The claim Heathcliff was "one of the most famous people of colour in literature" is a fundamentally absurd misreading of Wuthering Heights.
It emerges from a misunderstanding of the Victorian use of the descriptor "dark"
🧵thread on what Brontë (and other writers) meant.
It emerges from a misunderstanding of the Victorian use of the descriptor "dark"
🧵thread on what Brontë (and other writers) meant.
https://twitter.com/SketchesbyBoze/status/1838956586242302097
1/ To start with - it's pretty clear that Linton Heathcliff is probably not a "person of colour".
He is described in Ch. 19 as a "pale, delicate, effeminate boy"
He is described in Ch. 19 as a "pale, delicate, effeminate boy"
2/ Earlier, in ch. 3 Brontë claims his face is "as white as the wall behind him"
3/ So why does this claim keep popping up?
Heathcliffe is described as a "dark-skinned gipsy in aspect"
(aspect here almost certainly referencing his appearance - not a known fact about his origins, which are a mystery over the course of the novel)
Heathcliffe is described as a "dark-skinned gipsy in aspect"
(aspect here almost certainly referencing his appearance - not a known fact about his origins, which are a mystery over the course of the novel)
4/ Mr Linton also hypothesises Heathcliff might be "a little Lascar, or American or Spanish castaway"
This is a derision of his character - based on Heathcliff's apparent back story as a foundling adopted from the streets of Liverpool
This is a derision of his character - based on Heathcliff's apparent back story as a foundling adopted from the streets of Liverpool
6/ Describing a character as "dark skinned" is a clear Victorian shorthand for the Byronic Hero.
Heathcliff is a typical Byronic Hero (as first exemplified in 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage').
He is at arms length from polite society, wild, and unsettling.
Heathcliff is a typical Byronic Hero (as first exemplified in 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage').
He is at arms length from polite society, wild, and unsettling.
7/ Descriptions of Heathcliff as a "gipsy" also centre around status - another way to denigrate a character as an outcast.
George Elliot's Maggie Tulliver is described repeatedly as "like a gipsy". This is not a comment on her race - but her wild instincts and lower status.
George Elliot's Maggie Tulliver is described repeatedly as "like a gipsy". This is not a comment on her race - but her wild instincts and lower status.
8/ It is feasible that Heathcliff's mother may have been a gipsy (we don't know who she is!) - but here it's worth noting that Victorian traveller communities were usually English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish (or possibly descended from Romanies in Europe)
9/ It's also worth noting that if Heathcliff was discernibly Irish - then Emily Brontë may not have regarded his as "white". Victorian attitudes on this question are worlds apart from modern conceptions.
Heathcliff probably simply had recognisably Mediterranean features.
Heathcliff probably simply had recognisably Mediterranean features.
10/ Probably most importantly - claims that Heathcliff was a "person of colour" forget how stratified Victorian society was.
Heathcliff marries Isabella Linton -a woman from a wealth and respectable society -18th c. Yorkshire was not a place that would have allowed such a union
Heathcliff marries Isabella Linton -a woman from a wealth and respectable society -18th c. Yorkshire was not a place that would have allowed such a union
11/ This isn't to say that Heathcliff being mixed race isn't something one couldn't read into the text, or that films shouldn't cast ethnic minority actors to play him.
But it's fundamentally untrue to say he's definitely canonically "not white" without evidence in the text.
But it's fundamentally untrue to say he's definitely canonically "not white" without evidence in the text.
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