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Heights of Evil

Illustration by ChatGPT

Evil has a peculiar charm, a charm which seems to belong to an alien world. But somewhere deep in our hearts we know that it is our own world, not an alien world. We romanticise it as Lost Paradise, Rama Rajya, Utopia, or whatever. That ‘romance’ is what I love about Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights.

Emily died at the age of 29. Most Romantics died young. But those Romantics like Keats and Shelley imagined beautiful worlds and died because their souls knew that such beautiful worlds were impossible. Emily was born just three years before Keats died and four years before Shelley followed Keats. But the literary age was changing to the more prudish Victorian morality as Emily grew up.

Victorian morality was more than prudish. Women were supposed to be the western counterparts of India’s Satis, women who immolated themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres. How could a woman like Emily Bronte, daughter of a Christian parson, born and brought up in a parsonage in a very rustic background, write a novel like Wuthering Heights?

Wuthering Heights is the gospel of evil. The satanic Heathcliff is the hero and the angelic characters are all too impotent even to be anything worthwhile. Heathcliff would be a hero with a halo in today’s blockbuster movies. He is driven by bitterness and vindictiveness because history has been heartless towards him. He would have been the most heroic figure in today’s politics that seeks to wreak vengeance on the wrongs of some antique relics.

Angels weep in this novel. Devils carry the sengol, the sceptre. All because of the wrongs of history.

The devils dwell on the hills of the Wuthering Heights. And the angels are confined to the valley of Thrushcross Grange.

Who is above and who is below matters a lot in the moral edifice of the society.

Wuthering Heights suggests that evil is not a singular force but a complex interplay of human motivations, societal pressures, and individual actions. This novel will teach you why goodness is not easy on the earth as long as human beings exist on it. In spite of all religions. In spite of all moral codes. In spite of all gods and gurus.

This novel keeps haunting me with a strange melody that I love for reasons that the devil knows.

PS. This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon


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Comments

  1. Anuradha sowmyanarayananAugust 28, 2024 at 9:18 PM

    Wuthering Heights represents human nature at its darkest. It represents the fatal and selfish side of love. Moreover, the good and evil in humanity are outlined through characters like Catherine and Heathcliff. Their love is fatal not only to them but also to everyone around them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 28, 2024 at 9:21 PM

      Passion reigns supreme there. As in the human world. Up to this day.

      Delete
  2. Yamini MacLeanAugust 28, 2024 at 9:58 PM

    Hari OM
    Here's a confession; I've never read WH. Was forced to read Jane Eyre for English at school. Those Bronte's sure had a bleak opinion of m/f relationships. Goodness struggles in all their characters. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 29, 2024 at 6:36 AM

      They weren't a happy family apparently. Or maybe there was a streak of crankiness in the family genes.

      Delete
  3. Liz A.August 29, 2024 at 7:26 AM

    I read this when I was about 12. Way too young. I should reread it as I barely remember it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AmbicaAugust 29, 2024 at 9:37 AM

    I listened to the audio book recently, and then decided that I should read it. I did romanticise it when I read it in my 20s, but now, I see the evil that you talk about. However, life has so many shades and we live with our shadows all through.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 29, 2024 at 10:13 AM

      The evil in the novel is so captivating that it's easy to romanticise it.

      Delete
  5. vanderloostAugust 30, 2024 at 4:46 PM

    My favourite classic. I remember we were all drawn to Heathcliff as a devilishly brooding hero.

    ReplyDelete

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