Wuthering Heights is the epitome of “Hurt people HURT people”

I want to underscore that Wuthering Heights is a product of what is called the Romantic period of Western European literature.  The Romantic period ran from roughly 1798 to 1838, and was characterized by: stories spanning eventful eras or large spans of time, characters acting on their impulses and following their hearts rather than their reason, the celebration and even glorification of Nature, and a marked preference for rural and country settings over the more “corrupt” urban areas.  I think some of the confusion about Wuthering Heights being a romance may stem from the confusion over it being a Romantic work rather than a romantic work.

Honestly the best thing about the film is how many people are reading and rereading Wuthering Heights, it’s such an incredible book

I can’t describe how sat i am for this

English literature major here! We usually categorize Wuthering Heights as a Gothic Tragedy, but I like to call it the family soap opera blueprint. Heathcliff has only ever been played by a  somewhat accurate actor once. James Howson, a  black actor played him in Andrea Arnold's adaptation in 2012. Which is probably about as accurate as we're ever going to get! If you want a healthy Bronte romance, look no further than The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

lowkey obsessed with how Cathy spurned the idea of going to heaven, and her fate is to become a ghost at only 19 years old. that’s the kind of “be careful what you wish for” I eat up

If I remember right, the timing works out that Cathy falls pregnant with Catherine right around the time Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights.  (Given that Catherine has blonde hair while both Cathy and Heathcliff have dark hair, however, I think Brontë wants us to understand Catherine is Linton’s daughter, whatever Emerald Fennell would want to think.)  Wuthering Heights apparently has a very clear internal timeline if one pays careful attention to things like holidays and phases of the moon; there are several papers on the subject if you’re into that kind of thing.

Edgar was buried on the left side of Catherine, Heathcliff asked to be buried on her right side and that the side of his coffin that faces Catherine should be removed when he's lowered in the ground and the side of Catherine's coffin that faces Heathcliff should also be removed so that their bodies can face each other and be entwined in the afterlife😁

Yesss. Every time they try to turn the story into a romance they conveniently forget about the part that Cathy actually does love Edgar. She chooses to be with Edgar, and she's so outraged by being forced to choose between them that she goes on a hunger strike and essentially ends up killing herself.

It's fascinating because even when the characters are so despicable, you can't help but feel for them. One of my favourite relationships is Heathcliff and Hareton. Despite his own best efforts Heathcliff creates a situation where someone actually has genuine affection for him, and in return he starts to see his own past through Hareton. I think this is what brings about his partial redemption at the end of the book when he can't bring himself to ruin Hareton's happiness with Cathy. (Here also we have the recurring theme of education -- Cathy Sr also tried to help Heathcliff keep up with his studies and eventually brought up his lack of education as being undesirable to her.) There's a recurring theme of the characters punching themselves in the face, and I think it was his own obsession with revenge that kept Cathy's ghost from reaching him.  

As for the burial situation, Heathcliff asked for the side of his coffin to be removed on Cathy's side, where he already removed the side of hers, so their coffins are open to each other. But Edgar is still very much buried on Cathy's other side.

And yeah, you'd think the case of Heathcliff clearly being darker than everyone else around is pretty clear in the book, but turns out people will go to all kinds of lengths to validate casting him as a pale white guy. I wish it was more surprising than it is.

Literally the best part about "Wuthering Heights" is that it finally made me take an interest in the actual novel because I'm kind of in love with this insanity

Literally got the notification as I was reading Wuthering Heights

11:30
Mr Lockwood: it's snowing and if i try to get home by myself I'll die!

Everyone at WH: then perish <3

I'm as sat as Emily Brontë is from getting up to haunt Emerald Fennell

Yeah, the whole ‘let me name a son the surname of a relative’s name’ can be rather tricky, especially with such a small cast like this.

I mean, like how Mr. Darcy’s first name is Fitzwilliam. It is his mother’s maiden name. So even more cementing the ties between the families.

They went in a very different path for the sequel “in the heights”

I kind of love Lockwood because he’s just so unbearable as a person.  He’s so confident in his completely wrong takes on these people.  I really feel the girl he scorned before he came to the Grange should be grateful that he acted so strangely; what a bullet she dodged!

The fact that I loved about this book is that Nelly, unlike any narrators in general, who’s only purpose in a story is just to tell the story yet being separated from the story—Emily Brontë established her a character herself alongside the main characters here. And that actually influences the readers (at least me. Idk about others) how to see and feel about the main characters. She may be an unreliable narrator because of that, but I think that’s what Emily wanted for her readers to experience. I started HATING on Cathy before her confession scene, where she hit Nelly and lies to Edgar that she didn’t. Also I cried when Nelly and Hareton had to separate.

now, while i don't presently have the brain power to pick this apart myself, i do think it's worth at least bringing up this observation i made with regards to heathcliff's race. granted, i haven't read the book myself so i'm basing this purely off your summation, and you should bear that in mind.

while catherine (the one from the love triangle) was among the few to treat heathcliff without cruelty, that doesn't mean she wasn't without her own prejudices or the influence of the racism inherent to her society in that place in time. she loves both of these two men, that i don't doubt, but notice how marriage is reserved for edgar while she'd be content just having heathcliff living together with her and her husband. you could argue that it's because she legally can only marry one, but there's just something icky to me about her kinda just keeping heathcliff around like a pet she adores. notice also that, when speaking about why she couldn't marry heathcliff, she doesn't say something like, "society would think it degrading", she says marrying him would "degrade" her, as if she accepts this to be true and factual, not just the opinion of others. to me this just indicates that, albeit subconsciously, she doesn't fully recognize heathcliff as an equal, that he is still in some small yet significant way inferior. she likely doesn't think she thinks that, and would probably argue against such a claim, but she'd be hard pressed to convince me otherwise given even just these two observations. certainly she loves heathcliff, but she's also a white women raised by white parents in a white society, and (at least to ME) it shows.

man. almost as if heathcliff's race is important or something. but what would i know?

Girl I don't think you understand how much I love your channel.. Your videos are not only insightful and well spoken but inspire me to read more and read books I would not have otherwise been interested in reading. I have only been a subscriber for a few months now but every time I see a new upload from you I immediately watch it no matter the subject. I cannot express enough how refreshing you and your videos are in this community and we as your viewers love you to death! <3

I’m also rereading this because of the new movie!

15:01 Nelly’s mother was Hindley’s nursemaid, so she grew up at Wuthering Heights and started working there, too.