Wuthering Heights - Episode 3 - Emily Bronte - Tantrums, Crazy Relationships, Rejection, Revenge - Part 2!!! - a podcast by Christy and Garry Shriver

Wuthering Heights - Episode 3 - Emily Bronte - Tantrums, Crazy Relationships, Rejection, Revenge - Part 2!!!

 

‘WH episode 3 Script

 

HI, I’m Christy Shriver and we’re here to discuss books that changed the world and changed us.

 

And I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.  This is our THIRD episode in our series on Emily Bronte’s  classic Wuthering Heights- and good grief- this book is infinitely complex.  Last week we went long talking through chapters 1-9.  Before I get any farther, I can’t forget to remind you to please text an episode of our podcasts to a friend and encourage them to listen.  Also, give us a rating- preferably 5 stars, we’re trying our best to do our best, but we can’t grow without you.  But, back to our story- and what a story it is…today we are going to try to push through til chapter 17.  To recap last week we discussed most of the first part of WH.  We chronicled the life of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw as they grow up at Wuthering Heights.  We discussed the brutal abuses they endured, but honestly for the most part, and especially towards toward the end, we shined the focus on Catherine- and what a trainwreck of a person she is.  She’s beautiful, she’s energetic, she’s lively and fun, but she’s also almost entirely about herself…I even used the word I reserve for really complicated situations- maybe even a borderline personality- although, may I reiterate, I would never diagnose a fictional character, but, it’s eerie to me how clearly Emily Bronte describes this most disturbing of conditions…and I should say, before I go further, if you don’t know what I’m talking about but know someone that reminds you of Catherine Earnshaw, research Borderline personality disorder.  Emily Bronte predates all of modern psychology, but what she observed and recorded is something many have seen and lived with in their own real world- although we will never know what or who that something or someone was- she nails the lived experiences of many who find themselves as she puts it “honeysuckles embracing the thorn- there were no concessions.

 

Yes- and this week it is just going to get crazier- this section is action packed- full of complications in the plot line- I find myself having to reread some of this stuff over and over again just to figure out what just happened.  Bronte artfully throws you into a world- a windy world, as she reminds you, where you can’t catch your breath, you can’t understand what just happened and sometimes you don’t even know what you’re looking at. 

And while the emphasis of the last episode was on Catherine, this week, we will change directions slightly and give more emphasis (although Catherine will always demand attention) but we will devote most of our attention to Heathcliff and the other characters in this unusual tale.  As we clearly saw last week and will continue to see onward, life at Wuthering Heights is absolutely nothing short of violently abusive to anyone who ventures through its doors.

 

And let me point out as we transition from the first generation to the second- Bronte carefully demonstrates for us that the legacy of abuse often does not die with the first generation- what we are going to see here is generational abuse.  The children are abused by Hindley and Joseph both physically and verbally but Heathcliff is especially abused emotionally and psychologically- the most damaging of all abuse- and this will all be passed forward. 

 

But, Catherine and Heathcliff are not the only two characters in the book- just as Wuthering Heights is not a story about only one house.  This book is about doubles.  There are two houses- one chaotic- one peaceful and the peaceful is Thrushcross Grange.  There are two sets of children- one set that is wild; the other is tame.  There are also two types of defective love- and Bronte explores both of these as well and how this impacts adulthood.

 

Yes- and looking at these parallel structures makes it easy to categorize.  We have these two children from Wuthering heights who are clearly victims of neglect, abuse and rejection.  They are unloved and this defines their adulthood.  Although Mr. Earnshaw loves Catherine and Heathcliff, he subjects them to the merciless brutal depravation and degradation that is life with Hindley and Joseph- of course this is much more Heathcliff than Catherine.

 

 I want to point out, and it’s easy to overlook because reading Joseph’s dialogue is such a nightmare, I find myself just skipping it, but Joseph is truly a treacherous person and to live under this guy’s physical and mental abuse is something that should not be understated- at one point, Catherine gets so upset she throws her Bible into a dog kennel- and I will also add that he’s abusive to everyone all the way to the next generation as well.

