The novel takes place in the moorlands of Yorkshire, which, thanks to this novel, have become a tourist attraction in England.

1801. A young resident of London, Mr. Lockwood, in search of solitude, settled in a provincial estate called Starling Grange. He decides to visit neighbor and landlord Mr. Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights. Mr. Heathcliff is rude, aloof. Despite the cold reception, Lockwood decides to make a second visit.

On the way to Wuthering Heights The weather deteriorates and it starts to snow. The owners did not express any particular desire to receive the guest again, but Lockwood still gets into the house. Here he discovers other residents of Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff's daughter-in-law, his son's widow, and Hareton Earnshaw. The relationship between the tenants was not friendly either to each other or to Lockwood. The narrator wants to leave, but no one wanted to accompany him to dark time when all the paths are covered with snow and Lockwood stays overnight at Heathcliff's house. Zilla, the housekeeper, leads him to a bedroom that no one has used for a long time. There, Lockwood finds the diary of a certain Catherine Earnshaw, telling the story of two children: Catherine herself and Heathcliff. At night, Lockwood has a terrible dream in which he is haunted by the ghost of Katherine. In the morning he returns to Starling Manor and falls ill.

While spending time in forced idleness during his illness, Mr. Lockwood asks the housekeeper, Ellen (Nellie) Dean, to tell him about the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights, and finds out that Nellie Dean herself raised that young girl from the estate. Nelly told tragic story Heathcliff.

Many years ago, Mr. Earnshaw, master of Wuthering Heights, picked up a dying child and adopted him as his own. The boy was named Heathcliff. Heathcliff was initially brought up with the master's children, became very friendly with Catherine, Earnshaw's daughter, but Earnshaw's son, Hindley, hated the boy, beat him and mocked him. Hindley was sent to college, and three years later the elder Earnshaw died.

Hindley returned to his father's funeral with his wife, he became the new owner of the house. Hindley sent Heathcliff to work as a simple farmhand and abandoned all worries about his sister, spending all the time with his wife. Heathcliff and Catherine were inseparable until Catherine came to the Lintons, who at that time owned Starling Manor. There she was taught good manners, and she met the Linton children Edgar and Isabella Linton. Katherine's friendship with the Lintons became a bone of contention with Heathcliff, who by that time had become even more feral. Hindley Earnshaw had a son named Hareton, but Hindley's wife died immediately after the birth. Having lost the most precious thing he had, he took to drink, became violent and turned into a "gloomy, fierce man." In contrast to Heathcliff, Edgar was distinguished by a noble upbringing, gentleness, kindness and excellent manners, which attracted Catherine. She began to openly mock Heathcliff and reproach him for his ignorance, which unwittingly set her against the Lintons. Deeply aware of her love for Heathcliff, Catherine decided to marry Edgar Linton. Heathcliff heard her talking about it with Nellie Dean, and immediately, without saying goodbye to anyone, left Wuthering Heights. Katherine took it very hard, but after recovering, she nevertheless married Edgar and left Wuthering Heights, moving to Starling Manor. She took Nellie with her, little Hareton was left alone in the care of his father. Three years later, Heathcliff returned and disrupted the peaceful life of Edgar and Catherine, who was distraught with happiness at the sight of an old friend. It is clear that Heathcliff and Catherine loved and still love each other. Heathcliff settled in Wuthering Heights, visiting Starling Grange very often. Hindley at this time continues to drink and play cards, and Heathcliff, who became rich in three years, supplies him with money. Edgar disliked Heathcliff, but tolerated him for the sake of his wife. Isabella Linton, who represented him, falls in love with Heathcliff romantic hero. Katherine, who knew well the embittered soul of her friend, tried to dissuade Isabella (“He is a fierce, ruthless man, a man of a wolf disposition”), but all in vain. Isabella at the table in front of everyone says that Katherine is lying, slandering Heathcliff. Then Katherine makes fun of Isabella and tells Heathcliff about her love. Isabella runs away, and Heathcliff reacts to this like this: “You would hear about strange things if I happened to live with her under the same roof and always see this sugary, waxy face: the most common thing would be to draw rainbow patterns on it two days on the third whiteness and turn it Blue eyes in black - they are disgustingly similar to Linton's eyes. "However, after this conversation, Heathcliff begins to show signs of attention to the girl. Catherine sees this and quarrels with Heathcliff. Heathcliff openly says that he loves Catherine and wants to take revenge on Linton. This is heard by Ellen, the narrator, and transfers the conversation to Edgar Linton. Edgar, not wanting to put up with Heathcliff's company, tries to banish him from his home forever. nervous breakdown. Nelli hides Katherine's illness from Edgar, thinking that these are just cunning tricks of the hostess, but the disease intensifies, and when Edgar learns about Catherine's illness, her mental and physical health is in a deplorable state. Meanwhile, Katherine is expecting a baby.

Meanwhile, Isabella elopes with Heathcliff. She agreed to marry Heathcliff. After the wedding, his true motives were revealed, and the pampered Isabella faced the humiliation, cruelty, coldness of her husband. Edgar refuses to help his sister, citing the fact that she herself made her choice. To deliver the news to Isabella, Nellie comes to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff learns from her about Catherine's illness. Despising all precautions, he makes his way to his beloved, who, in a violent riot of feelings, is losing her last strength. That same night, Katherine gives birth to a daughter and dies two hours later. Heathcliff is beside himself with grief. Isabella soon ran away from Heathcliff. Six months after Catherine's death, her brother Hindley Earnshaw also died. Addicted to the game, he pledged all his property to Heathcliff, and he got Wuthering Heights along with Earnshaw's son, Hareton.

Isabella settled in the London area. She had a son whom she named Linton Heathcliff. When he was twelve-odd, thirteen years after Katherine's death, Isabella died.

