Wuthering Heights - Episode 4 - Emily Bronte - Marriage, Kidnapping, Co-dependency And Other Signs of Love! - a podcast by Christy and Garry Shriver

Wuthering Heights - Episode 4 - Emily Bronte - Marriage, Kidnapping, Co-dependency And Other Signs of Love!

 

WH episode 4

 

Hi, this is Christy Shriver.  We’re here to talk about books that changed the world and changed us.

 

I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love lit Podcast.  This is our fourth episode discussing the tumultuous inhabitants of Wuthering Heights and its neighboring estate Thrushcross Grange.  And I must say, Bronte aptly selected the appropriate metaphor to develop the characters in the book as we have seen in the last three episodes, but just when you thought Bronte has pushed her characters as far as they could go, she takes it one step farther.  In episode 1, we introduced Emily Bronte herself, we met Lockwood, our first narrator, and the we met briefly most of the main characters in the book: HC, Catherine, the mom via her ghost, Catherine the daughter, Hareton, Joseph and, of course Nelly. 

 

I guess the only reason we didn’t meet the rest of them is because they’re all dead.

 

Yes- here we already started with the name confusion because both female protagonists have the same name- And it’s not surprising once you get to meet Catherine ONE- if you want to call her that- that she doesn’t exit the story- not even upon death.  Catherine ONE is one character who will not be ignored, and she basically dominated our discussions in the last three episodes.  We discussed her and Heathcliff’s relationship as children, her relationship with the neighbors Edgar and Isabella and then finally the love-triangle that defined her life and untimely death between herself, Edgar and Heathcliff.

 

Yes- Catherine’s presence does dominate and define both Edgar and Heathcliff’s lives from the beginning to the end, but earlier I made the statement that I think Heathcliff himself is the central character in the story- and I know that’s arguable- I still see him as the more interesting character.  At the beginning we are made to sympathize with him as he’s abused and neglected by those responsible to care and provide for him.  He’s rejected by Catherine who, although claims to love him, chooses to marry Edgar, the rich neighbor.  However, after Catherine’s death, there is a vengeful evil in Heathcliff that particularly defines the middle portion of the book- and although it certainly doesn’t make him a likeable person- it does make him a dynamic character- and if you remember what that means- a dynamic character is one that changes over the course of the story- and in his case, we see a stark difference between the Heathcliff that runs away after Catherine crushes him, and the Heathcliff that comes back determined to get revenge on everyone in his life. 

 

And this seems to basically center around two people although he targets many more.  He wants revenge on Hindley for abusing him as a child, and he wants revenge on Edgar for taking his girl. 

 

 And this of course brings us to Isabella and their marriage which is nothing short of horrific.  It ends as violently as it begins (remember he hangs her dog on the way to the elopement). On the night she leaves him forever, she blames him for Catherine’s death- literally saying Catherine was too smart to bear his abhorent last name without expressing her disgust, then he picks up a dinner knife and flings it at her head. It strikes her beneath her ear…one last abuse…she pulls it out kind of undoing the violence that had united them in marriage...and runs away.

 

Well, and what we find this week, is that that’s just the very beginning of the violence, rage and evil Heathcliff is capable of.  Are you sure, Heathcliff’s been called a hero- even a Byronic hero seems a kind description of what this guy seems to be?

 

Ha!  Well, he’s definitely not a traditional knight in shining armor, but you have to remember, this is a gothic novel- and gothic novels have different rules.  I guess, I should kind of define what that is- although briefly- gothic is the kind of word most of us have heard of and we think we know what it means, but we’re not sure.  Gothic novels were really a fad in the late 1700s thrgh Bronte’s lifetime and  There is a group of characteristics that came to define what these novels were about and honestly even today we recognize these traits that signal we might be reading a gothic novel-- for example, they usually involve a castle- either ruined or haunted, lots of shadows, beams of moonlight in the blackness, flickering candles, extreme landscapes, omens and/or ancestral curses, magic or supernatural manifestations, a passion-driven willful villain-hero or villain, a heroine with a tendency to faint, a hero who’s true identity is revealed at the end, or a horrifying series of events.  Gothic novels have things like necrophilia, incest, diabolism, social chaos, imprisonments, things like that.  They play around with the concepts of fear, they push boundaries between life and death, light and darkness- sanity and insanity- so you can see Wuthering Heights meets a LOT of these criteria and you don’t have to meet all of them to be Gothic.  Scarlet Letter was a little gothic, actually.  Frankenstein is Gothic too. And of course Edgar Allan Poe.

