Wuthering Heights: Love, Revenge, & Property Rights in Victorian England
In honor of Valentine's Day, I'll blog about my favorite piece of romantic literature: Wuthering Heights which is in many ways more of a gothic horror story than a romance because it dispels high-minded notions of idealism.
Since I was thirteen, I've been fascinated by this story about a fiery, ill-tempered aristocrat, Catherine Earnshaw, who marries a man of superior social rank, Edgar Linton, while not so secretly desiring her childhood companion, a man of inferior class and education: Heathcliff, a gypsy orphan found in Liverpool, but raised by the Earnshaws as a servant.
Aware of Cathy's scorn, Heathcliff runs off, but years later returns as a wealthy gentleman. Then in an act of revenge, he marries Cathy's sister-in-law, Isabel Linton.
I've always wondered how Heathcliff made his money. Did he run off to America and engage in the slave-trade? Did he work for the East India Company? Was he involved in blockade running or arms dealing?
In Wuthering Heights Heathcliff encourages Cathy's brother to take up gambling. Hindley dissipates his wealth and mortgages his farmhouse to Heathcliff to pay his debts. Then many years later, Heathcliff manipulates a situation whereby his son marries Cathy's daughter as a means by which he can secure her property. So, in the end, the former stable boy succeeds in owning both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Thus, I think the answer to my question earlier is laid out in the intricate facts of this classic novel. Heathcliff likely made his money somewhere in the world as a predatory lender. As a man, he could do something English ladies couldn't which was own land. So ultimately he had his revenge on the woman who once scorned him. By securing Cathy's property and her daughter's estate, Heathcliff achieved the freedom that both women desperately craved and proved that his intelligence far exceeded those who had received an education.
I've probably written this before: but how many British literary classics would exist if women had been allowed to own property? Without the ability to own land, they lacked freedom or control over their lives which was consistently the impetus for numerous plots.
Below, I've attached my favorite scene from the film (which romanticized the book) where I believe the author, through her heroine, Cathy is basically saying: I am Heathcliff, I have less power, control, or freedom than an indentured servant.
#BritishLiterature #LiteraryClassics #EmilyBronte #WutheringHeights #Romanticism #Realism #Gothichorror #Tragedy #PropertyRights #LiteratureandtheLaw #Femininsm #Racism #Immigration #Idealism #FirmResolve #LiciaFlynn #elitism #class #struggle #capitalism #anti-hero
Since I was thirteen, I've been fascinated by this story about a fiery, ill-tempered aristocrat, Catherine Earnshaw, who marries a man of superior social rank, Edgar Linton, while not so secretly desiring her childhood companion, a man of inferior class and education: Heathcliff, a gypsy orphan found in Liverpool, but raised by the Earnshaws as a servant.
Aware of Cathy's scorn, Heathcliff runs off, but years later returns as a wealthy gentleman. Then in an act of revenge, he marries Cathy's sister-in-law, Isabel Linton.
I've always wondered how Heathcliff made his money. Did he run off to America and engage in the slave-trade? Did he work for the East India Company? Was he involved in blockade running or arms dealing?
In Wuthering Heights Heathcliff encourages Cathy's brother to take up gambling. Hindley dissipates his wealth and mortgages his farmhouse to Heathcliff to pay his debts. Then many years later, Heathcliff manipulates a situation whereby his son marries Cathy's daughter as a means by which he can secure her property. So, in the end, the former stable boy succeeds in owning both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Thus, I think the answer to my question earlier is laid out in the intricate facts of this classic novel. Heathcliff likely made his money somewhere in the world as a predatory lender. As a man, he could do something English ladies couldn't which was own land. So ultimately he had his revenge on the woman who once scorned him. By securing Cathy's property and her daughter's estate, Heathcliff achieved the freedom that both women desperately craved and proved that his intelligence far exceeded those who had received an education.
I've probably written this before: but how many British literary classics would exist if women had been allowed to own property? Without the ability to own land, they lacked freedom or control over their lives which was consistently the impetus for numerous plots.
Below, I've attached my favorite scene from the film (which romanticized the book) where I believe the author, through her heroine, Cathy is basically saying: I am Heathcliff, I have less power, control, or freedom than an indentured servant.
#BritishLiterature #LiteraryClassics #EmilyBronte #WutheringHeights #Romanticism #Realism #Gothichorror #Tragedy #PropertyRights #LiteratureandtheLaw #Femininsm #Racism #Immigration #Idealism #FirmResolve #LiciaFlynn #elitism #class #struggle #capitalism #anti-hero
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