Katherine Linton has grown into a sweet and kind young girl, she is 12 years old. She lived quietly at Starling Manor with her father. When news of Isabella's death became known, Edgar brings Isabella's son, the nervous and sickly Linton, to the Starlings, and is immediately demanded by Heathcliff. Nellie was forced to take the boy to Wuthering Heights. When Catherine was 16 years old, during the summer, during a walk with Nellie, they met Heathcliff and Hareton, who, under the strict guidance of Heathcliff, turned into an uncouth, illiterate redneck. Heathcliff lured Katherine and her nanny to Wuthering Heights, where she met the grown-up Linton. Heathcliff told Nellie that he planned to marry his son to Catherine in order to secure his rights to Starling Manor and take revenge on the Linton family, so hated by him. According to the will, if Edgar has no male heirs, the estate passes to his daughter and her son. A secret love correspondence began between Katherine and Linton, which she had to stop under pressure from her father and Nellie Dean. Autumn has come. Edgar Linton's health began to slowly deteriorate, causing concern for his daughter. Meanwhile, Heathcliff does not abandon his evil plans. Imbued with pity for Linton Heathcliff, who was seriously ill, Catherine, secretly from her relatives, began to visit him regularly, taking care of the extremely capricious young man. Hareton began to learn to read in order to gain Katherine's approval, but she still taunts him, causing his anger. The father eventually agrees to Katherine's meetings with Linton on no man's land. Linton is completely weakened, he stands on the edge of the grave, he does not even have the strength to stand when meeting with Katherine. Intimidated by his father, he begs her to keep meeting. In one of these meetings, Heathcliff lures Nellie and Katherine to Wuthering Heights, locks them up, not letting them into the dying Edgar. Katherine is in mad despair, she is ready for anything, just to say goodbye to the most beloved person - her father. She marries Linton Heathcliff. Despite the fact that even after the marriage, Heathcliff does not let them go, they still manage to get out of Wuthering Heights and catch the last hours of Edgar Linton. After the death of her father, Heathcliff comes for Katherine and takes her to Wuthering Heights. A month later, Catherine's husband dies. According to the will written by Linton, all his property passes to his father. Katherine lost not only the Starling Manor, which already belonged to Linton, but also the money that her father set aside in her name, since according to the laws of that time, all the wife's dowry becomes the husband's property. She was at the mercy of Heathcliff. However, the grief of his enemies did not calm the soul of Heathcliff, he was still tormented by insane feelings for the deceased Catherine Earnshaw. Struck by adversity, Katherine became embittered at all the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. Hareton is also disgusted with her, who did not give up trying to master grammar, and Katherine still does not appreciate these efforts. That was the end of Nellie Lockwood's story. He leaves Starling Manor.

1802. Six months later, Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights again. There he discovers miraculous changes: Katherine is again the mistress of the Grange, and love and harmony reign between her and Hareton. Young people are going to get married. Heathcliff is dead.

Shortly after Lockwood left, a friendship developed between Katherine and Hareton. The circle is closed. Just as Katherine and Heathcliff used to be friends and suffered resentment from Hindley, so now Katherine and Hareton are friends, suffering from Heathcliff. Seeing them together, something in Heathcliff is changing, he says to Nellie: “My old enemies could not overcome me. Now it would be time to take out the insult on their children. "I don't want to strike; there's no point in bothering to raise my hand. Listen to me, it turns out that I was busy all the time only to show wonderful generosity in the end. But this is far from being true: I simply lost the ability to enjoy destruction - and I'm too lazy to destroy in vain. The last days of his life Heathcliff is in a strange excited state, at night he wanders the fields, does not eat, and all his thoughts are about reuniting with Katherine Earnshaw. One rainy morning, Nellie enters his room and sees that he is dead. Wuthering Pass becomes a peaceful and serene place.

I mechanically opened another book. Another cover, another first page... It didn't seem to me at the time that I would meet something special, something I hadn't read about or didn't know about before. It was intended as a "showcase acquaintance" that I didn't try to place high hopes on. But page after page - and suddenly for myself the most impetuous cold air carries me away, and I hear its impulses, and as if I myself are standing on the moorlands of northern Britain, trying to understand the unconscious impulses of the human soul. When the story came to the last page, I realized that in the future it would be difficult for me to find a work like this.

“This novel has nothing to do with the literature of the era.
This is a very bad novel. This is very good romance. He is ugly. There is beauty in it.
It's a terrible, agonizing, powerful and passionate book."
(Somerset Maugham)

The story of the Bronte sisters is a story with its own sorrows, with its own peculiar joys and secrets. Charlotte, Emily and Ann were born to the country priest Patrick Brontë in Yorkshire, in the north of England. The area around them was devoid of bright colors: harsh moorlands, dark gray buildings, almost complete absence of greenery, and the nearby cemetery did not add warmth to the dull picture ... But nevertheless, it was in this harsh nature that the Brontë sisters managed to create their own wonderful works filled with strong feelings and real passions.

The family of the Bronte sisters could not call themselves rich. She was not famous either. But the daughters of Patrick Bronte were amazingly talented: from an early age they were fond of literature, they loved to fantasize and create imaginary countries. There is no doubt that and harsh nature left its own indelible imprint on the character and worldview of little girls. The British literary critic Victor Soden Pritchett considered Emily Bronte's novel, comparing his characters with the gloomy inhabitants of Yorkshire: “Perhaps his characters will at first amaze the reader with undisguised cruelty and ruthlessness - but in fact, in harshness and irreconcilability of judgments, in pride, in a heightened sense of sin, it was expressed the philosophy of life inherent in the inhabitants of these places, above all putting the will of every human person. In order to survive in these parts, it was necessary to learn to subjugate others, while not subordinating to anyone.”

Of course, the life of the future writers was distinguished by its originality: it combined some kind of natural asceticism, steely severity and, at the same time, an irresistible desire to create and write.

The life of little girls who lost their mother early could not be called rosy. They spent most of their time in each other's company, deprived of the simple children's communication. The isolated place on which their house stood, a rather monotonous, boring life contributed to even greater solitude and the inevitable withdrawal into their own spiritual world.

