After reading Emily Brontë's 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights, filmed in 1939 by William Wyler, one has to wonder why everyone around Catherine and Heathcliff had to be so miserable. Why did Catherine (Merle Oberon) and Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) insist on ruining the lives of those around them? What did these people ever do to them? Catherine was obsessed with the idea of Heathcliff. He was dark and mysterious. She knew she would never marry Heathcliff, yet she continued to let him run her life. There was never any true love on her part in this relationship. She seemed to think she could be happy being married to Edgar (David Niven). How wrong she was! Heathcliff was never out of her mind. Why could she not just be happy with the life she had chosen? There was not anyone that had forced her to marry Edgar. She should have been a devoted wife to him and allow him to make her happy. He loved her deeply.

     Heathcliff did love Catherine. He loved her to the point of a dangerous obsession. His love for Catherine consumed his every action and emotion. Because of this obsession, he ruined Isabella's (Geraldine Fitzgerald) life. She too had an infatuation with him because of his dangerous and dark demeanor. She probably did not truly love him either. Heathcliff was driven to hurt Catherine; but, in doing so, he hurt Isabella. He should have never married her. Or he should have made the best of his marriage and taken care of Isabella. He seemed to have punished her for Catherine's mistake. This was so unfair to Isabella. All she wanted was to be a happy wife to Heathcliff. She would have done anything to make him happy.

     One has to wonder why two people that thought they were so in love would find it necessary to drag innocent people into their situation. Why could they not be content hurting each other? Why did they have to hurt the people that cared about them?