Inspired by the 2009 Masterpiece WUTHERING HEIGHTS (and if you haven't seen this, I can't recommend it strongly enough!), I re-read the book.
To me this time around, Cathy and Heathcliff sounded more like two intense siblings having a really bad fight than any adult lovers *I'VE* ever encountered.
[Cathy talking to her husband, in the book] "....Heathcliff would as soon
lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a colony of
mice. Cheer up! you sha'n't be hurt! Your type is not a lamb, it's a
sucking leveret.'
'I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward, Cathy!' said her friend [Healthcliff]. 'I
compliment you on your taste. And that is the slavering, shivering thing
you preferred to me! I would not strike him with my fist, but I'd kick
him with my foot, and experience considerable satisfaction. Is he
weeping, or is he going to faint for fear?'
The fellow approached and gave the chair on which Linton rested a push.
He'd better have kept his distance.....
(Doesn't that sound like siblings fighting? YOUNG siblings?) But when I first read the book, that was how grown-ups in love talked and behaved, for all I knew.
[Cathy talking to her husband, in the book] "....Heathcliff would as soon
lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a colony of
mice. Cheer up! you sha'n't be hurt! Your type is not a lamb, it's a
sucking leveret.'
'I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward, Cathy!' said her friend [Healthcliff]. 'I
compliment you on your taste. And that is the slavering, shivering thing
you preferred to me! I would not strike him with my fist, but I'd kick
him with my foot, and experience considerable satisfaction. Is he
weeping, or is he going to faint for fear?'
The fellow approached and gave the chair on which Linton rested a push.
He'd better have kept his distance.....
(Doesn't that sound like siblings fighting? YOUNG siblings?) But when I first read the book, that was how grown-ups in love talked and behaved, for all I knew.
Maybe one reason (aside from Tom Hardy -- not just good-looking, but really SMART and a great actor!) this version is so satisfying is that although the book is great, it's flawed. The characters are real, they're intense, they've become deservedly immortal -- but there are gaps in their story. These are brilliantly filled in by writer Peter Bowker in this TV version (one of the scenes he added was practically the best -- and so well-written that I was really surprised that it wasn't in the book), and equally brilliantly acted by everyone in the cast.
It probably takes people with more experience of adult romantic relationships than Emily Bronte had to tell Cathy and Heathcliff's story as adults would experience it. This version did that -- AND kept Emily Bronte's language word for word in many places.
It probably takes people with more experience of adult romantic relationships than Emily Bronte had to tell Cathy and Heathcliff's story as adults would experience it. This version did that -- AND kept Emily Bronte's language word for word in many places.
It even makes the story of Hareton
and young Catherine interesting. When I was young and read the book, I always thought it should have ended when Cathy died; but seeing this and then reading the book again, as an adult, made me realize that no, we need to see what happens to Heathcliff --and how things turn out for the next generation, too. Only then can the story be resolved.
The point of this post, though, is to say a book can be really, really flawed and still be great. Alive, believable characters who transcend their author's mistakes; a gripping story and setting; great writing; and, maybe, inspiration and something to say that satisfies a need in readers all count for more than technical perfection.
I'm trying to think of another great books with huge flaws - THE SECRET GARDEN, maybe? The way it kind of switches from being the story of Mary to the story of Colin? But maybe I'm just thinking of that one because in it, too, the Yorkshire moors are almost a character.
and young Catherine interesting. When I was young and read the book, I always thought it should have ended when Cathy died; but seeing this and then reading the book again, as an adult, made me realize that no, we need to see what happens to Heathcliff --and how things turn out for the next generation, too. Only then can the story be resolved.
The point of this post, though, is to say a book can be really, really flawed and still be great. Alive, believable characters who transcend their author's mistakes; a gripping story and setting; great writing; and, maybe, inspiration and something to say that satisfies a need in readers all count for more than technical perfection.
I'm trying to think of another great books with huge flaws - THE SECRET GARDEN, maybe? The way it kind of switches from being the story of Mary to the story of Colin? But maybe I'm just thinking of that one because in it, too, the Yorkshire moors are almost a character.
Can you think of any great but flawed books?
