Darlings, I have now reached the halfway point of this great, literary masterwork, which, for many people, who only read it once, or remember only the 1939 film with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (pictured above), is what they consider the main story of "Wuthering Heights"--that is, of Heathcliff, and the first Catherine, born Earnshaw.
Only until one reads the entirety of Emily Bronte's work is it realized that the story most people think of as "Wuthering Heights," stops at the end of Chapter 16. There are, actually, 18 remaining chapters, in which Bronte chronicles the rest of Heatcliff's and the Earnshaw/Linton desecndants' lives, showing the effect Heathcliff's nature, and the death of the first Catherine, has upon each of the remaining characters.
It is, in effect, a "generational saga," but as most know only the first generation, they have no idea of the brilliance--the darkness and enigmaticism--surrounding Emily Bronte's book. For a romantic, reading Chapter 16 of "Wuthering Heights" is devastating; it is like having your heart cut in two, until you remember what is to come. As for the 1939 movie, which I first saw as a teen (shortly after reading the novel for the first time) and cannot recall my last viewing, I am not sure if I could endure another viewing; it would tear at me so!!!!!!!! Maybe if the Film Forum were to show it on the screen.
Despite that it covers only the first half of the book, would you believe that the 1939 "Wuthering Heights" was named "Best Picture Of The Year"--over "GONE WITH THE WIND" , darlings; how sacrilegious--by the New York Film Critics??????? Wonder what they had been drinking that night???????
In the film, Catherine's death is presented as some mysterious, Victorian malady, like Dora in "David Copperfield." In terms of the film, and relating it to the Brontes, you could say she died of tuberculosis, which is what claimed almost all the Brontes--save for the father. But in the novel, it is clear that Catherine dies in childbirth; Ellen/Nelly Dean, the housekeeper/narrator, recounts that shortly after midnight, the child of Catherine and Edgar was born, on March 20, 1784, and that two hours later, her mother died. This would have made the first Catherine, who was born in the Summer of 1765, a mere eighteen years of age!!!!!!!!! If you scan the genealogy chart that precedes "Wuthering Heights," the birth dates are there, and it is clear, in true Bronte fashion, that these folk are not long living. Only Heathcliff, who survives, until his late thirties--coincidentally, just like Charlotte Bronte, who died at 39, outliving all her siblings.
So, with such little time before them, a lifetime of experience had to be crammed into such a short time of living. As for childbirth, it is not even mentioned in the novel; nor need it be, since the movie does not go into the next generation, and, concerning the novel, not until Catherine Linton (the second Catherine) is born, are we given any idea that the 18-year-old Earnshaw girl had been pregnant. As forward thinking and ahead of her time as Emily Bronte was, she knew there were envelopes not even she could push, so she did her best to dramatically and delicately convey the truth. And it was a truth that was certainly in accordance with women of this time.
It is easy to mourn for Catherine, and to commiserate in Heathcliff's loss, but true Bronte mavens know that with Emily there are even darker thins ahead, and honey, do we get them!!!!!!
May the angels bring us all to Peace, or drop us, weeping onto the roof of Wuthering Heights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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