“She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of on his account” (Bronte, 41). Catherine and Heathcliff’s love is a never ending cycle of torment and abuse. During the 1700’s love was more about ownership than one’s own feelings towards their partner. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights depicts the various ways love can be distorted or wrongfully defined through unreal expectations, revenge, and possession. Often times unfair expectations are placed upon people who have a hard time conforming to society. In the novel Catherine Earnshaw must choose between her adolescent love Heathcliff and the man trying to court her, Edgar Linton. Bronte illustrates this struggle on page 78 where Catherine cries, “I’ve no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn’t have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s handsome Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am.” Catherine ends up choosing to marry Edgar Linton because it would be considered forbidden to marry outside of her social class; nevertheless she would be doing so if she had gone off with Heathcliff. …show more content…
Goodlett states, “A healthy love affair demands well-balanced, mature individuals who have the capacity to want the best for the other partner.” It is evident that Heathcliff and Isabella are not thinking of what is best for each other, but what is best for themselves; the same can be said for Heathcliff and Catherine, and Linton and Cathy. The characters of Wuthering Heights are selfish with their love. They treat it as though the definition of love is to have ownership of something. That however is not love, but possession and