Masterpiece

Esther is my hero. I went to watch Masterpiece last Sunday and it was part 2 of Wuthering Heights. I watched it eagerly - but it quickly turned into disappointment because it is much better to see things in order. I went on my blog, and Esther had a link to watch it online. I was able to not only watch the first part, but to watch both in order.

I can't get it out of my mind. I read this book as my highschool project for my senior English class. I was supposed to read a novel and diagnose it the summer before school started, and give an oral report to the class on the plot of the novel.

I chose Wuthering Heights because I enjoy this genre of literature. I love reading about the English Moors, and I had seen many literary references to this particular story.

I was shocked when I first read the book. Full of sexual motives, sexual desire, sexual hate. I didn't know how I would survive an oral report to the class because it was so dark, deep, hateful beyond hate to the point of being where the fringes of humanity lies in tatters on the human psyche.

Luckily, the whole class was hung up over the naming scheme of the characters so I did not have to recount in much detail the horror that was Heathcliff and his transformation to a walking demon among men.

This presentation was very good. Very true to the book and to my mind's interpretation of the characters. I watched the little 'behind the scenes' to learn that they actually filmed this on the Moors. I thought that was so authentic - most movie presentations set in the English Moors are done in some kind of forest. I had never seen such a rugged windswept landscape. Now I truly understand the author's landscape - her mind, and the loneliness of the land that drove the motives of the story.

I have to admit - I liked the guy who played Heathcliff the best. His performance was crucial to the delivery of the project, and every scene he was so devoted to the role. And Cathy was not bad either - I finally understood that character when I saw her. I could finally understand the problems that nagged in my mind regarding how they truly felt about each other. The way I was reading the text suggested alot of passionate speech, and too contradictory - they seemed more like flip floppers than focused on their emotions.

Watching these two interact really showed a complicated relationship, but it was easier to understand hearing them speak to each other than to read it.

I'm trying to say that my life experiences have changed, and so has my point of view of this story. It makes me want to reread some more classics and try not to judge as harshly as I did when I was young - before I encountered my own life.