Emily may have been the most withdrawn of the three sisters. According to eyewitnesses, she rarely left the house, and if she took walks, she was not particularly disposed to friendly conversations with her neighbors. But she could often be seen pacing in thoughtfulness and whispering something to herself...

For some time, little Emily, along with her sister Charlotte, studied at a charity school in Cowan Bridge. Exactly this scary place served as a prototype of the Lockwood Orphanage in Charlotte's novel "Jane Eyre", where all the horrors of such institutions were described: hunger, and bad food, and the monstrous treatment of pupils ...

After studying at Cone Bridge, Charlotte and Emily decided to continue their education in Brussels. But, unlike her older sister, Emily could not get rid of the homesickness that constantly tormented her, and, returning to England in 1844, she already tried never to leave her native lands.

1846 - significant date for the Bronte sisters. At this time, a collection of their poems was published - the first fruit of literary activity. The writers deliberately took male pseudonyms, and the collection was titled: Poems by Kerrer [Charlotte], Ellis [Emily] and Acton [Anne] Bell. Subsequently, of all the poems in the collection, the most appreciated it is Emily's poems that receive critics, poems permeated with sadness and longing for an impossible or departed love ("Stans"). Particularly wonderful philosophical lyrics Emily, raising themes of personal freedom and independence ("Old Stoic"). But, despite the undeniable beauty and grace of Emily's poems, one cannot fail to note the sadness and longing breaking through them. The most optimistic and hopeful works of the collection were, perhaps, the poems of the younger sister Ann (especially the poem "Lines folded in the forest on a windy day"). However, at that time, the first experience of the young poetesses, unfortunately, did not gain wide popularity among the reading public.

But the Bronte sisters did not give up, and soon each of them decided to devote herself to prose: in 1847, Charlotte wrote her first novel, The Teacher, Ann wrote the novel Agnes Gray, and Emily wrote Wuthering Heights. From this moment begins their intense literary activity, however, on a relatively for a long time it continued only for Charlotte, since Emily and Anne soon after the release of their first works suddenly burned out from consumption. Most likely it was hereditary disease of the Bronte family: all the girls were distinguished by an extremely fragile physique and very poor health, which, by the way, was significantly undermined during the years of the sisters' education at Cone Bridge. Unfortunately for the entire reading world, this hereditary severe illness did not allow the sisters to continue to create and cut short the lives of women who were in the prime of their lives (Emily died when she was 30, Ann at 29, Charlotte did not live to 40).

Meanwhile creative heritage Bronte sisters, although not numerous, but for almost two centuries, has amazed researchers with its depth and originality.

Their works are very emotional, very honest and a bit mysterious. The last definition, however, most and in its entirety refers specifically to Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights.

What is this novel? And what is his mystery?

When people in Russia talk about the works of female writers, I'm almost sure that most of them remember the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte's elder sister. The work of Emily Bronte is rarely spoken about. The very fact that "Jane Eyre" was first translated into Russian in 1849 (the novel was published in the journal "Domestic Notes"), and "Wuthering Heights" only in 1956, serves as evidence of insufficient attention to the work of the writer in Russia.

Meanwhile, this only novel by Emily Bronte is in no way inferior to the works of her sister. I would even be afraid to compare them, since the writers consider human nature, using absolutely different systems coordinates. Virginia Woolf compared the work of the two writers most figuratively and profoundly in her critical article Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights: “She [Charlotte Bronte] doesn't think about human destiny; she does not even know that there is something to think about; all its power, all the more powerful because its scope is limited, goes into statements like "I love", "I hate", "I suffer ... Wuthering Heights is a more difficult book to understand than Jane Eyre, because Emily is more of a poet than Charlotte. Charlotte used all her eloquence, passion and richness of style to express simple things: "I love", "I hate", "I suffer". Her experiences, although richer than ours, are on our level. And in Wuthering Heights, I’m not at all… From beginning to end, in her novel [now talking about Emily], this titanic design is felt, this high effort - half fruitless - to say through the mouth of her characters not just “I love” or “I hate ”, but - “We, the human race” and “You, the eternal forces ...”. This excerpt from the article, it seems to me, conveys the idea of ​​Wuthering Heights as accurately as possible - to generalize as much as possible, to bring it to a cosmic scale.

The novel "Wuthering Heights" was published, as already mentioned above, in 1847, but during the life of the writer was not appreciated. World fame came to Emily Bronte much later, which, however, often happens to great works for inexplicable reasons, but, subsequently appreciated by descendants, they have been living for many centuries and never grow old.

The plot of this unusual novel at first glance does not represent anything complicated. There are two estates, two opposites: Wuthering Heights and Starling Grange. The first personifies anxiety, stormy and unconscious feelings, the second - a harmonious and measured existence, home comfort. In the center of the story is a truly romantic figure, a hero without a past, Heathcliff, who is unknown where and when the owner of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw, found. Heathcliff, - it seems, - does not belong to any of the houses from birth, but in spirit, in his warehouse, of course, belongs to the estate of Wuthering Heights. And it is on the fatal intersection and interweaving of these two worlds that the whole plot of the novel is built.

The genre of this novel is definitely romantic. "Wuthering Heights is a wildly romantic book," Somerset Maugham, a classic of English literature, argued in 1965. Nevertheless, Emily Bronte, having written a single work, surprisingly could not fit into the framework of the usual literary trends. The thing is that Wuthering Heights cannot be attributed to a purely romantic novel: it also contains elements of a realistic understanding of man, but Emily Bronte's realism is special, completely unlike the realism of, say, Dickens or Thackeray. It can be said that it is absolutely inseparable from romanticism here, partly due to the fact that the writer refuses to consider and resolve the conflict of the novel in social or public sphere- it transfers it to the area of ​​philosophical and aesthetic. Like the romantics, Emily Brontë craved the harmony of being. But in her work, she is expressed, paradoxically, through death: only she tried on descendants and helped reunite her tormented loved ones. “I wandered around the graves under this good sky; looked at the moths rushing about in heather and bells, listened to the soft breath of the wind in the grass - and marveled at how people imagined that the sleep of those who sleep in this peaceful land could be unpeaceful, ”the novel ends with these words. Yet it is surprising that such a "powerful, passionate, eerie" book, in the words of Somerset Maugham, ends with such an almost idyllic ending. But what is "powerful and creepy" about it?

