Wuthering Heights story
Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American romantic period drama film directed by William Wyler, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and David Niven, and based on the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only 16 of the novel's 34 chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston (uncredited). The supporting cast features Flora Robson and Geraldine Fitzgerald.
29 total · 4 choice · 16 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with heartbreak | choice | Cathy and Heathcliff were both heartbroken in different ways. She when he finally ran away. He when he understood her intention to marry someone else. Heathcliff chastised her on her deathbed for breaking his heart, using precisely those words. |
| hatred | choice | Isabella spelled out that Heathcliff was consumed with hatred and that it had poisoned his whole existence. Heathcliff seethed with resentment of his more fortunate peers. When young Hindley hit him with a rock he swore he'd show them up one day. After he came back wealthy from America, Cathy spelled out that he had become something dark and terrible. For example, Heathcliff took marked pleasure in denigrating Hindley, and he married Isabella only to spite Cathy. |
| star-crossed lovers | choice | Cathy and Heathcliff were lovers since a young age. But when her father, Mr. Earnshaw, and Heathcliff's protector died, Hindley inherited everything. Since Cathy and Heathcliff owned nothing of any note, their match became practically impossible in the context of the time. She married someone else while Heathcliff ran off to make his fortune in order to be worthy of her. |
| the desire for vengeance | choice | Heathcliff seethed with resentment of his more fortunate peers. When young Hindley hit him with a rock he swore he'd show them up one day. After he came back wealthy from America, Cathy spelled out that he had become something dark and terrible. For example, Heathcliff took marked pleasure in denigrating Hindley, and he married Isabella only to spite Cathy. |
| brother and sister | major | The central characters Hindley and Cathy and did not care much for one and other. |
| choosing between lovers | major | Cathy was torn between her love for the impoverished Heathcliff and her desire for the material comforts would come with marrying the wealthy Edgar Linton. |
| coping with the death of a lover | major | Heathcliff and Edgar both coped with the death of their beloved Cathy. The entire story leads up to the darkness and brooding that came over Heathcliff after her passing. |
| cruelty | major | Hindley was cold and callous toward Heathcliff. Even though they had grown up together, Hindley made Heathcliff be his stable boy, and generally treated him as an outcast. When the tables were turned, Heathcliff was arguably more cruel to Hindley, and abetted his descent into alcoholism. |
| gender issue | major | A feminist viewing of the story might note how utterly dependent the women were on their male patriarchs. Cathy would be destitute if she left her brother's estate. Edgar spoke patronizingly to his sister, Isabella, when she defended Heathcliff and threatened to constrain her activities. |
| ghost | major | The ghost of Cathy believed to be a ghost haunting the premises of Wuthering Heights. |