Wuthering Heights is a dark epic with themes of vengeance, love, and an intergenerational family struggle, but most importantly it is a novel of passion. This sentiment positively oozes from the pages of Emily Brontë’s 1847 work; however, William Wyler’s 1939 film adaptation of the book seems to lack much of this passion. The adaptation gets the story right, but in the process of translation it loses most of the spirit, which makes the book so endearing. Most notably the adaptation minimizes the main character, Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier), and makes him far more tame. In translation from book to film Heathcliff loses his original motivation, his end goals, and most of his wild nature.
In the motion picture, Edgar (David Niven) and Isabella Linton (Geraldine Fitzgerald) are introduced when Heathcliff and his beloved Catherine (Merle Oberon) go to Thrushcross Grange, the Linton’s home, to spy on a party Mr. Linton (Cecil Humphreys) is throwing. Just as in the book, the pair from the Heights are found by the Linton’s dogs; and Catherine is bitten on the ankle, as she is brought into the Grange. It is here that similarities with the book begin to dissolve. Heathcliff enters the home with the Lintons; and, after only a few mundane lines, he declares his hatred of the Grange with almost no provocation. He then disappears for a short time only to return because of his unrequited love for Catherine.
Heathcliff’s outburst at the party and his subsequent departure and hasty return do nothing for character development and only degrade Heathcliff’s motivation for hating Edgar Linton. It seems to serve no purpose other than taking up time. In the book Heathcliff has reason enough to hate Edgar; he feels that Linton has stolen Catherine from him. This reasoning would have worked fine in the film and, in fact, it is stronger than an angry Heathcliff throwing a tantrum and disappearing for a few days. His tantrum muddies his motivation. He hates Edgar for insulting him at the party and then hates him more for marrying Catherine. Is he motivated by his selfish love of Catherine and desire to punish Edgar for stealing his love as he is in the book, or is he motivated by a desire to prove the Linton’s insults and implications wrong and punish them for said insults? By Wyler's introducing the characters at the party in the movie, I feel that Heathcliff’s motivations are no longer the former as in the book but rather the latter, which is a new, less effective motivation.
Furthermore, the film simplifies Heathcliff’s end goals of destroying his enemies by corrupting their children. Hareton Earnshaw, the son of Heathcliff’s enemy, is not depicted nor is his corruption by and love for Heathcliff. Likewise, the children of Edgar and Catherine and Heathcliff and Isabella are also absent as is Heathcliff’s plot to have the children married. This is completely forgivable as depicting the latter half of the book would have made for a much longer film and would have detracted from the simple tale of romance, which was the goal of this production. Nevertheless, the removal of the second generation eliminates the complexity of the book almost completely and cripples Heathcliff’s character. No longer is he the avatar of punishment who seeks to get back at Edgar Linton for slighting him Heathcliff is just a love sick madman in the film rather than the cunning man he was in the books.
Finally, the film version tones down Heathcliff’s wild nature. When he sees Catherine on her deathbed, he is soft and loving. There is no trace of the Heathcliff depicted on the page. Heathcliff was meant to be a wild man. As he handles her in her last moments of life he leaves bruises on her arms. All of his passion goes into everything he does and, ironically, this is his downfall. He loves Catherine so much that he harms her. The harm that he does in this scene in the novel is symbolic of this. In the film he does her no harm in his gentleness. In this way the audience loses the intended symbolism. Heathcliff no longer harms that which he loves instead Catherine’s death seems only to be misfortunate rather than both misfortunate and ironic.
In the film adaptation of Wuthering Heights the character of Heathcliff is almost lost in translation. His motivations are diluted into something weaker; he loses his end goals for simplicity’s sake; and he loses his wild nature to make a more soft, sympathetic character. The adaptation of Wuthering Heights is not a bad film in its own way but it is not the story Emily Brontë wrote simply because it changes one of the principal characters very dramatically.