Reconsidering Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

Abstract

Since Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights in 1847, critics have debated the nature of Heathcliff’s background. Overwhelmingly, they have viewed Heathcliff as the representation of an Irish, Black, or Roma individual. This paper argues that Brontë incorporated nineteenth-century stereotypes of Jews into her character. Brontë would have been familiar with these stereotypes through her reading of Blackwood’s Magazine which regularly published articles that negatively depicted Jews. Heathcliff’s physical characteristics, his initial inability to speak English, his lineage, and his eventual success all support my contention that Brontë used Jewish stereotypes to create Heathcliff. Additionally, Heathcliff wanders the earth after death, and he is denied access to the Christian afterlife, an idea that confirms his Jewish roots. Such a representation ultimately challenges configurations of Christian identity in Victorian England. By invoking these cruel and unflattering stereotypes, Brontë comments on English society. Heathcliff becomes a character who incorporates both positive qualities and negative stereotypes and allows us to rethink stereotyping.

Keywords:

• Wuthering Heights
• Emily Brontë
• Heathcliff
• Judaism
• Antisemitism

Acknowledgements

Used with permission of Peter Lang, from The Kinship Coterie and the Literary Endeavors of the Women in the Shelley Circle, by Sharon Lynne Joffe, published in the series ‘Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature’, Volume 24, 2007; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. I expand in this essay ideas I introduced on pages 167–171 of my book.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharon Lynne Joffe

Sharon Lynne Joffe has a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and MA and PhD degrees in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sharon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Modern Languages at Lamar University. Her major area of teaching specialization is in nineteenth-century British literature. In 2017 and 2021, Routledge published her edited books, The Clairmont Family Letters, 1839–1889, and The Clairmont Family Journals: 1855-1885.