Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s first and only novel, a much praised work that was published one year before her early death in 1848, at the age of 30. It is difficult not to compare it with the work of her older sister Charlotte Bronte, whose Jane Eyre also receives great critical acclaim in literary history. Though the two sisters share similar personal background, their respective work differs greatly in tone, perspective and settings, and while both works center on love, thematically each heads towards a different direction. The juxtaposition of the two shows Jane Eyre a gothic love fantasy, whose rather melodramatic plot, though greatly touches readers, reflects little realistic aspects, while Wuthering Heights, through its lengthy family history, gives a realistic portrayal of the human nature in its shortcomings and complexities.

This novel, divided into two parts, reveals most of its plot in the first section "1801", in which the narrator, Mr. Lockwood, is told the history of the Earnshaw and Linton family, and the unresolved love between Heathcliff and Catherine, while the second section "1802", draws the tale to the end with Mr. Heathcliff’s earnest confession and his death. The second part of the tale, short as it is, lifts up the tale to a wholly different level with Mr. Heathcliff’s self-disclosure, as he discovers that hatred has numbed him of any possible joy and therefore resolves, in the end, to abandon his grudge. The tale would be rendered into nothing but a cruel and heartless story had it been made up of only the first part, in which only the sinister part of Mr. Heathcliff is revealed.

The perspective Bronte takes helps the tale in securing a reliable account; however, the overall plot tends to be too lengthy in its development. The history of the two families is told through an effective third hand account, so that readers can, without any previously established perception, establish for themselves each character and their doings through their own understanding. The family tree revealed at the very beginning of the novel already gives the reader a clear picture of the family history, without even the narrator’s further explanation; therefore, the over-long plot only bores the readers along the way, where little surprise ensues. Consequently, the novel tends to be at times so tedious that one feels the years slowly passing and therefore endures much, as the characters do, while reading along.

Even though the story might be way too tedious on its revelation for some modern readers, Bronte’s success in Wuthering Heights lies in her honest construction of human nature, with a stress on the apt to contradictories. It tells of one man’s revenge against the people and fate that previously wrongs him, and through which, Bronte shows the reader the ineffectiveness of revenge one may take on. As in the case of the victim-turned-villain Mr. Heathcliff, the decades spent on the scheming and planning of his revenge, in the end, brings him no relief. The grudge that one holds eventually results in no satisfaction, and whatever is lost remains the case. It is all better to let go, for in order to absolve oneself from the earthly burden, sooner or later, one is bound to do so.