 

But, suffice it to say, Catherine and Heathcliff grow up in an environment where they are not loved.  However, Edgar and isablla, although they are loved, live in a household of what you could call too much love- they are indulged- and sadly (of course this is problem in our modern world as well) when you indulge a child you do just as much harm than if you neglected that child- but in an opposite way.  Edgar and Isabella are pets.  They are weak- too weak to function properly in the world.  Where Catherine and Heathcliff have overcome rejection and abandonment by finding strength in each or at least the idea of each other- Edgar and Isabella don’t have the tools to even deal with this- they’ve been indulged- they can’t imagine a world where they have to struggle- and when they are faced with real trauma, they aren’t equipped. 

 

Both of them just whither- it angers me when I see it in Edgar, but I find myself really pitying Isabella- but they both take deals they shouldn’t take, they both bend when they should stand up for themselves, they both sacrifice things they shouldn’t sacrifice, and really we will see ultimately- Linton ends up abandoning his sister completely all the way to her death- and Isabella herself raises a totally useless human.  But really, none of us can judge any of the four of them for what they want out of life.

 

 That’s true- - we all have done things that were likely not the best out of a need for love and/or a fear of rejection- that’s the human experience- but in this book- Bronte totally contrasts the two totally opposite scenarios- and in each case- their past deficits set them up for a real struggle of trying to find a safe love, a protection against loneliness safe from rejection- and in the case of Catherine and Heathcliff, we’re often left to wonder if their childhood injury has turned them into people that are unfeeling, people that use others but don’t love others, people that hurt with impunity and simply do not understand the effects of their actions or in Heathcliff’s case, almost feel pleasure in the anguish of another human being. A total lack of empathy, again characteristic of a personality disorder.

 

And yet, before this side of the story emerges there is a moment before all the vengefulness comes out that does feel sweet- albeit it’s a brief moment- and last week- as we ended with Catherine declaring her lover for HC and then tossing Heathcliff to the moors in exchange for the security and safety of a life at Thrushcross Grange and Linton’s money- we were left with a mix of emotions.  On the one side, it is possible to have empathy for the choices left for of Catherine Earnshaw- she’s powerless as a woman- no doubt and Heathcliff has no privilege of any kind- both of them have difficult almost seemingly impossible problems to overcome in regard to making their own way in the world without a father figure to protect them-- but what has charmed so many over the years-and I think is worth thinking deeply about is that almost immortal monologue by Catherine- those words “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it.  I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees- my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rock beneath- a source of little visible delight, but necessary, Nelly, I am Heathcliff- He’s always always in my mind- not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself- but as my own being- so don’t talk of our separation again- it is impractical… Those darling- are some of the absolutely most romantic words ever spoken in the English language- Shakespeare himself has found a competitor in Emily Bronte- and dare say it’s not just what women want….just saying…this powerful intimacy…this powerful interconnectedness…this magnetic-like passion- to feel life and to feel it so vividly, so powerfully- it’s a fantasy that exceeds sexuality…although there are many who try that route for just a fraction of that power- it’s spirituality…I don’t know -what do you say to that- but this sense of feeling of alive-ness- and I know I made up that word- but it expresses what I mean.  Bronte expresses this sentiment so powerfully all the way to their death sequences and beyond-through these two most-messed up characters and there is one aspect about it that truly is beautiful.

 

Well, that’s absolutely true- and there are multitudes of humans who walk through life and want to find just one person to share this kind of connectivity with- it’s not something that we’re guaranteed in life, and I will quote Heathcliff here from chapter 15 when I put it this way, although that’s a little ahead- there are many- and I will venture to say- myself included- that think, if this is how Catherine really feels, she should have endured “misery, and degradation and death” to stay with Heathcliff ….but there is just more to it, in Catherine’s case.  this is what we saw being weighed in that balance when she discusses this with Nelly and why ultimately she makes the decision to betray her eternal self as well as Heathcliff- not once but at least twice…in order to protect her present self- although she notably has convinced herself that she’s doing all that she’s doing for Heathcliff…again a characteristic of a disorder, but let me just add this in defense of Catherine, although I don’t find much in her worth defending- there is justification to argue that Catherine did what any woman in that time period would almost be forced to do with the financial realities of the world as it was for women in the 19th century. 

 

Well, that’s absolutely true- and although we don’t have time AT ALL to talk about all the feminist criticism, and there is quite a bit, associated with this book- in truth-looking at Catherine as some sort of Original Mother or as a representation of a girl’s transition from innocence to experience- maybe we can be a kinder way to think about Catherine- especially if you see her as caught between “socially incompatible cultures.” And of course as you watch how the rest of the story totally exposes women’s vulnerability in regard to  property rights- it does somehow make her decision to be with Edgar Linton at least practical. 

