Wuthering Heights

I forgot that before Stoner I actually read Wuthering Heights. I kind of get why the novel was named so, Catherine and Heathcliff soaring to heights of love and passion but unable to stand steadfast in loving each other. The bitterness of Heathcliff's childhood then destroying him, was he a monster? Was he misunderstood? Was he a Victorian psychopath or what in modern words would be called a narcissist? I think he wasn't any of those things, unlikable yes, but not a monster. Catherine understood him, she loved and adored him, why did she then marry another? She wanted stability and in her pursuit caused Heathcliff to his ultimate vendetta. This is what i had written down in my reading journal about W.H. after reading it in August 2023. 

"A story of one mans annihilation by his own vanity, wrath and passion. Avenge belongs to God because man is often destroyed through his own avarice: the wish and pursuit to avenge himself"

I recognized someone I love in Heathcliff's character and I also know what it means to live through "crazy love" such as the passion between Catherine and him. 

"Wuthering Heights is a wild story of family trauma and wrong kind of love. I dreaded to read the book knowing that it would strike a chord in me (and it did). I took from it that some childhood trauma can so alter us that we become changed but Hareton and Cathy (the daughter of Catherine) showed that love and reconciliation can win in innocent hearts." 

Marred by life each one threads his path, Heathcliff goes down in fiction as one of the most dislikable characters yet I find empathy for him. 

What was the point of Emily Brontë telling this story, I think the point was to show that true love is not always neat and happy, it can be mad and miserable and that every story doesn't end well, but there is hope for future generations. If anything Wuthering Heights inspires to have and maintain healthy relationships...lol, the book is harrowing. Since it is on Tristan and the Classics list of books for 2024 (namely February read) I might see myself reading it very soon again... 

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