Throughout the ages in fiction and reality, women have been attracted to the “bad boy” figure. The novel, Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Bronte, brought forth the fictional “bad boy” archetype from her imagination (Ceron 1). She lived during the Victorian age of realism and change of the fine arts in isolation high on the Yorkshire Moors (Evans 1). It was there she imagined another world, wrote secret bed time stories, and acted out plays with toy soldiers that came to life with their own identities. As Bronte matured, her work evolved from the early childish games to her more complex novels, including Wuthering Heights (Cody 1). Heathcliff, the protagonist in Wuthering Heights, is a refined character with dark and dangerous traits that make him desirable to Catherine. The female reader is attracted to this exemplary hero in Wuthering Heights as women throughout history have been drawn in by such men. The theory of the Byronic romance hero, an archetype for what modern writers now refer to as the “bad boy,” came well after the novel (Cuddy-Keane 1). If the Byronic romance hero resembles Heathcliff, and women desire men similar to Heathcliff, then ultimately women pine for the Byronic Romance Hero.
As told in Wuthering Heights, when Mr. Earnshaw decides to take in a young orphan named Heathcliff, he quickly grows to love him more than his own son, Hindley. Heathcliff and Hindley constantly bicker due to his jealousy of his father’s relationship with Heathcliff. Hindley is sent off to college to relieve the conflict. When Mr. Earnshaw passes, Hindley returns home as master of Wuthering Heights. Catherine, Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, and Heathcliff return to Thrushcross Grange from a funeral when she is bitten by a snake. Ed...
... middle of paper ...
...Victorian Web. Sept. 2001. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
Coleman, Toni. "Women and "Bad Boys": What Is The Attraction?" Ezine Articles. N.p., 5 June 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Cuddy-Keane, Melba. "The Byronic Hero." The University of Toronto at Scarborough. N.p., Spring 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
Evans, Richard. "The Victorians: Art and Culture." Gresham College. Museum of London, 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.
Mehta, Vinita. "Why Do Women Fall for Bad Boys?" Psychology Today. N.p., 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Nicholson, Jeremy. "Why Nice Guys and Gals Finish Last in Love." Psychology Today. Psychology Today, 1 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Oates, Joyce C. "The Magnanimity of Wuthering Heights." University of San Francisco. N.p., Winter 1983. Web. 21 Nov. 2013
Wexler, Harry K. "Should Women Love Bad Boys?" Psychology Today. Psychology Today,
7 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Ed. Michael Meyer.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
Throughout the years, women have been mistreated brutally by gangs in their neighborhood. In a memoir by Luis Rodriguez, Always Running, the main character experiences many random acts such as shootings, rape, and many arrests. Even though, Luis may seem like a very tough young man, he gives the women the respect and love they wish to receive from a gang member. In today’s society, many young girls are attracted to what society calls a “bad boy” because their lifestyle seems exciting. When one decides to join a gang, one must prove their loyalty to their new family by getting “jumped” by the whole gang or committing a serious crime. When a young girl begins to date a gang member, she begins to see how quickly a situation can escalate to a violent scene and abuse. As soon as a young girl is expose to that lifestyle, they tend to get mistreated mentally and physically by other gang
Part one, “The Framework of Violence against Women,” sets the blueprint for what drives individuals, particularly men, to act on their impulses of violence triggered by an underlying fear or loathing, especially those instances of sexual depravity. Sex is comparable to power, creating power over others and thus creating a sense of power within. Violence is introduced at an early age, found in children’s cartoons, television shows, and popular video games. Society has become numb to the objectification of women to the point that violence has become accepted, and the behaviors are not only justified by the oppressor, but also believed by
Pearson, Patricia. When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence. New York: Viking, 1997
In the novel Wuthering Heights, author Emily Brontë portrays the morally ambiguous character of Heathcliff through his neglected upbringing, cruel motives, and vengeful actions.
Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, set in the countryside of England’s 1700’s, features a character named Heathcliff, who is brought into the Earnshaw family as a young boy and quickly falls into a passionate, blinding romance with the Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine. However, Heathcliff is soon crushed by this affection when his beloved chooses the company of another man rather than his own. For the remainder of the novel he exudes a harsh, aversive attitude that remains perduring until his demise that is induced by the loss of his soulmate, and in turn the bereavement of the person to whom the entirety of his being and his very own self were bound.
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...
Weiler, J. (1999). Girls and violence. Eric digest number 143. Retrieved November 17, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed430069.html
Brontë, Emily, Fritz Eichenberg, and Bruce Rogers. Wuthering Heights. New York: Random House, 1943. Print.
... Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. D. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. 1166-86. Print.
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Norton Critical ed. 3rd ed. Ed. William M. Sale, Jr., and Richard J. Dunn. New York: W. W. Norton, 1990.
Much meaning that was not overtly written into Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights can be discovered by using Freudian interpretation. This meaning was not consciously intended by Bronte, but can be very interesting and helpful in finding significance in the book. Freud used dream analysis, symbolism, and psychoanalytical techniques to find meaning that was not apparent in his patients the other subjects of his analysis.
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Norton Critical ed. 3rd ed. Ed. William M. Sale, Jr., and Richard J. Dunn. New York: W. W. Norton, 1990.
each present a story in which the precariousness of social class and the perniciousness of love constitute a central conflict. Both the protagonist from Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, and the protagonist from Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, share a confident, yet stubborn demeanor; however, there are many characteristics and events that distinguish each of them as strong central characters in their own right.