Wuthering Heights

A detailed Summary of Wuthering Heights

In Emily Bronte's captivating novel Wuthering Heights there are several very important themes that come together to provide an overall theme of unrequited love. These themes are that true love is pure and seemingly unattainable, love is everlasting and profound, and that history repeats itself.

The beginning of the novel lays the foundation for all of the themes that are to follow. Catherine and Heathcliff are almost immediately attached to one another. This friendship blossoms and when everyone else seems to despise Heathcliff, Catherine alone stays with him. Even at this early age one can see Heathcliff's hateful nature starting to show itself. Catherine is the only person or thing that he truly cares about and loves. Because his sole focal point of love is directed entirely on Catherine this love becomes so pure that it is almost primitive in form. It is a wild, unruly, unshakeable love. The one thing that Heathcliff desires in life is to be with Catherine and to be Catherine. This is also her desire although it is unspoken. When she decides to marry Edgar Linton though, Heathcliff is dumbfounded and deeply hurt. He doesn't realize that Catherine regards him as herself and therefore could never marry him and he fai

The last theme is that history repeats itself. This book almost doubles itself. The first half is of two men vying for the love and affection of Catherine. The second half is of their children doing the same exact thing as their parents. The first half is filled with hate, passionate love, and mass amounts of confusion. Everything turns out for the worst. Catherine dies and with her Edgar and Heathcliff on all accounts die too. After her death neither is quite the same. Edgar lives simply to protect his daughter Cathy, while Heathcliff lives to destroy Edgar and all that he hates. In the second half things seem to turn out right after a little while. At first with Cathy being forced into marrying Linton after several foolish mistakes on her part, it seems as though the vicious cycle has started all over again. Linton soon dies however and eventually Heathcliff does too. This leaves Hareton and Cathy together. At first she despises him for being ignorant and dirty. This is very similar to the way Catherine sometimes acted towards Heathcliff. They reconcile however and apparently fall in love with each other. This binds the Lintons and Earnshaws together in love forever. Their love is refreshing and healing at the same time.

In the novel there are three main loves that never end. Catherine's love for Heathcliff is the firs

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Approximate Word count = 909
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English