Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Brontë
Originally Published: 1847
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
written by: Tina Nguyen | date: 22nd November, 2025
When the obsessive love led to a cycle of violence and revenge, and then blossomed again into love.
Wuthering Heights explored the themes of segregation, revenge, classism, racism, and obsession. Heathcliff, a “dark-skinned gipsy” boy who had no family, was adopted by the Earnshaws. He quickly became the favourite child of Mr. Earnshaw and got a strong bond with Catherine Earnshaw, which sparked the hate and jealousy in Hindley Earnshaw – the eldest son of the family. The hatred that Heathcliff faced began there; however, Catherine was the only one who stood by his side for most of his childhood. As their bond strengthened, their relationship gradually evolved into something more romantic – they began to view each other as more than just siblings. Catherine was Heathcliff’s anchor, his purpose, his life, because for once there was a person who truly understood him and viewed him as “equal”, not just a dirty and poor dark-skinned boy. His love became a toxic obsession that affected Catherine and him later on in the book.
Things drastically changed between Heathcliff and Catherine when she was invited to stay at the Lintons’ place, known as Thrushcross Grange, after their dog injured her. The Catherine Earnshaw coming back to Wuthering Heights after her wound was healed was not the same as Catherine of Wuthering Heights that Heathcliff had known all his life – she was well-dressed and had good manners, she was no longer the wild, adventurous, and stubborn girl that he used to know. Not to mention that later on, Catherine chose Edgar Linton, the eldest son of the Lintons, to be her husband because she got used to the lavish lifestyle that his family offered her. Being discriminated and unfairly treated after Mr and Mrs Earnshaw’s deaths, Heathcliff held a lifetime grudge and swore to avenge it all on the Lintons and Hindley Earnshaw.
‘But, Nelly, if I knocked him down twenty times, that wouldn’t make him less handsome, or me more so. I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed, and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!’ – Heathcliff
However, the grudge of being segregated from the landowning classes and English gentry people around him was nothing compared to the fact that his Catherine chose Edgar over him, despite their feelings being mutual. Losing his anchor and his love, Heathcliff lost his sanity. The act of marrying Isabelle Linton (the younger sister of Edgar) was purely out of hatred and revenge to provoke both Edgar and Catherine, since he knew Edgar had hated him from when they were children.
‘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.’ – Catherine Linton
Catherine’s choice not only tortured Heathcliff’s soul but also destroyed her own heart. As readers know that Catherine also held deep and longing feelings for Heathcliff, her choice of marrying Edgar clearly depicted her fear of degradation and she valued wealth and status more than her love. Despite the strong feelings that made both of them closer to each other, Catherine’s decision felt like a betrayal to her and a knife that was never withdrawn from Heathcliff’s heart. Heathcliff loved Catherine, and Catherine did love him too, but her love wasn’t enough to overcome the lavish, luxurious, and high-nobled life that she wanted and could only have with Edgar Linton.
‘Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy?
...
You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it - and in breaking it, you have broken mine.
...
I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer - but yours! How can I?’ – Heathcliff
The cycle of violence continuously went on and passed down to the next generation of characters in the book – Catherine (known as young Cathy, Edgar and Catherine’s daughter), Linton Heathcliff (Isabelle and Heathcliff’s son), and Hareton Earnshaw (Hindley’s son). But Cathy and Hareton eventually had such a heartwarming redemption and made up for the hatred that the previous generation had taught them.
Despite acknowledging that Heathcliff was a terrible father to Linton and a bitter man to most people around him after he lost Catherine, I can understand the way he acted – being oppressed for almost his whole life, Heathcliff chose to pay back all that backlash that he received to the ones that did him wrong and even passed on the trauma to the next generation. He wasn’t right, but he was also blinded by the grudge that he had held for too long. After all, Heathcliff decided to let it all go when he saw the image of his Catherine in the young Cathy, making him reminisce about everything they’ve been through together and decided to take the final decision – to be reunited with Catherine from the other side is the only thing that mattered to him.
The way Emily portrayed Heathcliff was magnificent – a poor man who was the victim of oppression and racism, who held a grudge and a wish for revenge all his life but deep down, craving an unconditional love; the one who got all bitter and mad at the children of his oppressors but could soften in a second when he looked at Cathy and saw Catherine in her. Heathcliff is a complex character, but his character development, from my perspective, was one of the best transformations among the classic novels, a proof of Emily Brontë’s beautiful writing, storytelling skills and setting the themes for each character.
There is no word to describe my love for Wuthering Heights. This is certainly my 6-star read, and the book had a profound impact on the way I approach classic novels. Compared to the gothic novel from Emily’s sister – ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Brontë, this novel was far darker with more violent details and was such a hard read, so make sure you do some research on the trigger warnings of the book before diving into it.