Question of the Week ~ Wuthering Heights
May 29th, 2008 | By admin | Category: Question of the Week
So you don’t go stir crazy waiting for the Special Edition of Eclipse here are a few things you can do today:
Listen to our latest podcast, share your latest theory on our Theories page, or answer our Question of the week!
Bella sometimes, sees her life through the filter of the stories that she’s read. So it’s not that the story is actually that related to Wuthering Heights; it’s psychosomatic, it’s in her head. It’s how she sees herself. She has always read the story and seen the characters in a certain way, but as time goes on in Eclipse she more and more starts to see the bad aspects of this one character in herself and starts to realize how she’s doing things wrong and how she’s behaving badly. And so it’s just more about her idea of how she sees herself and how she relates to fictional characters. Bella compares herself to Catherine, a source of trouble and someone selfish.
Now onto the simillarities between Heatherine & Bedward. To quote “I think it’s something about the inevitability. How nothing can keep them apart - not her selfishness or his evil or even death in the end.” It’s also debatable that for both couples that love is their only redeeming quality.
Characters in “Wuthering Heights” set out to inflict pain on others, but that’s not the case with Edward and Bella in the “Twilight” series.
In “New Moon,” Edward left Bella to spare her what he thought would be inevitable pain. And Bella has been more than honest with Jacob about how her feelings for Edward wouldn’t change. Bella always has been concerned about causing others pain and did what she could to avoid it.
However, the same cannot be said for Jacob, who I feel closely resembles Heathcliff. He threatens in “Eclipse,” to get himself killed and basically blackmails Bella into admiting her attraction for him. Jacob’s refusal to leave Bella and her heart alone, causes her more pain.
Whereas Edward’s motives for leaving Bella were for her protection, Jacob’s disregard for Bella’s romantic choices shows his selfishness and immaturity. Jacob would rather win Bella and complete his own yearning than for her to be happy with Edward.
Maybe in “Breaking Dawn,” Jacob will take a clue from Heathcliff, put ting aside his competitive desires and vendetta, and will quit tormenting Bella.
The parallel I see is more along the lines of revenge. Heathcliff was so intent upon getting his vengeance when he returned to Wuthering Heights and that reminds me of Victoria.
When Heathcliff lost Catherine it eventually led him into madness. I think something similar happened when Victoria lost James and that’s what led her to create her army of newborns. When James was lost nothing mattered to Victoria except revenge.
That’s probably not the first thing that everyone else thought of in regards to parallels because there is so much more that can relate. I just thought I’d give the first one that came to mind.
o my gosh this is a hard one. I’ve never seen the movie and i haven’t read the book so i’ll just have to go from what stephenie says in eclipse. i might just have to go for the obvious.
apparently heathcliff left and eventually came back after catherine had moved on. this obviously reminds me of new moon. edward can also relate to heathcliff because in that one paragraph from WH in eclipse it says that heathcliff would never hurt whoever catherine moved on with because he wouldn’t want to hurt her. and apparently he drinks blood (lol jk) which also mentioned in that same paragraph.
the most important similarity is that bella’s copy of wuthering heights is really worn as i’m sure my copy of twilight will be in couple of years.
loved the podcast last week!
~ky
I’m really surprised Stephenie Meyer would even use such an insanely disturbing piece of work as an influence. In Wuthering Heights, Catherine and Heathcliff are insanely in love with each other, with an emphasis on “insanely.” There was absolutely nothing commendable about the two. They reminded me of wild savage beasts. Their relationship clearly isn’t healthy. While Edward and Bella also intensely love each other, it’s not psychotic like Catherine and Heathcliff. Also like Catherine and Heathcliff, it could be argued that Edward and Bella’s relationship isn’t healthy for either of them. Eclipse actually helped me understand Wuthering Heights, though. When Bella says maybe the reason she likes the book is because their love for each other is their ONLY redeeming quality, I finally understood the meaning of the book. Before, I had simply thought it was a disturbing book with insane characters who just liked to rip each other apart and no purpose. Although I still think it’s filled with just insane people hurting each other, I finally see a purpose.
I think Bella and Jacob would be closest to Catherine and Heathcliff. Jacob loves her in a sort of self-destructive way, not stopping to try and trick her, lay on guilt trips, etc. But in his strange way he does deeply love her.
And Catherine loves Heathcliff, too, as Bella finally admits she loves Jacob. But neither girl can let themselves choose these men. They both carry the guilt inside of them, letting the knowledge of the love eat them alive, but still knowing that they simply cannot be together forever.