This is a book about love, but about love that is strange, about love that does not fit into any of our ideas about it. This is a novel about a place, but about a place born of passion. This is a novel about fate, about will, about a person, about space ...

The very structure of the novel, its stylistic and visual means, are quite sophisticated. It is difficult to say whether Emily Brontë created such a harmonious text on purpose or unconsciously. The theme of fate and the continuity of generations is clearly traced through repetition: the names, characters, actions of the heroes are repeated, which creates some kind of mysterious, mystical atmosphere, a sense of inevitability and patterns of what is happening. Not less than important role descriptions of nature play, which is not only the background of unfolding events, but also expresses the inner experiences of the characters, personifies their exorbitant, stormy feelings.

These descriptions of nature can be discussed separately and for a very long time. Emily Bronte really makes the wind blow and the thunder rumble, while the breath of the moorland seems to break through the text of the novel and douse us with its cold, but at the same time with unique romanticism.

... "Wuthering Heights" is a controversial and mysterious work. If you understand the text, it is impossible not to encounter moral and ethical inconsistencies in the behavior of the characters that amaze the reader: Catherine and Heathcliff, on the one hand, personify cosmic love, love that is stronger than death, but in reality it somehow takes on grotesque forms , being expressed, in fact, through Evil - Good as such is practically not shown at all in the novel, except perhaps in the last scenes. Critic Georges Bataille, in his article on Wuthering Heights, says that "... in the knowledge of Evil, Emily Bronte has reached the very end." And indeed, who else in literature depicted Evil in this way? Evil that exists in an unnatural synthesis with love, Evil that is completely beyond control and some kind of moral justification. And this is another big mystery in this whole story: how, raised on the Bible, Emily Bronte was able to create characters that are completely devoid of Christian humility and peace? Even with last date with Katherine on the verge of death, Heathcliff is unable to overcome the thirst for revenge; after Katherine betrayed him by marrying Linton - the inhabitant of the "serene" Starling Grange, revenge in Heathcliff's heart constantly takes the place of love. “Oh, you see, Nellie, he will not relent for a moment to save me from the grave. That's how he loves me!” exclaims Katherine herself.

But even after the death of his beloved, Heathcliff does not humble himself: “God grant her to wake up in torment! - he shouted with terrible force, and stamped his foot, and groaned in an unexpected fit of indomitable passion. - She's still a liar! Where's she? Not there - not in heaven ... and did not die - so where? Oh, you said my suffering meant nothing to you! I have only one prayer - I keep repeating it until my tongue ossifies: Catherine Earnshaw, find no rest while I live! Virginia Woolf wrote that "in literature there is no more living male image". But this image is not just “alive”, it is unusual, it is mysterious and infinitely contradictory. However, like the rest of the novel. Somerset Maugham, who praised Wuthering Heights very highly, spoke of the image of the protagonist as follows: “I think that Emily put all of herself into Heathcliff. She endowed him with her furious rage, her violent repressed sexuality, her passionate unquenchable love, her jealousy, her hatred and contempt for the human race, her cruelty ... ". Be that as it may, this extraordinary image cannot leave the reader indifferent. However, these are all the images of the novel.

A modern reader will surely have a completely logical question: is it possible to learn something for yourself from this middle-aged novel? It would seem that almost everything in our lives has changed during this time: is it worth looking for answers to questions that concern us in a book written more than 150 years ago? Costs. More like it's worth it.

This is the indescribable charm of Wuthering Heights. The book makes us understand that some of the laws that act on people are eternal - they do not disappear over time and are completely independent of the change of eras, regimes and systems. Emily Bronte seems to show a natural person, a person who has thrown back the veil of a certain time. “She frees life from the dominion of facts,” notes the same Virginia Woolf. If you think about it, the novel does not even have a detailed plot and an open, sharp conflict. The topic of social inequality is not properly developed, and, in general, no one prevented Katherine from connecting with Heathcliff. Thus, in the novel we do not see an open public confrontation and, most importantly, all the characters are free to choose their own path. Even the gruesome, brutal scenes of Kathy's imprisonment in Heathcliff's house are, in fact, the result of her own careless behavior. She, burning with curiosity, ran away from home and went of her own free will to the Wuthering Heights estate, went without any coercion, without any direction from someone else, as if some unknown forces forced her to do this. In general, this amazing freedom and total disobedience to someone else's will of all the characters in the novel is striking. They build their own destiny, making fatal mistakes or unraveling the most difficult situations in life (as Catherine Jr. did at the end of the novel). We can say that this is a novel about fate, which a person sometimes cannot resist.

So, here are the two main themes of the novel, the two main words around which the narrative of Wuthering Heights unfolds - inexplicable love and fate. But I would add one more thing - forces beyond the control of man.

We can deny the logic of Emily Bronte, which is expressed in the novel rather unconsciously and spontaneously (“Wuthering Heights” is completely devoid of moralizing, which was also noticed by English writer and literary critic Victor Soden Pritchet), we can even be frightened by this mystical chill penetrating the book, but it will simply not be possible to deny all its strength and power. The book is truly energizing. You can agree with it or disagree with it, but it is still impossible not to fall under its influence.

Without a doubt, this novel is a mystery that can be pondered endlessly. A novel that overturns all the usual ideas about Good and Evil, Love and Hate. Emily Bronte makes the reader look at these categories with a completely different look, she mercilessly mixes seemingly unshakable layers, while shocking us with her impartiality. Life is wider than any definitions, wider than our ideas about it - this thought confidently breaks through the text of the novel. And if the reader manages, like me, to catch this energy message, then acquaintance with this novel will be truly unforgettable.

