of showing good and bad people of all kinds. Ashley and Rhett are not only physical opposites (one blond, one "swarthy") but also in basic constitution. Ashley is strong, capable, dutiful, and handsome, but he comes back from The War a broken man, not knowing what to do as society crumbles around him. Rhett is virile and a visionary, opportunist, yet sensitive and empathetic. He is the conscience of the novel, and I daresay the sexiest male character even put down on paper. People criticize GWTW over the portrayal of slavery, but I remind them that this isn't a story about slavery, and just because it is set in a time when it existed, does not mean that should take over the whole narrative. It is important, but from a standpoint of people in a time and place and living through traumatic events. You never see bigger implications when you are in the middle of it. It's an up close perspective without the modern-day pontificating and finger-wagging, which I find refreshing. I tell everyone they should read it.
This is very interesting. I haven't read "Gone with the Wind" but I am aware of the common complaints about it. I think you are probably right though in what you say, and you have provided me with some additional motivation to read it. Thank you! :)
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall I hope you will! I am in my 50s and have read it 3 times in my life. The 1st was when I was 16 then it was all about the romance and the dresses, but as I have moved through phases in my life I got something different and deeper each time. And again, don't let the movie influence you, they had to necessarily telescope the story for that format, so there are huge chunks missing. I greatly enjoy your channel, I have read many of the books you talk about, but you are introducing me to some I never heard of. My son is a big fan of the Wheel of Time books. Maybe I'm becoming a goth girl in my old age. I want to read that Carmella vampire book you talked about.
@@melaniew4354 I think that's something worth talking about. I think a big reason to re-read a classic novel (or any good book really) at different times lets you see it in a whole different light. I know a lot of people who read Wuthering Heights in school (and a lot of other classics) and they hate them now! :P But I always say, if you read it again with some experience under your belt, you might see it a bit differently! Carmilla is a very good book. And nice and slim too! I think it's less than a hundred pages so definitely worth a go! Let me know what you think if/when you do!
Cutting any exploration of the relationships that Scarlett grew up with on her father's plantation is one big loss in the movie. For instance, Scarlett's mother is a commanding, powerful figure whose example Scarlett can never live up to. That relationship is mirrored by Prissy and her mother, Dilcey. Dilcey is the best midwife in the county, and Prissy can fantasize about following in her mother's footsteps until she has to face the reality that she really "don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!"
As do I; my grandmother, who taught me to survive for and with all, to root for Scarlett but "aspire to Melanie's pure heart" (which is also problematic) used to call GWTW "wartime puberty but with big dresses."
Before reading Wuthering Heights I watched the 1939 movie which I hated, thus had no interest in the story. In my 30’s I read the book receiving it as a gift & fell in love with the story especially learning about the Brontë sisters. The book is amazing when compared to the time it was written, women held no place in the world outside the home, the Brontë girls lead sheltered lives except in their readings. The father did a good thing allowing such access to books & literature. Plus the imaginations of the sisters is beyond… amazing. Imagination now lacking in today’s young.
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall I have seen an old black & white BBC production (I think from early 1970’s) which follows the book rather well, but it is rather low budget. Perhaps a film will be done that will do it justice. It would be nice before they do ANOTHER Jane Eyre film!
I think they love each other but not in the way we view love! Like Cathy says “are souls are one “ To me there love is like to two trees they are planted together, So Cathy and Heathcliff they grow to close together that they roots get intertwined so they don’t know a life without one another soo they do become one soul in a way so when they grow and have to separate they can’t Separate because they roots or very soul are intertwined so closely I think that’s ONE reason why Heathcliff started to take revenge I think that makes sense maybe not 🤣 I love ur video really interesting
It's absolutely a love story like Romeo and Juliet is a love story. Love doesn't always have a happy ending. Love isn't always healthy or good for us. Love is often disfunctional and ends in tragedy. It's a case study of how love can consume us rather than lift us up. Maybe it should be called a love lesson?
