Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a book that provided a stark contrast to the otherwise clean image of Victorian society. From its dark dealings with morality, mentality, and appearance, to its countless inspiration of various dramatizations, Wuthering Heights remains a classic to this day. Its dark romance and twisted obsessions have left many readers longing for more, and thus cemented its immortality in literature. 

The book begins by introducing a man named Lockwood. He is renting a manor house in England and meets his landlord, a wealthy man named Heathcliff, who lives in another manor called Wuthering Heights. Lockwood asks the housekeeper, Nelly, for details about Heathcliff. She then recounts her past as a servant to Heathcliff’s family, the Earnshaws. 

She remembers Heathcliff as a young orphan boy whom her employer adopted. Though Hindley Earnshaw, the son to Mr. Earnshaw, hated Heathcliff for his dark skin, Catherine, the daughter, cared for him. Eventually, Heathcliff earns the affections of Mr. Earnshaw. Hindley then leaves for college. Years later, when Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley returns with his wife, Frances, to collect his inheritance. However, because Hindley believes his father favored Heathcliff over himself, he decides to get revenge on Heathcliff. Meanwhile, Catherine falls in love with a man named Edgar and decides to marry him for social advantages. However, Catherine has also fallen in love with Heathcliff. When she marries Edgar, this causes Heathcliff to leave. Frances dies after childbirth, thus pushing Hindley to alcoholism.

After three more years have passed, Heathcliff decides to take revenge on Hindley. Once Hindley dies, Heathcliff takes over the manor. After pushing everyone away with his obsession and greed, Heathcliff is eventually driven mad by the thoughts of Catherine. There were times when he would even speak with what he thought to be her ghost, so much so that he finally killed himself. The book ends with Lockwood visiting his grave eight months later.

The lines between family and lovers and enemies are continually blurred in the book, with the most prominent example being Catherine and Heathcliff, who were, technically, adoptive siblings. In the book, Heathcliff pursued Catherine, so much so he drove himself insane. This caused many critics, scholars, and ordinary readers alike to contemplate on their relationship. Some believed them to be soulmates, while others believed that Catherine and Heathcliff’s love for one another was similar to that of a religion, willing to sacrifice anything and everything for one another. There are still some people who believed their love to be a sort of drug, forcing the two into madness that left Heathcliff alone in the end. Either way, their relationship was an interesting one, to say the least.

Wuthering Heights has been adapted into many mediums, with the earliest adaptation being in 1920. It has also been adapted into a television series, as well as a drama and a graphic novel. It has served as inspiration for other novels, such as The West Indian by Valerie Browne Lester, A True Novel by Mizuura Minae, and Changing Heaven by Jane Urquhart. The book has been studied by both students, scholars, and romanticists alike. Not only this, but the book was also admired by many, despite its darkness, and continues to be to this day.