The "problem" of Wuthering Heights is the "problem" of Catherine Earnshaw and.

             How has the relationship between these two characters been read over the last 150 years? To what extent has cultural context varied these reading and how, in particular, has it influenced your own reading?.

             Wuthering Heights has been the subject of much criticism throughout its history as critics and historians alike try to discover Bronte's meaning and intentions behind the work. The controversial relationship of Catherine and Heathcliff has puzzled and fascinated critics since its publication in 1847. Many agree that the focus of the novel lies in the dominance of Catherine and Heathcliff"s relationship on the entire generations of Linton"s and Earnshaw"s but disagree on how that relationship should be viewed. Contemporary reviews reflected the immorality they saw in the play, due to the Victorian conventions of novels at the time. As times have progressed and society became more evolved we saw the.

             novel in a different light to those that were first established. The modern era romanticised the novel through focussing on imagery; animal, natural and barrier. In post-modern terms the novel is seen to reveal a number of themes relating to family dysfunction, social and class struggles, gender and race. .

             The relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is to say the least, passionate and tempestuous and fraught with problems which occurred due to the social conventions and boundaries of the time. Catherine is forced to marry Edgar Linton because she has no prospects of a future if she marries Heathcliff. As she tells Nelly (p.76) she loves Edgar only because he "is handsome and pleasant to be with", "young and cheerful" and "because he loves me". The spiritual nature of the relationship also confused the Victorians as did the dramatic emotion with which they expressed their love for one another. Cathy's death, through her control of appetite comes about as a result of the frustration anger she feels for both Heathcliff and Edgar, because they have caused her so much pain in forcing her to choose between her duty and propeitry (Edgar) and her one true love (Heathcliff).