Sometimes in life we are ordained to fall in love with someone whom we have never met personally…sounds unusual? Well when did love traverse usual path? Love is all about detours, diversion and digression from what society calls as normal. Well my life diverged from its mundane routine in 1997, when I met Heathcliff through the pages of my prescribed curriculum in high school. What an adrenaline rush, what a heady concoction of brute strength and masculinity that I came across for the first time in my teenage life. From my usual routine of trying to find something to admire amongst the gangly teenage boys in school what a refreshing change it was to imagine Heathcliff with his raw masculinity. I fell in love with the idea of love – I read and re-read the book every time to discover new facets to his personality. What appealed to me was the antithesis of cloyingly sweet things that Heathcliff represented- a brooding, ostracized Byronic hero. He held that magnetic dark charm that made him more charismatic than the supposed hero, Edgar Linton who was married to Catherine Earnshaw.

Heathcliff and Catherine complemented each other; their passion for each other defied any categorization. Heathcliff for me symbolized a free soul who refused to conform to the fetters of civilized society and its staid mannerisms. Catherine did try to fit in to the mould of a lady but her soul was equally wild as Heathcliff’s. Both marry other insipid characters but fail to squash their turbulent emotion for each other. Catherine and Heathcliff are mirror images of each other, one soul in two bodies- a mystical relationship. The description of Wuthering Heights, its geographical isolation, constantly exposed to wind and storm metaphorically depicts the turbulent emotions of the dwellers of the place. Heathcliff constantly fights his own demons, thriving on his lust for revenge which eventually dissipates before his death. He knew that with death he will eventually find lasting joy in the arms of Catherine. With his approaching death, he realized he needed to open the doors of his heart to let love seep in; he learnt the beauty of forgiveness.

Wuthering Heights is no mundane love story; the passion depicted is almost superhuman and cannot be bracketed into literary terms. The novel beautifully highlights the paradox that beauty dwells within darkness and pain sometimes can also bring joy. Through pain we learn the value of forgiveness. Wuthering Heights will always hold a special place in my heart as it opened my inner faculties to a whole new range of human emotions. For me every time I read this book I fall a little more in love with the brooding, intensely passionate, rustic Heathcliff. In this practical world, he made me believe that love without boundaries is perhaps possible and that gave me immense joy and coerced me to willingly suspend my disbelief in the power of love.

© Paromita Ojha 2017