I was forced to read this book in my English class. The plot sounded very interesting so I was excited to read it. Little did I know, it was terrible. This is definetly up there in my list of least favorite books along with The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. I was shocked at how much I hated this book because I actually really liked Jane Eyre, written by her sister, Charlottle Bronte.
shareTo each their own I guess. Somehow missed this one in all of the English/Writing classes I have taken. (I remember it being an option but I chose other books) Picked it up last December and it is now my favorite book. :)
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Well, bria, I'm on the same page with you. The book has been sitting on my book shelf since I was in junior high and I finally got around to reading it last week. It isn't on the top of my list as far as gothic novels go- even Louisa May Alcott's attempt, 'The Inheritance' is ranked above this book for me. It actually upsets me that so many girls swoon on these boards over Heathcliff, who is by all means, a downright villian- and far worse than Eric in 'The Phantom of the Opera'. I'd rank him among the most disgusting, vile villans I've ever read. The story line is about the silliest thing I've heard, and I agree with Isabella when she said "I don't think much of Catharine's tastes,"
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Ive only read it last month, and I cant see how Heathcliff is a hero to so many women? I would love someone to help me understand it?
Also, what was so amazing about their love for each other? I am usually more perceptive to love stories with terrible ends, but this one simply failed to alure me!
there is unfortunately not much descrtibtion of their love, maybe that is the reason?
Furthermore, I agree with PinkWeeds, Heathcliff is a horrid mad man, who scares me as a character.
Hovewer, I enjoyed the vividness of discriptions and the mistorious power this book has! it is almost alive in its story. And above frightenning!
Kiss me...Kiss me...(Cheri)
Heathcliff's overall character is villainous to everyone besides Cathy. Cathy was the only one to get to see his vulnerabilities. Cathy had her own faults too, extreme selfishness being the most obvious. Together though, they were perfect for each other, and they were true soul mates. As Cathy said at one point, "I am Heathcliff." That's the depth of their connection. Neither one could truly live without the other. They were two halves of a whole.
Wuthering Heights isn't my favorite story, but I still think it is a good book, and I will re-read it again sometime.
I loved this movie version of the book btw, best one I've seen yet.
I completely agree. I really don't understand why this book is ranked among the top classics right up there with Jane Austen.
I'm re-reading it right now, just to see why I hated it so much in high school and whether my opinion would change now that I'm almost 24. I still hate it and I think all of the characters are excruciatingly annoying, except maybe Nelly but she doesn't really count as she is the narrator and we are seeing the story through her eyes.
Heathcliff is an abusive, cynical, cruel tyrant; Catherine is a whiny, hypocritical drama queen; Isabella is stupid and weak; Linton Heathcliff makes me want to gouge my eyes out; the list goes on and on.
I don't buy Cathy and Heathcliff as soul mates either. They grew up together and love each other, but their romance that supposedly sweeps everyone off their feet does nothing for me. They're each so selfish and wayward that I can't feel for them or sympathize or anything.
I don't mean to offend anyone who does enjoy this book, because I know many who do, but I cannot enjoy this story the way I do other classics.
Heathcliff is an abusive, cynical, cruel tyrant; Catherine is a whiny, hypocritical drama queen; Isabella is stupid and weak; Linton Heathcliff makes me want to gouge my eyes out; the list goes on and on.
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Do you like Nelly, really?! For your information she's always been seen by many experts as the true villain in the book. In fact she always apologizes afterwards for not having done the right thing with rather lame excuses... 'I was going to tell her, but...', 'I should have warned him, however...', etc, which is even worse, since she always has all the clues but keeps on messing things up.
And of course, she's the typical case of unreliable narrator, since she's involved in the story. As a reader you can't trust her completely and you have to try and read beyond her viewpoint, since her version will always be biased.
