Even so, Wuthering Heights continues to divide readers. This is not a beautiful love story; More precisely, this is a story about a person who is largely disliked falling in love with obsession and turning into a dark and crazy whirlpool. It is cruel, violent, dark and gloomy, and many people feel extremely unhappy. However, it has the grandeur of language and design, a feeling of great regret and great loss, which makes it different from almost all other novels.
This novel is told in the form of long flashbacks. After visiting his strange landlord, a newcomer wanted to know the history of this family. He got the story from Nelly Deanes, a servant. She introduced us to the Earnshaw family who once lived in a house called Wuthering Heights. This used to be a happy place, but old Earnshaw adopted a gypsy child, who he named Heathcliff. Catherine, the daughter of the house, found the perfect companion in him: wild, rude, as proud and cruel as her. Although Catherine loves him and even admits that he is her soul mate, she can't lower herself and marry someone much lower than her social status. Instead, she married another person, which triggered an obsession that would destroy them all.
Wuthering Heights is a bit difficult to "get into". The first few chapters depict the final result of this obsessive love so dark that it is somewhat unpleasant. But they are integrated into the flow of works in an extraordinary way, laying the foundation for one of the most extraordinary structures in all literary works. This story has been repeated for two generations. Catherine and Heathcliff are equally outstanding, both evil and cruel, but no matter how cruelly one side hurts the other, they can't get rid of the impossible love.
As the novel sinks further into alcoholism, seduction and a most elaborate revenge plan, it gathers a ghostly tone: Heathcliff is driven crazy by a woman who is not there, but it seems to be reflected in every part of his world-dragging her body from the grave, hearing her call him in the wilderness, and escalating his atrocities not for atrocities, but for her memory to never fade, so that she may never leave his mind until death itself. Yes, this is madness, insanity, and there is no peace on this side of the grave or even beyond.
Many people in the world are trying to find a perfect partner. Some of them may be married, but they don't know what their new husband or wife is like. This situation often leads to separation or hostility. There may be other situations between two friends, which stem from jealousy, desire for revenge, parents' indifference and so on. Emily bronte. Wuthering Heights shows several characteristics of destructive relationship. Three of them are indifferent parents, ignorant of each other's marriage and jealousy.
Indifferent or unsympathetic parents are considered as a destructive factor in this story. Because Heathcliff got all Mr Earnshaw's attention, Hindley alienated his father. This separation continued until Mr. Earnshaw died. Another example is between Hindley and Harriet. Gendre became such an alcoholic and gambler that he couldn't take good care of young Hareton. This also led to Hareton's separation from his father. The main example of an indifferent parent is Heathcliff and his son Linton. Heathcliff doesn't even want his son to do anything except carry out his revenge. This is manifested in Linton's fear of Heathcliff and Heathcliff's hostility to his son. Linton even said ... I'm fat. She threatened me, I'm afraid of him, I'm afraid of him! "(244) to express his feelings for Heathcliff. The hostility and separation between father and son in this book shows that indifferent parents can cause serious damage to their relationship with their children.
This destructive behavior may result from an unhappy marriage, in which the husband or wife don't know each other. This happened between Isabella and Heathcliff. Isabella didn't really know Heathcliff when she married him, but after she got married, she found that Heathcliff was not a gentleman at all. To express her feelings, she wrote: "Is Heathcliff a man? If so, is he crazy? If not, is he the devil? I won't say why I did this survey; But I beg you to explain, if you can, what I married ... "(125). Another example is when Catherine married Edgar Linton. Although she was happy at the beginning of her marriage, she thought it would be fun to have parties all the time. However, after a while, she began to get bored. She also realized that she loved Heathcliff more than Edgar and would always love Heathcliff. In the last hours of Kathy's life, this enlightenment caused the separation between Edgar and Catherine. Another marriage doomed to failure is the marriage between Catherine and Linton. Because this is a forced marriage, Cathy hasn't learned as much about Linton as possible. Because she didn't know Linton was selfish and inconsiderate until after she got married, she became distressed and isolated at home. The three failed marriages described in this novel show that it is very important to know the person you are going to marry. While these marriages take place, jealousy also occupies a place in some relationships. An example of this is when Mr Earnshaw began to like Heathcliff more than his own son Gendre. Because of this, Hindley began to envy the young Heathcliff and began to make Heathcliff's life a nightmare. Hindley's jealousy became obvious when he said ... damn you beggar intruder! Trick my father of everything; Only then can he see what you are, Satan's little devil. "(35). Jealousy is also obvious in the relationship between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton.
At the beginning of the book, after Kathy comes home for Christmas, Heathcliff and Edgar start a hostile conversation, which expresses their jealousy. With the development of the story, the two men became sworn enemies who ignored each other. Another relationship destroyed by jealousy is that between Hareton and Linton. The two men are jealous of each other because of Cathy's love. The result of this relationship is that Hareton and Linton hate each other. These relationships show that jealousy can quickly destroy a relationship.
Allen Dean, the housekeeper, or we can call her Nelly, tells most of the stories. She witnessed the life of these two families for three generations. She is good at telling stories, but we can't believe everything she says. She always thinks and considers problems in a simple way. She can't understand the deep love between Catherine and Heathcliff. She thinks this is a kind of madness. She is a limited narrator. To some extent, it helps readers to understand Heathcliff better, because he has no chance to defend himself. An outsider will see the whole thing more clearly. However, we should pay more attention not to be influenced by her point of view and try to find the truth between the lines.
As the protagonist, Catherine is a contradiction. She is attracted to Linton, but she doesn't love him. She knew this very well, but she married Linton without listening to her inner call. Many critics believe that it was only his high social status and wealth that made her marry Linton. I think this comment is unfair. In fact, she foolishly thought that marrying Linton would help Heathcliff "stand up and get him out of my brother's control." Her decision ruined herself, Heathcliff and two families. She had to endure severe pain because she clearly knew that she loved Heathcliff wholeheartedly, but she could not be his wife. She confessed her thoughts to Nelly: "… I am Heathcliff—he is always in my mind—not as a pleasure, just as I am always a pleasure to myself—but as my own existence …" She loves Heathcliff because he is more like her than herself. His existence is unnatural to her, because they are essentially the same. They can understand each other without obstacles.
Speaking of Heathcliff, he is an evil man, but I admire him because his love and hate are straight. There is a devil in everyone's heart. The one in Heathcliff's heart is particularly powerful. Nevertheless, I believe and can read between the lines that Amily Bronte also has a good impression on Heathcliff. She wants to tell us that evil and love are deeply rooted in everyone's heart, which is human nature.