A new film version of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week, has reignited a long-running debate: was Heathcliff, the novel’s hero, black? Director Andrea Arnold says yes.
The brooding leading man is played by two unknown black actors in the new film to be released in November. The younger Heathcliff is brought to life by 14-year-old Solomon Glave and the older by Leeds-born James Howson (right).
The question of Heathcliff’s heritage has been vexing readers and academics for years. Bronte describes Heathcliff as a “dark-skinned gypsy”, a “Spanish castaway” and a “little Lascar” (a word which refers to Asian sailors who worked on European ships). To confuse the matter further, Heathcliff’s housekeeper Nelly Dean asks: “Who knows but your father was Emperor of China and your mother an Indian Queen?”
Arnold, acting on a hint in the novel which sees Heathcliff called a “strange acquisition”, has reimagined him as a runaway African slave. She has the character rescued from Liverpool’s docks by farmers who bring him to the Yorkshire moors, where he meets and falls in love with Cathy Earnshaw (played by Skins star Kaya Scodelario).
But as to where he really comes from - Spain, Africa, China, India - the jury’s still out. - Daily Mail