Wuthering Heights
(Emily Brontë)

Emily Bronte, the author of Wuthering Heights, was born in 1818. Her mother died in 1821, when Emily was just three years old, and she and her sisters were raised by their religious aunt. Many critics speculate that it was this early exposure to fanatical Christianity that led to the creation of the character Joseph in Wuthering Heights.

The family grew up in the town of Hawork, which was settled in the moors. The sweeping Landscape would later become the inspiration for the setting of Wuthering Heights. Emily and her sisters grew up under a strict father, and so, to amuse themselves, they created imaginary worlds. They wrote stories, poems, and plays with their characters and wandered the landscape of the moors. It is not difficult to see the inspiration for Catherine and Heathcliff' childhood wanderings in Emily's history.

Emily grew up with a curious spirit and intelligent mind. Even though she tried her hand at going to school and being a teacher, she was a homebody and became homesick easily. This, however, did not stop her love of learning. She learned several languages and kept up her writing.

In 1847 Emily Bronte published her first and only novel, Wuthering Heights. Because she lived during a time of male dominated authors, she published Wuthering Heights under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell. Both names have the initials E.B. The novel received decidedly mixed reception because it was so incredibly different from anything else being published at the time. The critics felt as if the characters were un-relatable, and the harsher aspects of the novel painted a picture many did not want to see. The novel was brutal, cruel and conflicted, much like its two most famous characters: Catherine and Heathcliff. Even Emily's sister, Charlotte Bronte, who was also an author, did not fully understand Emily's motivations for creating such unlikeable characters.

There was one thing, however, that all the critics agreed on despite the novel's mixed reviews: the book left a powerful impression. Even though the characters were not popular, the women she-devils and the men monsters, people could not deny that the novel's passion and force was to be reckoned with. It is for this reason that Wuthering Heights came out of relative obscurity to become a modern literary classic. As literature developed and became more open, non-traditional stories such as Wuthering Heights could be taken in and explored.

One aspect of Wuthering Heights, however, is lost to many readers today because of the way the book is now published. In modern day, it is bought as a complete book, with no delineation other than chapter numbers. Originally, it was published in two separate halves with each half containing exactly seventeen chapters. The first half of the novel covered the story of Edgar, Isabella, Heathcliff, and Catherine. The second, Cathy, Hareton, and Linton. Although the first half is the most climactic and memorable, the second should not be overlooked because, without it, many of the main themes of the novel (including forgiveness, reflection, and duality) would not be fully realized.