Wurthering Heights Post #6: Why is the Novel Timeless?

The novel Wurthering Heights is indeed timeless. But why? We still read it today because of it's heartbreaking message of love and revenge. The two lovers, Heathcliff and Catherine, believe that they are supposed to be together forever when they are young. However, fate has a different plan. The two are ripped apart by social standards and people who oppose their relationship. This story is timeless because the darkness and disturbing fates of the characters. You can still learn to not seek revenge and it is better to have lost and loved, then to never love at all.

Heathcliff is timeless because he is the most effected by the conflict throughout the novel. He is bitter, angry, yet sad what his life has become. His revenge consumes him and he sets out to destroy the lives of the people who destroyed his. His brutal human savageness towards those people make him relate-able to the common reader who has ever felt jealousy or anger. When he was young however, he was happy and in love. I think that the transformation the character endured from happy and in love to hopeless and vengeful also makes him timeless. Catherine is also timeless because she is one of the main reasons for Heathcliff's sad life. When young, she befriended the oddball Heathcliff. She soon fell in love with him, but then grew to value different things as she was being educated on manners and etiquette. She then married a man of high class and died giving birth. She is timeless because she is sought after by Heathcliff throughout the whole novel, but is never acquired by him. That is what makes these characters timeless.

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Print.