 

 But then again in Catherine’s case, and if you think of her as crazy Catherine- we soon come to understand that she doesn’t see it as a romantic choice versus a practical choice- because Catherine Earnshaw- is full of passion but that’s only one side of her- Catherine Earnshaw is not told no- not by anyone- she will absolutely not accept that there is a choice to be made when it comes to what she wants- she WILL have both men- and it’s a little funny how this is expressed in the book- Nelly speaks to her in the Victorian way- but Nelly tries to tell her that marriage is a sexual relationship- you will either honor it and betray this former childhood love or you will NOT honor it and betray your marriage vows.  You made the analogy about having your cake and eating it too- you were right about that…sometimes you just can’t..and that is the literal mortal combat we witness in the following chapters. 

 

But shifting away from Catherine for a moment- there are other questions about passion itself that Bronte asks as we see what happens to Heathcliff or really what Heathcliff does in the name of his passion, “Is passion a suitable moral justification for overriding moral law?  Does personal abuse in one’s own childhood lead to involuntary actions and abuse as an adult?  Do we let some people off the hook for their behavior because of their past?  How or is it even possible to live a life of freedom and victory IF you are clearly a victim of abuse?  Can peace be found in revenge? Heathcliff makes us ask all of these questions? 

 

 Well, I know the end for these two is kind of jaded, but it’s still charmed lots of people over the years- so before we get into all the ugly I want to have one more sweet moment.  Emily Bronte wrote a poem once and it said this, “Though earth and moon were gone, and suns and universes ceased to be, and thou were left alone, every existence would exist in thee.”  How beautiful and deep and what every man and woman wants to find in this world…even Catherine- as treacherous and unworthy of a person as I find her to be feels this, “If all else perished and he remained, I should still continue to be, and if all else remained and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”  Bronte expresses an idealized bond between these two- and although they never realize the dream- the expression of sentiment is real and in some ways is what everyone on this planet is looking for.  Heathcliff is the window through which Catherine sees the world.  They keep each other safe from isolation.  Without him, she is isolated.  Without her, he is.  All that business of being alone in heaven- that’s what that means, and it’s really sweet. 

 

Agreed….but then the next chapters hit and it turns really destructive really fast.  These next chapters were an absolute whirlwind for me.  For the first six months of Catherine’s marriage when it’s just her and the Lintons, all is peaceful at Thrushcross grange but  Heathcliff comes back with zero explanation completely transformed and Catherine changes.

 

Yes- and there’s one aspect that is extremely expected and traditional for a man who is met with his wife’s old fling- at first it seems just like men trying to alpha male each other in the normal way.  Heathcliff is taller, more manly, more athletic than Edgar and now has the manners and money to intimidate Edgar.   But Edgar is richer, has pedigree but most importantly already has the girl.  We also find out that HC’s slowly supplying Hindley with money to gamble and drink with- in exchange for pieces of the property Wuthering Heights.  It becomes obvious and later we find out that it’s through lending money to Hindley that Heathcliff will eventually come to totally own WH.  So, we see that HC gets manlier, but Edgar gets wimpier…one time, After Heathcliff leaves Thrushcross Grange- Edgar actually physically cries in front of Catherine over HC.  That obviously is not endearing…it’s actually empowering to Catherine…unsurprisingly Catherine absolutely has decided Edgar WILL allow HC into her world- she’s also absolutely confident he doesn’t that the strength nor the will to defy her- and this is a great quote, “I have such faith in Linton’s love that I believe I might kill him, and he wouldn’t wish to retaliate.” 

 

That of course, is a confession of her total disdain of Edgar, which is something we could talk about, even though I know we don’t have time because at the same time all this is going on we’re sideswiped with the even greater tragedy of Isabella.  Now, just for those of us who are still trying to keep track of the characters, let’s review- Edgar and Isabella are brother and sister.

 

Yes, and  Isabella is a year younger than Catherine.

 

And in this chapter we find out that she’s in love with Heathcliff, she actually says, “I love him more than ever you loved Edgar; and he might love me if you’d let him.” 

 

True- to which Catherine wisely replies, “I wouldn’t be you for a kingdom then…then she says..heathcliff is an unreclaimed creature without refinement- without cultivation….read through 100….