 

  I hadn’t noticed it, but we’ve done quite a few gothic novels, I guess.

 

Ha!  Yeah, I guess we have. 

 

Well, last week, when we left off in chapter 17 Isabella is away in London raising Linton where she goes untouched by HC for the rest of her life.  And by chapter 19, Isabella is dead.

 

Yes- and as we said last week, Isabella is kind of this transitional character between the two generations.  She gives birth to Heathcliff’s son who Edgar brings back to the Grange after her death, but who doesn’t even stay there 24 hours before Heathcliff sends for him and he’s shipped off to WH- and this is where we transition into the next generation of romantic relationships- another doubling- if you will because really there are TWO relationships that develop over the next section- one very obvious one if you want to call the relationship between Catherine and Linton romantic- but a second one develops two- almost imperceptibly- and this episode which is going to span between chapters 19-28.  In chapter 19 Catherine 2 meets Linton for the first time.  In chapter 20, she meets Hareton and enters WH for the first time.  By chapter 27 she’s been locked and incarcerated inside WH with Linton and Hareton is their jailor. 

These chapters are just weird.  I’ve never read anything quite like this before, and the relationship between Catherine and Linton is troubling- and its really easy to see that it’s kind of a repeat of the relationship between Catherine ONE and HC.  Although Heathcliff and Catherine  ONE are clearly mentally ill, they do exude great power and passion- they are forces of nature- a lot like the winds she uses to symbolize them- they’re strong- uncontrollable-as individuals the second rendition of these two is different in Cathy’s case we see a combination between the forces of WH and the forces of the Grange -or the Linton side of her- part wild/ part calm- something of a healthy mix between the extremes of their parents.  Linton is a combination of the two as well- but it’s the worst of both worlds- part devil on is father’s side and part frail on his mother’s. 

 

Yes-another point to make as we see the relationship between Cathy 2 and linton is that as they relate to each other Linton and Catherine TWO or little Cathy do not really exist really as individuals.  During the entire course of their relationship, they are extensions of their parents.  And of course, this can’t go well but is also exactly how HC designs the relationship.  This relationship is HIS creation and under his complete control.

 

Well, of course this plan can never work- and although lots of young parents playfully tease with their best couple friends about making their children marry each other- we know, children who are actually extensions of their parents are by nature handicapped- even if the parents are mentally healthy.  Although, I will say, when parents are healthy, by definition they don’t view their children as extensions of themselves.  But in this case, it’s obvious that being Edgar’s daughter and Heathcliff’s son is HOW these two are defined until Linton dies or even Edgar dies although to a lesser degree(spoiler alert).  The psych term for this is enmeshment.

 

One critic flat out calls the marriage between Cathy and Linton a parody of the marriage of Catherine and Edgar- and it’s easy to see how that parallel can be made.

 

For sure- both marriages exist with one partner doing all of the giving and the other doing all of the taking –  Catherine ONE in her relationship with Edgar is overtly loud, powerful and demanding really forcing Edgar to bend to an extreme confrontation that results in her death; Linton, although physically and emotionally weak is also overwhelmingly demanding- he also is equally obsessed with himself and in his own way forces Cathy TWO to exist in his world on his own unreasonable terms until he also literally dies- although it does appear from tuberculosis and not emotional suicide. 

 

Linton- to me- is the most unlikeable character in a book full of unlikeable characters. 

 

There’s absolutely nothing to like about him from the first moment he opens his mouth when he first arrives at the Grange asking to go to bed then complaining because he can’t sit in a chair.  I immediately noticed that he  inherited absolutely the worst of both parents: he’s sulky and bad tempered like his mom (with none of her kind heartedness)- he’s vindictive like his dad, but with no passion for anyone not even himself. 

 

 HC calls him a puling chicken

 

What is a puling chicken btw-

 

I know- I had never in my life heard that phrase before- but it’s actually a pretty good insult, and I think we should probably start using it- puling means whiny and weak- chicken of course is the animal- so if you’re a weak whiny chicken- maybe you’re a lot like Linton

 

That is probably an accurate description.  It seems difficult to imagine how Cathy could ever be interested in him, even as a playmate.

