Racial Controversy Surrounds Film Adaptation Of A Literary Classic

Incidentally, the editor-in-chief for the Brontë Society’s journal, Dr. Claire O’Callaghan, has a slightly different take on the Wuthering Heights controversy. “I guess the danger of this – of casting a white actor – particularly in the cultural climate, is that it overlooks the ambiguity that’s there.”

In other words, Brontë most likely kept Heathcliff’s exact racial details ambiguous because it added depth to his relationship with just about everyone in this very white world, and a casting choice that removes all ambiguity arguably undercuts much of the intended drama.