Wuthering Heights

(One of the most romantic books-movies)

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell." It was her first and only published novel: she died aged 30 the following year. The decision to publish came after the success of her 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.

Wuthering Heights is the eponymous farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors where the story unfolds. Its core theme is the enduring love between the heroine, Catherine Earnshaw, and her father's adopted son, Heathcliff and how it eventually destroys their lives and the lives of those around them.

Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was so unusually stark. In the second half of the 19th century, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works, but later critics argued that Wuthering Heights was superior. Wuthering Heights has inspired adaptations, including film, radio and television dramatisations, a musical by Bernard J. Taylor, a ballet, operas (by Bernard Herrmann, Carlisle Floyd, and Frédéric Chaslin), a role-playing game, and the 1978 chart-topping song by Kate Bush

Characters

• Heathcliff: Found, presumably orphaned on the streets of Liverpool and taken to Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw and reluctantly cared for by the family. He and Catherine grew close. Their love is the central theme of the first volume. His revenge against the man she chose to marry and its consequences are the central theme of the second volume. Heathcliff has been considered as a Byronic hero, but critics have pointed out that he re-invents himself at various points, making his character hard to fit into any single "type." Because of his ambiguous position in society and his lack of status—underlined by the fact that "Heathcliff" serves as his given name; he has no surname—his character has been a favourite subject of Marxist criticism.
• Catherine Earnshaw: First introduced to the reader after her death, through Lockwood's discovery of her diary and carvings. The description of her life is confined almost entirely to the first volume. She seems unsure whether she is—or wants to become—more like Heathcliff, or more like Edgar. It is as if she wants both, even perhaps cannot be fully herself without both, and yet society or human nature makes that impossible. Forced to choose between them is like being forced to choose between nature and culture. Some critics have argued that her decision to marry Edgar Linton is allegorically a rejection of nature and a surrender to culture—a choice with fateful consequences for all the other characters. Literary critics have examined her character through many different lenses, including those of psychoanalytic theory and feminist theory.
• Edgar Linton: Introduced as a child in the Linton family, he resides at Thrushcross Grange. Edgar's style and manners are in sharp contrast to Heathcliff's, who instantly dislikes him, and Catherine, who is drawn to him. Catherine marries him instead of Heathcliff because of his higher social status, with disastrous results. From the perspective of feminist theory, this exemplifies the problems inherent in a social structure in which women can gain prestige and financial security only through marriage.
• Nelly Dean: The main narrator of the novel, Nelly is a servant for all three generations of the Earnshaw and Linton families. In a sense, she straddles the "culture versus nature" divide. She is humbly born and has lived and worked amid the rough manners of Wuthering Heights, but is an educated woman who has experienced the more genteel manners of Thrushcross Grange. She is referred to as Ellen—her given name—to show respect, and as Nelly among those close to her. Nelly comes across as an unbiased narrator. Critics have discussed how far her actions (as an apparent bystander) affect the other characters.
• Isabella Linton: Introduced as part of the Linton family, Isabella is only shown in relation to other characters. She views Heathcliff as a romantic hero, despite Catherine warning her against such a view, and becomes an unwitting participant in his plot for revenge against Edgar. Heathcliff marries her, but treats her abusively. Pregnant, she escapes to London and gives birth to a son, Linton. Because she, unlike Catherine, suffered such abuse from her husband and ultimately escaped from it, many critics—particularly feminist-theory critics—consider Isabella the true (conventional ) "tragic-romantic" heroine of Wuthering Heights.
• Hindley Earnshaw: Catherine's brother, married Frances. After Frances' death Hindley is caught in a downward spiral of destructive behaviour, and ruins the Earnshaw family by drinking and gambling to excess.
• Hareton Earnshaw: The son of Hindley and Frances, at first raised by Nelly, but soon by Heathcliff. Nelly works to instill a sense of pride in the Earnshaw heritage (even though Hareton will not inherit Earnshaw property, because Mr Earnshaw mortgaged it to Heathcliff. Heathcliff, in contrast, taught him vulgarities as a way of avenging himself on his father, Hindley. Hareton speaks with an accent similar to Joseph's, and works as a servant at Wuthering Heights, unaware of his true rights. His appearance reminds Heathcliff of Catherine.
• Cathy Linton: The daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton is a spirited girl unaware of her parents' history. Edgar is very protective of her and as a result she is constantly wanting to discover what lies beyond the confines of the Grange.
• Linton Heathcliff: The son of Heathcliff and Isabella is a weak child. His character resembles Heathcliff's, but without its only redeeming feature, the capacity to love. He marries Cathy Linton because his father directs him to do so. His early years are spent with his mother in the south of England. He learns of his father's identity and existence only after his mother dies, as he enters his teens.
• Joseph: A servant at Wuthering Heights who is a devout Christian. He speaks with a very thick Yorkshire accent.
• Lockwood: The first narrator, he rents Thrushcross Grange to escape society, but in the end decides that socety is preferable to a sitution in which one might ending up being like Heathcliff. He narrates the book until Chapter 4, when the main narrator, Nelly, picks up the tale.
• Frances: A generally amiable character and is Hindley's wife and gives birth to Hareton Earnshaw.
• Kenneth: A doctor in the nearby village of Gimmertons.
• Zillah: A servant to Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights during the period following Catherine's death.

