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Wuthering Heights

by Emily Brontë

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Student Question

What are the main differences between the Wuthering Heights film and novel?

Quick answer:

The main differences between the Wuthering Heights film and novel primarily lie in the adaptation's coverage and character portrayal. The 1939 film omits the second half of the novel, focusing only on the tragic romance between Heathcliff and Cathy without introducing the next generation. Additionally, the film softens the harsh childhoods of Heathcliff and Catherine and ends with Heathcliff's death shortly after Catherine's, caused by a horse accident, diverging from the novel's plot.

Expert Answers

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There are many filmed versions of Wuthering Heights but the most famous is the 1939 adaptation starring Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and Merle Oberon as Catherine.

The film version softens some of the harshness of Heathcliff and Catherine's childhood, but the main difference from the novel is the omission of the second half of the story's plot. The film focuses solely on the doomed love of Heathcliff and Cathy. In this version, as in the novel, Heathcliff elopes with Isabella Linton, but the story ends before a second generation can emerge. Isabella does not give birth to a son with Heathcliff, and Catherine does not bear Linton's daughter. There is no Hareton either, so can there be no reconciliation of the families at the end.

In this version, Lockwood meets Isabella as Heathcliff's wife as the story opens, and the flashbacks are more recent. Heathcliff's death is not long after Catherine's and unlike in the book , it is the result of Heathcliff being thrown from his horse on a winter's day.

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