Should we admire Wuthering Heights? It has captured the imagination of readers for nearly 200 years. But brooding Heathcliff is far from the romantic hero that many imagine.
The wild, difficult genius of Emily Bronte
Should we admire Wuthering Heights? It has captured the imagination of readers for nearly 200 years. But brooding Heathcliff is far from the romantic hero that many imagine.
Young lovers run across a stormy, windswept moor. A ghost claws at the window of a remote, dilapidated farmhouse. Cathy Earnshaw, the teenage heroine, passionately declares, "I am Heathcliff!"
In the 200 years since Emily Bronte's birth, these iconic scenes from her only novel, Wuthering Heights, have inspired TV and film adaptations, operas, and even a song by Kate Bush. The tale of intertwined families in the Yorkshire moors is often called one of our greatest love stories, with its hero, Heathcliff, topping polls of the most romantic heroes.
But is this reputation deserved? Bronte's Heathcliff is a brutish man who abuses his wife. Cathy, meanwhile, is self-centred, manipulating those around her to the destruction of their lives and hers.
Many reviewers took a strong dislike to the book when it was published in 1847 under the pseudonymA false name used to protect a person's identity. Ellis Bell. "Read Jane Eyre is our advice, but burn Wuthering Heights," said one magazine.
Despite its fame, the book is still sometimes attacked for its unlikeable characters and complex narrative structure.
Today, despite its tumultuous beginning, Wuthering Heights is still a bestseller. Emily, a new biopic about the life of Emily Bronte starring actress Emma MackeyA French-British actress who is best known for her role as Maeve Wiley in Netflix series Sex Education. , is set to premiere this September.
The key to appreciating Emily's novel, says writer Constance Grady, is to stop looking at it like a love story.
Rather, Wuthering Heights is an "undeniably well-crafted nightmare of deep psychological resonance, and it is rich and immersive, so that when you read it, you feel that you are trapped on the moors and there are people screaming all around you."
For Grady, Emily Bronte's incredible talent is clear. She declares that Emily was "probably a genius".
<h5 class=" eplus-wrapper">Should we admire <em>Wuthering Heights</em>?</h5>
Yes: Wuthering Heights is one of the most wild, beguiling, powerful stories in history. Film adaptations have encouraged a misleading view of Heathcliff, but art is not always about nice people.
No: The structure is untidy and confusing, the characters are vile, and the subject matter is grim. We cannot doubt Emily Bronte's poetic skill, but she did not have time to fulfil her potential.
Or... Wuthering Heights is loved by some and loathed by others. But we should all admire the dedication of the Bronte sisters, who wrote under male pen names at a time when few women succeeded in literature.
Level 4
Pseudonym - A false name used to protect a person's identity.
Emma Mackey - A French-British actress who is best known for her role as Maeve Wiley in Netflix series Sex Education.
The wild, difficult genius of Emily Brontë

Glossary
Pseudonym - A false name used to protect a person’s identity.
Emma Mackey - A French-British actress who is best known for her role as Maeve Wiley in Netflix series Sex Education.