Compare Shakespeare's view of love, with that expressed by Bronte in 'Wuthering Heights'

One of the most important views of love expressed in Bronte's lone and seminal novel 'Wuthering
Heights' is of true love as something metaphysical and spiritual rather than physical, and this is
presented through the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Although their love
has much more depth and darkness than it just being spiritual, it is fundamentally built on an almost
Agape style of love, one that is incredibly powerful and infinite. One of the most important parts of
the whole novel is when Catherine confesses to Nelly; “my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal
rocks beneath - a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff - he’s always,
always in my mind - not as a pleasure any more than I am always a pleasure to myself - but, as my
own being.” This demonstrates how their relationship transcends physical boundaries – this isn't an
intense lust, Heathcliff and Cathy are intrinsically linked – they are the same person. The use of the
language such as “mind” and “being” suggests that their love is fundamentally built on
metaphysical qualities. The use of the word “mind” similarly appears in the first line of sonnet 116
from Shakespeare's repertoire, introducing the theme of a poem that echo's Bronte's view of true
love as something metaphysical. The third quatrain begins with the powerful image that 'Love's not
Time's fool,” implying that love transcends even the omnipotent “Time” itself, and the
personification of time draws attention to the sense of superiority and immortality that is given to
love. In combination with the Shakespeare's portrayal of love as “an ever-fixed mark,” a view of
love, in its most idealistic form as a metaphysical force that lasts for ever is presented in this poem,
and Bronte also expresses this through the love shared by Heathcliff and Cathy.

However, there is also a constant duel in Wuthering Heights between the contrasting, more
superficial love that exists between Cathy and Edgar. Their relationship represents a view of love
from Bronte that critiques the conventional 19th century view (no doubt influenced by Emily
Bronte's fondness for the Romantic movement) that a successful, loving relationship relies upon
marriage, beauty and social standing. Despite the brutality of Heathcliff as the novel progresses and
deterioration of both him and Cathy, I feel Bronte elevates their love over Cathy and Linton's, and
depicts it as the purest and most honest form of love. Just before Cathy compares her love for
Heathcliff to the “eternal rocks beneath”, she describes her love for Edgar as “like the foliage in
the woods. Time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter changes the trees”. This is a stark contrast
to the eternal love, based on “minds” rather than “visible delight”, between Cathy and Heathcliff -
an unashamed admittance to the transience and physical nature of their love. At one point Cathy
says about Edgar; “I love the ground under his feet and the air over his head, and everything he
touches, and every word he says - I love all his looks and all his actions.” This epitomises the
superficiality of their relationship – Cathy isn't in love with him as a person, his mind, or soul, she
“loves all his looks” and everything around him, with the caesura preceding her comments on his
looks and actions adding impact and emphasising the shallowness of their love. Through this,
Bronte communicates a view that clearly critiques the superficial 19th century conventions regarding
love. However, in some of Shakespeare's sonnets, particularly the procreation sonnets, there is an
emphasis on the importance of physical beauty in love. Sonnet number two is an example of this; it
is, like all the other procreation sonnets, a flattering and romantic poem to Shakespeare's 'Fair
Youth', a man that he fell in love with and is the subject of many of his poems along side 'The Dark
Lady', encouraging the youth to pass on his beauty otherwise it will be wasted. Much like Cathy's
love for Edgar, it focuses only on the visible/physical – in sonnet 2 Shakespeare repeatedly
emphasises the importance of physical beauty through the use of almost hyperbolic metaphors when
commenting on how the youth's beauty will be wasted if he does not have children to draw attention
to what would in his eyes be a heinous crime, for example “forty winters will besiege thy brow/and
dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field.” Through use of alliteration with “besiege they brow” and
“dig deep” Shakespeare's draws attention to how important his beauty is, and he uses repetition of
the word “beauty” four times to drive home this view, which contrasts with Emily Bronte's view on
love, which emphasises the spiritual and metaphysical. It could be argued that Shakespeare's focus
shifts from the physical as his work progresses, however even though he subverts Petrarchan
tradition regarding the typical poetic presentation of beauty such as in 127, the 130, there is still an
existing focus on (although not solely) the appearance of his lovers.

However, one of things so interesting about both the sonnets and Wuthering Heights is that there are
also much darker views of love expressed in both, views that were not common in literature when
they were respectively written. As Wuthering Heights progresses, and Heathcliff becomes more and
more savage in his quest for revenge, Bronte starts to increasingly explore love as pain, and shows
how this all-encompassing force can be so destructive. The main causes of love becoming
destructive explored by both Shakespeare and Bronte seem to be jealousy and obsession. From a
very early age it becomes evident that Heathcliff and Cathy are inseparable and quite obsessed with
each other, for example Nelly claims “the greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep
her separate from him.” After Heathcliff's return, in chapter 11, him and Edgar engage in a duel
after the Heathcliff and Catherine meeting. This is an eruption of drama after a build of jealousy,
with Linton being described as “pale with annoyance” upon Heathcliff's return, between the three as
a result of Heathcliff's obsession with Catherine. In addition to this, proceeding the duel Cathy locks
herself away in a state of emotional sickness and turmoil, fasting in isolation – she literally becomes
physically ill due to this conflict of love and emotion for both her husband and soul mate. This idea
of mirroring the state of Catherine's emotions with her physical condition conjures a potent image
of how destructive love can be. By Heathcliff and Cathy's last encounter, her physical well-being
has deteriorated so severely that even Heathcliff “could hardly bear, for downright agony, to look
into her face!” The epitome of Bronte's view of love as a destructive force occurs when Cathy says
“You and Edgar have broken my heart, Heathcliff!/You have killed me.” This physically and
mentally showcases side by side how all-encompassing love can be so destructive and painful
emotionally as well as physically – the triangular obsession and jealousy and Cathy's love for both
Edgar and Heathcliff killed her. Shakespeare also explores this view that love can be painful and
destructive. Sonnet 133 is a striking example of the darker side of Shakespeare’s treatment and
experience of love. The context to the darker feelings of loss, pain and uncertainty related to love
that this poem explores is that supposedly Shakespeare sent the Fair Youth to the Dark Lady with a
message of reconciliation from himself, however the Fair Youth and Dark Lady ended up sleeping
together after the Dark Lady seduced the Fair Youth, resulting in an inescapable sexual/love triangle
with Shakespeare on the receiving end. Within the first quatrain, we can see how severely
Shakespeare is hurting emotionally from this situation he is in through the use of language such as
“groan”, “deep wound” and “torture.” This hyperbolic choice of language creates a fierce, graphic
image of the extent to which Shakespeare's pain reaches as a result of “that heart that makes my
heart groan.” The repetition of the idea of them being a “threesome” suggests that they are all
intrinsically linked and that no matter how much it hurts, Shakespeare cannot escape. The volta
furthers the idea that Shakespeare and his destructive love, 'The Dark Lady', are inexplicably linked,
with the line “Perforce I am thine, and all that is in me.” Echoed by Bronte roughly 200 years on,
both writers explore the view of love as a destructive force in their work.

To conclude, both writers explore love in great depth and complexity, and manage to portray deeply
affecting, vivid pictures of the emotions in love through careful analysis. Although they don't
always express quite the same views, they share a appreciation of both the beauty and pain of love.