Poor Gordon. Poor Emily - Part 2

Gordon Brown's Heathcliff incident is still in the news. Richard Wilcocks from the Brontë Parsonage Blog shares our opinion. Things have got clearly (very) much out of hand:

Andrew McCarthy (Parsonage Acting Director) said all the right things, of course, as did Juliet Barker (hear her again online at the BBC)....do we really want a man who identifies with a character who hangs dogs as PM? It's an amusing parlour game, I suppose. Which character in fiction most resembles (insert name here)? It's a parlour game played by point-scoring politicians as much as by journalists who would have us believe that they have actually read Wuthering Heights rather than just seen the film or the synopsis on Wikipedia. Mind you, I'm not sure whether Gordon Brown has read the book or not... (...)

The Brontë Parsonage Blog also reports how the publicity people of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre - currently preparing a new theatrical version of Wuthering Heights, written by April de Angelis (more information on this other post) - have been really alert to the matter:

Oh wow. Gordon Brown has today likened himself to the dark and brooding figure of Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
Well, we’re currently searching for the perfect Heathcliff for our new adaptation of this most romantic of stories, and we have to admit – Brown was never on our list…
We know that pretty much everyone has a strong opinion on who would be the ultimate Heathcliff, so here’s your opportunity to let us know yours. This is just for fun and we can’t promise to cast your favourite, but we like a good debate – so get involved and let us know your thoughts through the comment fields below.

Juliet Barker, author of The Brontës, is interviewed on BBC Radio 4' s Today programme (listen it here):

Gordon Brown has compared himself to literary character Heathcliff in this week's New Statesman. Juliet Barker, an expert on the Brontes and Quentin Letts, from the Daily Mail, discuss whether this is a wise decision.

Hugo Rifkind in The Times talks about Juliet Barker's appearance on Radio 4 like this:

On the Today programme yesterday, a worthy academic chided the PM for basing his understanding of Heathcliff on the Ralph Fiennes film version of the story, rather than on Emily Brontë's novel. How very Radio 4. For many of us, Heathcliff will always be a) a cartoon cat, or b) the subject of the worst rhyming couplet in pop history (“Heathcliff, it's me/I'm Cath-y”) in the debut single by Kate Bush.
I now find myself thinking of our Prime Minister as a foot tall, furry and mischievous, peering out from Downing Street while a wildly peculiar elfin 1980s pop star taps on his window and pirouettes around his front garden like a cross between Princess Leia and the lunatic bard from Blackadder II. Frankly, I do not feel my understanding of the man to be much improved.

Sometimes ignorance is a blessing.

Martha Kearney in BBC News thinks the same as many of us:

If Gordon Brown were riding high in the polls, then perhaps the food initiative would have seemed a real show of character, Scottish thrift and integrity.
Even Heathcliff's brooding persona might have indicated a passionate heart beneath those recitations of statistics. But maybe that is just a bit too Gothic.

Simon Hoggart in The Guardian comments some of the 'Heathcliff humour' performed yesterday at the House of Commons:

Poor Gordon Brown. That "Heathcliff" tag is going to be round his neck for a very long time. It's a little unfair. His interviewer in the New Statesman pointed out that he reminded some women of Emily Brontë's anti-hero.
He agreed but added "well, maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff". In other words, not the Heathcliff who went round hanging pet dogs, killing baby birds and thumping his wife. Though you have to remember that before Heathcliff had time to get older and wiser, he was dead. (...)
"Will the chancellor perform the necessary U-turn, or do we have to wait for Heathcliff to come down from Dithering Heights before they abandon this disastrous plan?"
"Dithering Heights" - it's a great line, and the fact that Alistair Darling pointed out that it must have taken ages to invent doesn't make any difference. Mind you, it could have been worse. At least he wasn't compared to Gradgrind, Wackford Squeers, or Voldemort. That's next week. (...)
David Cameron was in sarcastic form. "I speak for the whole country when I say we are pleased to see that Heathcliff has come home!"
Bit of a mistake here, I suspect. It's Cathy who came home, in phantom form, scratching at casements. The Tory leader may have been remembering not the novel, but Kate Bush's song Wuthering Heights. "Heeethcleef, it's meeee, your Catheee, I've come home ... let me inna your window. Oh, whow-o-w-oh-whow."
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, was scathing about the G8. "If words could transform the world, this summit would have been revolutionary.
"I hope that the G8 doesn't die a death like Heathcliff, a man ranting and raving against a world he could neither understand nor change."I don't think he really meant the G8, but Heathcliff himself.

