Why in the world would we read this?! A tirade of mental illness, and forced upon teenagers which already have the highest suicide risk of any population? Whose great idea was this?
I get the attraction. It's much like Twilight but classier. To be loved so ardently, so singularly, like the rest of the world didn't exist; I get that. We would all wish to be the bearers and recipients of such strong love, if it were not by combination with abuse and a vulnerability to mental illness turned into a self-destructive torrent of angst.
There wouldn't be a story if nobody did anything stupid. And some stupid things were done, by Heathcliff yes but mostly by Catherine. I mean really girl. Pick. And when you do be sure to let us know, quell the confusion.
Now here's what gets me. Their attraction is developed because they grow up with each other and only each other. No outside influence. Fine. But then they are both exposed to "society". Catherine meets Edgar, becomes a lady, and learns to love someone else without being able to break her old attachment. But then Heathcliff gets many years and many acquaintance's worth of worldly experience, yet he is the one that is unable to form new attachments? There are psychiatric red flags all over this book; such a situation would not be possible between two healthy, mentally stable adults.
But then that raises the question; will the mentally stable ever be able to feel the overwhelming, singular passion and devotion to one other person, a love so strong that it blacks out all the world except you two? Is this broad range of emotion only achievable at the expense of chronic childhood abuse, neglect and an interminable feeling of not belonging? Catherine's love drives her to kill herself through neglect of food and shelter. If I am not capable of foregoing food and shelter because of my overwhelming desire for another person, then is my love really so strong?
Insanity and genius, insanity and inspirational love, worthy of legends; they all seem to go together.
So tell me, what is sanity, and if I must give up genius and overwhelming passion to have it, do I want it?