The writer, having created her only work, at the same time shrouded him in such a mystery that even an inexperienced reader cannot but stop in thought - “Wuthering Heights” will simply force you to think about his poetics, since the author himself is detached and impartial, his subjective “I ”is silent, bringing the story to the reader's judgment. Emily Brontë, leaving the housekeeper Nellie Dean and Mr. Lockwood to lead the narration, hides behind seven locks - we cannot fully understand her relationship to the created characters. What is it: hate or love? Somerset Maugham remarked that "by first entrusting the story to Lockwood, and then having him listen to Mrs. Dean's story, she [Emily Brontë] hid, so to speak, behind a double mask." He goes on to argue that narrating from the point of view of an omniscient author "would mean contact with the reader, unbearably close to her morbid sensibility." “I think that her tough and uncompromising principles would rebel if she decided to tell this frantic story from her own face.” Most likely, Emily Bronte did not want to and, probably, could not finally determine her attitude towards the incredible characters she created. She simply poses a question, but leaves the reader to answer it. Although, on the other hand, how, in general, can anyone fully comprehend these eternal cosmic themes touched upon in the novel? The task set by the author is too ambitious, too large and difficult to solve it on our everyday scales. Depicting completely unimaginable passions, unconscious manifestations of human nature, showing the forces that are stronger than man and at the same time shrouding all this in some kind of impenetrable fog, deliberately confusing the reader, Emily Bronte left no doubt about only one thing - that these forces are higher and stronger than us. And the plot of Wuthering Heights, all its impulsive and impulsive text, prove this statement, and, as I see it, this is precisely its mysterious strength, charming mysticism and inexplicable charm.

P.S. There are over 15 adaptations of Wuthering Heights, including the famous 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. In 2010, the premiere of the next film adaptation is scheduled in the UK.

1. Bataille J. Emily Bronte and Evil// Critic. - 1957 (No. 117).
2. Wolf W. Essay. - M.: ed. AST, 2004. S. 809-813.
3. Charlotte Bronte and another lady. Emma // The Brontë Sisters in England. - M.: ed. AST, 2001.
4. Mitrofanova E. The fatal secret of the Bronte sisters. - M.: ed. Terra-Book Club, 2008.

This book About this great book.

She made me so powerful emotions if only because it was perfect for my taste. Dark, somewhat gothic. Excellent monologues, manner of narration. And most importantly, the characters. Ah, what characters. Not a perfect couple of lovers, not naive, pure feelings. Everything is gloomy, oppressive, and from this undoubtedly enchants. This is a story of passion, obsession, cruelty and all-consuming, terrible, painful love. There are few such stories, and Wuthering Heights is remarkable for this.

The screen adaptation, alas, does not leave such a deep impression. And it's not even about the eternal "but the book is better." After all, you can, you can film it correctly, with feeling. Take at least the same "Atonement". After all, fantastic accuracy, attention to detail and images. But no. Alas. With this screen version, this principle did not work.

Where is the mistake? Why didn't I feel that spark that should respond at the sight of such feelings? Let's figure it out.

Atmospheric. In general, is observed. The colors are quite stormy, gloomy. The music fits perfectly. Again, we make allowances for 1992, and in general it is difficult to assess objectively. Therefore, let's move on to the most interesting. Screenplay and acting.

Melting such a book into a two-hour movie is no easy task. It is clear that much will be missed and pushed aside. First, I was confused by the fact that Kathy and Heathcliff's childhood story was compressed. After all Katy Katy this is a stepped image, whose formation is interesting to observe from childhood, and the viewer is inadvertently deprived of this opportunity. Secondly, even if we omit the chronological messes why reshape Katie like that? Why remove her character, her behavior? Where did her selfish manners, hysterical fits disappear? Where did the scene where Edgar proposes to her after another Kathy tantrum go? Well, and most importantly, Cathy's seizure after a quarrel between Edgar and Heathcliff, where is her delirium during her illness? All the colors of the character were simply taken and erased, they removed that important component that Katy did - That Katy. She became a faceless, dry, incomprehensible porcelain doll. Her unbridledness, demonstrativeness, egoism, passion are gone. Sadly, very sadly, but I will return to this below.

The story of Catherine Jr., Hariton and Linton was reduced to the limit, well, yes, this is understandable screen time. But some indistinct nonsense came out, honestly. Okay, even Katherine and Khariton. But Linton! Character characteristic, although completely disgusting. No, only a mention remains of him.

Well, the finale Heathcliff's departure to his Katie is filmed very feignedly lousy. A completely unnecessary moment (it would be better if the film was spent on Kathy's epic seizure).

And now the actors. Ralph Fiennes one of the reasons why the film is worth watching at all. Here it is My Heathcliff. Perfect, 100% hit. He doesn’t even need to say anything special just walk, be silent and look with his famous unblinking gaze. But Fiennes is luxurious, powerfully playing out all the nuances of his character, and Heathcliff comes to life. It is voluminous, noticeable, strong. Amazing. His cold gaze is something completely separate from him, living, magnetic and magnificent. I take off my hat, which I don't have. Another great role from a great actor. Juliette Binoche Here in this case, just completely past the cash register. Not only was the heroine herself redrawn, but also played by her detached (frostbitten, but I'm a decent girl) Binoche plays. If she still somehow looks like the daughter of Edgar and Kathy, then she plays Kathy herself very badly. Flat, cold, porcelain, not only was Katie deprived of her most characteristic moments, but Juliette also deprived her of at least the slightest emotional background. She seems to walk the entire film in a dream, occasionally waking up, and remembering that she still needs to play. Katy must be bright. Binoche mixed it with storm gray, depriving the lightning flashes of madness completely.

Janet McTeer good, her Ellen Dean is different, of course, from the book but it is entirely the merit of the screenwriter. The actress is quite convincing, although there is nothing complicated in the character and really.

