The Big Bad Read

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

As for Heathcliffe, he's an absolute monster of manipulation, cunning, cruelty, self-satisfaction, vengeance. Who'd have thought Yorkshiremen and women would be so hapless in the hands of an ilk such as him? And that ending! I can't think of another romance that ends any creepier. Boy, that parson's daughter had some imagination--assuming there weren't any sources for him in the neighbourhood which Emily drew upon.

You never know in Haworth, its a rum place, the West Riding. Also spawned Mr Hughes. Heathcliffe of course was a scouser, and anyone in the UK knows the terror they can strike into the heart of the God fearin' honest folk (I'm allowed to get away with saying that because my mother's one). What about Cathy though? Let's not put all the blame on H; she was a vain, self-centred thing.

Personally I always found Mr Rochester much nicer, even though he himself wasn't the purest of souls what with his locked up wives and deception of Jane.

My other favourites form that list are (of course) Dracula, who has loomed large in my mind since I frst heard of him (via a Hammer horror) and Mrs Coulter, who is not in the end a 'boo-hiss' villain - I'll say no more so as not to spoil the books for anyone yet to read them. But what she does at Bolvangar is probably quite enough to fix her as utterly beyond redemption in most readers' minds. I'm looking forward to seeing Nicole Kidman play her, as she can do cold, chilling badness very well.