Isabella Dog Scene Wuthering Heights 2026

After the looksmaxxing video I had a lot of folks asking for a followup video on the Isabella dog scene from Wuthering Heights. I thought the little skits made this video more fun. I was fortunate to have some groups show the unedited version at a few book discussion groups.

SILENT MOVIE CARD:

*video of “Isabella” outside the window on all fours

SILENT MOVIE CARD: WOOF WOOF

I feel like I'm haunted by a ghost. Okay, not a real ghost, but by Isabella Linton from “Wuthering Heights.”

SILENT MOVIE CARD: Enter the fantastic phantom that has captured us all

INSERT COMMENTARY (TWEETS/SHORTS/POSTS/ETC/)

Obviously, I’m not the only one. Isabella has risen from the film to dominate discourse online

It’s not her frilly dresses, ribbons, and tea parties that has us entranced and horrified. It’s her on all fours. A literal horndog for Heathcliff.

Why is this scene haunting me, and everyone else, weeks after release? It doesn’t fit the story. The scene is simply there to shock and arouse.

To understand why this doesn’t fit, we have to look at the character Emerald Fennell created for the screen.

SILENT MOVIE CARD: Two well bred Lintons sit for frivolous afternoon tea

We first see Isabella at her extravagant tea party for two in her beautifully decked-out garden at Thrushcross Grange. Everything is super fancy. Decadent. Over the top. It's a total contrast to what we'd seen earlier at Wuthering Heights—the dilapidated old estate filled with broken chairs, low hanging roofs, and plenty of eggs.

Anyways, we're at this tea party, and she's going on and on in this really long monologue about “Romeo and Juliet”. She's explaining the tragic ending to Edgar, who looks like he’s thinking to himself, “Oh, this is so boring,” but he's playing along politely. Now after her monologue, silly Isabella is startled by a ghost in the garden. No, not an actual ghost, but a very pale Catherine eavesdropping on their tea party. The scene is hilarious. We watch her get really into her story, then she's startled by this pasty white girl on the wall. Cue lots of laughs in the theater. The purpose of this seems to be to tell the audience how much of a silly, naive girl Isabella is.

Now, there is nothing wrong with it. It’s not far off from the Isabella we see early in Bronte’s novel. She’s not comic relief as Alison Oliver’s character appears to be, but she is a pretty, genteel, lady who acts as Catherine’s foil–opposite her in every way.

SILENT MOVIE CARD: A wide-eyed weirdo is created

As the movie progresses we see Isabella manifest into a quirky side character, a rom com trope on its own. When Catherine marries Edgar, she's there, and every time she's on screen, she's funny. She steals the show. Lines about clearing out her room of ribbons to make way for a place for Catherine. She makes our main character a special doll made from her own hair. She is overly excited to see a hanging since it is a woman and they might be able to see up her skirt. She stabs the doll when she's really upset at Catherine only for Cathy to find later. She even tries flirting with our very own goth pirate Heathcliff when he shows up by showing a little skin at the dinner table.

It's funny every time she appears. But nothing really comes of it. It just feels like “oh, this is kind of silly,” and it feels weird laughing since no other character or moment brings that energy. Is this supposed to be a serious romance? Despite Oliver’s best efforts to be Fennel’s goofy girl, the comedy fails to develop her character in any meaningful way. One of the first things to turn her into a spectre online. She is the funny girl–remember that scene at tea? Her room of ribbons? That was a hoot.

SILENT MOVIE CARD: She’s bringing sexy back

Then things start to turn around and we veer towards the scene that has enraptured us all.

Here me out. On its own the scene worked. Erase the rest of the film and this stands on its own. Elodori and Oliver had surprisingly great chemistry. Heathcliff, prior to their collared show, gets oral consent on all matters of their relationship moving forward. This shows that he doesn’t want to hurt her or have an unwilling participant in his game. During the dog moment they both seem like they are having a good time. Every one online is talking about this movie moment because it was shocking and hot. I have heard plenty of “I would get on all fours and bark like a dog for him.”

So what’s the problem? Why is this haunting me? It didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the movie. Heathcliff is in love with Catherine, why would he show any inkling of care to another woman, especially romantically . This is supposed to be a revenge game so why is he enjoying himself? In the book, Heathcliff hangs Isabella’s dog, marries, and subsequently abuses her, before she runs away on her own. With this adaptation, Fennell appears to be using BDSM as a substitute for abuse or as a method of dealing with trauma. Obviously it is not. Anyone in the community will proudly tell you that just because a person is into pain play or degradation, does not mean they are being abused or want to be abused. Isabella on all fours shows that there was only one reason for it to be made and that is to cause a stir. Emerald this generation’s EL James. “Hey, BDSM is edgy, this will get people talking. It’s basically the same as abuse, right?”

Emerald Fennell was too scared to create characters that were anything like their literary counterparts. Particularly the abusive dynamic between Heathcliff and Isabella. She didn’t want her sexy hero to be mean and scary and cruel to anyone. Instead, Fennell takes on the mantle of abuser who breaks down characters.

SILENT MOVIE CARD: An incomplete doll

Altogether, Isabella felt incomplete. Her business is unfinished. Another reason to haunt. There was so much room to give her real power and change the narrative. You don't have to show abuse from main characters if you want to erase that. It seems like the dog scene was meant to give Isabella control, but that did not land. She could’ve had control in other ways.

She literally has a dollhouse that shows up multiple times. It's an exact replica of her house. It's clearly symbolism for how wealthy and extravagant they are. But she's just playing literal dolls with it occassionally—she's not controlling anything. There was so much potential to give her power. She could have controlled the other characters. Each her own personal doll to craft a story with. Isabella was kind of controlling Heathcliff a little bit with the letter writing once they're married, when he's trying to reach Catherine. She knows he can't read so she could have used that to her advantage. She could have played both him and Catherine (especially after Catherine was so against her being with Heathcliff).

I just felt like there was so much more room for her to be this villain of the story, or at least have real agency, rather than just being a side character that everybody loves.

Anyway, she still torments me. Alison Oliver honestly did an amazing job. She had way better chemistry with Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff than Margot Robbie did. She probably should have been cast as Catherine. Maybe that's why I'm still so bothered by it.

But yeah, I'm haunted by this girl in chains. Isabella in chains.

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