PREVIEW： Chronicles #35 ｜ Wuthering Heights Part 1
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Summary
In this episode of Chronicles, I talk all about Wuthering Heights, the novel by Emily Bronte, and the sisters behind it, Charlotte Bronte and Anne Bronte. I talk about their relationship, how they came to write the novel, and how they changed the way we see the world.
Transcript
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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Chronicles, where today we're going to be talking all about
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Now, I will just tell you that this particular book has been
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sat on my shelf for years and years now, and I'm sure I bought it at some second-hand bookstore
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many years back, obviously intending to get round to it, and this has given me
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the perfect opportunity to do so. So, by all means, let's cue the Kate Bush and get on with it,
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shall we? So, because this is my first time reading it, I will just say out of the gate that
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I can already tell that this is a novel that is well worthy of its reputation, but also a novel
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that's definitely going to reward you for numerous readings. You can tell that there are so many
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subtle details weaved into the text, and it's really remarkable. Honestly, from the beginning of the
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story, I was genuinely hooked by it. And another thing as well that I think just kept me so engaged
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in the tale was the fact that it was so different to the story that I was actually expecting, because
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you have all of these Hollywood films that kind of paint the relationship between Kathy and Heathcliff
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as a classic romance in many ways, because that's obviously the type of story that Hollywood want to
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tell. But I think actually that's to do a real disservice to the type of relationship that Emily
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Bronte is putting to the page here, because it really caught me by surprise. It's far from romantic,
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really. It's very, very toxic, very destructive. And also as well, just to say that that relationship
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between Heathcliff and Kathy, which you see over and over again on the film is actually only the first
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half of the novel as well. This is a story of generations and how what happened to that generation
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obviously goes on to impact the second generation through the cycle of revenge and healing and all
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these sorts of questions. And so it's a really ambitious story. And it's made all the more
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wonderful having it set, seeped in this Gothic mystique, you know, as it takes place on the
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Yorkshire moors, which if you've never been to, by the way, I will, you know, advise you to go and
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check them out because they are genuinely breathtaking. And I suppose another thing as well is that when you
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are living a life that rural, as Emily Bronte did for much of her life, then the moors today will be
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very, very similar, right? You'll still be able to go out and see nothing but them but nature for miles
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and miles around. They are truly extensive, and a real marvel in their own right. And so it's
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automatically a fantastic place to stage a story in. And yeah, it was very impressive. So let's begin
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by talking a little bit, shall we, about the Brontes, the Bronte sisters, and Emily in particular.
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One thing to note is that they were, as was standard for the time, a very large family. Their father was
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an Irishman, and their mother was Cornish, a daughter of a Cornish merchant. And when Emily
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was very, very young, they came up to Yorkshire to settle there because her father had basically
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obtained a position as a curate at the local church in Haworth, where Emily lived for most of her life
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and where the Bronte Museum now exists today. Most of what we know about Emily comes from her sister
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Charlotte, who outlived her, though didn't really go on to have a very extensive life of her own. And that
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really is something that defines the story of the Bronte sisters. They're constantly surrounded by death
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and sadness and, you know, a grim nature. And especially when you see into Emily's letters and the things
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that she was writing, you see, actually, that far from sort of like a pantheistic love and just, you know,
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some sort of hippie out in nature, just sitting under the trees, you see a darker mind at work. There is
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something truly gothic in her very view of the world and kind of a cynicism towards nature itself,
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but still with a reverence for its power. And Emily and Charlotte and Anne and all the rest of them, they lost
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two of their sisters very, very young to typhus when they were at a boarding school nearby because of the
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unsanitary conditions there. And you see something very similar happen in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, actually,
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where someone dies at the school. But through all of this, the Bronte sisters are very well documented.
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And also, we don't really know a great amount about Emily herself. She seems to have been the quietest.
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She was also definitely the one that stayed around Yorkshire the most out of the three of them.
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When Wuthering Heights was first published back in 1847, it received a very mixed reception,
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to say the least. People were very taken aback by how dark the characters were, by how none of them
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seemed particularly redeemable. They basically said that Emily, under the pen name of Ellis Bell,
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had just misunderstood literature and that it was quite a clumsy piece of work. And so it's a shame
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that she only lived another year after its publication and passed away at the age of 30 from tuberculosis.
