Othering in Wuthering Heights
In the text, Heathcliff was called a "dark-skinned gipsy" and "a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway" by Mr. Lockwood, though a lascar is more commonly an Indian or Southeast Asian sailor. Nelly (who is an unreliable narrator) says his mom could be an Indian queen and his father Emperor of China, and the reader is told he was found in Liverpool, speaking another language ("gibberish"). There is also a scene where a married Cathy hesitates to let him into her new house for tea on account of his class and color, and Heathcliff's internalization of self-oppression has devastating consequences for all.
At any given point, the reader is led to believe he is Indian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, Romani, or even Irish. I was quite certain at one point he is Irish, at another that he is Indian. The more you think about it, the slipperier it gets. And I think that's the point. Whatever Heathcliff is (well, he is actually fiction but...), he is a manifestation of colonial anxiety. He is simply... Other. And for that, we love him and we hate him. The ambiguity is intentional but the Othering is critical to the tension of the plot and romance. Emily Bronte's novel brilliantly captures the racial anxiety of British Imperialism. Along with William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair, which was published as a serial the same year. Both were way of ahead of their time.
But also, was there no one else to date on the moors besides your adopted brother or next-door neighbor??
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures via NPR.
