WAS CATHERINE EARNSHAW A VAMPIRE? A REVISITING OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Abstract
One of the greatest novels in English literature, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, has been the object of numerous and various interpretations, some of which include sociological, phenomenological, deconstructivist, feminist and psychological (both Freudian and Jungian) interpretations. The text has been read as Victorian and Romantic discourse, but several critics in the late 20th century made reference to the vampire-like quality of the character of Heathcliff, and a few saw the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff as vampiric, therefore
shedding new light on a text readers thought had nothing left to offer in the way of fresh interpretations. This essay will present all the vampiric elements in the novel, providing a brand new reading of the classic, this time as vampiric discourse.
