The intoxicating, twisted nature of Heathcliff and Cathy’s love in the Wuthering Heights (2026) is compelling to watch, and even more compelling to dissect. Emily Bronte draws on themes of childhood, manipulation and limiting class systems to convey the complexity of the two character’s connection, and Emerald Fennel translates this connection onto the screen through her masterful scriptwriting and casting choices.
I wanted to examine Heathcliff and Cathy’s relationship in microscopic detail and explore the subtle layers of their love. I think that it is interesting to use more modern terms to describe elements of their relationship, so that we can understand on a more profound level the complexities of their connection. Even though the characters are fictional, we can detect elements of their relationship that apply to personal aspects of our own lives, and find parallels between the two worlds.
In his article, ‘The Psychology of Loneliness in “Wuthering Heights”‘, Eric P. Levy examines the “two types of defective love” Heathcliff and Cathy share that effectively prevent them from “fulfilling love in adulthood”: these are “named descriptively as Unlove and Overlove” (Levy, 159). Two distinct families produce each type of love: Cathy and Heathcliff’s childhood represent neglectful, abusive “unlove”, whereas the Linton family represent protective “Overlove”, both of which contribute to the destructiveness of their relationship. Heathcliff’s traumatic childhood establishes him as a character who is shattered by fears of abandonment. Cathy, on the other hand, recognises the complicated nature of her love for Heathcliff in relation to their differing classes, and supresses her love for him, only resulting in further emotional turmoil for their relationship.
“He is more myself than I am”, (Bronte, 70) a quote from the novel. You could also say that Cathy’s toxic love for Heathcliff stems from narcissism. Freud suggests that “Catherine’s love for Heathcliff is an attempt to restore object relations and identity itself”, as “he is the embodiment of what she herself was”, (Freud, 140) implying that part of Cathy’s obsession with Heathcliff is due to a large part of her identity being intertwined with his.
There is also the discussion of their dynamics. Heathcliff is named Cathy’s “pet”, emboldening their differing positions in society and establishing an imbalance of power between the two characters from as early as childhood, when their statuses as man and woman in society are not so pressing. Cathy repeatedly dismisses Heathcliff’s love due to her awareness of the class system, aware of how surrendering to her love for him would implicate her socially. Her lack of communication surrounding her love for Heathcliff results in years of pain and toxicity for them both, and ultimately leads to the destruction of their relationship. So, a key takeaway is to always communicate with the ones you love and do not supress your emotions!
Bibliography
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Oxford University Press, 1847.
Levy, Eric P. “THE PSYCHOLOGY of LONELINESS in ‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS.’” Studies of the Novel, vol. 28, no. 2, 1996.
Rudnytsky, Peter L., and Andrew M. Gordon , editors. “Psychoanalyses / Feminisms.” Google Books, 2026.