On Wuthering Heights #2: The Problem of Adaptation

How the earliest adaptations sought to soften and flatten Emily Brontë's epic

I want to begin this series of essays on Wuthering Heights with adaptation, partly because it is unavoidable and partly because it is already underway.

The recent response to Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation and her casting of Heathcliff and Catherine has been swift and loud. Jacob Elordi, it is widely agreed, bears little resemblance to the figure lovers of this novel have long imagined. Margot Robbie, some argue, appears too mature for Catherine. These objections have been rehearsed often enough that I won’t add to the noise here - I’m reserving judgement until the film is released.

Admittedly, now having read the book. I do agree with the discomfort around the casting, but what focused my mind was whether this book with its layers and depth, is even capable of translation to the big screen.

The First Softening

That question led me back to what might reasonably be called the novel’s first adaptation: the revisions and framing introduced by Emily Brontë’s sister, Charlotte, in the…