Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Brontë resonates with Martin Heidegger’s concept of the uncanny, which involves disorienting experiences and familiar surroundings revealing hidden strangeness. This unsettling reality allows for new behaviours and beliefs. In this context, I will explore five cases of literary uncanny as identified by Bennett and Royle’s book (2014).

Repetition

Repetition emphasises the cyclical nature of the characters’ realities. One prime example is the repetition of names within the Linton and Earnshaw families. The constant reuse of names such as Catherine and Heathcliff blur individual identities, creating a sense of confusion and haunting reminders of past conflicts and unfulfilled desires.

When Mr Lockwood stays at Wuthering Heights, he discovers repeated names scratched ominously on the window ledge: Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, and Catherine Linton (Wuthering Heights, p.20). This suggests the characters’ entrapment in their predecessors’ destructive paths.

This is developed when young Cathy Linton falls in love with Linton Heathcliff, mirroring the doomed romance between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. As Mr Lockwood recounts, closing his eyes reveals a swarm of Catherines, their white letters seeming like spectres (Wuthering Heights, p.21). This disorienting manifestation implies that the characters are stuck in a deterministic loop from which they cannot break free.

However, Heidegger might argue that this disorientation also presents opportunities for change. Despite being trapped in their predecessors’ footsteps, the younger generation is aware of their mistakes, allowing new behaviour to break the cycle of vengeance and suffering.

Witness Hareton Earnshaw’s transformation as he seeks Cathy Linton’s approval. Before her arrival, Hareton was content with menial labour and animalistic pleasures. But shamed by her scorn and hoping for her approval, he is motivated toward higher pursuits (Wuthering Heights, p.345). This showcases the potential for change and growth when facing a seemingly predetermined fate.

The Doppelgänger and Blurring of Identities

The concept of the double or doppelgänger blurs the boundaries between characters, creating a sense of confusion and instability. Heathcliff can be seen as a doppelgänger, not just to Edgar Linton, his rival, but to Catherine Earnshaw. Catherine famously declares, “I am Heathcliff” (Wuthering Heights, p. 93), signifying a profound identification transcending mere romantic love. This blurring of identities between Catherine and Heathcliff disrupts the conventional understanding of selfhood, suggesting a deeper, almost supernatural connection that defies rational explanation.

The uncanny nature of this doubling lies in its challenge to the notion of individual identity. Catherine’s declaration destabilises the clear boundaries between self and other, suggesting that identities can merge and overlap in disorienting ways. This merging opens up new possibilities for understanding human relationships, emphasising the interconnectedness of individuals and the potential for profound, transformative bonds.

Furthermore, Heathcliff’s role as a doppelgänger extends beyond romantic identification. His presence in the Earnshaw household distorts the family dynamics, reflecting the latent darkness and unresolved tensions within the family structure. Heathcliff embodies the repressed aspects of the Earnshaw lineage, acting as a catalyst for the unravelling of social and familial norms. His mysterious origins and ethereal connection with Catherine suggest that he operates on a different plane of existence than that usually experienced.

The uncanny resemblance between Catherine Earnshaw and her daughter, Cathy Linton, also exemplifies this theme. The physical and personality traits that Cathy inherits from her mother create a sense of continuity that blurs the distinction between the two generations. Heathcliff, in particular, is haunted by this resemblance. Yet, in his existential struggles to reconcile his feelings towards Cathy, he finds a new way of being no longer driven by revenge against the Earnshaw and Linton families:

“I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! My old enemies have not beaten me – now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives – I could do it, and none could hinder me – But where is the use?” (Wuthering Heights, p. 369).

Heathcliff’s shift in perspective reveals a critical aspect of the doppelgänger motif: the potential for self-transcendence. Through his interactions with Cathy, who embodies her mother and a distinct individuality, Heathcliff confronts his fragmented identity. This confrontation leads to an internal transformation, illustrating that the doppelgänger can serve as a vehicle for personal growth and reconciliation. The haunting resemblance forces Heathcliff to recognise the futility of his vengeance and the possibility of breaking the cycle of hatred and retribution.

