Wuthering Hearts

The book that really got me to thinking about being an author was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I loved the poetry of the words and the plot, the tight timeline and characters.

I know what some of you are thinking. Characters? Aren't Heathcliffe and Catherine and the rest merely caricatures? Isn't the plot unrealistic? What about the legality of what Heathcliffe does to Hareton? It couldn't really happen, right?

Well, I  hear you, I hear you. I've been told these things to my face and had to face disgusted expressions on some people's faces when I tell them I've read the book over thirty times.

But I have come up with what I think is the real reason for the book. I know that when you take this novel in school, you read the notes that tell you that the book is about the nature of love. Hah!

I heartily disagree with this and think the book was written as a warning.

I think Emily Bronte, as a pastor's daughter, more than likely heard all sorts of domestic problems, like wife-beating and such. Stories about weak husbands and strong-minded women she probably heard before breakfast.

I think she looked at all these problems and came up with the reasons for them. Wuthering Heights, in my opinion, is a warning. She's educating people. Why do women marry abusive men? Emily Bronte thinks women are looking for 'heroes of romance' and suggest if they were more realistic about me they could avoid that fate.

Am I right? Well, I think so.

She also warns that nothing can divide a person from their happiness, it's you and you alone who make decisions to leave happiness. This is what Heathcliffe says to Catherine when she's dying. That she decided to leave, not Hell or anything else.

And how is the happiness resolved, when two parties are bending to please and be pleased, like when Hareton and Cathy go from enemies to friends. They have the same goals. Catherine and Heathcliffe were selfish and only looking after themselves.

Why does any of this matter? Well, I think it's still good to learn and realize these things today. There are still women who marry abusers, thinking they will changes and become princes. And there are still selfish people who destroy their own happiness.

So, when next you read Wuthering Heights, at least consider what I say and see if you can learn and take to heart any of the warnings and lessons in it.