Destructive Love in Wuthering Heights: Analytical Essay

Written by sisters Anne and Emily Bronte, “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” and “Wuthering Heights” are Victorian Gothic novels which centralise around an obsessive or otherwise destructive relationship. Coined the “three weird sisters” by poet Ted Hughes, an intentional summoning of Macbeth’s blasted heath to Haworth parsonage, Emily, Anne, and sister Charlotte (Jane Eyre) are arguably the most iconic literary family of this century. However, this nickname was not amiss, the Bronte’s writing, though evidently timeless and powerful, is strange, disjointed – overly passionate and exuberant to the point of – dare I say melodrama? Both novels were published in 1848, ‘Wuthering Heights’ Emily’s first and only novel, and ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ Anne’s second, following ‘Agnes Grey’ – reviewed as “a pale imitation of Jane Eyre”. At the time of release, ‘Tenant’ sold well, while ‘Wuthering Heights’ was not well received. “The incidents are too coarse and disagreeable to be attractive,” complained reviews from the time, and Lady’s Graham’s Magazine pondered “How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery,” Why was this? Perhaps it was Anne’s more measured approach to love. An arguably more “simplistic” story, ‘Tenant’ rewards the good and punishes the evil.

The novel’s morally upstanding characters are ultimately rewarded in love: Lord Lowborough – the good-hearted husband of Annabella Wilmot, freed from her infidelity, finds happiness with a plain but worthy woman; Millicent Hargrave’s husband, Ralph Hattersley, decides to leave behind the irresponsible and irreverent companions of his youth and devote himself to Millicent and their children; and Esther Hargrave overcomes parental pressure to marry Mr. Oldfield and is rewarded with the love of Frederick Lawrence. Helen, as the novel’s pious and upstanding protagonist, is rewarded with not only the love of Gilbert Markham but a sizeable fortune from her departed uncle and a second chance both at conjugal love and the chance to raise her son, little Arthur. Similarly, the novel’s morally corrupt characters are punished. Eliza marries a tradesman and grows petty and malicious, Lady Lowborough is abandoned by her lover, Grimbsy dies in a drunken brawl, and Arthur Huntingdon dies the victim of his own vices. Thus ‘Tenant’ errs more on the side of a cautionary tale to the young and inexperienced than an epic tale of romance. From Helen’s first interactions with a young Mr Huntingdon, the sage voice of Helen’s Aunt, Mrs Maxwell, warns Helen “first study; then approve; then love” immediately alerting us of her wise and well-meaning intentions in advising Helen take care and be rational when choosing a suitor. She further states “‘Let you eyes be blind to all external distractions, your ears deaf to all the fascinations of flattery and light discourse – These are nothing – and worse than nothing – snares and wiles of the tempter, to lure the thoughtless to their own destruction.’” This advice acts not only to warn Helen, but as a foreshadowing of the later events of the novel, in which Helen is trapped in the “snares” of her shallow and thoughtless marriage to Arthur, thus leading to her own destruction as foreshadowed. Mrs Maxwell’s advice is headed yet mislaid by the young and naive Helen, who falls into a shallow love with the charming yet manipulative Mr Huntingdon, cooing “I cannot believe that there is any harm in those laughing blue eyes.” Though Helen is generally a strong and rational character, her initial naivety can be seen in these words. She swoons over Arthur’s handsome appearance in a young woman’s superficial attraction. Yet unbeknown to her, Helen will learn the wisdom of her Aunt’s warning as her love for Arthur turns to hate and resentment. Arthur and Helen’s love is shallow and fickle.

The two characters appear to share little but a fleeting, superficial attraction and they turn to later not only grow apart but to despise each other. It seems Anne Bronte is here trying to make a statement on the importance of seeking true love as opposed to the shallow lures of appearance, money, societal status, and charisma. Contrastingly, though destructive in its own way, the love between Heathcliff and Cathy in “Wuthering Heights” is seen as an otherworldly, almost spiritual connection. Every other love in the novel is weak and childish compared to theirs. Heathcliff comments on Cathy and Edgar Linton’s relationship, stating “if he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years, as I could in a day” – trivialising their mortal love and emphasising the bounds of his and Cathy’s obsession. Heathcliff and Cathy’s love extends beyond their mortal selves, appearing to transcend the human condition – they are soul mates, each irresistibly drawn to the other. Heathcliff repeatedly calls Catherine his soul – “I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!’”, contributing to this archetype archetype of all-consuming love.

