So, is Heathcliff meant to be Black?
Could a theory about "Wuthering Heights" change my mind on my least favorite classic?
Because I have a Degree in Reading (better known as a Bachelor’s in English Literature) I have had to read my fair share of so-called “classics”. The vast majority are quite good, or at least respectable. But there is one novel that stuck with me because of how much I disliked it: Wuthering Heights.
To be fair, my dislike of Emily Bronte’s sole work is not purely her fault; people’s interpretation of Wuthering Heights holds the blame as well. Many people, even those who should know better, will tell you that Wuthering Heights is a tragic love story; Catherine’s death, then, symbolizes the importance of love despite the frailty of human life. This is, however, incorrect. The very idea of calling this novel a love story is incorrect. If anything, it is an anti-love story.
For those who have not read the novel, there are a few things that you should know; chief among them is that Catherine and Heathcliff, the romantic leads, are both terrible people. They are abusive and manipulative, and they serve as the villains of this story. That is the point of this story, and informs its greater idea: love is only as good as the people in love. When two good people fall in love, it is a good thing, but two evil people falling in love is a terrible one. Love is not a good thing in itself.
You may be saying to yourself, “Now, what does this have to do with anything? The title of this article is about Heathcliff being black, so what?” Well, if you are asking, I will presume that is because you haven’t read the novel. The characters of this story are all English nobility; Wuthering Heights is the name of their manor estate. That is why Heathcliff’s race may well be important; it would shift him from an aggressive, arrogant Englishman to a victim of the slave trade, rebelling against those who punished him for his race.
Heathcliff is adopted in the story; Mr. Earnshaw, Catherine’s father (yes, our romantic leads are adoptive siblings) “finds” him in Liverpool, and decides to take him home. I put “finds” in quotes here because, since Mr. Earnshaw was the only one present, we can take his words with a grain of salt. Heathcliff is described as “a dark-skinned gypsy, in aspect” and as having a “dark face and eyes”. It might just be that he is darker-skinned than other Europeans; he is called a “gypsy,” which would explain his complexion if true, but I don’t think this should be taken literally. None of the characters in the story, with the possible exception of Mr. Earnshaw, don’t know Heathcliffe’s racial background, so any description is only about his physicality rather than a literal identification of his race.
Notable is Heathcliff’s connection to Liverpool. Mr. Earnshaw went to Liverpool for business, and it was there that he met Heathcliff. The story was published in 1847, but the main story takes place in the 1770s, when slavery was alive and well in England. Liverpool had by that time overtaken London and Bristol as the slave-selling capital of England. Given the previous description of Heathcliffe as dark-skinned, it isn’t hard to see a connection here. Emily Bronte was not shy of controversial topics; her depiction of physical and emotional abuse was ground-breaking for the time, and a stunning critique of Victorian culture. Would it be a surprise if there was one more critique hidden in the text, one that even the most irreverent publishers of the time might be afraid to make a core theme?
One inherent part of this theory, which is by no means invented by myself, is Heathcliffe’s parentage. Why would Mr. Earnshaw take in this young boy if his parents were present? Even if he was a former slave, it would be odd for Earnshaw to take just the kid, and leave his parents. One possibility, which I quite like, is that Heathcliff may be Earnshaw’s bastard son: Earnshaw takes to Heathcliff quickly, “believing all that he said…and petting him far above Cathy“. He also gifts him the name Heathcliff, which was the name of the name of Earnshaw’s previous son who had died in childhood. It would also explain why Earnshaw gives this story of Heathcliff’s adoption; for this to be true, he must’ve had a black mistress in Liverpool, which certainly would have been scandalous, and would have destroyed his marriage.
Heathcliff’s race would also play a key role in how he is treated, and how he acts. He is hated and disrespected by Hindley, his adoptive brother, as well as by Edgar, their neighbor. Once Hindley becomes the owner of Wuthering Heights, he allows Heathcliff to stay only if he works as a servant. Edgar constantly argues with Heathcliff and gets into a fight with him. As such, he plans his revenge against, which makes up the second half of the novel, once Catherine dies. He is abusive to his wife, Isabella, who is Edgar’s sister. Heathcliff forces Hindley to mortgage Wuthering Heights to himself, in order for Hindley to pay off his debts, which leaves Hindley’s son with no inheritance, and makes Heathcliff the real heir to the Earnshaw name.
If one reads this story with a white Heathcliff, Heathcliff is mistreated for being low-class and lacking noble blood, and his revenge is then an upending of the social pyramid of the time. However, changing Heathcliff’s race adds an interesting element; even if Heathcliff is Earnshaw’s son, he would never be seen as a true heir because of his race. All of the mistreatment that he faced was caused by something out of his control, and his rage and lust for revenge would have been fueled by these racist attacks.
Obviously, this is not meant to excuse Heathcliff’s actions. He is physically abusive to his wife, and cheats his adoptive brother out of his family fortune, leaving his own nephew penniless. He is single-mindedly focused on getting revenge on the most painful and extreme terms possible. No matter what Heathcliff is an evil person, as he is meant to be, but if Heathcliff is interpreted as being black, then he gains an extra dimension to his character, and becomes far more dynamic and interesting.
There is, of course, no way of knowing what Emily Bronte’s intent was for Heathcliff’s race, but that’s the point of literature analysis. Death of the Author is what makes theories like this interesting in the first place.