By the way, I don't think many women see Heathcliff as a hero, as some people said here on this board, and definitely I don't think they'd want him for a partner. He's a fascinating character, however, since he's the hero/villain type, that is, a very original kind of character and very hard to find indeed. And obviously his relationship with Cathy is heart-wrenching, since she was his soul mate and the only person on earth that really mattered to him. She was the only reason to make him behave the way he did. He'd have never betrayed his love for her the way Cathy did. Cathy did sacrifice her love for her soul mate in order to do what was expected from her, she surrendered to a more conventional life. Heathcliff would have never done that, he would have stood for his love through thick and thin.
It's true that he's mean, abusive, cruel and vengeful, especially to Isabella but let's not forget that he never lied to her and she should have seen that his only intent was to take revenge against her family.
It's been many years since I have visited this forum, but, something you have posted just caught my eye:
For your information she's always been seen by many experts as the true villain in the book.
I'd argue in many ways the point of Cathy/Heathcliff is that it's not romantic by the so-be-it romantic 'rules'
There relationship is deep to them, but they are not normal average people. Both of which are quite out there and spiteful. What is romantic to them, probably does seem weird to others.
But i think that's what sells the so-called "romance" part of the story. Yeah i certainly wouldn't want to be involved with them, but they fit each other in many ways. Also gives us a solid example that love isn't always sweet cookiecutter cry your eyes out stuff.
Although admittedly the diabolical plans and the getting screwed at the end parts are what i like more about the story here.
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Other note:
I read The Scarlet Letter in high school and I really didn't like it as much. But then i learned the truth about Nathaniel Hawthorne. While The Scarlet Letter is often on school reading lists for the elements they can teach out of it, that one is faaaaaaaaaar apart of what many would consider his most interesting works.
TSL is really a bad place to start on Hawthorne if you never read him before. After checking out more of his stuff, i found The Scarlet Letter much better the second go round.
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I love that Cathy and Heathcliff weren't nice people. Their love was both beautiful and very destructive, much like the beautiful moors that they roamed together. They were too passionate to ever live in harmony but they needed each other in a very basic and elemental way. The real romance in the story comes later with the second generation. Younger Cathy and Hareton have the passion of Cathy and Heathcliff but without the destructive quality.
share^^ Maybe you need to concentrate more, it's not exactly hard to follow. They're called similar named for symbolisms sake, the second generation is a reworking of the first in many ways.
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I had to read the book in English class about 30 years ago and hated it. I also had to read Pride and Prejudice, and I hated that, too. I watched the Colin Firth version of P&P when it was originally broadcast in 1994 or so. I loved it and decided to read the book again. I enjoyed the book that time. In 2007, I watched P&P again, and I loved it again. I then watched every version of P&P that my library had. I read the book again and bought an audio version of it. I have listened to it many times. P&P is now my favorite book. I also watched lots of movie versions of other Jane Austen books and read the novels, and I enjoyed them.
It was a similar story with Jane Eyre. I had to read the book in high school, hated it, watched the 1983 BBC version of it with Timothy Dalton, loved it, watched the 1973 BBC version of it, loved it, and watched every version of it my library had. I read the book and now love the book and some movie versions.
I realized that my immaturity, lack of life experience, and requirement to read the books had caused me to dislike them. So, I decided to try Wuthering Heights again. I wanted to see Timothy Dalton in something else, since he did such a fantastic job in Jane Eyre, and I figured that I'd like Wuthering Heights more as a mature adult than I did as a teen, so I watched the 1970 version. Although I was thoroughly impressed with Timothy Dalton's performance, I didn't care much for the movie. I decided to read the book anyway, and I still didn't like it. So much for maturity and life experience changing my opinion on that book. My local library has the 1992 version. I just reserved it, so I'll probably watch it next week. I don't have high hopes, though.
This is the best version, I think. I mean, it has the scene from the book where Heathcliffe smashes his face against the tree and screams. Plus, it shows the life of the second generation.
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I agree with you - I have just finished reading Wuthering Heights and the last half of the book really got under my skin. It's not exactly a light, pleasant read - but very well written and I just had to read until the last page to find out what happened. Left me feeling quite dark and disturbed!!
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