As Bella chooses Edward and as Catherine chooses Edgar (Edward … hmm) both girls are pushing behind the dark, angry, but passionate hearts of Heathcliff/Jacob for the light. The contrast is that Bella loves Edward deeply and completely, while Catherine chooses Edgar for lesser reasons. But neither can put Heathcliff/Jacob out of the minds or out of their hearts and to differing degrees it breaks them both.
P.S. New to your site and the podcasts and LOVE THEM!!! Keep up the awesome work and it’s also nice to hear people that are married women like I am who can wholeheartedly live for these books.
I don’t really know the story of Wuthering Heights, but I do know this. Bella loves this story, and Edward does not understand why she likes it. She loves the love between the characters in the book, and I think the main character reminds her a bit of her love, Edward.
I think it’s cute how she woke up that one time and caught him reading it (or did he fold the book and she noticed?). Either way, she knew he started to read it. How cute??
This isn’t about the question but have you ever thought that the Volturi will hurt Bella for possibly kill her cause she told Jacob the secrets about the Vampires…?
in wuthering hieghts cathy loves two people heathcliff and a random whoes name escapes me just like eclipse where bella is in love with edward and jacob also in wuthering heights cathy loves heathcliff more than edgar (oooh i just remembered his name) just like bella loves edward more than jacob also cathys father likes edgar more than heathcliff and charlie likes jacob more than edward also heathcliff is crazy jelouse that cathy has fellings for heathcliff the only diferenc is that in wuthering heights cathy ends up with edgar (then heathcliff kills him) because of her fathers disaproval where as bella ignores charlies responce and follows her heart to edward (awwwww)
I think one of the primary parallels would have to be the way Bella’s choices make her future, for good or for bad…she realizes finally that she is making life or death decisions and that those choices are not to be made blithely. She has to CHOOSE to be THE anti-Cathy and let Jacob go his way, she has to choose not to hurt Edward with her “warped” friendship to Jacob. I think this is why we see in the end of Eclipse, a maturity, an “adult” Bella…she sees her “possible” self-destruction for what it is…posessiveness, that alone was the undoing of the characters in WH, she identifies that and chooses a different path from Cathy.
In Wuthering Heights, the characters are extremely self-centered. Cathy is horribly selfish and Heathcliff is…well, Heathcliff. I dont think that Bella and Edward are much like Cathy and Heathcliff at all. Bella and Edward think only of each other and the ones that they love, minus the fact that Edward was selfish in Twilight when he could not part with Bella before the connection got too deep.
The only similairity between these too books is Catherine’s struggle between Heathcliff and Edgar versus Bella’s struggle between Jacob and Edward. Catherine loves Heathcliff insanely loves her, too, but then there is Edgar, who her father approves of and who is wealthy and attentive to her every need. In New Moon, Bella is with Jacob (not yet in a relationship, but if Edward had stayed away if would’ve eventually happened), who her father approves of and who she could be happy and human with, but Edward is always there in the back of her mind. So in the end, Bella chooses Edward because, like Cathy and Heathcliff, they cannot be happy without each other.
But I’ve been wondering lately. Stephenie Meyer has parralled two of her books to great tradgedies such as Romeo and Juliet with New Moon and Wuthering Heights with Eclipse. Well, does that tell us something about Breaking Dawn? Hopefully, the story won’t end tragiclly.
Ok- I know you girls have lives and all but please do a special podcast all about the release of the first chapter of Breaking Dawn. I don’t have anyone else who reads it and I need some speculation! Please!!!
The Eclipse/Wuthering Heights parallel for me all stems from a quote from Catherine. She says that her love for Edgar Linton is like the foliage in the woods, and that time will change it. But her love for Heathcliff is like the rock beneath the earth, that it is not really what people would like to see, but it is necessary. She in the ends says that she IS Heathcliff.
The characters of wuthering heights do not really parallel those of Eclipse, but the love does. Bella loves Jacob and sees the potential she could have with him (human life, children, etc.) as Catherine sees her potential with Edgar. Bella loves Edward in a way that she could never love Jacob, just as Catherine loves Heathcliff .Their love is deeper than anything they could have possibly imagined and nothing, not even death, will separate them or diminishing their love, for they are part of one another.
And clearly, Bella isn’t nearly as stupid as Catherine, because she chooses Edward, even though she knows what she is giving up to be with him.
