This Thing of Darkness
1771, Gimmerton, Yorkshire, England. Abe Earnshaw relates how he makes his weary way from Liverpool to his home, Wuthering Heights, accompanied by a dark, ragamuffin boy of seven years of age, whom Earnshaw obviously loves and refers to as his son.
Seven years later, Robert Feather, the innkeeper of The Black Bull Inn in Gimmerton, describes how this same boy, Heathcliff, turns up at the inn on a stormy night in a fearsome mood. Feather is frightened of this angry, violent boy and agrees to give him his best colt, a travel coat, and all his ready money just to get rid of him. Heathcliff’s life during the next three years is told chronologically from the point of view of different people he associates with, using letters, and diaries as well as first-person narration.
Edwards brilliantly captures the personality and voice of each character, but we only hear Heathcliff’s own voice in the last chapter. He describes his return to Wuthering Heights, his meeting with the drunken Hindley, and his discovery that Cathy has married Edgar Linton and now lives at Thrushcross Grange. He is determined to see Cathy and discover whether she still loves him as she promised to do. The book finishes before we know the answer, and we must revert to the original to find out what happens next.
Although telling the story through different characters’ eyes works very well and is beautifully done, I would have liked to hear more from Heathcliff himself. We discover how sadistic, cruel, vindictive and pitiless he is to everyone he meets, but to find out why, I think you would have to read Wuthering Heights to get a better understanding of the emotional damage he suffered. Having said that, you can read This Thing of Darkness without reading Brontë’s novel.
