A Masterpiece of English Literature and Romantic Obsession

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a bold and unique heartbreaking tale of love, loss and the destructive effect of jealousy and vengefulness. This wild, passionate story of the love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father is admired by some for its stark originality while it is also condemned by others for its brutal affront to the senses.

The novel is about two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw become lovers and are inseparable but her brother Hindley hates his adopted brother because Heathcliff has replaced him in his father’s affection. After Mr. Earnshaw's death, Hindley does what he can to destroy Heathcliff.

Meanwhile, his sister and Heathcliff are oblivious of anything or anyone — until they encounter the Linton’s who welcome Catherine into their home but shun Heathcliff. Treated as an outsider, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and is gone for three years. In the meantime, Catherine’s desire for social status results in her marriage to Heathcliff’s wealthy rival Edgar Linton. When Heathcliff returns as a wealthy and polished man, he is consumed by revenge and begins to exact a terrible revenge for his former mistress.

The story is chaotic and violent, but the evocative descriptions of the lonely moorland setting, themes of gender inequality and religious hypocrisy along with the violent extremes of romantic obsession that still resonate with readers today, make this unique novel a masterpiece of English literature.