Wuthering Heigths - We haven't yet found the perfect Heathcliff

friendlylady · 06-05-2012 10:11PM #1

I just love this novel "Wuthering Heights" though I have watched nearly all dramatisations I don't think we have found the "perfect" heathcliff they never seem to get him right. He is dark, cruel, violent he also loves Cathy with a passion. We are not meant to feel total sympathy for him just for his love for Cathy, yet all the actors so far seem to just look for sympathy and compassion I want to see a drama where Heathcliff is scary and violent and above all unlikeable yet know that he loves Cathy. Has anyone else thought this or have any ideas on the dramitisation of this wonderful novel.

MarchDub · 21-05-2012 06:38PM

friendlylady wrote: »

I just love this novel "Wuthering Heights" though I have watched nearly all dramatisations I don't think we have found the "perfect" heathcliff they never seem to get him right. He is dark, cruel, violent he also loves Cathy with a passion. We are not meant to feel total sympathy for him just for his love for Cathy, yet all the actors so far seem to just look for sympathy and compassion I want to see a drama where Heathcliff is scary and violent and above all unlikeable yet know that he loves Cathy. Has anyone else thought this or have any ideas on the dramitisation of this wonderful novel.

When Oscar Wilde was questioned about his novel The Picture of Dorian Grey and asked specifics about some of the hinted at aspects of Dorian's life, Wilde responded that 'everyone sees his own sins in Dorian Grey'. In other words, there's a variety of answers.

That I believe is the point about reading any work of fiction - we bring ourselves to the text, so each of us has a different view of what or who the character really is.

Edit: I should add that I think this is the great thing about reading fiction - it allows our imagination to flourish.

gaelicred · 12-07-2012 11:50PM

friendlylady wrote: »

I just love this novel "Wuthering Heights" though I have watched nearly all dramatisations I don't think we have found the "perfect" heathcliff they never seem to get him right. He is dark, cruel, violent he also loves Cathy with a passion. We are not meant to feel total sympathy for him just for his love for Cathy, yet all the actors so far seem to just look for sympathy and compassion I want to see a drama where Heathcliff is scary and violent and above all unlikeable yet know that he loves Cathy. Has anyone else thought this or have any ideas on the dramitisation of this wonderful novel.

I would say the closest so far was Olivier

friendlylady · 13-07-2012 09:11AM

gaelicred wrote: »

I would say the closest so far was Olivier

Oh yes agreed,

christ on a bike! · 13-07-2012 11:13PM

I really cannot understand why people love Wuthering Heights!

I understand it is subjective, like all matters of taste but just cannot understand it. I do think it is well written, and I loved the imagery, but I just don't see the romance and certainly cannot understand why Heathcliffe is hero/anti-hero/whatever.

He is pretty messed up, and women loving that is very stereotypical. And all the ladies in the book are mental weaklings! Nothing like any of the women in my life, all of whom love the book. If it were a real life situation they would find it pathetic, but I suppose that's just it, it's a bit of fantasy.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 23-07-2012 03:45PM

christ on a bike! wrote: »

I really cannot understand why people love Wuthering Heights!

I understand it is subjective, like all matters of taste but just cannot understand it. I do think it is well written, and I loved the imagery, but I just don't see the romance and certainly cannot understand why Heathcliffe is hero/anti-hero/whatever.

He is pretty messed up, and women loving that is very stereotypical. And all the ladies in the book are mental weaklings! Nothing like any of the women in my life, all of whom love the book. If it were a real life situation they would find it pathetic, but I suppose that's just it, it's a bit of fantasy.

I loved the book, but not in the way most people seem to. I didn't see it as a great romance, it was more like a psychological thriller. Heathcliff was probably a borderline sociopath. Cathy was a full on nut job. The loved each other very much and most of what happened was based on him only hearing half a conversation between Cathy and Nelly about how marrying Heathcliff would be beneath her. This made me feel some sympathy for them, but their love crossed over to creepy obsession at times.
I much preferred the second half of the book after Cathy died. Young Catherine had elements of her mother in her and Heathcliff tried to destroy her too, but failed. It often annoys me when this bit gets left out of adaptations.

I recently watched Andrea Arnold's adaptation from last year. I was so excited about this when I read about it, but it was just absolutely terrible. One of the worst adaptations of a book I've ever seen. Even worse than the BBC's recent Great Expectations. I could see what they were trying to do with it, and I admire them for attempting it, but the execution was lacking, as was the acting talent.

To get back on point, I agree with MarchDub, when reading a book we all project a little of ourselves onto the characters, we connect with different things and recognise different bits of ourselves in them. This makes it pretty impossible for casting directors to get these things spot on, especially for a character like Heathcliff who splits opinion so much.

Wuthering Heigths - We haven't yet found the perfect Heathcliff

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