In Emily Brontë's book, Wuthering Heights, we, the reader, are introduced to a group of interesting characters. The antiheroic main character, Heathcliff, is a complex character with many distinguishing traits. Heathcliff acts upon his feelings and creates quite a reputation for himself. Heathcliff is full of vengeance, nonetheless, he is very loving.
Heathcliff's vengeance is shown and proven throughout the book. Even as a child Heathcliff would say things such as, "I'm trying to settle how I shall pay-back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it, at last. I hope he will not die before I do?No, God won?t have the satisfaction that I shall?I only wish I knew the best way! Let me alone, and I?ll plan it out: while I?m thinking?? (Brontë 55-56) This, as we, the reader, later see come to pass. After being rejected by the love of his life, Catherine, Heathcliff has no choice but to find another partner. Heathcliff is not mad at Catherine for marrying someone else, but instead her motive why. Catherine tells Nelly Dean, the housekeeper, that it would be disgraceful to herself if she was to marry Heathcliff. Catherine says it would be shameful because Heathcliff is more poverty-stricken and deprived of many this she wants. (Brontë 75) Heathcliff runs away after hearing this, only to return months later more gentleman-like. Catherine?s sister-in-law, Isabella, falls in love with Heathcliff after his return and Heathcliff realizes this. Heathcliff is an opportunist, so he marries Isabella intentionally, knowing Catherine would become jealous. This is the one of the first greatest example of revenge. A second example of how Heathcliff sought revenge on others, has to do with his stepbrother, Hindley. Heathcliff wan...
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...ion of tears. ?Come in! Come in!? he sobbed. ?Cathy, do come in. Oh,-- once more! Oh! my heart?s darling, hear me this time-- Catherine, at last.?? (Brontë 25) Although, Heathcliff has a son, was married, and twenty years have passed after her death Heathcliff is still passionate about his love for Catherine. This shows that Heathcliff is truly loving because even after twenty years, he is still true to Catherine and still wants a chance to show her his sincere love for her.
Even though Heathcliff has his negative sides which got the best of him very often, he was also very devoted and caring. The different aspects of Heathcliff make his a truly unique, complex, and interesting character. Heathcliff?s contradictory traits make him an individual who?s is worth the time to look at. Both sides of Heathcliff are shown throughout the book, and make him who he is.
“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine”. (Brontë 156) Since the beginning of time, love is something all aspire to attain. It has shown through novels, movies, plays, and songs, however not all love is the same. In Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights, published in 1847, characters illustrate through disputes that occur, deception and selfishness. This is illustrated through the events of; Heathcliff's hunger for revenge, Edgar Linton's impact on Catherine in comparison to Heathcliff, and Heathcliff’s deception on all characters.
Although, Mr. Earnshaw tried to make Heathcliff an equal part of the family, Heathcliff never truly fits in. Heathcliff is from a completely different social class than the rest of his “family”. This led to the hatred that Hindley felt towards Heathcliff. Hindley robs Heathcliff of his education, forces him to work as a servant at Wuthering Heights and frequently beats him. Throughout this all, Heathcliff never complains.
Heathcliff and Cathy have a sadistic relationship. They are only truly in love when they are hurting each other. As Catherine lay dying, she wants Heathcliff, her love, to join her in death. She pleads to him:
The final sense of alienation and the most implicating occurs with Catherine's marriage to Edgar, Heathcliff considers this a betrayal of his love for her, since she wants the social status and existence at the Grange. Heathcliff is however proud and determined and does not cower when opposed by those consider themselves to be superiors. Finally, when he realizes that Catherine has chosen status, wealth and position over him, he disappears for three years and returns in the manner of a gentleman.
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.
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
Through self-centered and narcissistic characters, Emily Bronte’s classic novel, “Wuthering Heights” illustrates a deliberate and poetic understanding of what greed is. Encouraged by love, fear, and revenge, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton Heathcliff all commit a sin called selfishness.
The sympathetic part of Heathcliff shows through when he sees Catherine in the beginning stages of her sickness after childbirth. “He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold, for some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say…” (159). The sympathetic part of Heathcliff kicks in when he sees the woman he loves dying right before him. Heathcliff began to ask Catherine the questions he had not been able to ask her before, whether it had been due to his pride or to his absence - was insignificant., “‘...You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton?” (162). When the novel begins, it is mentioned that Heathcliff is shouting, “‘Come in! Come in!’ he sobbed. ‘Cathy, do come. Oh do - once more! Oh! My heart’s darling, hear me this time - Catherine, at last!’” (28). Heathcliff attempts to get Catherine’s ghost to speak to him, because his main goal is to be united with her in death. Heathcliff’s character changes relatively fast when he sees Catherine dying in her bed. There is a sympathetic side shown that has not been quite expressed before, and also the feelings that Heathcliff kept bottled
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a novel about lives that cross paths and are intertwined with one another. Healthcliff, an orphan, is taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, the owner of Wuthering Heights. Mr. Earnshaw has two children named Catherine and Hindley. Jealousy between Hindley and Healthcliff was always a problem. Catherine loves Healthcliff, but Hindley hates the stranger for stealing his fathers affection away. Catherine meets Edgar Linton, a young gentleman who lives at Thrushcross Grange. Despite being in love with Healthcliff she marries Edgar elevating her social standing. The characters in this novel are commingled in their relationships with Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
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...
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.
Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a destructive force, motivating him to enact revenge and wreak misery. The power of Heathcliff’s destructive love is conquered by the influence of another kind of love. Young Cathy’s love for Hareton is a redemptive force. It is her love that brings an end to the reign of Heathcliff.
Heathcliff is characterized “as dark almost as if it [Heathcliff] came from the devil.” (45) Throughout Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is treated poorly and is mainly a product of a troubled childhood. This man then manifests into a person that is hardly capable of holding back his impetuous actions, and, therefore, exemplifies the capacity of the most powerful emotions. Although he may not be the ideal protagonist, it is ultimately not his fault and in the end is defined by the events in the story. Due to the extreme emotional and physical pain endured throughout his life, Heathcliff exhibits the strongest love and hate towards others through passion and revenge.
In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte strongly emphasizes the dynamic and increasingly complex relationship of Mr. Heathcliff and Catherine. Heathcliff, the abandoned gypsy boy is brought to Wuthering Height by Mr. Earnshaw to be raised with his family. After Mr. Earnshaw's death, he suffers harsh abuses from his "brother" Hindley and from Catherine, whom he dearly loves. This abuse will pave the way for revenge. The evolving and elaborate plans for revenge Mr. Heathcliff masterminds for those who he feels had hurt him and betray him is what makes Wuthering Heights a classic in English literature. The sudden change in feelings and emotions in Mr. Heathcliff are powerful scenes. Revenge becomes the only reason to live for him. Revenge is the main theme in Wuthering Heights because it highlights important events, personality flaws, and the path of destruction.
There can be no question as to the motivations of Heathcliff for the vast majority of the book, as he is quite clearly obsessed with revenge (Which is nothing unusual in Wuthering Heights2) , be it against his adopted sister Catherine Linton (for denying him her love), his adopted brother Hindley Earnshaw (for years of abuse), his archrival and, to an extent, foil Edgar Linton (for marrying the woman he loved), or the child...