Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
First published in 1847.
This is my first time reading anything by one of the Brontë sisters, and whoa, its fairly intense! I thought I knew a bit of the plot, but upon reflection I think I might have been thinking of Jane Eyre instead.
In this story, we meet Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, two siblings living in the titular Wuthering Heights, a remote farmhouse in West Yorkshire. At a young age a third child joins their household, 'Heathcliff', a child found by Mr Earnshaw and brought home to be raised with the family. Heathcliff and Catherine are close, and it becomes more and more apparent that Heathcliff is in love with Catherine. These two wander the moors together, and when spying on their neighbours at Thrushcross Grange, Catherine is attacked by the family's dogs and is forced to recover there. This causes an attachment to grow between her and Edgar Linton, the son in the Thrushcross Grange household. More drama happens when Edgar and Hindley make fun of Heathclff.
Once the individuals reach adulthood, Catherine chooses to marry Edgar even though she cares for Heathcliff. She tells her servant, Nelly, that she loves Heathcliff but cannot marry him because of his low social standing. Heathcliff overhears this but fails to realise that she loves him. He leaves the household.
From here, the plot goes from bad to worse. Characters die left and right. Characters seek revenge and abuse one another (Heathcliff, on returning, is the worst culprit of this). A second generation of characters arise who also abuse one another or plot revenge against one another. There is an attempted murder, a forced marriage, imprisonment and manipulation, and so many moments where different choices by characters seeking revenge could have led to better outcomes for all involved.
The majority of the plot is narrated by Nelly, who is of a similar age to Catherine and Heathcliff, but has been a servant in both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange since then. She narrates the story to Mr Lockwood, who has moved into Thrushcross Grange thirty years after Heathcliff's arrival. The first few chapters set the plot as Lockwood meets Heathcliff, now 'haunted' (possibly literally) by Catherine's ghost, and then asks Nelly to explain what has happened. This means that we know that (at least) Catherine will die right from the beginning. An odd choice, but it does fit into the a-character-tells-the-story-in-recollection-form style that was quite popular at that time.
As I said at the beginning, this is a very intense book. It is dramatic, over-the-top, violent and tragic. It is also very well written.
I'm not sure it will be one I revisit, but it has definitely left an impact on me!
Completed 6 October 2022.
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