Foil Characters In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

638 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical analysis of weathering heights

Edgar and Heathcliff-both well-known characters throughout Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights, who happen to be perfect examples of foil characters. Without their distinct differences, there would not be a story line. Edgar being the owner of Thrushcross Grange and Heathcliff having Wuthering Heights which that in itself symbolizes that they are two polar opposite people. Their different personalities, ways of thinking, and personal life are all examples of things that make them different. However, without these differences, the main conflict of forbidden love would not have been exemplified.
To begin with, Edgar seems to be the good guy of the story. He does not really do anything bad throughout the novel, with the exception of really …show more content…

Their looks, Edgar being whiter and Heathcliff being darker symbolizes evil and good. Heathcliff is often compared to being the devil and with the whiteness of Edgar that could represent heaven for goodness. Since Heathcliff is a person full of rage, it makes me him think differently than Edgar. Like the examples used before like him marrying Isabella and pushing the marriage, it shows that Heathcliff is actually a smart and manipulative man. He know what makes peoples skin crawl, in this case Edgar’s, so he used his mind set to get exactly what he wanted. Edgar, on the other hand, is more of a softy. He knew that Catherine still had remaining feelings for Heathcliff, but instead of ending it, he just stayed with her. It was when Heathcliff came back when Edgar got angry about the situation because he was worried Catherine would leave him. Another thing that showed their difference is their love for their children. Edgar made sure Cathy being happy was his priority before anything else. When it came to Heathcliff and his son, Linton, there was just despise in that relation. Heathcliff used Linton to hopefully get Wuthering Heights, but since Linton was so pale and sickly looking, he reminded Heathcliff of Edgar which made him dislike him more.
There are a lot of differences between Heathcliff and Edgar throughout the novel. Their differences between feelings, looks, and personal life make them foil characters. Without these distinct differences their conflict would not exist, and without the conflict of love, there would not be a story

Show More
Related

  • Wuthering Heights Deception

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Which drew Catherine towards him; she describes him as “handsome”, “pleasant to be with,” and “cheerful,” and “rich”. Linton turns Catherine from a wild child to a well-mannered lady. They meet when Catherine got bit by a dog, and then the Lintons take her in while she is healing, this lasts for five weeks. Edgar tames her in a way, his overall persona clashes with hers in a perfect way. His love gives Catherine safety a security in the society. Heathcliff on the other hand is almost obsessed and can't give her the attributes she needs and wants; such as, commitment and how he won't sacrifice anything. However, those exact qualities attract Catherine to him. “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.”(Brontë 41) According to Levy, “As a result of the Unlove that they were made to suffer, both Heathcliff and Catherine, by opposite means and in distinct circumstances, turn loneliness into a community of rejection over which they wield absolute control. Heathcliff does this by persecuting those he hates; Catherine, by persecuting those she loves.” Edgar and Heathcliff have a good angel bad angel complex, of course Heathcliff is the bad angel and Edgar is the good angel. The reasons behind this is simply the characteristics portrayed;Edgar

    Read More

  • Distortions and Exaggerations in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Wuthering Heights

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Selfishness in "Wuthering Heights"

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Catherine Earnshaw

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a child Cathy was wild and headstrong and her determination enables her to get everything that she wants. Although she only loves Heathcliff, she has a choice between him and Edgar Linton, as he too loves her. She chooses Edgar because of his status, but ends u...

    Read More

  • Literary Criticism of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wuthering Heights is not just a love story, it is a window into the human soul, where one sees the loss, suffering, self discovery, and triumph of the characters in this novel. Both the Image of the Book by Robert McKibben, and Control of Sympathy in Wuthering Heights by John Hagan, strive to prove that neither Catherine nor Heathcliff are to blame for their wrong doings. Catherine and Heathcliff’s passionate nature, intolerable frustration, and overwhelming loss have ruined them, and thus stripped them of their humanities.