If I’m being honest I have to say I haven’t actually read the book but I get the gist
this one girl who is not exactly “kind” loves this guy who also is not exactly “knid”
I think from what I know(which is very little)
that it parallels jacob and bella’s realationship in the way that even though jacob can be annoying and pushy and stupid and disgusting and the list goes on
he can still love bella and in a way bella still loves him in a way even though he isn’t the best for her and he still loves her even though she is NOT good for him at all. Sorry I gave my veiw on something I knew nothing about:-)
I was most intrigued by Edward possibly reading the passage that was on the page left open. In this passage Heathcliff says, “i never would have banished him from her society as long as she desired his. The moment her regard ceased, I would have torn his heart out, and drank his blood! But, till then, I would have died by inches before I touched a single hair of his head!”
As long as Bella wanted to continue her friendship with Jacob, Edward would “deal” with it because it made her happy. The moment Jacob does anything to hurt Bella, Edward would step in and do something about it, even if it meant killing Jacob. Edward’s self control and love for Bella prevents him from harming Jacob.
Edward basically explains this to her when he tells her that he “trusts her judgement” about going to La Push to spend time with Jacob. Once she tells him that Jacob would “rather see her dead” then turn into a vampire, he replies, ” I could quite literally kill him for saying that you. I want to.”
This is a tough one! I think the main parallel is that both stories are about options and the choices the characters have to make.
Both Cathy and Bella are presented with two alternatives:
For Bella is to choose between Edward and Jacob and for Catherine is to choose between Heathcliff and Edgar. But is not only the decision as to who they want to be with, is also about choosing what kind of life they want to live.
On the one hand you have Jacob which you could say is the “safest” option like Edgar, and on the other hand you have Edward and Heathcliff which are rationally not the best option but with whom they can’t live without. Edgar offers Catherine the possibility of a good life, love, money, but her true love is Heathcliff. The same thing with Jacob; he offers her a human life, the possibility of a family, love; and also if she chooses him she would be able to keep her family and friends, but again, Edward is the one she can’t live without.
As for the main characters I think that they have nothing in common. The only thing that I find is similar is the way Edward/Bella and Heathcliff/Catherine feel for each other, and also the hate that Edward/Jacob and Heathcliff/Edgar have for each other. .
Another thought just came to me. The locations in the “Twilight” series and “Wuthering Heights” are alike in that they are characters themselves.
Forks is Cullen territory. La Push belongs to the werewolves. Wuthering Heights is home to all the Catherine/Heathcliff craziness.
All three places are encapsulated in their own worlds where it seems like other characters cannot enter, and the locations are separate from the way the rest of the world operates. They all have their own sense of time and rules that wouldn’t be understood or accepted by outsiders.
And I think it’s interesting how, according to stepheniemeyer.com, Stephenie Meyer initially called “Twilight,” “Forks.” That location definitely has a life of it’s own.
The two stories parallel in that they are both about choice and it’s aftermath. I can’t quote from WH because I have long ago lost my copy, but when I was in Junior High I must have read it a dozen times. In Eclipse, Bella worries that she is selfish like Cathy when she is torn between her feelings for Edward and Jacob. She doesn’t want to cause pain in either of them, but knows she can’t have it both ways. Of course, Bella is much more introspective than Cathy. To Bella, there’s not much of a choice. It will always be Edward. But in order to fully understand what she is giving up, she must fully acknowledge her feelings for Jacob. As far as I remember, Cathy chooses Edgar because it’s the easier path (as she sees it at the time). Edgar has money, property, education - everything Heathcliff doesn’t have. I don’t believe that Cathy fully comprehends that denying the one you love is like denying yourself - it kills you at the core.
I listened to your last podcast and I came up with something:
What if Laurent was trying to kill Bella because Irina(denali) ask him the favor.
Maybe she is in love with Edward and she hates Bella.
So now the denali clan and volturi will get together to destroy Carlisle clan on the one condition that Edward and Alice are not killed.
Or maybe Irina did love Laurent and now she’s plannig to kill Bella and Jacob’s pack.
So I think that volturi ans Denali clan Vs. Cullens and Jacob’s pack.
what do you guys think?
