I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall recently after our Brontë poll, and it is a wonderful, twisted book.
But it's annoying in that it has an actual happy ending!
I know Anne was the kind of sensible killjoy-of-Gothic of the bunch, but that irks.
― Suggest Autobahn (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 07:51 (eight years ago) link
Well it has a happy ending because the abusive shithead dies. I think that's ok.
― abcfsk, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 09:43 (eight years ago) link
Does he die because syphilis or just general alcoholism?
I think I may be mixing it up in my head with the movie of The Libertine.
Oh yeah, BTW, SPOILERS.
― Suggest Autobahn (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 11:46 (eight years ago) link
Stopped (after Catherine's death) for about 2-3 months, burning through last third now.
All these characters are masochists. Very kinky.
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 December 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
this is a great book. it should be given to every young person who believes it is a smart or mature idea to hold onto their dreams. they could then decide whether the perverse integrity of heathcliff is really what they want for themselves.
― treeship 2, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:03 (six years ago) link
to be a psychopath or not to be a psychopath
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:30 (six years ago) link
you gotta pick
― treeship 2, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:30 (six years ago) link
you can be a dickor you can be a total dick
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:31 (six years ago) link
i mean, i think part of the idea of the character is that he instantiates the most dangerous element of Romanticism, that is, he abhors compromise. like other writers of her generation bronte was, i guess, attracted to this idea, but she was astute enough to see that it was also completely incompatible with any sort of decency or morality. in then end heathcliff is not a hero or even an antihero: he is a monster.
― treeship 2, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:39 (six years ago) link
i don't really buy the critique that the book excuses or rationalizes heathcliff's behavior. the all consuming, self-destructive love he and cathy have for each other is definitely rendered in all its power, but once cathy dies heathcliff's lingering obsession leads him to become a cruel, sordid, and ugly character.
― treeship 2, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:41 (six years ago) link
i agreei think the point is to lead you into believing at first that he is romantic but then pulls the rug out when you realize it’s a cul de sac of blind rage & destructive obsession also reading it at different ages changed my impression over the years. i first read it as a teen
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 06:48 (six years ago) link
It's also why I find myself irritated by people who want to expunge the second half of the book.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 10:20 (six years ago) link
Not rationalizing his behaviour, but obviously he's exposed to harassment, racism, bullying of all kinds growing up, and both he and Cathy react violently to being told they have to stay in their place in the world, Cathy making a not completely successful choice to suppress that anger, Heathcliff letting it run rampant. He's not a sympathetic character in the end, or a guy you want a heroic end for, but obviously there's a look at society too - not just the literary Romantic hero.
― abcfsk, Wednesday, 6 December 2017 13:48 (six years ago) link
Not a single sympathetic character in the novel. I love it.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 13:59 (six years ago) link
agree!
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 15:09 (six years ago) link
btw I'm a fan of Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall too.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 15:09 (six years ago) link
I love that one too
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 15:11 (six years ago) link
happy 200th, Em
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 16:54 (five years ago) link
<3
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 19:03 (five years ago) link
I'm rereading Wuthering Heights. I can't think of another English Victorian novelist whose prose was as spare as EB's.
I keep forgetting how intense the violence – emotional and physical – is in this novel: Catherine bashing her head against the arm of a chair, Heathcliff calling Isabella a slut, etc.
― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 16:11 (five years ago) link