Discussion of Wuthering Heights

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How do you rate "Wuthering Heights"?

1 star - poor
7
12%
2 stars - okay, fair
5
8%
3 stars - good, likable
17
29%
4 stars - excellent, amazing
30
51%
 
Total votes: 59

anu_
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Re: Discussion of Wuthering Heights

Post by anu_ »

I was supposed to read Wuthering Heights as a part of my Masters degree. But, when I found that Emily Bronte had written under a pseudonym to protect her identity and save herself to be branded as an unwomanly writer, I was put off. I did not want to read an author, who could not owe upto her own work. However, last year, I read her novel and was left mesmerized. I simply loved the first few pages, wherein she created a suspense around the Wuthering Heights as a haunted place, and introduced Catherine and Heathcliff in a secretive manner, when Mr. Lockwood experiences a chilling encounter with them on a dreaded night.

Though, as the novel progressed, it was clear that the real ghost of the story resides in the minds of its protagonists. With Catherine's obsession and Heathcliff's frustration, the story does become slightly dark and I found it a bit depressing. But, still Heathcliff managed to garner my sympathies, particularly during his childhood, as an orphan, who knows he is a burden on the family, but has to find his place in it. In my view, his haughtiness is a product of years of inferiority complex drilled into his mind by the neglect of Mrs. Earnshaw and her son. However, his soft side was all too evident when he broke down at Catherine's grave. Probably, unrequited love makes people strange, and for Heathcliff, his life was nothing but a steady stream of broken relationships.

Heathcliff, being the illegitimate son of Mr Earnshaw, does seem an interesting possibility for Mrs. Earnshaw's cold attitude towards a small, innocent boy. Though, I believe, that Mrs. Earnshaw hated him, as she viewed him as a possible future rival for her son.
utopiadream
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Post by utopiadream »

I came across Emily Brunte's work Wuthering Heights in my MBA Literature curriculum and I must say I enjoyed it, one of the best female writers that I've read..
apeman
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Post by apeman »

Along with Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights is my favourite Victorian novel. Agreed the love is spiritual rather than physical and Heathcliff is a creature of darkness who is far from realistic. This 'novel' belongs in Northrop Frye's category of Romance, where the characters tend to inhabit a poetic-mystical world rather than the traditional domestic world of the novel proper. I think it was David Cecil who called Heathcliff 'a demon lover demon over the border (He didn't mean Scotland!). My favourite line is Heathcliff's dismissal of the bourgeois Linton: 'Edgar Linton, I'm mortally sorry you're not worth knocking down.'
Francine
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Post by Francine »

Hello
Thanks for provide me information about Wuthering Heights because this will help me.
Regards
Francine
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mouseofcards89
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Post by mouseofcards89 »

Bronte was a bright, captivating woman whose portrait of Heathcliff caused me to feel as though I were staring into a dark mirror. She is one of the few writers with whom I have ever wanted to speak. I get the impression that she was a pensive, sensitive soul who was trapped in a chrysalis and grew to like it. Heathcliff was a foundation for her. She has been dead for 170 years, but I know her better than I do most of my contemporaries. This is a hallmark of great literature.
"The world is a vampire/sent to drain/secret destroyers hold you up to the flames/And what do I get for my pains?/Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game."
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Morpheus
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Post by Morpheus »

This is a great book. It's a classic of English literature.
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theboss
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Post by theboss »

I really enjoyed the information shared here. This is my first time reading Wuthering Heights and it's an interesting book so far and I am enjoying it. It has a very complex plot with all the family connections and that is why I like it.
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heatherprzybyla
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Post by heatherprzybyla »

I love Wuthering Heights. I read it in high school, but am wanting to read it again now that I'm out and in a completely different point of my life.
scriptbunny
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Post by scriptbunny »

heatherprzybyla wrote:I love Wuthering Heights. I read it in high school, but am wanting to read it again now that I'm out and in a completely different point of my life.
Having too read Wuthering Heights in high school, I hesitate to pick up the book again. I remember it to be too angsty affair for me to really appreciate now in adulthood. I think that was my major qualm with the Bronte sisters generally. They focused so acutely on romance but rather than contextualize it and make light fun of it like Austen, they brought a discourse of tragedy -- downright histrionic -- into the mix.
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npandit
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Post by npandit »

What I found interesting in this story was the element of people descending into insanity over infatuated love. Across cultures, you can almost always find a story about two lovers, who grew up together as children, fell passionately in love, but couldn't marry because of societal constraints--whether impressed upon them by friends and relatives, or whether of their own volition. And in these stories, either the two people die in the end, or they become insane. What's strange is our human obsession over this story, repeated again and again throughout generations, and across continents--when in reality, what happens after adolescent flings is that people simply move on with their lives. I remember reading it in high school, and thinking it was a dark, grisly story about passion gone wrong; but like other people have expressed, I wonder what my take on it would be if I read it today as an adult.
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Bookworm4ever
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Post by Bookworm4ever »

At first i didn't understand the plot at all and then I watched the film and that helped a lot. After watching the film I continued with Wuthering Heights and found that I really enjoyed it !
tracy19
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Post by tracy19 »

Definitely a classic, and enjoyable read.
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randomcheerio
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Post by randomcheerio »

This thread is awesome! Heathcliff's relationship to Cathy's family has always puzzled me but it doesn't stop me from loving this gothic classic along with its tv adaptation starring Tom Hardy.
David Dawson
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Post by David Dawson »

anu_ wrote:when I found that Emily Bronte had written under a pseudonym to protect her identity and save herself to be branded as an unwomanly writer, I was put off. I did not want to read an author, who could not owe upto her own work.
Surely the blame for that lies with the society she lived in rather than with her?
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Sveta
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Post by Sveta »

I loved reading it, although I felt that writing could have been improved.
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