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| 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
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.
ReplyDeletePassion reigns supreme there. As in the human world. Up to this day.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteHere'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
They weren't a happy family apparently. Or maybe there was a streak of crankiness in the family genes.
DeleteI read this when I was about 12. Way too young. I should reread it as I barely remember it.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth a re-read.
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteThe evil in the novel is so captivating that it's easy to romanticise it.
DeleteMy favourite classic. I remember we were all drawn to Heathcliff as a devilishly brooding hero.
ReplyDelete