I do think they love each other because each was all the other had during a sensitive and dark time of childhood. For Heathcliff, Cathy was all he had ever. His only connection to human affection. I personally hate what the movies have done to the story, emphasizing what i consider the very unimportant theme of class. WH is not about class. Class is a tool used to highlight the nature of certain characters. Cathy herself is a savage despite her class. She says she would marry Heathcliff in a second if he wasn't destitute. And that is not in reference to his class as much as to the way that we would be forced to live. I also agree that lust is not the answer for these two and it's almost entirely missing from their interactions and their connection. There is the merest hint of it in their argument right before Edgar bans H from the grange. H hints on the absurdity of Cathy's obvious plan to be his friend and protectress while living happily ever after with Edgar. He hints at the idea that this would be unacceptable because he wants more from her. Readers could assume he wants intimacy but it's likely only a part of what he wants. He basically doesn't want to share her affection, her time, her loyalty.
Thank you for your very good analysis of Wuthering Heights! I don't believe HeathCliff or Katherine knew how to love because they were never taught, never had good examples, and they didn't seek after or know Christ's love. It's mistaken to think passionate feelings are love which is what some movies want people to believe such as in "The Note Book". Inflicting revenge and trauma is never love ...neither is manipulation, selfishness, unkindness, unforgiveness and a lack of boundaries. Those are all warped views of love. True love is a commitment, and it's also willing to let go of self. HeathCliff & Katherine led a life of misery that lasted generations. I believe Wuthering Heights is a tragedy of warped passion ...a tale of what NOT to become or engage in.
In my mind, the only adaptation that is close to what you explained is that of 2011 directed by Andrea Arnold. It happens to be my favorite adaptation. It is quite a brutal one, but does not get into the second part of the novel.
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall Kaya Scodelario as Catherine Earnshaw (Shannon Beer as Young Catherine) and James Howson as Heathcliff (Solomon Glave as Young Heathcliff) Check it out when you have the time.
Really enjoyed your analysis. I wonder to what extent we should even see lust in the novel. To modern readers, the gothic romantic imaginary of the moors and the weather etc reads likes sexual imagary. But perhaps to Bronte and the 19th Century reader that association isnt so obvious, and we are applying a sort of emotional anachronism in seeing it that way.
You might be right about that. I like in the past, people felt platonic emotions more intensely than we did. Even masculine men often describe their male friendships in terms of love without any awkwardness or shame. It's an interesting thing to think about.
Is Wuthering Heights a love story? Let me know what you think!
i think it’s a love story but it’s a very melodramatic toxic tragic kind but it’s a love story for them in how they see each other, if that makes any sense lol. i don’t think it has to be the perfect kind you would want to emulate in order for it to be true~~
@@ririschannelx Yeah that's it exactly for me too! :) Not the kind of relationship that a sane person would want, but then, those two aren't very sane people! :P Thanks for your comment
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall no problem! love your in depth videos about wuthering heights, it’s my favourite book 😊
I would not characterise it as a love story. What bothers me the most that there are a lots of mentions about this book in romcoms. I find it very funny how these movie characters refer to Heathcliff as a romantic, tragic lover and how they want a man to love them so passionately as he loves Catherine. I started to read Wuthering Heights and after the 1/3 of the story I was like who are these morons?! What are they doing with each other?! Where is the love story in this?! I had the feeling that I read about people, who live in a very narrow-minded community, went nuts because of the bad weather and lack of sunshine and their only amusement to bully each other.
So all in all, for me, Wuthering Heights is an interesting story which was romanticised by the mainstream media, but in the reality relationships in it are tragical, dark and abusive as you well said!
I've always thought that Cathy and Hareton are the second-chance Catherine and Heathcliff.
This comment ☝❤
I always thought Cathy and Hareton's love mirrored Catherine and Heathcliff's love and in a way redeemed them. They even have the same initials.
me too. a chance to have the story take a new healthier take...out of the ashes from the intergenerational abuse they were born into
I think they "love" the best they can. Do we see Healthcliff or Catherine show any "better" love to anyone? We hear nothing of Catherine's love for her maternal mother. We don't know the background of Heathcliff, but we can imagine he had no love in his very young years, especially being left in the streets. Maybe the most love we see is Heathcliff's love (or is it just gratitude?) for Mr. Linton, Their love is wild and unthinking (read: passion without thought of consequences). It is just another form, more primitive. As far as lust? not sure. there is no carnal description of what happens on the moors, but we can let our imagination run to think that two yougins' who are going through puberty don't just look at the heather on the hill..... LOL
I'd say it is love. But love 'aggravated' by trauma and attachment issues.