 

I know because even though we see, especially when she talks to Hareton that she can be a brat at times and is a bit of a snob- readers are made to really like her and sympathize with her throughout the whole book- and notice she’s really the only character that is like that- not even Lockwood and Nelly are entirely likeably-  She’s described as “the most winning thing that ever brought sunshine into a desolate house- a real beauty in face- with the Earnshaw’s handsome dark eyes, but the Linton’s fair skin and small features, and yellow curling hair- her spirit was high, though not rough, and qualified by a heart, sensitive and lively to excess in its affections”.  It’s not rational that Cathy should give Linton the time of day at all. 

 

Well, again this is what impresses me about writers of literary fiction, they observe human behavior and seem to explain things that are mystifying- and  in life- as well as in art- there are many times- and

 

we all can list some where a person who is so likeable gets roped into a relationship with a person who is so unlikeable.  And often, the way they get roped into the unhealthy relationship is exactly the same way Cathy gets roped into this one- and honestly- it’s not rational- but neither are humans.   There is nothing at all rational about Catherine being drawn to Linton, but when we see how her father raised her- and really how Linton was raised, it makes it not only plausible but very believable.  Cathy is targeted, and once Cathy becomes convinced it is her responsibility to take care of Linton and that without her he can’t survive either emotionally or physically, she’s emotionally trapped in this unhealthy relationship- she is really emotionally blackmailed more than seduced to take care of Linton.  This isn’t love- although Cathy thinks that’s what’s drawing her to him- and even uses those words, and often this emotional co-dependency does masquerades for love in real life- it’s not.  A relationship that is all one-sided like this is NEVER love.  Love MUST be reciprocal.

 

 

Well- let’s see how this plays out- it starts with Edgar who is a doting father.  Remember, Catherine ONE has died- and Edgar is left to raise Cathy TWO by himself- and he throws himself into this task   Edgar loved Cathy ONE (although it’ difficult to understand how) and he truly loves Cathy TWO- we see that clearly in chapter 18 until the end of his life.  Nelly says the first twelve years of Cathy TWO’s life was actually the happiest period of her own life.  However, just like his parents handicaped him by sheltering him, he basically keeps Catherine in an infantile state for the duration of his entire life. Nelly points out that she’s never even left their property one time until she was 13 years old.    Another point to make because her mother died on the day she was born, she’s never allowed to celebrate her birthday because it makes her dad sad.

 

And again, totally controlling the world of a child is something parents do sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of jealously- it’s often well-intentioned just like here- it’s really short-sighted and creates a terrible handicap for the child who eventually will have to face hostility.

 

And this protected world crumbles when Edgar is summoned to London to his sisters deathbed and comes back to the Grange carrying twelve year old Linton Heathcliff.  And here again we see another repetition for just as Mr. Earnshaw took in the orphan child Heathcliff- Edgar is taking in an orphan child Heathcliff- and both will turn out to be called devils by the end of their lives.  However, Heathcliff two just like Cathy two is NOT entirely his father.  And one thing that Bronte makes perpetually clear with a multitude of references is that Linton is a perpetual infant..and that will be the case all the way until the day he dies.  Look at his food even- he must always have sweets and dainties and always milk, milk forever…that’s an obvious reference to being a baby.

 

True- but Catherine TWO is also impeded from growing up- and in many ways she also is trapped for quite a long time in this infantile state.  We almost forget that by the time they get married they are the same age their parents were when they got married,-

 

 Actually the Cathy’s are the exact same age- Cathy ONE gets married at age 17 and Cathy TWO gets married at age 17.

 

but Cathy TWO  acts like a little girl, not a teenager.  She makes a plaything out of Linton, we’re going to see, like he’s her baby doll almost- and its this developmental delay  and naivete that get her in trouble.

 

Another thing to really notice in chapters 21-27 in this strange courtship between Cathy and Linton that ultimately leads to a strange marriage- that I’ve often wondered how that could even be legally binding but, what I want to point out, is that it seems that Heathcliff is always directing the action. 

