Fennell’s New Take Recasts Isabella in 'Wuthering Heights'

Isabella Linton typically isn't one of the first to come up in conversation about Emily Brontë's classic 1847 gothic romance novel. In the timeless tale of the obsessive love-hate relationship between headstrong Catherine Earnshaw and her brooding foster brother Heathcliff, Isabella is introduced as the pampered and privileged younger sister of Edgar Linton, the wealthy heir to Thrushcross Grange and Catherine's eventual husband.

She goes on to fill the role of used and abused pawn in Heathcliff's quest for vengeance before ultimately fleeing the Yorkshire countryside and dying young. In the newly-released "Wuthering Heights," filmmaker Emerald Fennell paints Isabella, played by Alison Oliver, as a shy, skittish, and sexually repressed young ward of Shazad Latif's measured and mature Edgar—her guardian rather than, as in the book, her brother.

Titillated by the introduction of Margot Robbie's Catherine and the subsequent arrival of a newly rich and polished Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), this Isabella transforms before our eyes.

isabella linton, wuthering heights, emerald fennell, alison oliver, margot robbie, jacob elordi, shazad latif, edgar linton, catherine earnshaw, heathcliff