Wuthering heights is a 'family saga' in which Emily Brontë shares her ideas about the world and the human condition. The love story is one if the key element of the story, but the real topics are wild passions versus civilisation/ education and even religion and the importance of upbringing. There is also an interesting take on religion in the novel. Thanks for the videos, I just re read WH and they feed my thoughts
I think that to describe Wuthering Heights as a love story or anything else really does it a huge disservice. It is a story...it shouldn’t be put in a box and to be honest I think Emily Bronte was the last author ever to want to be characterised by her writing in that way. Yes I do think Heathcliff and Cathy loved each other..it was a passionate love...and I don’t think it can be judged by how we want to see loving relationships now. They were deeply selfish because what upbringing did they have to be otherwise. But also women then had little choice. Cathy couldn’t be independent or earn money for her keep. It is easy to say she could have married Heathcliff and been happy in poverty, but life was hard, there was no social structure to help the poor. I think Emily recognised that and certainly that reality is reflected in the book. Better to profess hatred and loathing for Heathcliff because she knew she could never have a future with him. Better kid herself and him that they had nothing to keep them together. Also they were young..young people make mistakes...get wowed by money and social strata and try to deny themselves and the truth in the process.
So I don’t think wuthering heights is a love story but it is about passionate love and mistakes...revenge...all those things.
I don’t think it can be judged and put down because it doesn’t fit with how we think love should be handled...rather read and enjoyed for its rawness, bleakness, passion and bad behaviour...and ghost!
I think you are quite right! Love is just one element of the story, but there is also a lot more to it than that, even if adaptions tend to reduce it to class romance, which is a shame.
I think another reason why Cathy chooses Linton as well, which I'll take about in my character analysis of Cathy in the future, is that the Linton family actually give her affection in a way that her own family never do. She's described as nobody's favourite as a child, but when she meets the Linton's, they actually favour her over Heathcliff.
I think that is one of her reasons for being attracted to the more "civilised" side of life. Since it's with the Linton's that she gets the kind of affection, care and support, that a child needs.
Thanks for your comment! :)
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall oh yes...I agree completely....anyway, very much enjoying your videos!
This love = love built out of shared trauma.
I love this book. It's raw and beautiful. It's the worst of people with generational trauma but with a chance at redemption at the end with Catherine and Hareton.
I've only gotten this far so haven't seen your last part, but commenting on the sibling relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff, i feel that part of Emily Bronte's inspiration for the characters, both Hindley and for Heathcliff seems to have been her brother, Bramwell. (Based on biographies of the Brontës, not my own insights) Bramwell had been the golden boy of the family and the 4 children were known to spend hours playing together pretty much left to their own devices as their father was working and their aunt didn't really know what to do with them! But of course, things turned very different when Bramwell became addicted to alcohol and Opium. I feel that on the subject of sibling relationships Emily is highlighting how you can love someone so much as a young person, And how that love changes when someone starts to self-destruct. The alcoholic can become very abusive towards even the most loved family members. And now you're walking down that love-hate road. Abusive and self abusive people are usually not happy just destroying themselves but flushing everyone else down the same toilet.
I'm really enjoying your videos, very insightful and interesting! Look forward to the last part.
Esta novela esta llena de reflexiones metafisicas, siempre me hace pensar en las dicotomias y como esta compuesta el alma o el ser, el amor como expresion del ser. Creo que si es una historia de amor.
I think it is a story of impulsive dysfunction, a toxic relationship. Which is something modern people can relate to, that it's something born out of childhood trauma and lack of coping skills. I told you on another video that it would be an episode of Fatal Attaction or Snapped today because it would be a trailer park murder-suicide.
What I find interesting in the book is that Emily leaves a lot for the imagination and doesn't plainly show us some stuff and then just surprises us out of nowhere.
Like, we (or at least I) had no idea that Cathy and Heathcliff had a romantic love for each other until Cathy's speech to Nelly. The book doesn't show even one scene of them together in the moors, kissing, or hugging, or showing affection...Nelly just casually and briefly says that they became closer while growing up, and did some mischief together, but it doesnt put much emphasis to it.
I sincerely did not think much of the pair Cathy-Heathcliff until that speech to Nelly and then I was like whoooa where did all that come from lol
Yet, somehow (maybe because of the movies), your mind kind of fills in the gaps and creates the visions of the two together in a romantic way. I do wonder if up until that speech they had actually been together romantically (like, kissed or something) or if it was just the feelings, but nothing concrete ever really happened between them up until that point.
