The evolution of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights through a study of its receptions and adaptations

This thesis covers the entire range of British and American film adaptations of
Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights, as no cumulative study on this larger selection
has been done thus far. However this will not be the only objective of this thesis, as I
create a link between the author’s life to her novel, between the novel to the early
criticism, and the criticism to later adaptations, forming a chain of transformation down
the ages, to the original novel. By linking the adaptations to the earlier reception of the
novel, a change of social interaction will be uncovered as one of its reasons for surviving.
These examples of adaptation will be shown to be just as relevant to popular culture
history as its original inspiration. This is the result of an unfolding movement of change
and mutation, where each adaptation pushes to connect with the past and future.