By: Kaitlyn Hawkins
Looking at Wuthering Heights on the surface, it seems like a terrible story. Many of my friends wonder why it is one of my favorite books. I mean generally there is a lot of unrequited love, cheating, dying, and revenge which just leaves a rock in your stomach. This is not one of my favorite books for it’s happy tone (because it really doesn’t have that) or for the gloom and doom (also, I do not thrive on sadness). I purely love this book because Emily Bronte is a fantastic writer.
"I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."
This is one of my favorite passages from this book. The premise of the passage is extremely sad, Catherine will not marry the man she loves because of current societal situations. How she feels for Heathcliff is so much more than just saying the word love. Bronte could have had Catherine stop at the fact that even though she loves Heathcliff it would degrade her to marry him. Bronte instead went on to describe that it wasn’t just superficial love ,which every young girl feels for the off-limits suitor, she claims that he is more herself than she is. She claims that this man and her are so connected that their souls are one in the same. The tragedy of this book is that Bronte paints this glorious picture of love and then rips it away from the reader. Aristotle once wrote that “love is two bodies inhabiting one soul”, sound familiar? Bronte is such a skilled writer that she presents this natural love which cannot be reproduced and then has society demolish its beauty. Through this heart wrenching circumstance Bronte controls the readers emotions (I’m pretty decently sure I started crying when I read that passage for the first time) and accomplishes her goal to comment on the society which she currently lives in (also making all of us readers hate the society which she lives in).
If we can get past the glorious painting of love (which is pretty difficult) we can also see the amazing imagery to clarify her point. The reality that she sobbed in heaven so that she could return to earth, that she has no business marrying Edgar when her soul (Heathcliff) is still available. Then there is the shift where she realizes that the society at this time will not permit her to marry Heathcliff, her soulmate. Her feelings for Linton are also made abundantly clear through this strong contrast of her and Healthcliff’s souls being, “one in the same” and her and Linton are, “as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire,” Through this incredible imagery you understand the stark differences between Linton and Catherine, but then emotion swells up within you because she must marry him.
I will close this blog post with another quote from the book and this quote also presents Bronte’s superior writing ability. Through this next quote the love of Catherine and Heathcliff is further fleshed out and the turmoil the reader feels due to their separation is exacerbated. Yes, I realize that Wuthering Heights is a depressing novel, but when I read page after page with Bronte’s spectacular portrayal and life and love the grim events are not my focus.
“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. 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! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
Looking at Wuthering Heights on the surface, it seems like a terrible story. Many of my friends wonder why it is one of my favorite books. I mean generally there is a lot of unrequited love, cheating, dying, and revenge which just leaves a rock in your stomach. This is not one of my favorite books for it’s happy tone (because it really doesn’t have that) or for the gloom and doom (also, I do not thrive on sadness). I purely love this book because Emily Bronte is a fantastic writer.
"I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."
This is one of my favorite passages from this book. The premise of the passage is extremely sad, Catherine will not marry the man she loves because of current societal situations. How she feels for Heathcliff is so much more than just saying the word love. Bronte could have had Catherine stop at the fact that even though she loves Heathcliff it would degrade her to marry him. Bronte instead went on to describe that it wasn’t just superficial love ,which every young girl feels for the off-limits suitor, she claims that he is more herself than she is. She claims that this man and her are so connected that their souls are one in the same. The tragedy of this book is that Bronte paints this glorious picture of love and then rips it away from the reader. Aristotle once wrote that “love is two bodies inhabiting one soul”, sound familiar? Bronte is such a skilled writer that she presents this natural love which cannot be reproduced and then has society demolish its beauty. Through this heart wrenching circumstance Bronte controls the readers emotions (I’m pretty decently sure I started crying when I read that passage for the first time) and accomplishes her goal to comment on the society which she currently lives in (also making all of us readers hate the society which she lives in).
If we can get past the glorious painting of love (which is pretty difficult) we can also see the amazing imagery to clarify her point. The reality that she sobbed in heaven so that she could return to earth, that she has no business marrying Edgar when her soul (Heathcliff) is still available. Then there is the shift where she realizes that the society at this time will not permit her to marry Heathcliff, her soulmate. Her feelings for Linton are also made abundantly clear through this strong contrast of her and Healthcliff’s souls being, “one in the same” and her and Linton are, “as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire,” Through this incredible imagery you understand the stark differences between Linton and Catherine, but then emotion swells up within you because she must marry him.
I will close this blog post with another quote from the book and this quote also presents Bronte’s superior writing ability. Through this next quote the love of Catherine and Heathcliff is further fleshed out and the turmoil the reader feels due to their separation is exacerbated. Yes, I realize that Wuthering Heights is a depressing novel, but when I read page after page with Bronte’s spectacular portrayal and life and love the grim events are not my focus.
“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. 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! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”