 

You can’t say Catherine doesn’t understand him.  And in a moment of what could be interpreted as kindness but seems more like selfish jealousy, she reveals Isabella’s infatuation to HC…ending it with these lovely words, “I like her too well, my dear Heathcliff to let you absolutely seize and devour her up.”  To which he says, “And I like her too ill to attempt it, except in a very ghoulish fashion….but then he remembers this..”she’s her brother’s heir, is she not?”…and of course we are set up for what will eventually come in chapter 12 when Heathcliff in order to get revenge on Edgar and maybe even Catherine hangs Isabella’s dog and they run off together to get married in the middle of the night.

 

Yes- heathcliff’s first object of revenge- Isabella.  What we see in short- since we have to really skip the details here is that she’s first a link in this complicated struggle to steal Thrushcross Grange from Edgar.  And really it’s an opportunity that comes to him.  She makes it easy to persuade her to elope with him.  He really wants to take everything from Edgar- or as the book says, “provoke Edgar to despair”.  But really, it’s more than that.  Later we see how abusive he is to Isabella, physically, emotionally and even sexually- we see a depth of evil in Heathcliff that he didn’t have as a child.  Nelly, in the first part of the book, even praised Heathcliff for telling the truth even if he knew he’d get in trouble- but all of that is gone.  From the time he comes back, he has no feelings except for revenge and this passionate desire to possess Catherine.  He confesses to Nelly that his first act of marriage was to hang Isabella’s little dog.

 

Which reminds me, what’s going on with dogs in this book.  There are quite a few of dogs.

 

So true and good point, we’ll get into that next week.  Emily was a huge dog lover, and she does give dogs interesting roles in this book that I want to highlight next week.  But getting back to HC- listen to how he talks about how he feels about his wife.

 

 He actually says, “I have no pity!  The worms write, the more I yearn to crush out their entrails!  It is a moral teething, and I grind with greater energy, in proportion to the increase of pain.”  He’s getting some energy from hurting her.  Just saying that line makes me uncomfortable. 

 

 Isabella, victim number one, kind of provides us with a transition between the first generation- which is HC, Catherine- Edgar and herself to the second generation which we get a glimpse of in chapter 11 when Nelly visits Wuthering Heights.  What we see in chapter 11, is that HC is trying, through Hareton, to recreate his own childhood abuse through Hareton- who don’t forget is Hindley’s son- he’s raised him to be exactly like he was as a child- that part of his childhood that he was ashamed of…he’s dirty, he’s feral, he’s violent- he outwardly acts like a little Heathcliff- he even throws a rock at Nelly when she decides to follow a superstitious whim and come up there.  HC clearly explains this deliberate intent  in chapter 17, “Now, my bonny lad!  You are mine! And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it.”  Heathcliff wants Hindley’s son to be just as degraded as he was- which in some ways is more disturbing than what Hindley did because Hareton is not just Hindley’s son- he’s also Catherine’s nephew, and appears even looks like Catherine. 

 

, HC is well on his way to getting everything he wants, he has an easy plan to steal WH.  He has an easy plan to steal Hareton from Hindley and turn him into a wild animal.  He has an easy plan to steal Isabella from Edgar, and even Catherine is now telling Edgar- he’s just going to have to deal with it- HC is coming over to visit her and there is nothing he can do about it…until Edgar decides he’s going to try to fight back…the incident in the kitchen where Catherine locks the two of them inside is believable but also really funny when Edgar literally tries to fight HC…and punches him in the neck…but then runs from the kitchen into the garden to get backup. 

 

Yes- and it all ends with Catherine blaming Edgar for easedropping and for Isabella for being romantically interested in HC.  After HC is banished, she says this, “if I cannot keep HC for my friend- if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I’ll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.”

 

It’s psychologically interesting that the one time Edgar tries to stand up to Catherine ultimately results in her death.  Catherine’s death sequence is somewhat famous- her standing in that window is on a lot of art work related to this book.  But it’s a strange sequence, and again as a reader, I find myself really confused by what I think I’m seeing.  There is so much that is manic- so extreme.  Catherine works herself up into a frenzy, she refuses to eat (although on the third day she does drink water and eat a little dry toast that Nelly gives her.”  At one point she dashes her head against the arm of a sofa and grinds her teeth so hard Nelly describes it as if they were going to crash into splinters.

