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A review by aegagrus
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
3.75
Perhaps surprisingly, I will firstly and foremostly remember Wuthering Heights as a very funny book. Most of its content is delivered in a frame narration, as servant Nelly Dean recounts the history of two local families to Mr. Lockwood, a newcomer. Nelly's narrative voice is constructed extremely skillfully and somewhat cheekily. Her subtle editorializing and sly asides were a consistent highlight, making understated hilarity of human nature, class, and religious attitudes.
The story itself is a tale of manipulation -- most famously Heathcliff's vengeful machinations, but not exclusively. Emily Bronte explores the tragic perversity bred by manipulative relationships, and the heartbreaking alienation in which such relationships often conclude. Throughout all of this, her treatment of child and adolescent characters is particularly notable. Her young characters are not passive objects of manipulation by their elders. They are indeed manipulated in particular ways, and Bronte is deeply sympathetic about this. They are also players with unique agency, and very often the instigating forces moving the story along, for good or for ill.
Wuthering Heights is deservedly a classic. Bronte's highly evocative descriptions of the Yorkshire moors lend a significant gravitas to the work, as do her unflinching depictions of the emotional nadirs in her tragic saga.
Bronte's use of illness (chronic and otherwise) as a strong narrative propellant may feel too neat to the modern reader. It is worth noting that the relationship between physical health and moral/emotional health would have been thought of differently by the Victorian reader (which is perhaps why it is never quite clear whether illness is a cause or an effect). The novel's ending may also come across as an unnecessary concession which detracts from its otherwise unflinching character. This may be so, but if Bronte's ending is a concession to anything, it is in all likelihood nothing more than a concession to the literary environment of her time.
The story itself is a tale of manipulation -- most famously Heathcliff's vengeful machinations, but not exclusively. Emily Bronte explores the tragic perversity bred by manipulative relationships, and the heartbreaking alienation in which such relationships often conclude. Throughout all of this, her treatment of child and adolescent characters is particularly notable. Her young characters are not passive objects of manipulation by their elders. They are indeed manipulated in particular ways, and Bronte is deeply sympathetic about this. They are also players with unique agency, and very often the instigating forces moving the story along, for good or for ill.
Wuthering Heights is deservedly a classic. Bronte's highly evocative descriptions of the Yorkshire moors lend a significant gravitas to the work, as do her unflinching depictions of the emotional nadirs in her tragic saga.
Bronte's use of illness (chronic and otherwise) as a strong narrative propellant may feel too neat to the modern reader. It is worth noting that the relationship between physical health and moral/emotional health would have been thought of differently by the Victorian reader (which is perhaps why it is never quite clear whether illness is a cause or an effect). The novel's ending may also come across as an unnecessary concession which detracts from its otherwise unflinching character. This may be so, but if Bronte's ending is a concession to anything, it is in all likelihood nothing more than a concession to the literary environment of her time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse