As readers, we try to relate to the characters we read about. We are always more intrigued with a book when we have something in common with one or more characters. When Bronte created the main character of the book, Heathcliff, she had no interest in creating a character we could relate to. Yet we are still intrigued with the character she created. Bronte's development of the character was done in such a way to ignite our hope to understand Heathcliff; it is the one unifying feeling everyone has experienced. .
I, and many other people with whom I've conferred, would consider Wuthering Heights a romance novel. In romance novels, there is always, at a minimum, one antagonist. In Wuthering Heights, a lot of people would consider the antagonist to be Heathcliff because of all of the bad things he does throughout the novel. In literature the antagonist either has a sliver of goodness deep down inside of him/her or a relatable reason that explains their behavior. Readers almost always get a glimpse of that as the novel progresses. In Wuthering Heights, Bronte made things a bit different. Heathcliff never showed readers that goodness that he was supposed to have. Therefore, we as readers continue to hope throughout the novel that a reason for his behavior will be revealed. We hope that we could relate to him. We hope that we could understand where he was coming from. There are more things that keep readers connected to Heathcliff. One way that Bronte captured her readers is using empathy. Readers like to use the love story as a way to connect to Heathcliff. We all experience love at some points in our lives so Bronte knows that love stories will always interest people, especially women. Women were very intrigued by Heathcliff because he was the mysterious and mean villain in the book. Women readers, I think, finish the book feeling disappointed because as I have stated before, he never showed the good side that we hoped he had.