The famous words of Cathy state “he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This juxtaposing statement that Heathcliff is “more myself than I am,” shows how the relation between Catherine and Heathcliff is not a dynamic of harmony and compatibility but of complete unity. They do not love each other – they are each other, backed up in Cathy’s confession “Nelly, I am Heathcliff”. This goes against the common depiction of Heterosexual love being described in terms of complementary opposites e.g night and day, ice and fire – and instead depicts them as one. This type of passion-love is “insatiable, unfulfillable, and unrelenting in its demands upon both lovers” hence the eventual cause of their demise. While it is arguable that ‘Tenant’ shows a more defined conflict between good and evil compared to ‘Wuthering Heights’’s wild ambiguity, it is clear that both novels’ central male character contains elements of Emily and Anne’s brother, and the fourth of six Bronte children, Branwell Bronte. Patrick Branwell Bronte taught the children of Thorpe Green Hall until his disgrace after the discovery of an illicit affair with the married Lydia Robinson. He was sent home to Haworth where he fell into a deep depression dying of tuberculosis, alcoholism, and opium addiction in 1848 – coinciding with the year of release of both ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Tenant’. It is easy to draw a line between Mr Huntington, Heathcliff, and even Rochester of Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’. All three male leads are abusive and destructive, and many references to alcohol abuse can be found in both texts, particularly ‘Tenant’, with both Arthur and his companion Grimsby both dying of alcohol addiction.

Both Emily and Anne were undoubtedly feminist in their views and the way they felt about their writing, but for the most part – excluding her admittedly strong female characters – Emily kept her feminism off the page in her depiction of villainous male characters. While Branwell, a – handsome, charming alcoholic – clearly provided inspiration for both Arthur Huntingdon and Heathcliff, the ways in which they interpreted Branwell’s behaviour – and thus depicted their male villain – is where they differ. While Emily focused upon brutal male characters whose main appeal tended to be their potential for redemption, Anne, was far more explicit about her feminism, offering no redemption for the men who wrong-do her virtuous Helen. As the sister who spent the most time nursing Branwell, Anne either refused or was unable to romanticise the demise of her brother and her depiction of Arthur Huntingdon’s death drew heavily on that of Branwell – still standing out today as an unflinching depiction of alcoholism. Arthur Huntingdon’s behaviour throughout the novel is continually manipulative, abusive, and destructive to those around him and ultimately to himself. Relating back to the clear “good” and “evil” in this novel, Arthur is the villain who ultimately meets his match and arguably the most important character in the novel as he ‘decrees the rest if the characters and events’.

Throughout the novel we we see his progression from audacious socialite to terminal patient, though it is arguable that, though his charm may initially redeem him of such offences, from the start we are shown his controlling and manipulative ways. In literary terms, Arthur Huntingdon can be described as a “rake” – short for “rakehell” meaning “Hellraiser”. A rake is defined as “A usually well-to-do man who is dissolute or promiscuous”, generally characterised by immoral conduct, particularly womanising., and prone to gambling, drinking, and excessive behaviour. From the start his treatment of the infatuated Helen is unthinkingly cruel, Arthur gains Helen’s affections by taunting her with his constant flirtation with other women – particularly Annabella Wilmot whom he forms an illicit affair with later in the novel. Helen observes how they “talked and laughed, and glanced across the table, to the neglect and evident umbrage go their respective neighbours”, this is not only a foreshadowing of their later infidelity, but demonstrates his manipulative ways – clearly toying with Helen’s infatuation but when accused protests “‘Annabella Wilmot, in comparison with you, is like a flaunting peony compared with a sweet, wild rosebud gemmed with dew – and I love you to distraction!’”, aloofly laughing at her upset and blanketing his actions with rather patronising flattery. Though it is arguable that Arthur does marry Helen for love, it is her unfailing infatuation which he takes advantage of, behaving cruelly and with consistent blatant selfishness.

