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Ycian asked this question about Wuthering Heights:
Why? Why? Will someone just tell why people love this book so much? What is so great about it?
Sacha Blu People need to learn to distinguish Romantic from "romantic". One thing has nothing to with the other. Wuthering Heights is Romantic ie a 18th-19th li…morePeople need to learn to distinguish Romantic from "romantic". One thing has nothing to with the other. Wuthering Heights is Romantic ie a 18th-19th literary movement similar to Gothic that arose in response to Enlightenment values. It means wildness, stormy weather, the savage heart, darkness, inspiration, moodiness, uncontrolled, even tragic (when its Gothic Romanticism). Not "romantic" as in having to do with love and courtship. That's more what youll find in Austen's witty satires which are like smart "romantic" comedies.
Healthcliff is not a "romantic" hero as in an object of female desire like the civilized but difficult and cool and Mr. Darcy, sparring wits while falling in love. Heathcliff is *Romantic* in the sense he embodies the literary features of Romanticism: uncivilised, savage, dark, passionate, subjective, mysterious, rough. The same word means two different things in literature. This explains some people's disappointment with Wuthering Heights. They are expecting "romantic" but it is not romantic, it is Romantic. (less)
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Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
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