“Nelly I am Heathcliff!” Catherine Earnshaw makes this bold statement in Wuthering Heights (Brontë 75). Catherine is claiming identity traits that belong to another being, which is physically impossible for her to accomplish. Why is it that Emily Brontë creates such a love between Heathcliff and Catherine that they claim to be the same entity, and what is meant by both Heathcliff and Catherine claiming to be each other? There are many analyses that contemplate this very question, but the answer lies within a psychological approach. In his article Graeme Tytler mocks those who think that Catherine’s statement is “a manifestation of perfect love and states that it is instead a “part of a specific psychological pattern”(Tytler).Through Catherine and Heathcliff’s childhoods as unloved outcasts, Brontë demonstrates that their development as adults is hindered, creating a void in their personalities that they fill with alter egos.
Both Catherine and Heathcliff grow up in environments of neglect and abandonment, causing them to develop voids in their personalities. Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights, and he says “but you must e’en take it as a gift from God, though it’s as dark almost as if it came from the devil” (Brontë 34). Here Heathcliff is a victim of racial profiling, which is detrimental to development because it has the affect of degrading the self worth of an individual. Heathcliff’s savior refers to him as a spawn of the “devil.” This combined with the reaction of the other tenants of Wuthering Heights makes Heathcliff an outcast. They repeatedly call him “it” and Catherine even “[spits] at the stupid little thing” as Nelly recalls (35). This unwelcoming behavior is a rejection of Heathcliff. Brontë is creat...
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...lves with each other. He makes it point that through these judgments Brontë is exemplifying that identity can never truly be determined.
I will use Tytler’s alter ego theory to demonstrate that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff continues to adulthood because of their desires to live through one another. This alter ego theory sparked an argument that Catherine and Heathcliff use each other to fill a void that was created as a result of their neglected childhood. Tytler proves many points about the dynamic of Catherine and Heathcliff but fails to see that Catherine had love for Heathcliff. He claimed that Catherine was more self-centered and demanding, implying that she only wanted to use Heathcliff to prolong their childhood relationship. I believe that Catherine truly did love Heathcliff and related to him in way that bonds them together for life.
In "Wuthering Heights," we see tragedies follow one by one, most of which are focused around Heathcliff, the antihero of the novel. After the troubled childhood Heathcliff goes through, he becomes embittered towards the world and loses interest in everything but Catherine Earnshaw –his childhood sweetheart whom he had instantly fallen in love with.—and revenge upon anyone who had tried to keep them apart.
As a child and adolescent, both Heathcliff’s sullen manner and unpleasant appearance fail to comply with the so called heroic characteristics that are often encompassed by the genuine romance hero. He does however pursue many similar traits to that of the Byronic hero including his arrogant and selfish morality. “Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil? I sha'n't tell my reasons for making this inquiry; but I beseech you to explain, if you can, what I have married”. Bronte commonly uses other characters prejudice outlooks to emphasise Heathcliff’s unruly behaviour and appearance. One character ...
Heathcliff cried vehemently, "I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" Emily Brontë distorts many common elements in Wuthering Heights to enhance the quality of her book. One of the distortions is Heathcliff's undying love for Catherine Earnshaw. Also, Brontë perverts the vindictive hatred that fills and runs Heathcliff's life after he loses Catherine. Finally, she prolongs death, making it even more distressing and insufferable.
In comparison, Catherine has not only grown up with Heathcliff, allowing her access to a myriad of interactions which Brontë’s audience wasn’t previously privy to, but she has developed her understanding of societal norms alongside him. Thus, the unabashed sympathy Cathy initially feels for her “poor Heathcliff” provides a new narrative altogether—a narrative that focuses on the individual, closely following Heathcliff’s transmogrification from a “starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb [child] in the streets of Liverpool” to a man who Lockwood interprets as filled with cruelty and “savage vehemence” (22, 37, 27). In addition, Catherine’s possible retelling of Wuthering Heights through her diaries eventually allows for Heathcliff’s cruelty to be put into conversation with his upbringing as a non-white subject in a wholly white
...f’s connection, it is difficult to decide if it is really worth the troubles it is causing. The only two people that can decide if the ends justify the means are Catherine and Heathcliff themselves. However, is it really fair for two people who obviously find more happiness in themselves and each other to care about anybody else, be hands in fate for others? A difficulty in life is to find someone who makes one happy without making anybody else upset. Emily Brontë clearly demonstrates in her novel that it is difficult sometimes does not exist because the two people in love find each other, but cannot be with each other without causing sorrow. Catherine and Heathcliff are one of the most romantic couples, because the tragedy is not the pain that they inflict on others, it is the pain that they inflict on themselves and each other on account of their disastrous karma.