Another thing that surprised me was when Cathy gave birth out of nowhere. The book didn't mention that she was pregnant until she actually gives birth and dies shortly after. I was so shocked!
It says that the baby was 7 months, therefore, premature. I wonder 2 things... 1) How did she manage to give birth when she was so weak and 2) did Heathcliff know she was pregnant before she died? It seems a silly question but she was only 7 months and she had been bed-ridden and presumably all covered up in blankets... Maybe he didn't even notice it when he went to see her when she was dying...
I was also completely dumbfounded when she gave birth, I wondered if I had missed something.
i read about this in an annotated version. it says that victorian novels usually skipped pregnancy or sex related plot😂
I always describe it as a passionate and dark classic story.
It certainly is that!
The 1970 version, in spite of skipping the second half, actually does a really good job of showing the brutality of the characters and their various dynamics. The critics hated it because it was too different from the 1930s version, and Timothy Dalton's Heathcliff wasn't menacing enough. Which... is kinda the point, honestly. The film ends right after Catherine's funeral, with her ghost luring Heathcliff back to the house where Hindley shoots him. We don't get Isabella's account of his abuse, and the worst of his actions have been written out, so he never really makes the transition from traumatized child to monstrous adult.
I think it’s a story of a difficult, abusive, and highly dysfunctional love. Both things can be true, and then we eventually see in the next generation a couple who learn (albeit with difficulty) to set boundaries and communicate their needs, leading to a healthier relationship.
I read Wuthering Heights last week and I really badly wanted to talk to somebody about it so these videos have been exactly what I was looking for in terms of a breakdown, thank you for your insights! If you ever read Anna Karenina or Wives and Daughters, I'd love to hear your take.✨✨
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed the videos. If I ever read those books and feel I have something to say, I definitely will! :)
Charis 💗 It was a Gothic novel and a revenge story with love in it, albeit twisted because Emily was a rebel.
Charlotte and Anne write more classic love stories.
My first experience of the Wuthering Heights story was watching the 1939 Lawrence Olivier film when I was 14 years old and into romantic stories. My impression of it was a tragic story of star-crossed lovers rather like Romeo and Juliet. A few years later, I came across a copy of the book, read it, and was disappointed. It did not meet my expectations and found the violence and abuse uncomfortable to read, expecting the opposite. Over the years, I warmed to it once I realised what the story was really about. I found it intriguing.
I was wondering if there might be any chance that young Catherine is actually Heathcliff's daughter and not Linton's daughter, since chronologically, it would be possible in theory considering the lapse of time between Heathcliff's return to the premises and th birth. Or if at least that thought crossed Emily's mind, to plant a seed of doubt in her paternity. Or if that possibility was never even considered by Emily.
Since I'm kinda not the best at picking up stuff that is very very subtle in literature, I ask my fellow readers that might be sharper than I am: is it in any way shape or form implied or even the possibility hinted, that Heathcliff and Cathy ever got to the point of actually being intimate with each other sexually?
I don't think so. Cathy 2 is said to look a lot like the Lintons, aside from her mother's dark eyes. Heathcliff loathes her, I don't know if he would despise her as much if he even remotely believed her to perhaps he his lovechild with Catherine.
But no, they repeatedly emphasize how Cathy 2 is more like the Lintons. That's why Heathcliff isn't obsessed with her as a way of connecting with the memory of Catherine. The person that reminds him of Catherine is Hareton.
@@mariadorronsoro2282 you're right it does say that Cathy 2 looks like Linton.
But I do wonder if Heathcliff and Cathy were ever intimate with each other or was it just platonic love
Thank you for these amazing video essays ❤️
You are very welcome!
absolutely loved this analysis - I think the reason this book is met with such polarized reviews is because it's advertised as a standard romanticist era love story, when it's far from such (and besides the inaccurate film portrayals, I think Emily Bronte being naturally associated with the works of her sisters also contributes to this notion that she's a romance writer). And it's a shame that no film adaptations have been able to capture the sheer raw emotion, the obsession, depravity, isolation and violence juxtaposed with innocence, civilization with wilderness that the book perfectly depicts.
