Character Breakdown of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights

First things first; no, I never read the book. That's probably why I liked the movie compared to everyone else online.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights made me realize how often we mistake yearning for destiny, or maybe even something greater.

It also made me realize how much I needed Jacob Elordi.

This movie, which has ignited so much debate online, was tragically beautiful to me. A lot of people are criticizing the movie’s director online, scrutinizing the fact that she based this adaptation on how she felt when she read the book when she was fourteen. Honestly, the fact that she did that made me feel so seen. I remember being a teenage girl reading books in English class and thinking “damn, I wish someone loved me that much,” until I grew up and realized I was romanticizing obsession and lust over real love.

Anyways, blah blah blah, I really wanted to break down the characters from this adaptation, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Cathy kind of sucked, and yet she felt painfully real. She wanted more than what she had, and she tried to marry her way into safety, status, and comfort. We like to pretend society moved past that, but have we? How many of us still weigh love against stability, or passion against what looks good on paper? Cathy believed she deserved more, so she chose security over her true feelings. I see pieces of that in myself. Sometimes I chase the thrill. Sometimes I chase approval. Rarely do I choose what is actually good for me (I’m working on it, okay?) I think her characters entitlement and her attitude was what made her more dislikeable to audiences thought, and by that I mean me and my three friends I saw the movie with (shoutout to Sofi, Rachel, and Samantha.)

Heathcliff was a child who clung to the first person who showed him kindness, and then carried that attachment into adulthood. When you grow up starved for love or validation, you latch onto whoever gives it to you, even when it turns into a game of power and pain. His rage felt understandable. He took his unreturned love and tried to turn it into control, because when you’ve spent your whole life as a pawn, you start to believe the only way to cross the board is to keep playing. His story was the most tragic to me, and by the end, I couldn’t help but feel for him.

Isabella’s character fascinated me. She appeared to be sweet and proper, but she wanted to be consumed. She wanted someone else to decide her life for her. She mistook obsession for romance, as it is easier to be chosen than to choose yourself. Or maybe she was smart enough to know it wasn't romance, but was obsessed enough to not care? In my opinion, I think she just wanted to belong. Not belonging to society, necessarily, but belonging to someone that made her feel like served a purpose, even if she never really was loved by them. She was a victim of the position that she put herself in, a true masochist, and honestly, I respect it.

Edgar was simply a man trying to live his wealthy, ordinary life. He wasn’t dramatic, cruel, or corrupted by trauma the way the other characters were. He was steady, decent; honestly kind of boring. But he made the tragic mistake of letting the wrong girl through his door, into his heart, and got swept into a narrative that was never really his, dragged down by a woman whose heart was taken by another man, but whose ego was in love with the wealth and lifestyle he could give her.

Nelly, the character Reddit is referring to as the villain of this movie adaptation, was meddling, imperfect, but trying her best to justify her actions. She reminded me of the part of me that wants to fix everything. But sometimes, the story is not yours to change. Had Nelly not gotten involved, things could have been much different, and honestly, likely a lot better. I believe that Nelly thought she was somehow saving her dear friend, but ended up leading to her tragic demise.

In the end, this freaky adaptation of Wuthering Heights was pretty good in my opinion. It felt like a cautionary tale of what could happen if you don’t follow your heart. As Jacob Elordi said it best:

“Don’t yearn. Say everything that you need to say to the people that you love.”