Behind the Story: Wuthering Heights

What’s the big deal about Wuthering Heights? Exploring the back story of Emily Bronte’s classic gothic novel

Not long ago, while sitting in a darkened theater waiting for the movie to begin, I saw the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie and hitting theaters on February 13. 

I remember turning to my friend and whispering, “Oh, it’s Wuthering Heights. . . I’m not sure this movie will be anything like the book.” 

There’s been a lot of backlash about the movie’s casting (especially of Heathcliff) and seems to be an overly sensual and sexualized adaptation of the classic Gothic novel — but we’ll have to wait for the final verdict. Until then, we’re going behind the story to discover more about Emily Bronte’s only novel. 

What’s Wuthering Heights about? 

To be honest, I’ve always enjoyed Charlotte Bronte’s Gothic novel Jane Eyre more than her sister’s classic, Wuthering Heights. While both can be described as Gothic romances, Wuthering Heights always felt a bit dark, dangerous and poetic while Jane Eyre was easier for me to understand and follow. 

Wuthering Heights recounts the doomed love story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, set against the wild, brooding moors of Yorkshire (a somewhat fitting location for the brooding, wild Heathcliff who seems bent on self-destruction). Catherine comes from a higher class than the foundling Heathcliff and ultimately chooses to marry Edward Litton, mostly for his social status. Heathcliff leaves, becomes a wealthy man in his own right and comes back to Yorkshire focused on exacting revenge from all who had wronged him. 

What was the response to Wuthering Heights when it was published? 

For a Victorian Gothic romance, Wuthering Heights is filled with passion and revenge, with a doomed, obsessive, destructive love at its center that doesn’t just destroy Heathcliff and Catherine, but also affects all around them. 

When Emily Bronte published the book in 1847 (under her pseudonym Ellis Bell), Victorian critics didn’t hold back. It was widely regarded as savage, immoral and indecent. Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is an intense, unhealthy addiction that in the end destroys them both, and the depiction of that relationship was too harsh and destructive for its original (and some contemporary) audiences. 

Is the upcoming movie the only film version of Wuthering Heights?

No. Wuthering Heights has been adapted to film more times than you can count. One of the earliest versions, made in 1939 and starring Laurence Olivier, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Emily Bronte’s novel has been adapted for TV, reimagined in different settings and produced for the stage numerous times over the years. 

The new adaptation, though, is rated R for sexual content and violence among other things, and considered “hyper-sexualized” in a way the novel is not. Based on early press about the film and the sexual content, it’s not one we’d recommend watching. If you’re looking for a faithful movie version, try the 1992 version starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. 

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