Adaptations

The earliest known film adaptation of Wuthering Heights was filmed in England and directed by A. V. Bramble. It is unknown if any prints still exist.The most famous was 1939's Wuthering Heights, starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon and directed by William Wyler. This adaptation, like many others, eliminated the second generation's story (young Cathy, Linton and Hareton). It won the 1939 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film and was nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The 1970 film with Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff is the first colour version of the novel, and gained acceptance over the years though it was initially poorly received. The character of Hindley is portrayed much more sympathetically, and his story-arc is altered. It also subtly suggests that Heathcliff may be Cathy's illegitimate half-brother.

The 1992 film Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche is notable for including the oft-omitted second generation story of the children of Cathy, Hindley and Heathcliff.

Recent film or TV adaptations include ITV's 2009 two part drama series starring Tom Hardy, Charlotte Riley, Sarah Lancashire, and Andrew Lincoln and the 2011 film starringKaya Scodelario and James Howson directed by Andrea Arnold.

Adaptations which reset the story in a new setting include the 1954 adaptation retitled Abismos de Pasion directed by Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel set in Catholic Mexico, with Heathcliff and Cathy renamed Alejandro and Catalina. In Buñuel's version Heathcliff/Alejandro claims to have become rich by making a deal with Satan. The New York Timesreviewed a re-release of this film as "an almost magical example of how an artist of genius can take someone else's classic work and shape it to fit his own temperament without really violating it," noting that the film was thoroughly Spanish and Catholic in its tone while still highly faithful to Brontë. Also with a transposed setting is Yoshishige Yoshida's 1988 adaptation which set the story in Tokugawa period Japan. In this film, the Heathcliff character, Onimaru, is raised in a nearby community of priests who worship a local Fire God. In 2003, MTV produced a poorly reviewed version set in modern California high school.

The novel has been popular in opera and theatre, including operas written by Bernard Herrmann, Carlisle Floyd and Frédéric Chaslin (most of which like many films cover only the first half of the book) and a musical by Bernard J. Taylor. The libretto of Herrmann's opera (written by his wife) incorporates material from poems by Emily Brontë, and his score has a few musical motifs that appeared in both prior and subsequent film scores by Herrmann.

In autumn of 2008, Mark Ryan launched a dramatic musical adaptation of the novel, narrated by Ray Winstone. He composed, sang and produced the tracks with Robb Vallier who also worked on Spamalot. He also directed the video for the song "Women" filmed especially for the website and featuring Jennifer Korbee, Jessica Keenan Wynn and Katie Boeck.

A graphic novel (long, mature style, comic book) version came out in 2011 from the publisher Classical Comics,a publisher much praised by teachers and librarians for their high quality versions of classic novels. The graphic novel is 150 page and stays close to the original novel. It was adapted by Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson, and hand painted by comic book veteran artist John M Burns. This version received a nomination for the Stan Lee Excelsior Awards, 2012 voted for by pupils from 170 schools across the UK.