From the caste there is even more and there is no one to distinguish. Fortunately, the writers did not let their characters at least a little looming in front of the audience. Edgar turned out to be nothing (he even caring father they didn’t show who he was), Isabella as a whole is nothing, because she didn’t shine in the book either. Linton would have looked pretty good if he'd been given a little space. In short, it all comes down to one thing. All minor characters were hacked to death with Katie at the same time. There are almost no complaints about Heathcliff.

In general, it is difficult to evaluate, because "the book is better." But this is the case when all the changes would be forgivable if the true Katie remained in the film. But this is a minus that is difficult to ignore.

As opposed to amazing Fiennes, and this review is entirely dedicated to him and his gorgeous look

Feeling an urgent need to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the London world and fashionable resorts, Mr. Lockwood decided to settle for a while in the countryside. He chose as the place of his voluntary seclusion the old manor house, Skvortsov Manor, which stood among rolling moorlands and swamps. northern England. Having settled in his new place, Mr. Lockwood thought it fit to pay a visit to the owner of the Starlings and his only neighbor, Squire Heathcliff, who lived about four miles away, at the estate called Wuthering Heights. The host and his dwelling made a somewhat strange impression on the guest: a gentleman in dress and manners, Heathcliff's appearance was a pure gypsy; his house looked more like the harsh dwelling of a simple farmer than the estate of a landowner. In addition to the master, the grumbling old servant Joseph lived on Wuthering Heights; young, charming, but somehow excessively harsh and full of undisguised contempt for everyone, Katherine Heathcliff, daughter-in-law of the owner; and Hareton Earnshaw (this name Lockwood saw engraved next to the date "1500" above the entrance to the estate) - a rustic-looking fellow, a little older than Catherine, looking at whom one could say with certainty only that he was neither a servant nor a master here son. Intrigued, Mr. Lockwood asked the housekeeper, Mrs. Dean, to satisfy his curiosity and tell him the story. strange people who lived on Thunder Pass. The request was addressed to the right address, for Mrs. Dean was not only an excellent storyteller, but also a direct witness to the dramatic events that made up the history of the Earnshaw and Linton families and their evil genius- Heathcliff.

The Earnshaws, said Mrs. Dean, had lived in Wuthering Heights of old, and the Lintons in Starling Grange. Old Mr Earnshaw had two children, a son Hindley, the eldest, and a daughter Katherine. One day, returning from the city, Mr. Earnshaw picked up a ragged gypsy kid on the road, dying of hunger, and brought him into the house. The boy went out and was christened Heathcliff (subsequently, no one could say for sure whether it was a first name, a surname, or both at once), and it soon became obvious to everyone that Mr. Earnshaw was much more attached to the foundling than to his own son. Heathcliff, whose character was by no means dominated by the most noble features, shamelessly used this, childishly tyrannizing Hindley in every possible way. With Catherine, Heathcliff, oddly enough, struck up a strong friendship.

When old Earnshaw died, Hindley, who had by then lived in the city for several years, came to the funeral not alone, but with his wife. Together they quickly set up their own rules on Wuthering Heights, and the young owner did not fail to cruelly recoup for the humiliation that he once endured from his father's favorite: he now lived in the position of almost a simple worker, Katherine also had a hard time in the care of the close-minded evil hypocrite Joseph ; her only joy, perhaps, was her friendship with Heathcliff, which little by little grew into a love that was still unconscious to young people.

In the meantime, two teenagers also lived on the Skvortsov Manor - the master's children Edgar and Isabella Linton. Unlike the savages of their neighbors, these were real noble gentlemen - well-mannered, educated, perhaps overly nervous and arrogant. An acquaintance could not fail to take place between the neighbors, but Heathcliff, a rootless plebeian, was not accepted into the Linton company. That would be nothing, but from some point on, Katherine began to spend time with Edgar with undisguised great pleasure, neglecting her old friend, and even, at times, mocking him. Heathcliff vowed terrible revenge on young Linton, and it was not in the nature of this man to throw words to the wind.

Time passed. Hindley Earnshaw had a son, Hareton; the boy's mother fell ill after the birth and never got up again. Having lost the most precious thing in his life, Hindley surrendered and sank before his eyes: he disappeared in the village for days on end, returning with a drunken, irrepressible rampage terrified the household.

The relationship between Catherine and Edgar gradually became more and more serious, and so, one fine day, the young people decided to get married. This decision was not easy for Katherine: she knew in her heart and soul that she was doing wrong; Heathcliff was the center of her greatest thoughts, those without whom the world is unthinkable for her. However, if she could liken Heathcliff to underground stone layers on which everything rests, but whose existence does not bring hourly pleasure, she compared her love for Edgar with spring foliage - you know that winter will not leave a trace of her, and yet you cannot don't enjoy it.

Heathcliff, barely aware of the upcoming event, disappeared from Wuthering Heights, and for a long time nothing was heard of him.

Soon the wedding was played; leading Catherine to the altar, Edgar Linton considered himself the happiest of people. The young ones lived at Starling Grange, and anyone who saw them at that time could not help but recognize Edgar and Catherine as an exemplary loving couple.

Who knows how long the serene existence of this family would continue, but one fine day a stranger knocked at the gates of the Starlings. Heathcliff was not immediately recognized in him, for the former uncouth youth appeared now as a grown man with a military bearing and the habits of a gentleman. Where he was and what he did in those years that had passed since his disappearance remained a mystery to everyone.

Katherine and Heathcliff met like old good friends, Edgar, who had previously disliked Heathcliff, his return caused displeasure and anxiety. And not in vain. His wife suddenly lost peace of mind, so carefully protected by him. It turned out that all this time Catherine had been executing herself as the culprit of the possible death of Heathcliff somewhere in a foreign land, and now his return has reconciled her with God and humanity. A childhood friend became even more dear to her than before.

Despite Edgar's displeasure, Heathcliff was received at Starling Grange and became a frequent visitor there. At the same time, he did not at all bother to observe conventions and decency: he was harsh, rude and straightforward. Heathcliff did not hide the fact that he returned only to take revenge - and not only over Hindley Earnshaw, but also over Edgar Linton, who took his life with all its meaning. He bitterly reproached Katherine for the fact that he, a man with capital letter, she preferred the weak-willed nervous slobber; Heathcliff's words hurt her soul.

