Heathcliff - why were ( & probably still are ) so many women in love with him?

Because he was a bad boy, the type of male that they would never have come into contact with. That made him exciting.
A bit of rough you might say.

The bad boys are attractive in fantasy in real life they are boring, frightening, etc.

Only ever in a book... a bit like Mr Grey.

Having had be in contact with bad boys due to my work - I see nothing attractive about them

I had a bit of a crush on him when I first read WH at about 15. I reread it as an adult and thought he was a psychopath. I don't care how sexy someone is - casually hanging puppies is a step too far, and his communication skills were 'undeveloped' to say the least.

It's the thing about bad boys isn't it,mad,bad and dangerous to know

From what I can gather Cathy was a pretty awful person too, I imagine they deserved each other.

Oh and personally have never been attracted to bad boys.

He drew sympathy to the reader , unhappy, then given a home happy, then his protector dies so unhappy

My sister hung around with the “bad boys” eventually married one, that lasted 4 yrs then married a really bad boy, 2 kids major abuse eventually he was jailed. Then at 50 she came to her senses found a decent man, since then OK but it took her long enough.

My 13 year old GS has landed the part of young Heathcliff in a professional production of Wuthering Heights at the theatre in our city. I am more nervous that he is!!

And he's not a bad boy!

I do wonder how much the screen adaptations have influenced this...as they generally do tend to focus on the initial Cathy / Heathcliff relationship?

I can remember my heart beating a lot faster at the age of 14 when I watched and heard a very stunning Olivier "Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” [blush}

I think if you read the second half of the book, which is rarely dramatised, Heathcliff is a very unkind man

Dee1012

I think you’ve nailed it.
Plus Heathcliff is always played by very good looking actors.

I was sympathetic until until he mistreated his wife and killed the dog. There aren't many likeable characters in Wuthering Heights.

I have read Wuthering Heights five times: A level, degree, once after hearing a radio adaptation and twice for different book groups.
I started by loathing the psychopathic Heathcliff, and much of the book, but eventually understood him more due to his appalling upbringing. Nature or nurture?
Petted by old Mr. Earnshaw, foisted on a family who despised him, bullied and reviled by Hindley, in thrall to the self-centred and destructive Cathy, then driven by the opportunity to revenge himself on his enemies. Born or made?
There are a few signs of a human nature towards the end of the book, but definitely not a romantic hero nor ever a man with whom to fall in love.
An astonishing creation, nonetheless.

Take a look at Mumsnet. It's stuffed with women who find abusive bastards irresistible.

I never found him attractive, although I did like bad boys as a teenager. I disliked the book intensely. The use of dialect and the multi narrative just annoyed me. There were no sympathetic characters either

Plus Heathcliff is always played by very good looking actors

I seem to remember a stage version where Cliff Richard was in the starring role, think it was called ‘Heathcliff’.

He wore an appalling wig and looked ludicrous.

This thread has reminded me that I recently found a video of a song that Jim Steinman wrote, which was based one of his favourite books - Wuthering Heights. He said of it

This song is an erotic motorcycle. It's like Heathcliff digging up Cathy's corpse and dancing with it in the cold moonlight. You can't get more extreme, operatic or passionate than that. I was trying to write a song about dead things coming to life. I was trying to write a song about being enslaved and obsessed by love, not just enchanted and happy with it. It was about the dark side of love and about the extraordinary ability to be resurrected by it once dead. It's about obsession, and that can be scary because you're not in control and you don't know where it's going to stop. It says that, at any point in somebody's life, when they loved somebody strongly enough and that person returns, a certain touch, a certain physical gesture can turn them from being defiant and disgusted with this person to being subservient again. And it's not just a pleasurable feeling that comes back, it's the complete terror and loss of control that comes back. And I think that's ultimately a great weapon.

I’m not sure about the motorbike bit, mind! In the accompanying video there are brief glimpses of a character who is either Heathcliff, taken from the film with Lawrence Olivier, or a modern reenactment. I was mesmerised by it, I must admit! It’s decades since I read the book, though.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=By82Udvc53w

What some of us want is someone who looks like a bad boy, but who he know is good on the inside - where it matters!
And reader, I married him...

I read the book when I was about 12.
I don't know what it is about the story but I've always loved it.
I've watched the film with Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff a few times.
I love the song Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush.
I'm enthralled by it.

I can see why women were attracted to him, he was dark and brooding, however his treatment of Hindleys son was cruel and I find that sort of thing unattractive.
Heathcliffe was very obsessive and his love for Cathy took over his whole life even after her death. I liked Heathcliffe as a teenager and found the characterdevilously attractive. I remember doing a essay on Wuthering Heights for my O level English literature.

He's a fantasy character, and an awful one at that. But women fall for him because, rather like the sad women who very bizarrely write 'love' letters to blokes who are in prison for horrific acts, they can allow their imagination to run riot because they know they will never meet them. It's a safe fantasy.

Apparently, women would write to Peter Sutcliffe. Takes all sorts to make a world......