 

Yes but even more precise than that, Heathcliff’s revenge is directing the action.  This revenge gives Heathcliff a sense of purpose that paradoxically actually provides order and direction to a life that otherwise would have neither.  What is this guy- except an embodiment of revenge for the past?

 

The courtship between Cathy and Linton is truly disturbing.  For one thing, there is the understanding that these two are truly innocent- they don’t see HC’s manipulation.  They keep the relationship secret for a long time- again with meddling Nelly helping them- but it’s all part of this manipulation by a master manipulator- they are totally outmanned and the dramatic irony is that every reader understands this as we watch this painful back and forth.  In fact, even Nelly understands what Heathcliff is up to-which really makes me wonder what to think of her- but he doesn’t try to hide what he’s doing from the moment Linton shows up at WH.  In some ways, he WANTS Edgar to try to challenge him because he really believes he can easily take him down- and he’d like to see Edgar try to stand up to him-  it would be an admission of his equality to Edgar.  Here’s what HC tells Nelly when she says she hopes he would be good to Linton on the day Linton arrives at WH.  He says this, “my son is the prospective owner of your place, and I should not wish him to die till I was certain of being successor.  Besides, he’s mine, and I want to triumph over seeing my descendant fairly lord of their estates; my child hiring their children, to till their father’s lands for wages- that is the sole consideration which can me more endure the whelp”. 

 

Whelp- there again another reference to a dog.  Weren’t we going to talk about dogs today. 

 

Oh yes, Emily Bronte and her dogs.  Bronte, a real dog lover, really goes out of her way to incorporate a lot of dog imagery into the story starting when HC. When he shows up at the Earnshaw place she calls him frightened like a stray pup- and she compares HC to dogs pretty much all the way through.  But comparing HC to dogs is just one way she uses dogs.  Do you remember Gnasher and Wolf, Juno’s puppies that attack Lockwood in the second chapter 2- they are mean dogs with scary names just like WH is a mean and scary place- the dogs kind of create an expectation of what you’re supposed to be seeing in the story.  In chapter 6, Edgar and Isabella fight over a dog , and Skulker, their bulldog  attacks Catherine- and you can kind of interpret this as the Lintons kind of attacking the serenity of HC and Catherine.  Of course, we know HC hangs Fanny, Isabella’s little dog- and then in chapter 19, Cathy’s dogs are attacked by Hareton’s dogs.  So, first of all the dogs kind of act like their owners- mean dogs mean owners, etc…but also the dogs sometimes foreshadow what’s going on the story- Fanny getting hanged, Cathy and hareton’s dogs fights.  And so little Linton Heathcliff just like his father HC is described as a dog. 

 

So, what does it mean- are we supposed to draw any deep life lesson?

 

No, I don’t really think so, it’s not all that deep.  It’s just interesting- and likely an English teacher nerd thing to find interesting- but when you see motifs- and motifs are things that repeat over and over again in a story- it’s often worth just noticing.  And here, we see her helping us understand who each character is by giving them a cooresponding dog, but also, giving us clues as to how things are going to go, by watching what happens with the dogs as kind of foreshadowing of what’s going to happen later on.

 

So, time goes on…two years apparently- after Linton shows up- HC runs into Cathy  who now is 16; Linton is 15 and HC talks her into coming to WH.  Nelly’s with her and again we see the master manipulator at work, “I want her to see Linton.  He’s looking better these few days; it’s not often he’s fit to be seen.  And we’ll soon persuade her to keep the visit secret-…then he says, “My design is as honest as possible.  I’ll inform you of its whole scope.  That the two cousins may fall in love, and get married.  I’m acting generously to your master; his young chit has no expectations, and should she second my wishes, she’ll be provided for, at once, as joint successor with Linton. 

 Linton is bait luring Catherine closer and closer to the Heights ultimately to abduct and incarcerate her. But notice Bronte takes another stab at Britain’s ridiculous property rights violations towards women- that THIS could actually be considered generous because Linton is the natural heir to Cathy’s property is obviously outrageous- but the way things were back in the old days.

 

And of course, here in this first exchange between Cathy and Linton in chapter 21, we see that Linton is going to require that Cathy take all the responsibility in the relationship.  They want to see each other again, but Linton says this when Cathy wants him to come to her house.

