Page 18 - GALIET ETERNITY´S LOVE´S Epitaph: Bronte IV
P. 18

he could escape, but he has too weak a will: yet his will is strong enough to obey, to deceive and to stay. Yet, nothing in the novel supposes that ‘by the characters being their intrinsic natures or essence,’ their existence is pre-determined by destiny under the umbrella of a metaphysical creator (Catherine does not desire heaven).
We sense that these characters, except for the Christian ones, are immanent and that their wills are still capable of exercising limited choices when ill provoked, except when Heatchliff locks Catherine and coerces her to marry Linton. Amorality and transcendence co- exist with morality and immanence in Heathcliff and Catherine’s love for one another. Their arresting oneness reminds us that no one can sell us love without its thorny existence. Most of all, Brontë teaches us that we must read Wuthering Heights with love, compassion and without prejudice for Heathcliff’s ‘other’ was, in childhood, “a strong-willed child, uncompromising as lamb, easy going, not insolent, not vindictive and capable of overcoming difficulties quietly” (30 and 31) who “said preciously little, and generally the truth” (30). We are prudently reminded that Heathcliff is consistent in childhood and consistent in adulthood, despite how we may wish to moralize his actions. Moreover, Heathcliff’s and Catherine’s deeds and passions do not spring from their destructive impulses or drives, but their loving drives become destructive because both have been diverted or frustrated 3⁄4 she by choice, he by the fate
• 18 •


































































































   16   17   18   19   20