Ok, I just want to say that I’m 13 so my answer may not be as educated or as literate as others. I have read Wuthering Heights about 3 times and I would have to say that Bella does act like Cathy. Cathy is selfish, she chooses Edgar because he has money, power, and property. Which could also transfer into Edward, because he has all the things that Edgar has. Omigod, because of this (and within the fact that Cathy makes it fairly vocal to both men that her true love is Heathcliff) Bella could end up choosing Jacob! But Bella knows that she loves Edward to the ends of the earth, but she loves Jacob too. When SM compares the books she makes to sound that Edward is Edgar and Jacob is Heathcliff (for obvious reasons) but maybe its the other way around! Edward is Heathcliff with money and Jacob is a poor Edgar. Well my answer may have made zero sence but that what I got out of this. By the by I ♥ Kassie! She is my Idol! I also ♥ Kallie, but she’s too motherly for my taste!
I read wuthering heights right after finishing eclipse.
I think Heathcliff and Edward are very alike. with Heathcliff’s hate of Catherine’s other man, and with Heathcliffs somewhat dangerous atmosphere just like Edward. But like the book said there is no way that Edward or Bella could be that evil. Catherine and Bella don’t seem alike to me in anyway except maybe for the fact that Catherine does anything to hold on to Heathcliff.
I am so grateful to have found this site to read the comments. I am a latecomer to the series, having just finished the first three books, but they have impacted me deeply and strongly. I am so glad that I am not the only one who feels so strongly about these characters (and that I’m not the only thirty-something to be so deeply impacted). I honestly have to say that I have been consumed with fear since realizing the Wuthering Heights parallels and am desperately hoping (like Caroline’s comment below) that the parallels don’t foreshadow a tragic ending. I am a bit embarrassed that I am so deeply involved with these characters that I am fearful for what the author will do with them, fearful that she won’t honor them in the way I think they should be honored. I have never been so consumed with characters, and I have been a voracious reader my whole life (favorite: Jane Eyre). I know these are her characters, her creations, and yet I desperately fear what she will do with them. There are some things I just couldn’t bear and all I can do is hope that I can live with the direction the stories take (and how they resolve).
My friend was telling me earlier how she lieks the premise of the Twilight series, but hates Bella’s character. She says that Bella is so bland and inconsiderate at times. And that got me thinking.
At one point, Edward and Bella discuss Wuthering Heights, and how the characters seemingly “only redeeming quality” is their love. At points in time, we can see this ring true with Bella and Edward. When everything else about themselves may be against them, their love is the only thing that makes their struggles worthwhile.
To me Bella is far from bland. She is normal, she is average, she is someone everyone can relate to. I teach high school English and I can find at least a couple of girls in each one of my classes who could be Bella. That’s the genius of Stephanie Meyer: her characterization is so perfect that we feel we know Bella. We see “Bella” in our schools and neighborhoods.
In so many ways Eclipse is a coming-of-age book. Bella grows up and finally realizes in the end that it’s not all about her. Strong adult emotions have adult consequences and, just like anyone who has lived past the age of 30, she realizes is responsible for the pain and joy she gives others. She has to face the fact that by turning to Jacob in her hour of greatest need and pain, she produced feelings in him, like it or not. By facing the consequences of those feelings, she grows up and becomes an adult.
I question whether Catherine and Heathcliff ever manage to do this. While their love may be their only redeeming quality, their love is an odd sort of selfish love where no one mattered but the two of them. Bella recognizes her attachments and obligations to other people at the end of the book. As she says, “I want to do this right.” All that did was just endear her to me more. You go girl!
I have many opinions on this matter. But mainly I think that Jacob and Edward are both part Heathcliff and part Edgar. There are many reasons for this, but it would take too long to list them so you can figure them out on your own. =) And of course, Bella is Cathy.
As for what story Breaking Dawn will be based on, I have an amazing theory. I won’t say it yet, because it might partially spoil the book for you. But I’ll say this much: it’s a comedy, not a tragedy. Though I’m not so sure BD will follow suite regarding the mood…
I find it pretty clear - and now I understand why I, a 26 year old wife, mother, and teacher, love Twilight so much. Wuthering Heights is my favorite book, even my comfort book, strange as that may be, and Twilight has come to join it, now. Wuthering Heights was the greatest love story of its time, and I think that Twilight is taking its own place in that niche for us today. Maybe it’s a “tween” book, and maybe it’s about vampires, but it is a brilliant love story. I’m thinking of writing a scholarly article on it, but haven’t considered it long enough to find a proper publishing place. I think it’s a fabulous connection, and I think Stephenie Meyer for the gift of my favorite novel in a more modern and infinitely happier form.