 

It’s worth reading- Cathy wants him  to come to her house- since she just came to his to which he says, “It will be too far for me to walk four miles would kill me.  No come here, Miss Catherine, now and then, not every morning but once or twice a weeks.”

 

 It starts small, but this asking her to give more and more is until when Nelly is sick, she actually makes this four mile walk back and forth every single day.    

 

And she just does it.  It’s actually angering to read because while she’s there, he’s mostly mean to her.  Sometimes they have fun together, “drinking warm wine and eating gingerbread.”  They discover old toys with H and C on them that used to belong to their parents, but the relationship overall is not enjoyable for Cathy and readers and made to see this.  She becomes a different person- deceptive, dishonest- something she has never been before in her life and really not her real authentic self.

 

Again, this is a characteristic we see today in a lot of unhealthy relationships- when one party has to become something they are not and are not comfortable being- - and if they have to make moral compromises that they wouldn’t make under any other circumstances- you are seeing dysfunction. Here, she’s being asked to betray her father and she does for a little bit.

 

In their case, the betrayal starts with this incredibly complex letter writing scheme that goes on for quite a long time, until Nelly finds them and burns the letters.  But Linton always wants her to love him better than her father- in fact when it comes to Linton their parents are never out of the picture.  There’s this odd exchange that stands out, “Linton denied that people ever hated their wives; but Catherine affird they did, and in her wisdom, instanced his own father’s aversion to her aunt…pg 231-232…

 

This makes me laugh because Linton actually complains that she physically abused her- which stands out.  But of course, it also leads to the big love declaration in chapter 24- I want to read this and see what you think…

pg 244-245

She claims she’s not happy with him, they’ve only been happy three times-

 

and the emotion she describes is a need to forgive him, but she also doesn’t think he can really survive without her.  She talks of “enduring him” not having resentment.. It’s exactly the kind of unhealthy co-dependence HC was so determined to create.  As far as HC is concerned- everything is going to plan…his plan is for Cathy to be trapped in this relationship with Linton, and grow to resent and hate him..emotions he has for her father. So much Freudian projection!

 

Except there’s more going on than just this, because while all of this master manipulation is going on- there’s another story that Bronte has run parallel to this one through these chapters…in fact it’s easy to overlook, and that is the story of the evolution of Hareton. 

 

Well, another point about human nature to make is that Catherine TWO (as you call her), is NOT Catherine ONE-and although she has a lot of the spunk and strong will of her mother and although she has been coddled by her father- HC has underestimated her. 

 

True- and this does get confusing, but back in chapter 18 while Edgar is away getting Linton, - back when Cathy is 13 and leaves the Grange for the first time, really just to explore the moors, but she ends up at WH.  While there she meets Hareton for the first time.  He’s 18 and she’s 13.  Nelly describes Hareton like this, “he was a well-made, athletic youth, good looking in features, and stout and healthy, but attired in garments befitting his daily occupations of work on the farm, and lounging among the moors after rabbits and game.  Still though I could detect in his physiognomy a mind owning better qualities than his father ever possessed.  Good things lost amid a wilderness of weeds.”  He doesn’t know how to read or write nor does he have any manners thanks to HC trying to turn him into a feral beast.  And at first Cathy is shocked at him and snubs him- which is funny because.. he cusses at her, something no one has ever done before.

 

He also calls her a saucy witch- there’s more scandalous language- but Nelly tells her and she’s outraged to find out he’s her cousin. 

 

True- and HC really counts on his being so crude and repugnant so as not to be attractive to Catherine.  During the courtship between Linton and Cathy- what we see if we look closely is that Hareton is always around.  What we also see is HC complaining to Nelly about how weak Linton is and how despite all he’s done to destroy Hareton- hareton has a lot going on.  He says, this, “Twenty times a day, I covet Hareton, with all his degradation.  I’d have loved the lad had he been some one else.  But I think he’s safe from her love.  I’ll pit him against that paltry creature, unless it bestir itself briskly.  We calculate IT will scarcely last til its 18.  He actually refers to Linton as an it… he goes on to say how he understands what Hareton is going through because HC has treated hinm so poorly but that in spite of all that he’s done, Hareton is a good person- which is quite an admission coming from HC.  He says this, “One is gold put to the use of paving stones; and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver.  Mine has nothing valuable about it; yet I shall have the merit of making it go as far as such poor stuff can go.  His had first rate qualities, and they are lost- rendered worse than unavailing- I have nothing to regret; he would have more than any, but iz am aware of- and the best of it- Hareton is damnably fond of me. 