The Times chooses a more coulourful description:

The Prime Minister entered the Chamber yesterday with only seconds to spare. He looked an exhausted and tortured soul. Now that he has revealed to the world that he is Heathcliff, he is going to have to look exhausted and tortured all the time. Somehow I don’t think that will be a problem.
“I’m sure I speak for the whole country when I say we are pleased to see that Heathcliff has come home,” said David Cameron. Heathcliff, scribbling away like a madman, did not look up. Heathcliff doesn’t do eye contact and especially not with Dave who, if he were a literary character, would be something silly and twee like Little Lord Fauntleroy. Heathcliff seethed inwardly at the idea that they were even in the same chapter.
Heathcliff wanted to tell us all about his triumph at the G8. I have to say that this is a twist in the plot that Emily Brontë simply would not have allowed. But then Heathcliff is writing his own dialogue these days. He did not even begin with a tribute to his creator by saying: “I have just returned from a visit . . .” Why should he? Tortured souls don’t do tributes except, at least in this case, to themselves.
The PM had so many G8 triumphs that it would be impossible to recount them here. Heathcliff is now a global superstar. He is a titan and is fixing the oil crisis, food prices, global warming, the credit crunch and poverty. He is also reforming all major international institutions to save the world from disaster.
How very irritating, then, that Dave kept asking him about the British economy and his plans to increase vehicle excise duty. Heathcliff brooded as Dave rabbited on about this pygmy topic and Heathcliff’s sidekicks (yes, they still exist) starting chanting: “G8! G8!” at Little Lord Thingy.
But the Tories would not be dissuaded. Indeed, the best line of the day had come from Georgie “Porgie” Osborne (also a character though, tragically, from a nursery rhyme) who had demanded to know when the Government was going to do a U-turn. “Do we have to wait for Heathcliff to come down from Dithering Heights before they abandon this disastrous plan to tax families already feeling the squeeze?” he demanded to appreciative guffaws.
Andrew Mackay, the Tory who is scarily orange, demanded that the Prime Minister apologise for telling the Commons a month ago that most motorists would benefit from the proposal (new Treasury figures show that only one third will). Heathcliff sat and brooded on this question. He examined the word “apologise” as if it were a corpse. The more he thought about it, the more it enraged him. Of course he would not apologise. He was Heathcliff. He roared a bunch of words that can be summed up as: “Don’t insult me with your drivel.”
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, may be a bit jealous of the whole Heathcliff thing. Don’t forget, Mr Clegg sees himself as a bit of a romantic hero (30 lovers etc). “Since it is the day of laboured jokes about Heathcliff,” he said (speak for yourself Nick), “I hope you agree that the G8 should not die a death like Heathcliff, a man ranting and raving about a world that he could no longer understand or change.”
The PM was looking positively thunderous now. Somehow I don’t think this story is going to end happy ever after. (Ann Treneman)

And now for something completely different... well, not really. Much as this situation seems out of a Monty Python sketch we have more newspaper mentions to report. Suddenly it seems as if everybody is an expert on Emily Brontë's book:

The Yorkshire Times, which even traces profiles of the different actors that have played Heathcliff:

Exactly why he would want to be likened to a broken and tormented madman so haunted by the ghost of his former lover that he exhumed her body not once but twice was initially unclear, but perhaps he's casting round for another career.
While currently clinging on to his job with his fingertips, even if he manages to struggle on to the next General Election it seems likely his stay in Number 10 will be a short one – and with a Hollywood version of Emily Brontë's classic apparently in the pipeline and given the BBC's obsession with period dramas, perhaps it was an early nod to casting directors that he'll soon be available for work.
He would, of course, have to lose the accent and possibly a few pounds, but given the long list of actors who have attempted to bring the character alive in the past, Wuthering Heights starring a 50-something has-been is not beyond the realms of the imagination.
Laurence Olivier
Dark-eyed and brooding, most critics regard Olivier's performance in the 1939 film as the finest-ever portrayal of Heathcliff. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn and bearing the tagline "Torn by desire...tortured by hate!" it was stirring stuff. The windswept Yorkshire moors were recreated on a 450-acre plot in the middle of sun-soaked California and Olivier's portrayal of a man imprisoned by his past was gripping.
Timothy Dalton
Long before he trod the red carpet as James Bond, Dalton was impressing in the 1970 British film version of the Brontë book. It was a sanitised version of the story, concentrating on the love affair between Heathcliff and Cathy rather than the novel's darker, more menacing elements, and with the leading man just 20 years old, Dalton cut more of a Mr Darcy figure on screen. Still the ratings were good, and the role made Dalton that year's heart-throb.
Ralph Fiennes
Admittedly he wasn't helped by the fact his co-star, the French actress Juliette Binoche, hadn't quite mastered an English accent by the time cameras started rolling, but this was a pretty dismal effort. The vital chemistry failed to ignite and, at times, Fiennes, making his film debut, looked like he'd much rather be sitting at home than torturing his soul and getting wet in the countryside.
Ken Hutchinson
Gordon Brown will be happy to hear that when it comes to Scots as Heathcliffs a precedent has already been set. Ken Hutchison's lived-in looks made him a natural character actor, and, in 1978 he was cast in a BBC adaptation. Successfully capturing the violent mood swings of the unhinged Heathcliff, many believed he was destined for big things. However, after appearing in the 1980s' children's series Murphy's Mob, Hutchinson seemed to disappear from view.
Cliff Richard
While not exactly a faithful adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Cliff Richard's musical version deserves a mention. When the singer announced in 1997 he was going to fulfil a lifelong ambition to perk the story up with a few songs, some doubted his sanity. Casting himself in the lead role, despite being some two decades older than Brontë's anti-hero, the end result bore little resemblance to the novel. With lyrics by Tim Rice, Heathcliff was a Gothic-lite version of love and loss on the moors, but Bachelor Boy Cliff did prove he could be meaner than anyone had thought possible.
Johnny Depp
Given his previous roles have included Edward Scissorhands and Willy Wonka, not everyone thought Johnny Depp was the right choice for the Hollywood version of Wuthering Heights. When it emerged Angelina Jolie was being tipped to play Cathy, traditionalists began to prepare for inevitable disappointment. That was in 2006, and everything has since been quiet, suggesting we may have to wait some time before the verdict on Depp's performance is in. (Sarah Freeman)

The Scotsman brings all kind of literary speculations about Gordon Brown:

GORDON Brown as Heathcliff? Well, if that's how our Prime Minister imagines himself, he's entitled to his delusions. Heathcliff is passionate, controlled, dangerously attractive to women. He goes to extremes for what he imagines is worth fighting for. He grows in moral stature throughout the course of Wuthering Heights. When Gordon Brown looks at himself in the mirror this morning, perhaps this is indeed what he sees.
Certainly, he must have thought, the comparison – or "an older, wiser Heathcliff" as he modified it in an interview this week – couldn't do him any harm. Women readers are ineluctably drawn towards Emily Brontë's tortured hero. So perhaps women voters might be similarly wooed by the one politician who most resembles him?
But let's look a bit harder at the comparison. Heathcliff, as Brontë imagined him, was a sullen, ungracious child. He has no known roots and his violent temper is alluded to throughout the novel. When his adopted father Mr Earnshaw dies, his son Hindley inherits the estate and treats Heathcliff as little more than a servant. His resentment grows – just as Gordon Brown's resentment of Tony Blair might have grown as he himself came into his political inheritance in 1997.
It gets worse. Heathcliff cynically swindles Hindley out of Wuthering Heights, cruelly abuses his wife and vindictively sets out to destroy not only his enemies but even their children. What's to like about any of that?
So if Gordon Brown's literary self-image is slightly out of kilter with reality, let's turn to literature to see if it offers any more accurate parallels – and not just with him, but with some other big beasts of the political jungle. (David Robinson)

The Western Mail adds:

Mr Brown is desperate to appear a normal, down-to-earth man who can do much more than recite lists of economic data from memory. So he replied that the comparison was “absolutely correct”, adding implausibly, “well, maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff” (has he read the book?).

It says a lot about Mr Brown’s current predicament that he calculates there is something positive in a comparison with a miserable, morally ambiguous brooder who may or may not be a murderer.

He may feel that what voters want in their leader is a hard man not given to namby-pambyism, and that the public care little for moral ambiguity as long as mortgage rates come down a bit.

Perhaps he’s right, although it’s still a pretty ropey comparison. Things don’t exactly end well for Heathcliff, tormented by his passion for his lost love, Catherine, he presides over lots of misery and death and dies himself in mysterious circumstances.

There was plenty of cod psychology being touted around Westminster yesterday. Is Heathcliff’s passion for Cathy reflected in Mr Brown’s can’t-live-with-him, can’t-cope-without-him relationship with Tony Blair?