To everyone's bewilderment, Heathcliff settled on Wuthering Heights, which had long since turned from a landowner's house into a den of drunkards and gamblers. The latter was to his advantage: Hindley, who had lost all the money, gave Heathcliff a mortgage on the house and estate. Thus he became the owner of the entire property of the Earnshaw family, and the legitimate heir of Hindley - Girton - was left penniless.

Heathcliff's frequent visits to Starling Manor had one unexpected consequence - Isabella Linton, Edgar's sister, fell head over heels in love with him. Everyone around tried to turn the girl away from this almost unnatural attachment to a man with the soul of a wolf, but she remained deaf to persuasion, Heathcliff was indifferent to her, for he did not care about everyone and everything except Catherine and his revenge; so he decided to make Isabella the instrument of this revenge, to whom his father, having bypassed Edgar, bequeathed the Starling Manor. One fine night, Isabella ran away with Heathcliff, and as time passed, they turned out to be husband and wife at Wuthering Heights. There are no words to describe all the humiliations to which Heathcliff subjected his young wife, and who did not think to hide from her true motives their actions. Isabella silently endured, wondering in her heart, who is really her husband - a man or a devil?

Catherine Heathcliff had not seen since the day of his escape with Isabella. But one day, having learned that she was seriously ill, he, in spite of everything, appeared in Skvortsy. A painful conversation for both, in which the nature of the feelings nourished by Catherine and Heathcliff for each other was completely revealed, turned out to be the last for them: on the same night, Catherine died, giving life to the girl. The girl (she, grown up, was seen by Mr. Lockwood at Wuthering Heights) was named after her mother.

Catherine's brother, robbed by Heathcliff Hindley Earnshaw, soon died too - he got drunk, in literally, to death. Even earlier, the stock of patience of Isabella was exhausted, who finally ran away from her husband and settled somewhere near London. There she had a son, Linton Heathcliff.

Twelve or thirteen years passed, during which nothing disturbed the peaceful life of Edgar and Cathy Linton. But then the news of Isabella's death came to Starling Manor. Edgar immediately went to London and brought her son from there. She was a spoiled creature, inherited sickness and nervousness from her mother, and cruelty and diabolical arrogance from her father.

Cathy, in many ways similar to her mother, immediately became attached to her new-found cousin, but the very next day Heathcliff appeared at the Grange and demanded to give her son back. Edgar Linton, of course, could not object to him.

The next three years passed quietly, for all communication between Wuthering Heights and Starling Grange was forbidden. When Kathy was sixteen, she finally made it to the Pass, where she found two of her cousins, Linton Heathcliff and Hareton Earnshaw; the second, however, she hardly recognized as a relative - he was painfully rude and uncouth. As for Linton, like her mother once, Cathy convinced herself that she loved him. And although the insensitive egoist Linton was not able to return her love, Heathcliff intervened in the fate of young people.

He had no feelings for Linton in the least reminiscent of his father's, but in Cathy he saw the reflection of the features of the one who had dominated his thoughts all his life, the one whose ghost haunted him now. Therefore, he conceived that both Wuthering Heights and Starling Grange, after the deaths of Edgar Linton and Linton Heathcliff (both of whom were already breathing their last), passed into the possession of Cathy. And for this, the children had to be married.

And Heathcliff, against the will of Cathy's dying father, arranged their marriage. Edgar Linton died a few days later, and Linton Heathcliff soon followed.

So there are three of them left: the obsessed Heathcliff, who despises Hareton and does not find control over Cathy; the boundlessly arrogant and wayward young widow Cathy Heathcliff; and Hareton Earnshaw, a poor last ancient family, naively in love with Katie, who mercilessly treated her illiterate hillbilly cousin.

Such a story was told to Mr. Lockwood by old Mrs. Dean. The time came, and Mr. Lockwood decided at last to part with the village seclusion, as he thought, forever. But a year later, he again found himself passing through those places and could not help visiting Mrs. Dean.

During the year, it turns out, a lot has changed in the lives of our heroes. Heathcliff is dead; before his death, he completely lost his mind, could neither eat nor sleep, and still wandered through the hills, calling on the ghost of Catherine. As for Cathy and Hareton, the girl gradually abandoned her contempt for her cousin, warmed up to him, and at last reciprocated his feelings; the wedding was to be played on New Year's Eve.

In the village cemetery, where Mr. Lockwood went before leaving, everything told him that, no matter what trials fell to the lot of the people resting here, now they all sleep peacefully.

Emily Bronte's only book has become a tabletop for several generations of girls and girls who dreamed of romantic love. And let the final of this beautiful story gloomy, the main characters have many shortcomings, and the described landscapes sin with monotony and boredom, but while reading the plot does not let go for a minute, and when you close the book, you want to fall in love with all your heart in order to experience all those conflicting emotions that Heathcliff.

about the author

Emily Brontë was the middle of three sisters. She received a good education, but she did this at large intervals, since her financial situation and health did not always allow her to attend school. With her sisters Charlotte and Emily, the writer was quite close, but the family noted that she had such traits as isolation, straightforwardness and mysticism. She had no other close friends, but she did not seek to find them. In addition to doing housework, Emily taught at a school that was close to her home.

Many love Brontë's masterpiece Wuthering Heights. But she also wrote poetry, which was appreciated in literary circles and put on a par with Byron and Shelley. Unfortunately, the already difficult and gloomy life of the girl was short-lived. At the age of 27, at the funeral of her brother, she caught a cold and developed consumption. They couldn't help her. And her creative heritage was recognized only after her death thanks to the efforts of Charlotte.

So, the novel "Wuthering Heights". A brief summary, or, if you like, a free retelling, will not be able to convey a three-dimensional picture, but we hope it will interest readers.

