Poor Gordon. Poor Emily - Part 4

Sunday's newspapers couldn't obviously escape the Heathcliffgate (in the very appropriate definition of Iain MacWirther from The Sunday Herald).

Sarah Sands in The Independent:

It has been my persistent belief, backed by empirical evidence, that Gordon Brown is responsible for the wild, wet weather we have been experiencing since he came to power. Last week, he more or less admitted that he is the storm incarnate; for he is Heathcliff.
The Prime Minister's bantering acceptance in a New Statesman interview that he resembles one of the most savage men in literature, albeit an "older, wiser" version, has been derided by politicians.
David Cameron and George Osborne clearly hope the reference will stick. Chris Grayling called Brown "out of touch and deluded". Political researchers thumbed the novel for many references to lunacy and sadism. Why, Heathcliff's own wife said of him: "Is Mr Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil?" What a gift to the opposition!
I am not so sure. Heathcliff was foul to his wife and his son. Brown's hopeful redemptive reference to an "older, wiser" man is a misreading of the character. He gets loonier. And yet, Heathcliff is also one of the most romantic figures ever created. For it is love that has made him mad....
Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre remain the most popular classic books in libraries. In an age of "issues around commitment", men who exhibit souls in flames are a rare and attractive commodity.
The Brontë romantic heroes do not offer easygoing, witty, Etonian charm. Heathcliff and Mr Rochester are dark and profound and sincere. Life has gone badly for them and they expect the worst. But the women who reach the hearts of these wounded beasts find them liquid jelly. This is what romance is made of.
The trouble with Gordon Brown is that he tried to wander off the moor into normal society. Of course, he was mocked and kicked. He was the Liverpool orphan all over again. The force of nature who replaced Blair could not defend himself. (...)
Political commentary a year ago was full of relationship metaphors. Tony Blair was the smooth talker who betrayed his partner. Gordon Brown – not flash, just Gordon – was the reliable one. He was Colin Firth to Blair's Hugh Grant. He was Mr Rochester. He was the undeclared Heathcliff.
We have felt the lashing of economic ruin and social calamity, but Heathcliff was never going to give us a smooth passage. Material prosperity means little to him.
He is at his best when the wind is howling and the windows rattling and we are wondering if we will all be murdered in our beds.
When Brown warned recently that rough times demanded his kind of leadership, he only spoke the truth.
He may be the cause, but he is also the solution. Heathcliff is with us until the blasted end and beyond.

The Sunday Herald contributes with a proper definition of what happened: the Heathcliffgate.

GORDON BROWN comparing himself to Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights was bad enough, but having to listen again to the caterwauling of Kate Bush really was too much. Talk about bad dreams in the night.
Actually, Broon was fitted up over Heathcliffgate. He was clearly joking when he "agreed" in the New Statesman interview that he was like the Wuthering madman. The PM was trying to be matey; trying to sound human and self-deprecating. Unfortunately, Brown just doesn't have the knack of sounding human.
The image of the dour and vengeful character from the northlands sticks too easily to him. And it has stuck in the minds of the metropolitan media now they've done with Stalin and Mr Bean. Yes, London increasingly regards the Prime Minister as a borderline psychopath so deranged by sadness and rejection that he is capable of digging up the dead. Who knows, after Glasgow East, it may come to that.
Actually, all the Wuthering diverted media attention from a more serious blunder. This was Brown's proposal that we should eat up our leftovers and not waste food. Why, we could save eight poonds a week and ease pollution and waste. He didn't mention the little black babies in Africa, but it was in that vein. (Iain MacWirther)

The Times concludes that Gordon Brown is no Heathcliff but Macbeth:

Is this a dagger he sees before him? He wanted to be known as Heathcliff, the tortured, brooding anti-hero created by Emily Brontë and immortalised by Kate Bush, the pop singer. But the British public sees Gordon Brown somewhat differently.
According to a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times, the parallels between the prime minister and Shakespeare’s Macbeth are just too close to be ignored.
A third of people likened him to the eponymous regicide of the Scottish play, compared with only 2% who could imagine him wandering the moors in Wuthering Heights. (David Smith)

Alan Taylor's Diary in The Sunday Herald goes further and thinks that Rochester suites better Gordon Brown (who probably is the only person alive compared to a literary character and his wife):

MR ROCHESTER, I PRESUME
IRN Broon says it is "absolutely correct" to compare him to Heathcliff, albeit a wiser and older version of the Emily Bronte character who was into domestic abuse, hanging dugs and digging up deid lovers. For this, Mr Broon has been roundly pilloried. Nothing he says, it seems, can rescue him from his fate. If the voters in Glesca's east end reject Maggie Curran, he could be toast before the end of July. But back to Heathcliff. He is one of those characters, like Jean Brodie, who people think they know but don't really. In the popular imagination, the unattractive side of Heathcliff has been forgotten. Instead, he is regarded as Byronically rugged and romantic, much loved by women. The same applies to Jean Brodie, who many see as their ideal schoolteacher: unconventional, inspirational and sexy. They forget she was a selfish, fascist-loving bampot. As for Mr Broon, a better Bronte comparison is Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre. Dark and given to mood swings, he is also kind and intelligent, and must suffer loneliness, maiming and blindness before finding love. In short, he is redeemed, something that can't, alas, be said of the evil demon that is Heathcliff.

Martin Ivens in The Times:

That is the prospect facing Gordon Brown. He looks as friendless as Heathcliff, the brooding anti-hero of Wuthering Heights to whom he has acknowledged an affinity.(...)
The Sunday Times/YouGov poll today says the voters think he is not Heathcliff but vindictive and bloody Macbeth. The Scottish play, you will remember, is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, but this production looks protracted.

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