Hot Take: The ‘Wuthering Heights’ Hate Has Gone Too Far

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights made some bizarre choices. It opens with the community’s creepy celebration of a public execution. Uncomfortably, the scene centers on children discussing the dying man’s state of arousal, which has manifested physically in his pants as he hangs over the crowd.

As someone who hasn’t read Emily Brontë‘s beloved book, this was a wild way to enter the world of Wuthering Heights. However, I loved Fennell’s previous movies, Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, so I was willing to stick with it. I was also put off by how Heathcliff, the love interest it is obvious Fennell wants us to swoon for, treats Cathy’s (Margot Robbie’s character) sister-in-law, Isabella. Overall, I thought the movie was weird, kinda messed up and very aesthetically pleasing.

The fan reactions I read after leaving the movie were much more negative. A lot of the discourse focused on the character of Isabella and how the character is treated by Heathcliff. Imagine my surprise when I watched 1992’s Wuthering Heights with Ralph Fiennes as Heathcliff and discovered that she is treated just as poorly in that adaptation!

I no longer understand what people are freaking out about. I assumed Heathcliff’s disgusting treatment of Isabella was made up by Emerald Fennell, but it’s not. In every adaptation Isabella is cruelly mistreated by Heathcliff.

If I had to guess, I’d say I think people are mad that Isabella appears like she is a willing partner and not a victim in Fennell’s version, but she only appears that way if you’re frothing at the mouth to victim blame. In no world, even Emerald Fennell’s, would Isabella be to blame for the depraved treatment she receives from Heathcliff. I wouldn’t treat someone that way even if they “consented”, because I am a moral person. Heathcliff is not. No one is forcing him to hurt Isabella, he chooses to because he is a sadist and an awful person.

I wonder if a lot of people are like me and haven’t read the book so they assume that the Heathcliff tortures Isabella storyline is totally new? What do you think?