The Originals: Wuthering Heights

Published in 1847, Emily Brontë’s only novel Wuthering Heights is an evergreen classic. A passionate tale of love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, the novel challenged Victorian ideals of morality, class, religion and gender inequality. Heathcliff, an orphan, brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, represents the quintessential Byronic hero—brooding and enigmatic, whose social status is foregrounded by his lack of a first name. Spurned by Catherine and humiliated by her brother, Hindley, Heathcliff leaves the Heights, only to return later as a revenge-seeking, wealthy and polished man. Catherine chooses to marry Edgar Linton, an antithesis to Heathcliff. What follows is a series of disastrous events in which the characters are consumed by their tragic fate. Evocative and gothic, the novel was initially termed ‘abhorrent’ and later appreciated for its originality and poetic grandeur.