Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte’s Victorian composition, Wuthering Heights, revolves around the dramatic and sordid love affair of the characters Catherine Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, and the mysterious Heathcliff. Both Edgar and Heathcliff stand as Catherine’s loves. Additionally, the men are dramatic and romantic foils. Bronte uses Catherine’s reaction to each to support the character differences. It is only natural that the personality and situational differences affect both men’s relationship with Catherine.

Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship is the epitome of an unsatisfying passion. Bronte provides insight to Catherine Earnshap’s heart so that the reader is very aware of her overwhelming love for the character. The fact that she is unwilling to marry him in fear of lowering her public status does not take away from her fiery affinity and deep connection with Heathcliff. Catherine states that her love for Heathcliff resembles eternal rocks- “ a source of no visible delight, but necessary.” She further declares that she believes their bond to be so immense that she and he are a unified soul.

Contrastingly, Catherine Earnshaw’s relationship with Edgar Linton is based on her desire for money and her regard for status. She offers her comparison of her love of Heathcliff, which she feels eternal and necessary, to that of Edgar by stating, “ My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods, time will change it” . Catherine knows that her affection is shallow and lasts lasting passion.

There is not a pure representation of true love in Wuthering Heights regarding Catherine’s feelings