Culture

In an interview with NPR Arnold said “In the book it was clear he wasn’t white-skinned”.

Onscreen Heathcliff has largely been played by white actors including Timothy Dalton Ralph Fiennes and Laurence Olivier in William Wyler’s 1939 version opposite Merle Oberon as Catherine.

Reginald Watson has studied questions of Blackness in the works of the Brontës including Emily’s sister Charlotte the “Jane Eyre” author.

Michie added the “dynamics of this novel are about otherness in various ways and that otherness is in Heathcliff”.

Susan Newby said “There is a sense that he is not white Anglo-Saxon he’s something else but you don’t know what that is”.

Some scholars believe Brontë was using Heathcliff to comment on the Liverpool slave trade.

At one point Heathcliff compares himself with Edgar Linton saying “I wish I had light hair and fair skin”.

As a boy Heathcliff is brought into the home of Catherine Earnshaw by her father Mr Earnshaw.

The servant Nelly Dean suggests Heathcliff could be a “prince in disguise” continuing “Who knows but your father was emperor of China and your mother an Indian queen”.

Since Elordi was announced in the role the choice has stirred up controversy online where authenticity in casting is highly prized.

Some frustrated fans have argued the casting whitewashes the role.

In addition to being called “dark” and a “gipsy” he is also referred to as a “Lascar” a term for South Asian laborers on British ships.

In Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” Heathcliff is described as a “dark-skinned gipsy”.

In Emerald Fennell’s new film “Wuthering Heights” Jacob Elordi portrays the character a white actor from Australia.

Survivors include his wife and their children Olivia Joshua Annabel Emilia Gwendolyn and Jeremiah

Their divorce became final in 2010 shortly before he married Kimberly Brook a business consultant with whom he had six children

Mr Van Der Beek married Heather McComb an actress in 2003

Public schools in the city are to reopen next week for 50000 students

Oguzhan Dincer is Associate Professor of Economics at Illinois State University and Director of Institute for Corruption Studies

Michael Johnston is Charles A Dana Professor of Political Science at Colgate University Emeritus and Chairman of Advisory Board of Institute for Corruption Studies