That being said, I do wish there was a good film adaptation, and I'm naively hoping there will be one (I mean, with generational trauma being the current big thing in cinema as of late, surely someone's going to try to adapt this again? and hopefully they depict the second half and accurately cast Heathcliff this time. Like the 2011 adaptation came closer than the others, but please. if his ethnic origin wasn't important to the story Bronte wouldn't have mentioned it like fifty times)
anyway, end of rant. but yeah. loved this video :)
Yeah I would love to see a good adaptations of this. It would need to embrace the violence and the melodrama, which I think is unlikely to happen any time soon!
Have read Gone With the Wind? I many people have big opinions about it, but it's another novel that the film has overshadowed public perception. I keep coming back to it as such solid story-telling and character development, with definite Southern Gothic elements. Scarlett is not presented to us as some perfect heroine. She is flawed and you don't always like her but you root for her just the same. Melanie survives everything that Scarlett does, but she comes through it with her kindness and grace intact. Scarlett is hardened, and it is Melanie's pureness of heart that Scarlett is jealous of, not so much Ashley. Scarlett is self aware enough to know she lacks that, and she knows she is doing immoral things, yet she holds her nose and dives in, vowing over and over to just get through this current tribulation and she will be a great and good lady and think about it tomorrow. Scarlett is a terrible mother, and her vulgar tacky taste is used to comic effect, so you can't say Margaret Mitchell is glorifying her or anything else. Mitchell was not writing some glorification of the Old South, quite the contrary. From the opening scene, you are given 3 spoiled teenagers who think nothing bad can ever happen to them. The black characters often have an intuition that the white characters do not. She does a good job of showing good and bad people of all kinds. Ashley and Rhett are not only physical opposites (one blond, one "swarthy") but also in basic constitution. Ashley is strong, capable, dutiful, and handsome, but he comes back from The War a broken man, not knowing what to do as society crumbles around him. Rhett is virile and a visionary, opportunist, yet sensitive and empathetic. He is the conscience of the novel, and I daresay the sexiest male character even put down on paper. People criticize GWTW over the portrayal of slavery, but I remind them that this isn't a story about slavery, and just because it is set in a time when it existed, does not mean that should take over the whole narrative. It is important, but from a standpoint of people in a time and place and living through traumatic events. You never see bigger implications when you are in the middle of it. It's an up close perspective without the modern-day pontificating and finger-wagging, which I find refreshing. I tell everyone they should read it.
This is very interesting. I haven't read "Gone with the Wind" but I am aware of the common complaints about it.
I think you are probably right though in what you say, and you have provided me with some additional motivation to read it. Thank you! :)
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall I hope you will! I am in my 50s and have read it 3 times in my life. The 1st was when I was 16 then it was all about the romance and the dresses, but as I have moved through phases in my life I got something different and deeper each time. And again, don't let the movie influence you, they had to necessarily telescope the story for that format, so there are huge chunks missing. I greatly enjoy your channel, I have read many of the books you talk about, but you are introducing me to some I never heard of. My son is a big fan of the Wheel of Time books. Maybe I'm becoming a goth girl in my old age. I want to read that Carmella vampire book you talked about.
@@melaniew4354 I think that's something worth talking about. I think a big reason to re-read a classic novel (or any good book really) at different times lets you see it in a whole different light. I know a lot of people who read Wuthering Heights in school (and a lot of other classics) and they hate them now! :P But I always say, if you read it again with some experience under your belt, you might see it a bit differently!
Carmilla is a very good book. And nice and slim too! I think it's less than a hundred pages so definitely worth a go! Let me know what you think if/when you do!
Cutting any exploration of the relationships that Scarlett grew up with on her father's plantation is one big loss in the movie. For instance, Scarlett's mother is a commanding, powerful figure whose example Scarlett can never live up to. That relationship is mirrored by Prissy and her mother, Dilcey. Dilcey is the best midwife in the county, and Prissy can fantasize about following in her mother's footsteps until she has to face the reality that she really "don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!"
As do I; my grandmother, who taught me to survive for and with all, to root for Scarlett but "aspire to Melanie's pure heart" (which is also problematic) used to call GWTW "wartime puberty but with big dresses."
Before reading Wuthering Heights I watched the 1939 movie which I hated, thus had no interest in the story. In my 30’s I read the book receiving it as a gift & fell in love with the story especially learning about the Brontë sisters. The book is amazing when compared to the time it was written, women held no place in the world outside the home, the Brontë girls lead sheltered lives except in their readings. The father did a good thing allowing such access to books & literature. Plus the imaginations of the sisters is beyond… amazing. Imagination now lacking in today’s young.
