The Tragic Nature of True Love

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights has proven to completely fit the definition of a tragic love story. The central romance in the story so far is between Catherine and Heathcliff; however, this soon becomes complicated by the presence of Edgar whom Catherine seems to fall in love with as well. Initially, her decision to become engaged to Edgar made me doubt her “true” love for Heathcliff. Was it true love or was it more of a cute childhood romance with no potential for a future? The novel had seemed to build up a soul-mate sort of relationship, but perhaps I was reading the work too literally. However, after pondering these questions about the nature of their relationship I soon realized that I was wrong in assuming that their love was anything short of sincere. The final reason for her to become engaged to Edgar was more so for her social reputation than for her love for Edgar. Perhaps her obsession with her social status was Catherine’s tragic flaw, or perhaps she never stopped to truly consider the repercussions that her actions would bear on Heathcliff; nonetheless, the engagement was a huge and permanent mistake. I believe that Bronte meant for Catherine and Heathcliff to be soul mates, who, because of a hasty decision, doomed themselves to suffer throughout the rest of their lives without one another. The final scene that they are together nearly brought me to tears as Heathcliff screamed and pleaded with Catherine to do anything but leave him alone while she lay on her deathbed. Their final interaction was the icing on the cake for me to prove that all along they were meant to be with one another, and despite the differences that the marriage between Catherine and Edgar created, Heathcliff would have taken her back in a heartbeat. Even though he has been away from her for a long time before returning to Wuthering Heights, and despite the fact that the both of them had married others and started new lives, it was clear that Heathcliff had been incapable of erasing Catherine from his memory. He may have had a wife, but she did not have any of his love. In fact, in his heart he held animosity towards Isabella and treated her cruelly and without a heart. Catherine may have had a husband, but there was still only one man to whom she had entrusted her heart long ago. The two of them were made for one another and like all tragic love stories, one of the two made an unfortunate error in not prioritizing their love. I don’t know how this story will end, but it is already clear that Heathcliff will carry the memory of Catherine with him until the end of the novel. Whether or not he will be capable of moving on is also going to be another factor in the plot development. I am anxious to read further and see how deeply this event will influence the later occurrences of the novel. (503)