Ultimately, the theme of doubling underscores the fluidity of identity and the intricate web of human connections. It challenges the reader to reconsider the nature of selfhood and the transformative power of profound emotional bonds. Through the interplay of doppelgängers, Brontë explores the depths of love, loss, and redemption, revealing the complexity of the human psyche and the potential for healing within even the most tumultuous relationships.

Ghosts

Ghosts are perhaps the most overt and effective manifestation of the uncanny in Wuthering Heights. They unsettle the distinctions between life and death, the real and the unreal. The novel opens with Mr Lockwood’s eerie encounter with Catherine Earnshaw’s ghost at Wuthering Heights. He dreams of Catherine trying to enter the house: “I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, ‘Let me in—let me in!’” (Wuthering Heights, p. 27).

Catherine’s ghost is disorienting because it defies the natural order of life and death, suggesting that the past can intrude upon the present in unsettling ways. Her desperate attempts to return to Wuthering Heights underscore the unresolved tensions and unfulfilled desires lingering in the world of the living. She declares, “I’m come home, I’d lost my way on the moor!” (Wuthering Heights, p. 27). This admission is significant. Although the moors are part of the everyday landscape, they serve as a source of the uncanny—wild, untamed, and imbued with a supernatural presence.

Mr Lockwood explains his own experience with the moors: “I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth” (Wuthering Heights, p. 385). Yet, these same moors are a source of raw pleasure. Catherine reflects on her connection with the moors: “I wish I were out of doors—I wish I were a girl again, half savage, hardy, and free” (Wuthering Heights, p. 134). For her, the uncanny moors are a familiar childhood playground.

Both the unruly ghosts and the moors provide opportunities for new beliefs. With the proper mindset, we might delight in what remains wild and untamed and accept that the boundary between life and death is porous. This can lead to a more profound understanding of reality, encouraging characters (and readers) to reckon with their history and environment more meaningfully.

Death

Death is a constant presence in Wuthering Heights, often depicted in ways that evoke the uncanny. This connection is particularly significant in Heidegger’s philosophy, which posits that contemplation of death leads to a deeper understanding of self and life’s potential (Greaves, 2010, p. 109).

The deaths of key characters, such as Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton Heathcliff, are imbued with eerie inevitability and a sense of unfinished business. Catherine’s death is especially uncanny. Her decline is portrayed as a gradual withdrawal from the world of the living, culminating in a haunting moment where she hovers between life and death. Her assertion that she will not rest until reunited with Heathcliff in death blurs the line between the living and the dead, suggesting that her presence will continue to haunt those she leaves behind (Wuthering Heights, p. 182).

Heathcliff’s reaction to her death underscores their uncanny connection:

“I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!” (Wuthering Heights, p. 191-2).

Heathcliff’s constant yearning for her presence in any form, seeing her image in every aspect of his surroundings, creates an unsettling sense of existential unease. This fixation distorts his perception of the world, making the familiar landscape and objects eerily strange, embodying the hidden strangeness and existential disorientation central to the uncanny:

“In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day—I am surrounded with her image!” (Wuthering Heights, p. 370).

The novel’s uncanny portrayal of death lies in its depiction of a liminal state rather than a definitive end. Nelly Dean’s reflections on Catherine’s death suggest that her presence transcends physical death:

“I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break, and I feel an assurance of the endless and shadowless hereafter—the Eternity they have entered—where life is boundless in its duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fulness” (Wuthering Heights, p. 189).

In essence, death is not a final cessation but an ongoing presence that continues to influence and haunt the living. This challenges conventional understandings of mortality, emphasising the enduring impact of unresolved emotions and the persistence of the past in shaping the present.

Conclusion

Emily Brontë’s  Wuthering Heights uses the Heideggerian uncanny to explore human existence. The repetition, duality, ghostly presence, and themes of death blur reality and the supernatural, disorienting characters and readers alike. These elements challenge traditional notions of identity, time, and reality, prompting introspection and a deeper understanding of interconnectedness. Through its unsettling yet enlightening exploration, the novel offers a profound meditation on the nature of humanity and the uncanny forces that shape it.

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Bibliography

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