Wuthering Heights
Premise - The moment Mr. Lockwood enters Wuthering Heights, he can sense the decades of tension and hostility that have permanently tainted the household. He speaks with Ellen “Nelly” Dean, the maid, who tells the life story of Heathcliff, the current master of Wuthering Heights, and his unrequited love for a dead woman named Catharine.
Review - This is one of those big-time classics that has been adapted many times over. After reading the original book, I went for the 2011/2012 film adaptation because it had Kaya Scodelario from Skins starring as Catharine. That said, as with many classics, many adaptations have taken extensive liberties. Apart from the fact that our two main characters are named Catharine and Heathcliff, the movie and book are about as different as they can be.
I enjoyed the original novel, particularly the first half. Narratively, the whole book can get a bit confusing because it’s telling a story within a story. At the first level, we have Mr. Lockwood narrating, who is meeting an adult Heathcliff for the first time. At the second level, we have Nelly narrating as she goes all the way through Heathcliff’s childhood up until present day. But neither of these narrators are Heathcliff himself, whose story this whole book is. It took me a fair amount of time to adjust to the method of narration. The first half of the novel is the classically famous love story between Catharine and Heathcliff, two children growing up at Wuthering Heights. After Catharine dies though, the second half of the novel is about the relationship between Catharine and Heathcliff’s children, and boy does it get REAL incestuous. I hated most of the second generation’s tale. So many cousins dating each other.
However, what I found out after reading the novel, is that most adaptations ONLY include the Catharine/Heathcliff story. The 2012 movie I saw had no Lockwood, no nothing, which I’d estimate only covers around 30% of the novel, though it’s a stretch to say they were 30% similar. As much as I disliked the incest, I feel like the second generation is still an important part of the story because it shows how the circle of abuse continues. We see a Heathcliff who has grown up to be inexcusably awful. I don’t think this latter part of the novel needed to be nearly as long as it was, but it serves a purpose.
I thought the movie adaptation was pretty awful in comparison. Very low budget indie, made to seem even more low budget than it actually was with very shaky cameras. The shots were very close-up and intimate, with incredibly shallow depth of focus, so only a tiny part of the screen will be in focus at a time. It was incredibly stylistic, but didn’t seem to do the novel any favors. Also, they seemed to only be utilizing natural light. When it’s light outside, the shots are beautiful. But most shots are so dark I can’t see a single thing that’s happening, and I was watching this in a dark room already.
As much as I disliked this particular version (minus Kaya Scodelario but she gets such little screen time! Bless her!), I don’t have any faith that there are any better versions out there for one very important reason - Heathcliff is NOT white. Up until this 2012 adaptation, Heathcliff is portrayed as white. I didn’t realize it until I saw that the 1990s version stars Ralph Fiennes and I was thinking “As who??” But he plays Heathcliff!! So I did some research and they’re all white. That to me is like saying that every adaptation of Pocahontas so far has starred a white person. I feel like it’s explicitly obvious to me that he’s not white, or at least mixed. I don’t think it was supposed to be implied or subtle, it was overt! So I’m very confused! The 2012 version interprets Heathcliff as black, which is better, but I didn’t get that sense from the novel either. The way they described him ad a dark-skinned gypsy with dark black hair and thick eyebrows, who may have been brought from abroad by a Chinese Emperor and an Indian queen, made me think he was possibly South Asian, though it’s not clear. He’s just definitely not white. And that matters because it’s relevant to the story and the way he’s treated. He’s seen as more savage, dirty, and brutalistic, and it stuns the others that Mr. Earnshaw would have treated him as his own son. These are clearly racial themes. I did appreciate how this 2012 film took Heathcliff's perspective, which the novel doesn't, but even so it still doesn't answer a lot of questions about Heathcliff's background.
I don’t know if it’s really a romantic story. It’s fascinating because it’s just so overwhelmingly filled with passion and emotion. Most of those emotions are cruel and selfish though, more than romantic. It’s as if each of them loved the other in a way that only served themselves. And every character is selfish, not just our main couple.
Because the story spans so many years, I’d almost treat the two main locations, Wuthering Heights and Thurshcross Grange, as our main characters. It would be consistent with the way the novel is titled too. Jane Eyre is named after the character. Wuthering Heights is named after the place. And with these two places, it’s obviously not a love story, but the push/pull between close proximity and yet very noticeable class differences.
My overall rating started very high, especially at the very, very beginning when Mr. Lockwood feels incredibly eerie at Wuthering Heights. The beginning definitely felt the most like gothic horror, and I was hoping that essence would remain. The rest of the novel was still gothic, but more of just family drama than anything that had abject horror. I was hoping for some gothic-horror explanation for why Lockwood was seeing Catharine’s ghost but nope. Just nightmares. It’s not like Jane Eyre where her fear of being haunted is explained by an actual other presence in the house. As the novel progressed, the rating just kept on dropping and dropping, especially after Catharine died and the novel just kept on going for so much longer. With this in mind, as well as the failed film adaptation(s), my score rests lower than expected. BUT, that said, this is ABSOLUTELY a novel I could see myself picking up and givving a second read someday. Maybe in another decade. (69/100)
Quote - “He shall never know I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.”
"Your veins are full of ice-water; but mine are boiling."
“You said I killed you--haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe--I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!"
What to watch for - Kaya Scodelario but even with that... I would not recommend the movie. As far as reading, I’d read for the main source of romantic tension, which is everything from Edgar Linton and Catharine’s marriage onward through her death.
If you liked this book, I’d recommend Jane Eyre, written by another Bronte sister!
Written by Emily Bronte
Published by Thomas Cautley Newby
Directed by Andrea Arnold
Distributed by Curzon Artificial Eye
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