Nelly uses imagery combined with allusion to earlier days in order to propound the true love Catherine experienced for Heathcliff before her death. In earlier days, Heathcliff and Catherine were described as inseparable, in true love with each other, however, over time, began to separate from each other. Nelly’s statement solidifies the true love Catherine felt right to her death; gripping me, for I know that Heathcliff’s rage is soon to come. This sudden realization drives Heathcliff mad, for she took her own life while in love with him, he wishes that “‘she wake in torment!’...with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion” (Bronte 205). This sudden hatred towards Catherine shocks me, however, Nelly’s short but concrete statement, ungovernable passion, expounds Heathcliff’s uncontrollable, boundaryless love for Catherine that now drives him mad; a beautiful
The initial downward spiral of Heathcliff’s life was predominantly caused by harsh influences in the environment in which he was raised. Heathcliff, an adopted child, grew up in Wuthering Heights, a desolate and dystopian estate when compared to the beauty of the neighboring Thrushcross Grange. In childhood, Heathcliff displayed evidence of a sympathetic personality through his emotional attachment to Catherine and kind attitude towards Nelly. At the time of Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Nelly describes a scene where, “Miss Cathy had been sick, and that made her still; she
Heathcliff is a character who was abused in his childhood by Catherine’s brother, Hindley, because of his heritage as a “gypsy”, and Hindley was jealous of the love that Heathcliff got from Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley’s father. This is also selfishness upon Hindley’s part since he only wanted his father’s love for his sister and himself. So to reprimand Heathcl...
On the face of it, it would seem that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is self-destructive to an extreme. Due to the lovers’ precarious circumstances, passionate personalities and class divisions, it seems that fate transpires to keep them apart and therefore the hopelessness of their situation drives them to self destruction. However, although the relationship is undeniably self-destructive, there are elements within it that suggest the pain Heathcliff and Catherine put each other through is atoned for to an extent when they share their brief moments of harmony.
During the first half of the book, Catherine showed different types of love for two different people. Her love for Heathcliff was her everything, it was her identity to love and live for Heathcliff but as soon as she found out how society views Heathcliff, she sacrificed their love and married Edgar Linton in the hopes of saving Heathcliff from Hindley and protecting him from the eyes of society. In her conversation with Nelly, Cathy who professed her love for Heathcliff quoted “My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself.” Catherine proved Nelly Dean that the only person who can make her feel pain and sorrow is Heathcliff. The extent of her love was uncovered when she sang her praise of “I am Heathcliff” because this was the turning point in the book that allowed the readers to truly understand and see the depth of Cathy's love for Heathcliff. On the other hand, Catherine's love for Edgar wasn't natural because it was a love that she taught herself to feel. It might have come unknowingly to Cathy but she did love Edgar as she said “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees.” Cathy knew that it was not impossible to love Edgar for he was a sweet and kind gentleman who showed her the world but unlike ...
In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Heathcliff is an orphan boy brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, who has two children of his own already - Catherine and Hindley. Heathcliff changes over the course of his life by the following; Heathcliff begins by getting along well with Catherine Earnshaw, however, Catherine Earnshaw is introduced to Edgar Linton and Heathcliff becomes jealous of their forming relationship, and once Catherine has passed away after delivering Edgar’s child, Heathcliff becomes haunted by her ghost, and wishes to only be united with her in death.
(2) Emily Bronte’s purpose in writing Wuthering Heights is to depict unfulfilled love in a tragic romance novel and hence the theme of Wuthering Heights is love is pain. Emily Bronte reveals an important life lesson that love is not sufficient for happiness and if anything, stirs up more agony. This message is important because, although it is difficult to accept, the message is devastatingly honest. In Wuthering Heights, two characters named Heathcliff and Catherine loved each other immensely. However, their pride and adamance disabled them from making any progress on their romantic relationship. In fact, Heathcliff and Catherine purposely hurt each another through reckless and cruel actions. The author is exemplifying a recurring theme in history that love is associated with pain. The message allows readers to be aware that love is not constant perfection and happiness.
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
A multitude of feelings and sentiments can move a man to action, but in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, love and revenge are the only two passions powerful enough to compel the primary actors. There is consensus, in the academic community,1 that the primary antagonist in the novel, Heathcliff is largely motivated by a wanton lust for vengeance, and it is obvious from even a cursory reading that Edgar Linton, one of the protagonists, is mostly compelled by a his seemingly endless love for his wife, and it even seems as if this is reflected in the very nature of the characters themselves. For example, Heathcliff is described as “Black-eye[d]” [Brontë,1], “Dark skinned” [Brontë, 3] and a “dirty boy” [Brontë, 32]; obviously, black has sinister connotations, and darkness or uncleanliness in relation to the soul is a common metaphor for evil. On the converse, Edgar Linton is described as blue eyed with a perfect forehead [Brontë, 34] and “soft featured… [with] a figure almost too graceful” [Brontë, 40], which has almost angelic connotations. When these features and the actions of their possessors are taken into account, it becomes clear that Edgar and Heathcliff are not merely motivated by love and revenge as most academics suggest, but rather these two men were intended by Brontë to be love and hate incarnate.
The basic conflict of the novel that drives Heathcliff and Catherine apart is social. Written after the Industrial Revolution, Wuthering Heights is influenced by the rise of new fortunes and the middle class in England. Money becomes a new criterion to challenge the traditional criterias of class and family in judging a gentleman’s background. Just as Walpole who portrays the tyrannies of the father figure Manfred and the struggles of the Matilda who wants to marry the peasant Theodore, as depicted in the quote “(…) improbability that either father would consent to bestow his heiress on so poor a man, though nobly born”(p. 89), Brontë depicts a brutal bully Hindley who torments Heathcliff and separates Catherine from him. Heathcliff, a gypsy outcast picked u...