Or is Catherine really Middle England, destined never to be married to Mr Brown? In the novel Catherine marries Edgar Linton instead, Lynton of course being Tony Blair’s middle name.

Enough. It was a bit of a no-win situation for Mr Brown; he could hardy issue a sulky denial of the comparison, although a defter politician would have laughed it off and noted that he didn’t share all Heathcliff’s characteristics. (Tomos Livingstone)

Comparing Mr Brown to flawed hero Heathcliff might encourage public sympathy for the outsider – the big, dark, sullen man shuffling about amid all the superficial shiny prosperity of modern Britain.

And, yes, there’s the stuff in the book when Hindley, Catherine’s brother, treats Heathcliff like a servant – a subliminal reference to Blair or Cameron at the big house perhaps? – that will surely appeal to any class warriors still within New Labour. (Catherine Jones)

Caitlin Moran in The Times's Celebrity Watch:

Or, this week, Gordon Brown's assertion that it is “absolutely correct” to compare him to the tortured, brooding Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.
While, obviously, reeling from the idea of a serving Prime Minister comparing himself to Heathcliff - a violent, wife-beating illiterate who twice digs up the corpse of his dead lover, then hallucinates her ghost hammering at his double-glazing - Celebrity Watch is also looking on in quiet admiration.

Mark Lawson in The Guardian:

But apparently gentle questions can be treacherous: while Brown could have quoted whole books on economic theory, he didn't know Wuthering Heights well enough to spot the trap of pairing himself with Heathcliff.

Daily Record:

OH dear. Gordon Brown thinks he's just like Heathcliff, the hero of Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights.
In the same interview he also said he didn't read much fiction which I assume includes Bronte's epic because then he'd have known that Heathcliff destroys everything around him and ends up bitter, twisted and haunted by a ghost.
Yes, I can see Gordo running around the Kirkcaldy streets screaming, " Tonee, Tonee." (Joan Burnie)

Joan Smith in The Independent:

I've heard many things about Gordon Brown but no one's ever suggested that he beats his wife or tortures spaniels. Heathcliff, to whom the Prime Minister has allowed himself to be compared, does both these things in Wuthering Heights, a novel so savage that one contemporary reviewer suggested it was the product of a dyspeptic digestive system.
It may be that Mr Brown was thinking of the film and stage versions of Emily Bronte's novel, which tend to present it as a vapid love story; connoisseurs of travesty still treasure the moment when Sir Cliff Richard realised a lifelong ambition and starred in the musical Heathcliff. Its finale, a show-stopping number called "Misunderstood Man", might easily appeal to Mr Brown.

Now the news has crossed the pond, and the US media have something to say as well. The New York Times:

When world leaders are compared to fictional characters, it’s usually not an idea endorsed by the chief in question. Not so with Gordon Brown, who heads a country known for its bookish passions. (...)
It was a necessary qualification, for the character, from Emily Brontë’s masterpiece “Wuthering Heights,” has been called “so forceful, so much larger than life, that critics have described him, variously, as a force of nature and the very personification of Freud’s id” by Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times. (”The Real Heathcliff” evidently was a fellow named Welsh Brunty, whose “financial success turned sour, however, and he became mean and abusive,” according to a Brontë descendant who wrote to The New York Times in 1995.)
The British press was only too happy to play along, with questions like “if Gordon is our Heathcliff, who or what is his Cathy?” And it didn’t take long for literary-tinged insults to start flying in the the House of Commons. (Mike Nizza)

Mr. Nizza seems to have made a superficial research on the NYT database, just looking a little more he would have found that Juliet Barker did indeed reply to Lydia Brontë's claims about Welsh Brunty, arguing that his story was an invention of William Wright, the author of The Brontës in Ireland (check our sidebar).

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

It seems likely that Mr. Brown was actually thinking of the character as portrayed by Laurence Olivier in the 1939 film adaptation. In the film, Heathcliff is a Romantic hero, a brooding lover and a tortured poetic soul. Bronte's character ain't very cute. A foundling who was abused by his adoptive family, he is a ruthless, sadistic man who enjoys killing defenseless animals and spends his entire life consumed by vengeance. He ends up a broken, tormented, haunted wreck. (Tirdad Derakhshani)

Well... Probably Gordon Brown's comment was not very appropriate but at least he knows that he was a character from an Emily Brontë novel. Former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, seems to have some more problems:

On Question Time tonight Iain Duncan Smith said that he thought Heathcliff was a cartoon cat. (From timrollpickering)

If you click here you can watch it (55:50 min)

Categories: Humour, In the News, Weirdo