 

Edgar of course doesn’t go after her he just leaves her and retreats into the library so he doesn’t see all this display- and of course, this is another instance where  Nelly interjects herself into the lives of these people and permanently alters the course of events- Nelly downplays all of Catherine’s antics- when Linton sees her once going crazy with blood on her lips, Nelly tells him it’s nothing.  She never tells anyone that Catherine is starving herself, making herself crazy, she is never going to tell Edgar- and this alters the course of events because and likely not physically possible- but Catherine does go crazy- let me make a note that this is a totally made of illness and very gothic- we see this death by emotion in Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde- all the great gothic books having people dying like this- I should probably start next week by mentioning what a gothic book is. 

 

True- but as I see it- Bronte is really sizing up a passionate relationship that is challenging the connection between passion and love altogether.  It seems Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is amoral and antisocial- and it climaxes here with Catherine willing her own death with some sort of hope that in death she can regain something from her childhood. It’s getting Freudian now.

 

It’s weird- Catherine starves for three days then craziness happens..Here’s one of my favorite crazy lines, she says, “Oh I’ve been tormented! I’ve been haunted, Nelly.  But I begin to fancy you don’t like me.  How strange! I thought though everyone hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me…it’s not too long after that that she tears the pillow with her teeth.   She demands that Nelly open the window in the middle of the winter- another bit of  symbolism here- she wants to view herself in the old way- like her old Earnshaw self- maybe regressing into childhood… when she happens to catch a glimpse of herself in a mirror- there’s a symbol she’s aghast. she looks back in the mirror and starts to say all kinds of crazy things. She’s looking for WH, she’s looking to see someone but it’s not there.Finally Nelly tries to pacify her and say, “There’s nobody here…it’s was yourself, Mrs. Linton.”  Catherine seems unable to recognize herself…this goes on until she does open the window..she says a lot but ends with this, “Oh, I’m burning…….page 122…Why am I so changed?, After she gives this little speech..she crosses the room, throws open the window, bends outside into the frosty bitter air.  It’s pitch black- no moon…she looks into the darkness and rants again about her childhood, about Joseph on and on she goes until Edgar walks in…and although we’re going to see that Edgar tries to nurse her to health..she’s not going to get better.

 

And if you thought that sequence of events was confusing,  Bronte takes it up a notch and it really gets confusing- all the craziness with Catherine and at this same time, we have this parallel story with Isabella running off, getting married, HC moves her to Wuthering Heights, we  then circle back to Catherine and her illness and HC literally tells Isabella that Catherine’s illness is Edgar’s fault and promises that Isabella is going to suffer by being Edgar’s proxy until he can get a hold of Edgar.  There’s a lot and two months pass just like that.  Before we know it Isabella is pregnant and has discovered that Heathcliff is evil.  In her words, “Is Mr. Heathcliff a man?  If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil?”  

 

and that brings us back to the framing of this story- because right here, in the middle of chapter 13 Bronte introduces a third Narrator- in this one instance- Isabella tells her own story via a letter she writes to Nelly.  Bronte is really wanting you to feel that you, the reader, are in this chaotic gothic whirlwind- and she uses these narrative frames to do it.  What we see here is the new state of life at WH and it is dark, violent, dirty and isolating.  In the letter Isabella describes the misery that is her life and begs Nelly to intercede between herself and Edgar because Edgar has abandoned his sister- I will say a sign of chauvinism.  Isabella is the one character that’s weaker than him, and he abandons her- his gentility, his propriety, his ego, maybe won’t lower itself.  Isabella needs grace.  She really needs a loving hero to rescue her- and Edgar will not be than man. 

 

It does appear that Isabella will leave this story as arguably the most unloved characters in this book, sadly. Both Edgar’s and Heathcliff’s final moments with Catherine are dramatic- each in their own way- but Isabella’s exit is pathetic- what a contrast how this plays out.

 

Of course we see Nelly here interferes again- first by going over to WH, telling Isabella she’s cut off, listening to HC rant as to how for every thought Catherine spends on Linton, he spends a thousand on him..that losing her would be hell…that “if Linton loved Catherine with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years, as Heathcliff could in a day..and that, of course Catherine’s heart is as deep as his.””  He goes on to tell her that he goes to the Grange every night for six hours and will until he can get in.  And then one day when Edgar is away, she sneaks Heathcliff up to see Catherine.  Their exchange is passionate for sure- he grabs and holds her for five minutes, there’s kisses- and really that’s the first sexuality between these two- but there’s a lot of blame…let’s read this part.-page 154-158…

 

These two seem to love and resent each other with the same intensity.  There is so much blame here. 

