Is It Just Me- Or Is It Really Histrionic In Here?

I am in the middle of "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. I figured it was a classic I had never read... and really, isn't it about time for melodrama in my life?

As I listen to it on cd in my car, performed by the incomparable Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth in Keeping Up Appearances), I can't help but think of Oprah or Jerry Springer. The two main characters, Heathcliff and Cathy, are so overwrought & tempestuous that they should appear on one of those shows. I just want to throw up my hands and say "Really, you are both so miserable you NEED to die."

In a group of women I mentioned I was reading it and they all swooned. I asked for reassurance that it is a good book. One woman suggested I need to suspend my modern day values and get into the swing of things. So on I plow.

There is so much gnashing of teeth and threatening of cruelty that I think of the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" Spit, venom & hatefulness disguised as a society sanctioned relationship. There is even a Sandy Dennis character (Isabella Linton) who is so naive & pliant that she would rather die of Heathcliff's nastiness than tell her brother how unhappy she is. Get a spine Isabella!

I suppose it is a cautionary tale. People should stop being so passive aggressive and just try talking to each other. If they are unhappy beyond repair, move on.

All in all I think Dorothy Parker's take on life so much more understandable:

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

Have a happy day!