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And she never actually got to see the fame that her novel would go on to have. Also, just another
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thing to say is that in addition to Charlotte and Anne as her sisters, she did also have one brother
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who survived into adulthood, and that was Branwell, Branwell Bronte. And we see from him the actual
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painting of the three sisters together. And it's definitely one of the most important things that
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we have in terms of getting an idea about who they were as people. So I've decided for the purpose
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of Wuthering Heights, that because it is split so perfectly down the middle, with the first half
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of the story taking up Cathy and Heathcliff and that generation, and then the second part taking up
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characters like little Cathy, her daughter, and Linton, and some of the other characters who are
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brought into it, that we're going to split it into two parts. Because even though it is a pretty
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standard length, I mean, I've got it here in 245 pages, it's pretty dense. And though I, you know,
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whenever I do the story telling aspect of Chronicles, I always script it and, you know, to try and give
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it a richer texture. There is simply so much that happens in Wuthering Heights, so many little moments,
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that it's genuinely impossible to put them all in. So I'm going to go through the story now,
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I'll tell you it all, and then we will talk about the first half of Wuthering Heights.
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1801. I have just returned from a visit to my landlord, the solitary neighbour that I shall be
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troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country. In all England, I do not believe that I could have
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fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthrope's heaven.
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And Mr. Heathcliff and I are of such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us, a capital fellow.
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He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously
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under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves with a jealous resolution,
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still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name.
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These words are the account of Mr. Lockwood, a man of society, just moved to the rural grandeur of Yorkshire.
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He is a respectable man of unimpeachable manners, but such sociability is wasted on his brooding, sinister landlord,
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Mr. Heathcliff, who lives at the oppressive residence of Wuthering Heights.
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Mr. Lockwood's visit there introduces him to a dour collection of characters.
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Hairton, a strong young man of limited learning.
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Zilla, a hardy gossip serving as a housekeeper.
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And a young woman of the most grave disposition.
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Mr. Lockwood learns that her name is Catherine Heathcliff,
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and that she was once married to Mr. Heathcliff's son, who has since died.
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Mr. Lockwood is forced to sleep at Wuthering Heights for the night,
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as the moors are mantled by darkness, and there is no guide to spare.
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The hospitality is cold, and in that restless night he sees the name Catherine scratched into the window ledge.
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Resting near it is Catherine's childhood diary, and Mr. Lockwood begins to browse through it.
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Earnshaw, Linton, Heathcliff, all of these family names follow on in various etchings.
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The house is haunted by memory and malice and regret, and perhaps something more.
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Mr. Lockwood begins to dream, and in that dream he attends a sermon at a chapel,
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but is defensive when the pastor accuses him of sin.
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The congregation descends into a cacophony of clubs and violence,
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until the dream is shattered, as branches from a nearby tree smash through the window,
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I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch.
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Instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little ice-cold hand.
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I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed.
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Who are you? I asked, struggling meanwhile to disengage myself.
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Why did I think of Linton? I had read Earnshaw twenty times for Linton.
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As it spoke, I discerned obscurely, a child's face looking through the window.
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Terror made me cruel, and finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off,
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I pulled its wrists onto the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes.
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And maintained its tenacious gripe, almost maddening me with fear.
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I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it,
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and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer.
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I seemed to keep them closed above a quarter of an hour.
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Yet the instant I listened again, there was a doleful cry moaning.
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Twenty years. I've been a waif for twenty years.
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Thereat began the feeble scratching outside, and the pile of books moved as if thrust forward.
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I tried to jump up, but could not stir a limb, and so yelled aloud in a frenzy of fright.
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Mr. Lockwood's yell awakens Heathcliff, who enters with his natural antagonism.
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But as he hears his guest's explanation, and the name of Catherine Earnshaw, and the visitation from her ghost, a change passes over Heathcliff.
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I stood still, and was witness involuntary to a piece of superstition on the part of my landlord which belayed oddly his apparent sense.
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He got onto the bed, and wrenched open the lattice, bursting, as he pulled at it, into an uncontrollable passion of tears.