 

 

Well, he’s crude, he’s uncultured, he can’t read, but what even HC seems to admit is that he has a depth of character. For one thing, he chooses to love HC no matter how he’s treated.  Another thing, he does seem to be really intelligent and self-aware.  One of the more surprising exchanges we see in the whole book is when Hareton seeming out of nowhere comes up to Cathy on one of her many trips to take care of Linton and shows her he’s been teaching himself to read and write. 

 

Yes- let’s read Cathy’s account to Nelly about their exchange and how Nelly felt about it…page 240-241….

 

So, again more Bronte paralells- we see two boys courting a girl- except really she doesn’t even know that’s what’s going on…Cathy, in her childlike state is being manipulated in one sense, but in another sense, she’s following her own moral code and ultimately this sense of morality won’t betray her…and ...she’s going to grow out of her childish weakness and blindness into a passionate strength of generosity and empathy her mother never had.  Even in this state of being manipulated by HC and Linton she is guided by empathy which is something HC doesn’t see, doesn’t understand and will be defeated by.  One time when Nelly sees Cathy crying, she tells Nelly that she’s not crying for herself, but for Linton.  She says this, “He expected to see me again tomorrow, and there he’ll be so disappointed- and he’ll wait for me, and I shan’t come.” This makes her sad.

 

Well, yes and we also see this empathy and true love in the powerful declaration of love she has for her father too.  Nelly says tht her affection for Edgar, even after all the deceit with this relationship with Linton, was still the chief sentiment in her heard.  Cathy’s basic moral posture, even if at times she’s a brat and acts like a child, is other-regarding- as opposed to her mom who is totally self-regarding from beginning to end.  Listen to what she says about her dad, “I love him better than myself, Ellen, and I know it by this: I pray every night that I may live after him, because I would rather be misererable than he should should be-that proves I love him better than myself.”  This is a far different speech than the I am Heathcliff speech her mother gave to Nelly. 

 

Cathy does have this innate willingness to sacrifice herself…and because she has the capacity to put others first…she also has the capacity to meet HC in a place he’s completely unprepared for…and that is what she does when HC locks her up and kidnaps her in chapter 27 and forces her to marry linton.  

 

In chapter 27, Edgar is dying.  Linton calls Cathy away from where she’s been by her dying dad’s bedside to meet up with him.  The weather is horrible.  Cathy’s about done with Linton. She fusses at him and then Linton gives this little speech…page 258….he actually gets on the ground to grovel bowing down in total humiliation…and begs Cathy to go to WH with them. Of course to do this is a total betrayal of her father- something that HC reminds her of, “You cannot deny that you entered my house of your own accord, in contempt of his injunctions to the contrary”.  Edgar is dying and he’s forbidden her to step foot in the place.  But she does anyway….HC says some of the cruelest words I could ever imagine saying to a teenager who’s father is dying…page 265…Garry csn you read HC’s lines where he says that Linton cursed little Cathy on the day she was born. 

 

And this is the part that is so bizarre- Cathy agrees- “I’ll marry him, within this hour, if I may go to TG afterwards.  HC, you are a cruel man, but youre not a fiend, and you won’t, …..

 

This puts HC on the defensive.”Keep your eft’s fingers off and move or I’ll kick you.”  He traps both of them there for five days..they get married, Linton gloats to Cathy that all of her nice things, including her pony Minny is now how…HC actually does end up hitting Cathy when she refuses to give him a picture she found of her mother…

 

but ultimately HC’s dominion has peaked and is on the way down.  Linton helps Cathy escape WH.  She runs all the way home and is with her father when he dies.  One more parallel between her mother- who was also with her father on the day he died.  Edgar’s final words, ironically invoke Catherine ONE…as well.  He hisses Catherine 2 on the cheek and says this, “I am going to her, and you daring child shall come to us.” 

 

Such intensity….all the way to the end.

 

The critics always said you can’t put it down.

 

And yet, although it’s taking us 5 weeks to cover this incredible story- next week, we will do exactly that.  We will finally reach the conclusion of this disturbing story.       

 

 

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