Introduction, or plot

Thunder Pass is a love story. But not about those wonderful elevated feelings that make people be better, kinder, brighter towards others, but about passion that absorbs everything around and erases the human face. In the center of the plot is the history of the Earnshaw and Linton families, shown through the prism of the relationship between the main characters. The novel takes place in England in the 18th century. The plot of the story begins at the moment when a wealthy landowner brings home a gypsy boy about ten years old and announces that from now on he will live with his family. Of course, the household was not happy with such a prospect, but they had to put up with it. Esquire already had two children: Katherine and Hindley. The boy was the eldest in the family and was supposed to inherit the estate along with the entire fortune.

After they peaceful life was destroyed by the appearance of Heathcliff, a sad event follows: the mother of the family, Mrs. Earnshaw, dies, which greatly affects the health of the owner of the house. The friendship between Kathy and the foundling quickly develops into a love that frightens them. But acquaintance with the neighbors from Starling Cape dilutes the girl's social circle somewhat, and she sees an alternative in the young, educated and handsome Edgar Linton, who also claims her attention. Hindley goes to college, and after a short period of time, Mr. Earnshaw dies of a heart attack, and Hindley returns home with his family. The future of Heathcliff is put an end to, because the boys have disliked each other since childhood, and now that they have become master and servant, the relationship has become more than strained.

Difficult choice

Catherine, seeing the humiliation that her lover has to endure, decides to marry Linton so that Heathcliff has financial support. But her plan failed, because immediately after the matchmaking, the young man disappeared without a trace and appeared only after three long years. He looked, talked and behaved like a gentleman, and having money made him a good match for any girl, but love does not die just because it was neglected.

A few months later, Katerina, being pregnant, begins to show signs of mental disorder: she talks to herself, tantrums happen to her, she wants to see Heathcliff all the time, and her husband tries to prevent this. Ultimately after long stay in the cold, the expectant mother fell ill with a fever and died after a premature birth, and Edgar and Heathliff mourned her.

Heathcliff Family Life

Isabella Linton, Edgar's sister, falls in love with the gloomy and reclusive Heathcliff and marries him. But not having lived with her husband even for a year, the girl runs away from him to a neighboring county, where she learns terrible news - she carries a child under her heart. The boy was born weak and sickly, and after the death of his mother went to live in Wuthering Heights. The novel continues to develop in a kind of absurd spiral: the daughter of the Lintons falls in love with the son of Heathcliff and marries him. This finally knocks the ground out from under her father's feet, and Edgar dies after a short illness.

Ending and final

At the end of the story, Heathcliff becomes rich, but his heart remains black. He never forgave anyone for the humiliation he suffered as a child. Hindley has long been buried in the family churchyard, and his son does the dirty work at Wuthering Heights. Catherine's daughter is now Heathcliff's daughter-in-law, but she never knew happiness in marriage, because her husband is seriously ill, capricious and has the same unbearable character as her father. However, it was short lived. Becoming a widow, she plunges into herself and stops responding to the world around her.

Acquaintance with the characters of Bronte's novel "Wuthering Heights" occurs just at this period of their life. And the reader will recognize the previous events in the retelling of the housekeeper of the Earnshaw family, Helen Dean. She entertains with stories of her new owner, the tenant of Starling Cape. In fact, Helen herself writes a novel called Wuthering Heights, summary whom Mr. Lockwood recognizes, who appeared in those parts shortly before the death of Heathcliff.

Be that as it may, having gone through so much torment on earth, wishing death to all his enemies and their children, Heathcliff dies and reunites with Katherine, never to let her go again. This event allows young Khariton Earnshaw, Hindley's son, to show his feelings for Katherine Linton and put an end to the family feud.

Love story

Reading "Wuthering Heights", a summary of which is given above, you understand how multifaceted and all-consuming love can be. She pushed Cathy and Heathcliff to do terrible things so that others could feel pain and bitterness the way they did. Wanting to help her beloved, Miss Linton marries another, hoping for understanding from Heathcliff. He, trying to get a decent position in society, becomes even more cruel and prudent. "Wuthering Heights", where love, birth and death came uninvited and left as they pleased, became the site of a tragedy. Revenge should be cold, but in this case love always warmed her to a boil. These two were able to show how strong a passion can be, which cannot be destroyed, even if they live apart, even if they cause each other suffering, even after death.

Screen adaptations

Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights is an outstanding book in many ways, and it has proved difficult to make a film based on it. Beginning in 1920, films were released in English, French and Spanish. All of them somehow remembered the audience. The main problem for the actors was the emotional part that Wuthering Heights required. The best film adaptation, according to the audience, was filmed in 2009. Not everyone agrees with this, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

critics

They were quite suspicious of the novel at the time of its first edition. Critics considered it too dark, grotesque and mystical, not at all suitable for young girls to read. But after Emily's death, the book was republished and received the first positive reviews. "Wuthering Heights" (the analysis of specialists was scrupulous) turned out to be worth reading and was much deeper than it seemed at first glance. This even noted what at that time meant praise of the highest standard.

Public acceptance

After only a century and a half, Wuthering Heights, quotes from which romantic youth actively borrows, has become studied in schools and universities, some are trying to repeat storylines young talented writers, and the directors do not give up trying to make a decent film adaptation. It is not known whether Emily Bronte wanted this, but for many, the concept of strong and all-consuming love is associated not with Romeo and Juliet, but with Heathcliff and Cathy. Wuthering Heights Mansion, novel of the main characters, English nature- everything gives a special charm to this work.

Afterword

"Wuthering Heights" is a book that absorbs the reader, immersing him in a whirlpool of events against the backdrop of a beautiful, but rough nature. It is not completely clear why the young girl came up with just such a plot for the novel. What motivated her to write such a gloomy thing? Her life was bleak, and romantic relationships are not mentioned anywhere, but the essence of love, its heat, passion and torment are conveyed very naturally. The novel "Wuthering Heights", a summary of which, we hope, will give food for thought and, of course, to get acquainted with the full plot, is definitely recommended for reading. Fortunately, now you can meet both audio performances and electronic books, and paper copies available.