How Emerald Fennell Changes the Villain of ‘Wuthering Heights’

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Emerald Fennell’s new film, Wuthering Heights, isn’t a traditional adaptation of Emily Brontë’s famous 1847 novel. If you’re expecting a straightforward retelling of the story, you might be surprised, even shocked, and possibly even disturbed by what you see.

Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights isn’t a traditional retelling, but rather how she felt when she first read the novel at age fourteen. Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the passionate and destructive lovers Catherine and Heathcliff, the film captures the intense longing and ultimately vengeful obsession at the heart of Brontë’s story. Fennell’s version deliberately takes liberties with the original text, prioritizing emotional impact over strict accuracy.

Emerald Fennell explained to the BBC that she aimed to recreate the intense emotional impact the original material had on her—a feeling she described as raw and even sexual. She acknowledged it’s deeply personal work, and she’d be upset if someone else tackled it differently. Fennell believes the connection people have with the story is very private and intimate.

Understanding director Fennell’s style can help explain the bold changes she made to the original novel. These included casting actors who didn’t fit the ages of the characters—and, in the case of Heathcliff, potentially misrepresenting his ethnicity—removing the book’s complex narrative structure with multiple storytellers, and skipping the entire second half of the story to avoid depicting the hardships faced by the children of the main characters. These decisions allowed Fennell to create a more explicit and sexually charged version of the story, focusing on the intense and complicated relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff. They also make viewers question who Fennell sees as the true villain in this dramatic tale.

In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is the main villain. The novel describes him with dark hair, eyes, and skin—characteristics often seen by scholars as highlighting his status as an outsider. He begins the story as an orphaned child of unknown background, taken in by the Earnshaw family and raised with Catherine. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, Heathcliff suffers severe physical and emotional abuse from Catherine’s cruel and self-destructive older brother, Hindley, a character portrayed differently by Martin Clunes in the film adaptation.

After overhearing Catherine choose to marry the rich Edgar Linton, Heathcliff runs away as a young man. Years later, he returns to Wuthering Heights with a surprising amount of money, determined to make the Earnshaw and Linton families suffer. He acts terribly, tricking Edgar’s sister, Isabella, into a cruel and unhappy marriage, and relentlessly tormenting Hindley’s son, Hareton, his own son Linton, and Edgar and Catherine’s daughter, also named Catherine, until shortly before he dies.

This account of events relies heavily on the perspective of Nelly, Catherine’s maid and close friend. As a long-serving member of both the Earnshaw and Linton households, and the main storyteller in Wuthering Heights, Nelly provides a direct but clearly biased version of what happened. She often presents herself as reasonable and moral, but frequently adds her own opinions, prejudices, and feelings, which makes it difficult to know how trustworthy her story truly is. Readers disagree about Nelly’s role – some see her as a caring, motherly figure, while others believe she’s manipulative and shapes the story to excuse her own behavior. The creator of this adaptation seems to lean towards the latter view.

In Emerald Fennell’s film, Hong Chau plays Nelly as the unrecognized daughter of a nobleman, giving her a direct role in the events that cause the story’s tragedies. For example, driven by spite, she pushes Catherine to admit that marrying Heathcliff would be humiliating, even after hearing Catherine passionately declare her love for him and realizing Heathcliff is listening nearby. This act breaks Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship and ultimately leads to their downfall.

After Catherine becomes pregnant and then falls ill, telling Nelly she’s had a miscarriage, Nelly suspects she’s exaggerating her illness for sympathy. Nelly cruelly intercepts letters from Heathcliff, uses Catherine’s affair as leverage to save her own job, and convinces Edgar to avoid Catherine for months. These actions ultimately contribute to Catherine developing a fatal infection and dying.

Fennell shows Nelly’s behavior isn’t sudden; it stems from her deep-seated resentment of being replaced by Heathcliff in Cathy’s life. This is a remarkably strong and long-lasting grudge.

Fennell’s portrayal of Heathcliff significantly reduces his evil nature. Unlike traditional versions, he doesn’t have children to abuse, and his relationship with Isabella (Alison Oliver) isn’t one of a tormented wife, but rather a seemingly willing engagement in a dominant-submissive dynamic. Isabella, introduced as Edgar’s eccentric ward instead of his sister, appears to actively desire this power imbalance in their marriage. In this adaptation, Heathcliff’s biggest flaw isn’t cruelty, but his all-consuming and unrestrained love for Catherine.

Compared to real wickedness, that isn’t a serious offense. But causing someone’s death through carelessness? That’s a truly unforgivable act.

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2026-02-13 20:08