I'm glad you managed to get passed the film and give the real thing ago! It is such a shame that the film completely misrepresents the story!
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall I have seen an old black & white BBC production (I think from early 1970’s) which follows the book rather well, but it is rather low budget. Perhaps a film will be done that will do it justice. It would be nice before they do ANOTHER Jane Eyre film!
I think they love each other but not in the way we view love!
Like Cathy says
“are souls are one “
To me there love is like to two trees they are planted together,
So Cathy and Heathcliff they grow to close together that they roots get intertwined so they don’t know a life without one another soo they do become one soul in a way so when they grow and have to separate they can’t Separate because they roots or very soul are intertwined so closely
I think that’s ONE reason why Heathcliff started to take revenge
I think that makes sense maybe not 🤣
I love ur video really interesting
It's absolutely a love story like Romeo and Juliet is a love story. Love doesn't always have a happy ending. Love isn't always healthy or good for us. Love is often disfunctional and ends in tragedy. It's a case study of how love can consume us rather than lift us up. Maybe it should be called a love lesson?
I like the idea of its being a love lesson a lot. :)
I do think they love each other because each was all the other had during a sensitive and dark time of childhood. For Heathcliff, Cathy was all he had ever. His only connection to human affection. I personally hate what the movies have done to the story, emphasizing what i consider the very unimportant theme of class. WH is not about class. Class is a tool used to highlight the nature of certain characters. Cathy herself is a savage despite her class. She says she would marry Heathcliff in a second if he wasn't destitute. And that is not in reference to his class as much as to the way that we would be forced to live. I also agree that lust is not the answer for these two and it's almost entirely missing from their interactions and their connection. There is the merest hint of it in their argument right before Edgar bans H from the grange. H hints on the absurdity of Cathy's obvious plan to be his friend and protectress while living happily ever after with Edgar. He hints at the idea that this would be unacceptable because he wants more from her. Readers could assume he wants intimacy but it's likely only a part of what he wants. He basically doesn't want to share her affection, her time, her loyalty.
Thank you for your very good analysis of Wuthering Heights! I don't believe HeathCliff or Katherine knew how to love because they were never taught, never had good examples, and they didn't seek after or know Christ's love. It's mistaken to think passionate feelings are love which is what some movies want people to believe such as in "The Note Book". Inflicting revenge and trauma is never love ...neither is manipulation, selfishness, unkindness, unforgiveness and a lack of boundaries. Those are all warped views of love. True love is a commitment, and it's also willing to let go of self. HeathCliff & Katherine led a life of misery that lasted generations. I believe Wuthering Heights is a tragedy of warped passion ...a tale of what NOT to become or engage in.
In my mind, the only adaptation that is close to what you explained is that of 2011 directed by Andrea Arnold. It happens to be my favorite adaptation. It is quite a brutal one, but does not get into the second part of the novel.
I'll have to take a look at that adaptation
@@JoshuaJClarkeKelsall
Kaya Scodelario as Catherine Earnshaw (Shannon Beer as Young Catherine) and
James Howson as Heathcliff (Solomon Glave as Young Heathcliff)
Check it out when you have the time.
Really enjoyed your analysis. I wonder to what extent we should even see lust in the novel. To modern readers, the gothic romantic imaginary of the moors and the weather etc reads likes sexual imagary. But perhaps to Bronte and the 19th Century reader that association isnt so obvious, and we are applying a sort of emotional anachronism in seeing it that way.
You might be right about that. I like in the past, people felt platonic emotions more intensely than we did. Even masculine men often describe their male friendships in terms of love without any awkwardness or shame. It's an interesting thing to think about.
Withering Heights is dark, characters that are insane, abusive, selfish and bizarre. Certainly not normal human behaviour.
if catherine was so “wild” why did she select the husband that wasn’t her style
status. The promise of the security the Linton family would give her if she married Edgar. Healtcliff had nothing material to offer
you are reading up several parts that weren't in my book. Maybe i have an abridged version 🤔
I don't think it is a love story. Is a story about intergenerational abuse and how to (or not to) break the cycle
Ja, eine toxische Lovestory.🤷