 

They are emotionally unstable, they struggle with loneliness and abuse all things that make people vulnerable to addictions. This addictive love wants to break down the boundaries of identity and merge two lovers into one identity.  An addict wants possession regardless of the consequences to themselves or others.  We’ve seen here that we’re nowhere near the realm of a healthy loving relationship capable of putting the needs of another person first- and of course Bronte takes this scene all the way to death.

 

At midnight- little baby Catherine is born…mother Catherine dies two hours later….Nelly finds it peaceful actually…and she goes out to tell HC what happened..he has an interesting response…Garry read that…page 163..

 

There’s two more strange things readers are supposed to notice about the death of Catherine, before she’s buried, HC sneaks into her room, takes a locket that she had around her neck, he opens it and puts his hair in- and then Nelly, who interferes yet again…goes back, gets Catherine’s hair and his hair=twists them together and put them in the locket…the second thing to notice is that Catherine is not buried in the cemetery- she’s buried on a green slope out in nature…of course a nod by Bronte to her untamed wildness as well as a suggestion that Bronte is holding Catherine responsible for killing herself because in that culture- if you committed suicide you were not allowed to be buried in the local cemetery- just an interesting point to note.

 

For sure- and after Catherine’s death, the level of obsession HC has with Catherine does not lessen, in some ways it just channels more sharply into his rage and revenge…he can rage at Isabella, he can rage at Hareton, he can rage at any and all of them.  In fact, it’s energizing and it will be revenge that keeps HC alive for the rest of the book.

 

He has this compulsion to recreate past circumstances which we will see through his manipulation of the children next week…but one thing that shows up here, and is quite pitiful is this inverted relationship he has with Hindley Earnshaw who by now is a total drunkard with no money and basically depends on HC at this point.  Hindley decides he’s going to murder HC (something he told Isabela about the first night she moved in- apparently he goes to his room every night armed), with a knife and a pistol with which to do it.  It’s all very chaotic, Hindley tells Isabella of his plans, Isabella tells HC and tries to lock the door to prevent the murder, Hindley does shoot, but ends up getting cut and the gun taken away, and HC kicks the living daylights out of him..although falling short from killing him…and what’s really interesting in this exchange is that in some sense HC has really completed his revenge.  Listen to what Hindley says, “Oh, if God would but give me strength to strange him in my last agony, I’d go to hell with joy…let’s read the rest of this crazy exchange….this is the last exchange between Isabella and HC because after this, she is going to leave him.  She runs and stumbles all the way to TG-- Of course, her horrid brother Edgar won’t help her and she knows it, so she runs away to London.  She has a son who she names Linton Heathcliff, and she’ll stay there until the end of her life. 

 

Heathcliff does leave her alone, but he also does tell Nelly and I’llquote HC here, “I’ll have it.  When I want it. They may reckon on that.”  And of course he’s referring to Isabella’s child. 

 

By chapter 17.  Catherine is dead.  Hindley dies six months after Catherine. Then Nelly jumps 12 years and Isabella dies in London; her son Linton is 12 years old.  Cathy, Catherines’ daughter is 13 years old- and we are ready now have the exact same life played out all over again- but this time with Heathcliff as the old Mr. Earnshaw having inherited the entire Earnshaw estate.  He’s in charge- and here is the second generation- Heathcliff is raising an unloved child as a servant in a house he should have inherited.  Edgar is raising a beloved child, little Cathy (who he never refers to as Catherine) who he never lets her out in the world- very much like his parents did to him.  But in this book of parallels, Nelly points out the parallel that a nice way Edgar uses Cathy a place to find redemption- where Hindley does not seek redemption in his son instead- he despairingly surrenders Hareton.  And then there’s  Linton- not Edgar but Isabella’s son Linton Heathcliff- the most pitiful of all-

 

he got the worst of all the dna, a pale effeminate sickly boy is sent to live with his father…and Heathcliff’s revenge seems very much a done deal….or is it…what is the power of revenge?  Who does revenge really destroy? 

Can generational abuse ever be stopped or is it destined to go on and on and on?  Bronte asks quite a lot of questions…and next week, we’ll watch her answer them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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