Arthur’s vanity and self-indulgence are always the motivation for his actions. His selfishness is clearly demonstrated come the arrival of their son, Little Arthur. He bemoans Helen that the “little devil” is consuming so much of it’s mother’s love and attention that there is none left for him. Initially he is incapable of loving his son, seemingly unable to fathom the notion that a person may give love in complete unselfishness, wishing for nothing in return. He whines “‘I cant love it! – what is there to love? It can’t love me – or you either; it can’t understand a single word you say to it, or feel one spark of gratitude for all your kindness. Wait till it can show some little affection for me, and then I’ll see about loving it.’” Particularly the last line emphasises his utter self-indulgence – he refuses to love his son until he knows that his efforts will be rewarded with something in return. He appears to find great delight in recounting to Helen his sexual conquests with other women, “always turning upon the ruin of some confiding girl or the cozening of some unsuspecting husband” and finds greater delight still, when Helen is visibly indignated “lays it all to the charge of jealousy and laughs till the tears run down his cheeks” – showing the almost sadistic joy in her pain. Arthur Huntingdon shows links to Branwell Bronte not only in his infidelity, but in their shared “vice” – alcohol. Like Branwell, Arthur was “the author of his own downfall.” Despite Helen’s many attempts to rescue him, Arthur ultimately drinks himself to death. It is another event of the novel which the wise Mrs Maxwell foretells in describing a young Mr Huntingdon as “‘destitute of principle, and prone of every vice that is common to youth.’” “Arthur Huntingdon was easily as effective, as a Gothic antagonist, virile in a distorted way, as is Heathcliff, but in an entirely different way.” Though his actions are inarguably destructive to himself and those around them, Heathcliff differs from Arthur Huntingdon in that he is ultimately redeemed. In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Cathy are never united, but their children fall in love: Heathcliff’s behaviour is almost justified, as it has brought Linton and Cathy mark II together. Emily is offering her fictional reflection of Branwell a form of redemption that in reality he failed to achieve.

Heathcliff is a paradigm of the byronic hero. This commonplace literary trope was developed by Lord Byron in response to his boredom with traditional and Romantic heroic literary characters, allegedly aiming to introduce an archetype which was more psychologically realistic while remaining appealing to readers. The characteristics of the Byronic hero are generally a dark and brooding male hero who is intelligent, cunning, and seductive, yet violent, emotionally tortured, and self-destructive. Heathcliff is something of a tortured soul, driven to destruction by his love for Cathy – which throughout the novel balances precariously between passion and obsession – and his desire for revenge. We initially sympathise with Heathcliff, seeing Hindley mistreating him for his father’s preference of Heathcliff over his own son, and Heathcliff and Cathy’s undying love can be seen from the start and even as children we see their love overpower earthly forces as punishment becomes “ a mere thing to laugh at.” Bronte describes how “The curate might set as many chapters for Catherine to get by heart, and Joseph might thrust Heathcliff till his arm ached; they forgot everything the moment they were together again, at least the minute they had contrived some naughty plan of revenge; and many a time I’ve cried to myself to watch them become more reckless daily,” showing how even as children their reckless and self-destructive nature is recognisable. However, both Cathy and Heathcliff torture themselves and one another by choosing human love over Godly love.

Cathy’s marriage to Edgar Linton is a turning point for Heathcliff. He leaves Wuthering Heights, deserting his love, and seeking vengence, determined to return successful and powerful and a suitable match for the now ladylike Cathy. Wuthering Heights is less the story of wild romantic love as much as a tale of abuse, madness and unfettered rage. Heathcliff returns to the now married Edgar and Cathy, having come into a vast and mysterious wealth and deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley with the intention of gaining ownership of Wuthering heights. He marries Isabella Lindon with the sole intention of inheriting Thrushcross Grange. Isabella’s characteristics and experiences mirror that go Helen Huntingdon. Isabella truly loves Heathcliff but is a powerless victim to his cruelty and abuse. Like Helen, her infatuation only harms her. In a letter to Wuthering Heights she reports “He told me if Catherine’s illness, and accused my brother of causing it; promising that I should be Edgar’s proxy of suffering till he could get a hold of him” – a demonstration of the cruelty induced in Heathcliff by his love for Cathy and jealousy of Edgar Linton and the destructive effect it has on those around him. Like Helen, Isabella regrets her love for such a violent man, prompting her to ponder “Is Mr Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil?” This relates to the struggle many readers face while reading Wuthering Heights in identifying their attitude towards Heathcliff. Love makes him cruel, violent, and vengeful, a villain we should hate – but somehow don’t. Catherine repeatedly calls him a beast, Ellen thinks him evil, but why don’t we dislike him? Is it because we feel sympathy for his difficult upbringing? Is it because his mad passions are driven by love? Cathy herself admits ‘He’s not a rough diamond…he’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man.” Heathcliff’s love and quest for revenge is eventually the cause of his demise. Heathcliff proclaims “Two words would comprehend my future – death and hell – existence, after losing her would be hell,” and when Cathy dies, giving birth to their daughter Cathy, he begs her spirit to remain on Earth, willing her to haunt and torment him, just so long as she does not leave him. The imagery of ghosts here is relevant to the themes of love and obsession, with Cathy’s ghost lingering in heath cliffs memory, galvanising memories of the past and of love’s haunting obsession. The ghost of Cathy actively, vengefully pursues Heathcliff until death where they will haunt the moors together like lost souls, their love transcending their mortal states.