This review of Wuthering Heights is about a classic work of literature from Great Britain in the 1800s. It is the sole novel of author Emily Brontë before her early death. Wuthering Heights is the story of two families, the Lintons and the Earnshaws, plus an orphan named Heathcliff. I first read the book in ninth grade, but that was long enough back that it was like reading a new book this time.

The inciting incident is a reasonable one for mid-1800s Britain. Young Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw are inseparable growing up. But because of social conventions, Catherine marries Edgar Linton of Thrushcross Grange rather than Heathcliff. When she announces the reason, Heathcliff breaks. The rest of the novel revolves around his efforts to avenge himself on the Lintons and Earnshaws.

Struggles with My Review of Wuthering Heights

It was hard for me to decide how to approach this review of Wuthering Heights. A main reason was that the characters are tough for me to identify with and I couldn’t get behind any of them. All of them, save Heathcliff, are pathetic. Pathetic in the sense of weakness of character and personality flaws, certainly. To that extent, they deserve their fate at Heathcliff’s hands. But each is physically pathetic, too. I don’t think any character lives to be 40 years old save Nelly, the primary narrator. And that’s only because one person needs to be alive to tell the story.

This would be understandable if Wuthering Heights had the same setting as the previous classic book I reviewed, Great Expectations. The Charles Dickens classic takes place in the fenlands of England. There, malaria killed and disabled people constantly. But Wuthering Heights is set in more salubrious climes. So, what does everyone die from at 20-something years old? Melancholy? The inconsequential nature of their existence? Pining because their lives are filled with self-inflicted misery?

And what’s with characters marrying their cousins? (A little sarcasm here—I know people sometimes did this for family inheritance reasons.) The important young characters never even leave the house. Surely they could have ridden to Gimmerton to meet someone suitable? It’s not like they had to hold a job and work. All the main characters live lives of ease. All they have to do is not drink themselves to death or give themselves other forms of self-inflicted pain. Yet, all fail at even this minimal requirement. For them, the bar is practically resting on the ground, and they still can’t clear it.

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How Heathcliff Figures in a Review of Wuthering Heights

That brings me to Heathcliff, the villain. His conduct is indeed villainous after Catherine Earnshaw’s death. Yet, he was the only character I sympathized with at all. He had his hopes dashed by the social conventions of the day. So, he took out his anger on those who caused his misery. As a lifelong critic of social snobbery and class superiority, I loved that.

Yet, Heathcliff remains a villain. He fails utterly at the test of escaping persecution without persecuting others in turn. Granted, Emily Brontë couldn’t have read Albert Camus on this dilemma when she wrote in 1847. Yet, I can’t say I truly liked Heathcliff’s character—better to write that he was at least resolute and determined whereas the other characters were weak.

Themes – What is Wuthering Heights About, Really?

I suppose any classic literature must have themes. So, this is my Wuthering Heights analysis. For Wuthering Heights, the theme of thwarted love leading to a desire for revenge is the obvious one. The quest for revenge then twists and consumes the unfortunate lover into a grotesque villain such as Heathcliff becomes. More subtle, but interesting to me, was Brontë’s clear belief that nature was less important than nurture. That might’ve caught the attention of readers in 1847 when the book appeared.

So, what to make of Wuthering Heights in the end? I liked the idea of the story and the writing kept me reading. Yet, sometimes the story felt ridiculous for the reasons declared above. Maybe this was not so in Great Britain in the mid-1800s, and it felt more believable to people of that time and place. I’m left with the feeling that “classic” is a bit of a stretch for this book, however.

To check out my other recent reviews, please read:

Killing for Coal, by Thomas Andrews

After the Fog, by Kathleen Shoop

Etched in Starlight, by Rosie Chapel

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