Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” is a novel that revolves around human feelings of passionate love, vengeful rage, and ultimately, a hint of redemption.
About the novel
The ending of Wuthering Heights is a cliff-hanger. It is about haunting echoes—a whisper of love and vengeance gripping the moors of Yorkshire.
The book unfolds a story steeped in love, revenge, and the enduring legacy of these powerful emotions.
Heathcliff: The Anti-Hero
Heathcliff, who’s the protagonist of the novel, is also the anti-hero of the story. He is obsessed by his love for Catherine and burning with revenge for those who ill-treated him. He spends his final days wandering the moors restlessly, and ultimately dies in peace at Wuthering Heights.
Heathcliff’s character in Wuthering Heights is of contradictory nature. The author has masterfully developed a mix of love, revenge, and social resentment in the character.. A mysterious boy, who is wild initially develops into a man who is obsessed with love for Catherine Earnshaw.
Catherine: On a Cusp
Catherine Earnshaw is also attracted to him. Her love for Heathcliff discolored with the fierce intensity that both mirrors and contrasts his own. She describes their bond as “not in thunder, lightning, or earthquake, but in the quiet rustle of leaves, the murmur of water, the singing of birds; in the whistle of the wind, the swaying of the grass, the glistening of dewdrops.”
This poetic confession highlights the deep connection between their hearts, a connection that overshadows the trappings of social status and societal expectations.
However, Catherine’s love is also laced with a sense of practicality. Despite her undivided passion for Heathcliff, she ultimately chooses to get married to Edgar Linton for his wealth and social standing. She, in justification of this decision, makes the cynical statement, “I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind; not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself – but as my own being.. My reason tells me I ought not to be here.. It would degrade me.”
This internal conflict between love and social ambition underscores the complexity of Catherine’s feelings and the societal pressures that constrain her choices.
Heathcliff’s burning desire for revenge stems from the cruelty he experiences at the hands of Hindley Earnshaw and the societal barriers that prevent him from marrying Catherine. His rage festers, turning him into a manipulative and ruthless individual. He destroys the lives of those around him, including Edgar Linton and his own son, in his quest for vengeance. Despite his cruelty, there’s a flicker of vulnerability.
The Last Chapter
As the final chapter of the book starts, readers witness the culmination of Heathcliff’s love for Catherine Earnshaw. His relentless pursuit of her, fuelled by a fiery passion, has engulfed both the Earnshaw and Linton families in a storm of turmoil. Heathcliff wanted revenge so badly because of all the bad things that people did to him in the past. But the more he tried to be cruel and hurt others, the more he suffered for his acts in the end.
However, once Catherine dies, changes can be seen in Heathcliff’s behavior.
His obsessive love turns into a desire to be with Catherine in a different way, beyond the world of the living.
“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you – haunt me, then!” are the words when Heathcliff begs Catherine’s ghost to haunt him till his death. These words pronounce his guilt, love, and despair–a love so strong that it survived death and became his torment.
Agonized by her (Catherine’s) memory and a sense of incompleteness, he utters the heart-wrenching cry, “I cannot live without my soul!” This disheartened declaration lays bare the true depth of his love, a love that transcends the boundaries of life and death.
Conclusion
With the death of Heathcliff, a chapter of revenge and cruelty closes for once for Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The anger and brutality that poisoned everyone’s lives start to fade, and there is a fragile hope for peace. A new generation from the Linton and Earnshaw families (Cathy and Hareton) can now step onto the stage. Unburdened by the mistakes of their parents and grandparents, they have the chance to build a future together. The ending leaves the readers with a question lingering: Will this love story rewrite the wrongs of the past? like the whispers that haunt the moors.
The book closes with the first step towards positivity; however, the scars of the past remain. Cathy and Hareton’s marriage is that positive aspect, even though love at a young age that did not lead to marriage (Heathcliff and Cathrine) was the starting point of adversity. It is only now that they are about to find happiness that is built on the foundation of their families’ mistakes!
The author, Emily Brontë, leaves us with a thought to ponder, and interpret the novel’s ending and its message of hope (or hopelessness) for the future.
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