If only Catherine would have initially followed her heart and married Heathcliff instead of marrying Edgar Linton for his money. There would be no heartbreak, no harsh feelings or soft, kind hearts turning to stone. Young Catherine and Linton would not have to live terrified of Heathcliff’s tyranny and vengeful plans. Heathcliff wouldn’t waste his life wishing for lost love and I, the reader, would find satisfaction in telling the version of the story I want to be told.
Without these important plot points, however, Wuthering Heights would not be the highly commended work of literature that it is; in fact, it wouldn’t be much of a novel at all. Emily Brontë spent hours upon hours writing, revising, and rewriting each scene in this novel, carefully crafting each character and event. She tells exactly the story she intends every time a new reader opens her book. This novel will always be her story to tell, and only mine to listen to and appreciate.
In all the blogs I write, I seem to criticize the novels I read. Perhaps I do this because required readings don’t pull me in like Percy Jackson did when I was in sixth grade making me completely lose myself in its pages, racing to read the last few sentences at three in the morning. I find myself wanting every novel to be impossible to put down. Just like ice cream flavors though, each book has a different taste; some flavors are light and fresh allowing for easy enjoyment and some flavors are more intense, requiring an acquired, more refined palate. Each unique flavor, however, has something to offer; some just require more tries to understand than others.
I could never even imagine writing a whole novel, especially one of literary merit. As a result, I don’t think I have any place in criticizing Emily Brontë (of really any other author I have read this year) even though her novel was not my favorite read, so here is a short list of elements from Wuthering Heights that I found enjoyable.
-switching between Nelly’s account of the past and Lockwood’s account of the present
-use of dates to give reader an actual sense of time and help aid in clear transitions from past to present
-the double use of names such as Catherine and Linton
– Heathcliff’s insisting on opening Catherine’s dusty, old coffin and then the image of being buried next to her when he dies
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