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Cathy, do come. Oh, do once more. Oh, my heart, darling, hear me this time. Catherine, at last.
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The spectre showed a spectre's ordinary caprice.
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It gave no sign of being, but the snow and the wind whirled wildly through, even reaching my station and blowing out the light.
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There was such anguish in the gush of grief that accompanied this raving, that my compassion made me overlook its folly.
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And I drew off, half angry to have listened at all, and vexed at having related my ridiculous nightmare, since it produced that agony.
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At daybreak, Mr. Lockwood is soon on his way back to his home at Thrushcross Grange,
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not wishing to stay at Wuthering Heights any longer than needed.
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When he returns, he relays his impressions of Mr. Heathcliff to his housekeeper, Nellie Dean.
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She begins to explain her own part in the history of the mysterious Catherine.
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Nellie had once lived at Wuthering Heights herself, growing up alongside the Earnshaw children, Hindley and Catherine, whilst her mother nursed them.
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One day, Mr. Earnshaw departs on business to Liverpool,
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and on his return he brings with him something that will doom the fates and fortunes of every life in the home.
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But Mr. Earnshaw is affectionate towards the young lad, which fosters bitter feelings from Hindley,
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who feels his rightful attention as the eldest son is being denied to him.
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But from the very beginning, young Catherine adores Heathcliff.
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They spend their days wandering the moors in childish mischief.
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The years press on, and before Hindley goes away to study,
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Mr. Earnshaw makes him swear that he will look after Heathcliff once he is gone.
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Mr. Earnshaw dies sometime later, passing peacefully with Catherine singing at his side.
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But when Hindley returns, he does not keep his promise.
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Heathcliff, once his father's favourite, is reduced to the status of servant.
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But Heathcliff ably endures this slight, seeing as he is still able to enjoy his time with Cathy.
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One day, Heathcliff and Cathy are up to their usual games, and spying on the civilised Linton family,
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in their home at Thrushcross Grange, the same house that Mr. Lockwood now resides in as tenant.
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Alarmed by the trespassers, the Linton's dog sets upon young Cathy,
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and she and Heathcliff are brought inside to see her wound.
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But the Lintons look down on the unkempt Heathcliff with revulsion, and send him on his way.
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Whilst Cathy stays recovering, the Lintons cultivate her appearance into an elegant and sophisticated young lady,
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On the passing of Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley had become the master of the house,
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though great tragedy befalls him as he loses his wife during childbirth.
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Though she is able to deliver him his only son, Hairton, before she passes away,
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Hindley's depression strikes deep, and he becomes an alcoholic.
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After spending time with the Lintons, Cathy begins to fall in love with their son, Edgar.
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He is gentlemanly, stable, and has great prospects for the future.
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But ever doubt gnaws at young Cathy, as she confides in Nellie.
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Today, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him, and I've given him an answer.
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Now, before I tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which it ought to have been.
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Really, Miss Catherine, how can I know? I replied.
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To be sure, considering the exhibition you performed in his presence this afternoon,
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Since he asks you after that, he must be either hopelessly stupid or a venturesome fool.
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She returned peevishly, rising to her feet.
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Do, she exclaimed in an irritated tone, chafing her hands together and frowning.
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Cathy insists that her love for Edgar is genuine.
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So, why does she complain about her unhappiness?
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The old lady and gentleman will not object, I think.
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You will escape from a disorderly, comfortless home into a wealthy, respectable one.
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I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven.
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And if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low,
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And that, not because he's handsome, Nellie, but because he's more myself than I am.
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Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same thing.
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And Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning or frost from fire.
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But Heathcliff overhears only the worst of this conversation.
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And is overwhelmed with betrayal upon hearing that Cathy sees marriage to him as degrading.
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And Cathy falls ill with despair for the first time.
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She can do nothing but accept Edgar's marriage proposal.
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So, she moves to Thrushcross Grove as Mrs. Catherine Linton.
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There she lives with her husband, his sister Isabella,
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and the lifelong confidant and servant, Nellie.
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Those shadows linger in Catherine's or restless spirit.
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his rough edges polished by mysterious wealth and travels.
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As Govington begrudgingly invites him into his home.
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