"More ending in death, but this time it sounds like a
solace after life. 'I lingered round them, under that
benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the
heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind
breathing through the grass; and wondered how any
one could imagine unquiet slumbers for the
sleepers in that quiet earth.'"--
Emily Bronte, the final words of "Wuthering
Heights"
The above passage ends what I consider to be one of the greatest novels in the English language, a nightmarish tale of ghostly, Gothic obsession, and its consequences, beginning with Mr. Lockwood's dream, where the cold, spirit hand of the late Catherine Linton, catches onto his, through a broken window pane, as snow pour in, imploring him for peace, having been a waif from more than twenty years, and ending with this most beautiful of passages above.
The end passage is especially key, as next week is my father's interment, and, in the best of all possible worlds, I would read these very words over the graves of my parents. May we all enjoy quiet slumber sleeping in that quiet earth.
I know I will return again to "Wuthering Heights," at some point before I take that sleep, and maybe sooner now, since it is on my mind, but so is the question of Emily Bronte. Has there ever been an end passage as brilliant as this one? Well, yes, but few as poetic. Yet, save for some fervid poetry and this novel, this remains Emily Bronte's output. Why? I will tell you.
I think it has something to do with that bitch sister, Charlotte!!!!!!!!!!! Sure, she wrote two masterworks--"Jane Eyre," and the even better "Villette"--but "Shirley?" "The Professor?" Forget it; only Bronte fans like myself, read those.
It was Charlotte who discovered Emily had been writing poetry. While she encouraged Emily to write, and her connections helped "Wuthering Heights" get published, I think Charlotte was pissed her younger sister's brilliance outshone hers. If Emily had lived, longer, she would have had more of an output, which, in time would have surpassed that of bossy Charlotte!!!!!
I personally believe Emily was working on another novel, after "Wuthering Heights," and that, after her death, Charlotte found the manuscript and got rid of it. That bitch!!!!!!!!! But, to be fair, Emily, unlike Charlotte was not herself a seeker of fame.
She remains the most enigmatic of the Brontes, and I think the most brilliant, which Charlotte did not want known!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If only Emily, like her beloved Catherine, could somehow cry out from the grave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank God there is "Wuthering Heights" to showcase Emily.May Time prove she to be the superior Bronte!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody else can tear you down quite like a sister.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteVictoria,
I read Juliet Barker's massive biography
of "The Brontes," when it first came out.
I am so Bronte obsessed I read all the
foot notes, too.
I came away with the notion that while
Emily was brilliant, her health was poor,
and while Charlotte was supportive, she
clearly was the Alpha Female. I bet she
wished she had written "Wuthering Heights."
Still, your point rings true? Joan Fontaine
and Olivia De Havilland? "What Ever Happened
To Baby Jane?"