Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë's only novel, was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell". It was written between October 1845 and June 1846. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850. Although Wuthering Heights is now a classic of English literature, contemporary reviews were deeply polarised; it was controversial because of its unusually stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals regarding religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, although an admirer of the book, referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster  [...] The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there."Wuthering Heights contains elements of gothic fiction, and another significant aspect is the moorland setting. The novel has inspired adaptations, including film, radio and television dramatisations, a musical, a ballet, operas, and a song by Kate Bush.

Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Peter Kosminsky
Production: United Artists
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.7
Rotten Tomatoes:
95%
PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Year:
1939
105
1,805 Views
A Story of Vengeful Thwarted Love.
A Poignant Drama Of Chastised Love ! Reckless Hate that made a fighting fury of a stranger!
I am torn by Desire... tortured by hate!
I am Heathcliff! I love a woman who belongs to another man!... My love was fierce... my hate is burning! I will have vengeance!

Young Cathy:
You're so handsome when you smile...Don't you know that you're handsome? Do you know what I've always told Ellen? That you're a prince in disguise...I said your father was the Emperor of China. Your mother an Indian queen. And it's true Heathcliff. You were kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to England. But I'm glad they did. Because I've always wanted to know somebody of noble birth.

Young Heathcliff:
All the princes I ever read about had castles.

Young Cathy:
Of course, they captured them. You must capture one too. [Cathy points up at Peniston Crag] There's a beautiful castle that lies waiting for your lance, Sir Prince.

Young Heathcliff:
You mean Peniston Crag?

Young Cathy:
Yes.

Young Heathcliff:
Aw, that's just a rock.

Young Cathy:
If you can't see that that's a castle, you'll never be a prince, Heathcliff. Here, take your lance and charge. [She hands him the riding whip] See that black knight waiting at the drawbridge - Challenge him! Now charge... [After a make-believe struggle] Heathcliff! You killed him. You killed him. You killed the black knight.

Young Heathcliff:
He deserved it, for all his wicked deeds.

Young Cathy:
Oh it's a wonderful castle. Heathcliff, let's never leave it.

Young Heathcliff:
Never in our lives. Let all the world confess, that there is not in all the world a more beautiful damsel than the Princess Catherine of Yorkshire.

Young Cathy:
[She curtsies down to serve him] But I - I'm still your slave.

Young Heathcliff:
No Cathy. I now make you my queen. Whatever happens out there, here, you will always be my queen.

Cathy:
[on her deathbed] Heathcliff. Come here.

Heathcliff:
Cathy...

Cathy:
I was dreaming that I wake up before I die, that you might come and scowl at me once more.

Heathcliff:
Cathy...

Cathy:
Oh, Heathcliff. Oh how strong you look. How many years do you mean to live after I'm gone? [They passionately hug and kiss each other, finally revealing their truest emotions to each other] Don't, don't let me go. If I could only hold you until we were both dead. Will you forget me when I'm in the earth?

Heathcliff:
I could as soon forget you with my own life, Cathy, if you die.

Cathy:
Boy, Heathcliff. Come. Let me feel how strong you are.

Heathcliff:
Strong enough to bring us both back to life, Cathy, if you want to live.

Cathy:
No, Heathcliff, I want to die.

Heathcliff:
Oh Cathy, why did you kill yourself?

Cathy:
Hold me. Just hold me.

Heathcliff:
Oh, and love comfort you. My tears don't love you, Cathy. They blight and curse and damn you!

Cathy:
Heathcliff, don't break my heart.

Heathcliff:
Oh Cathy, I never broke your heart. You broke it! Cathy! Cathy! You loved me! What right to throw love away for the poor fancy thing you felt for him, for a handful of worthiness. Misery and death and all the evils that God and man could have ever done would never have parted us. You'd be better alone. You wandered off like a wanton, greedy child to break your heart and mine.

Cathy:
Heathcliff, forgive me. We've so little time.

Heathcliff:
I won't go, Cathy. I'm here. I'll never leave you again.

Cathy:
I told you, Ellen. When you went away that night in the rain, I told you I belonged to him, that he was my life, my being.

Ellen:
Don't listen to her ravings.

Cathy:
It's true. It's true. I'm yours, Heathcliff. I've never been anyone else's.

Ellen:
She doesn't know what she's saying. You can still get out. Go before they get here.

Cathy:
Take me to the window. Let me look at the moors with you once more. My darling, once more. [Heathcliff carries her in his arms to the window] Heathcliff, can you see the Crag over there where our castle is? I'll wait for you 'til you come.


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