    Read More

  • The Character Of Heathcliff In Brontë's Wuthering Heights

    951 Words  | 2 Pages

    The second generation of the novel offers many parallels, albeit less wild and powerful ones, with the first generation: the second Cathy is a milder, gentler version of her mother and Hareton has a definite likeness to Heathcliff (their degradation, appearance etc. – however their difference lies in Hareton's pivotal capacity for forgiveness); Linton, however, is presented as an even more insufferable, pathetic version of Edgar Linton: he 'might have been taken for [Edgar's] younger brother, so strong was the resemblance'. This similarity with both Edgar and Isabella (his enemies), coupled with his name – the ultimate insult to Heathcliff ('they wish me to hate it too, do they?') – emphasises the vast differences between them – he is more Edgar's

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    1962 Words  | 4 Pages

    The famous saying that from a true love to a great hatred is only a

    Read More

  • The Self-destructive Relationship in Wuthering Heights

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catherine is trapped between her love of Heathcliff and her love for Edgar, setting the two men down a path of destruction, a whirlwind of anger and resentment that Catherine gets caught in the middle of. Catherine is drawn to Heathcliff because of his fiery personality, their raw attraction and one certainly gets the sense that they are drawn together on a deeper level, that perhaps they are soulmates. C. Day Lewis thought so, when he declared that Heathcliff and Catherine "represent the essential isolation of the soul...two halves of a single soul–forever sundered and struggling to unite." This certainly seems to be backed up in the novel when Catherine exclaims “Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind--not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being...” This shows clearly the struggle Catherine feels as she is drawn spiritually to Heathcliff, but also to Edgar for very different reasons. Edgar attracts Catherine predominantly because he is of the right social class. Catherine finds him "handsome, and pleasant to be with," but her feelings for him seem petty when compared to the ones she harbours...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Wuthering Heights is a strange, inartistic story”(Atlas, WH p. 299).  “Wuthering Heights is a strange sort of book” (Douglas, WH p.301).  “This is a strange book” (Examiner, WH p.302).  “His work [Wuthering Heights] is strangely original” (Britannia, WH p.305).  These brief quotes show that early critics of Emily Bronte’s first edition of Wuthering Heights, found the novel baffling in its meaning - they each agreed separately, that no moral existed within the story therefore it was deemed to have no real literary value.   The original critical reviews had very little in the way of praise for the unknown author or the novel.  The critics begrudgingly acknowledged elements of Wuthering Heights that could be considered strengths – such as, “rugged power” and “unconscious strength” (Atlas, WH p.299), “purposeless power” (Douglas, WH p.301), “evidences of considerable power” (Examiner), “power and originality” (Britannia, WH p.305).  Strange and Powerful are two recurring critical interpretations of the novel.   The critics did not attempt to provide in depth analysis of the work, simply because they felt that the meaning or moral of the story was either entirely absent or seriously confused.

    Read More

  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    (4) Wuthering Heights’s mood is melancholy and tumultuous. As a result, the book gives off a feeling of sorrow and chaos. For example, Catherine’s marriage with Edgar Linton made Heathcliff jealous and angry. In retaliation, Heathcliff married Edgar’s sister, Isabella, to provoke Catherine and Edgar. Heathcliff and Isabella’s marriage ignited a chaotic uproar with Edgar and Catherine because Linton disapproved of Heathcliff’s character, and Catherine loved Heathcliff in spite of being married to Edgar. Inside, Catherine wanted to selfishly keep Heathcliff to herself. Their relationships all had tragic endings because Catherine died giving birth to Edgar’s child. Isabella also died, leaving behind her young son. Heathcliff and Edgar resented each other because of misery they experienced together. The transition of the mood in the story is from chaotic to somber.

    Read More

  • Love In Wuthering Heights

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights has been one of the most influential and powerful piece of literature ever written. After being published, it garnered a lot of interest because of the theme that was deemed misleading and critically unfit for society. The main theme of the book revolves around the evolution of love, passion and cruelty.

    Read More

  • Revenge in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heathcliff never finds peace through his revenge.  In fact, the only time he truly finds happiness is when he gives up his plan for retaliation.   Austin O’Malley states  “Revenge is like biting a dog that bit you”  (O’malley 1).  O’Malley’s quote reflects Heathcliff’s immature need to propagate agony in those who have offended him.  Heathcliff’s plan for revenge on Edgar and Catherine is to marry Isabella, who is ignorant of love and of men because she has never experienced either.  He wants to hurt Edgar because of his marriage to Catherine, and he wants to get revenge on Catherine by making her jealous. Catherine’s death proves that this flawed plan of repayment helps nothing.  Heathcliff, haunted by the ghost of Catherine because he is her “murderer,” still is motivated by the need for revenge and tries to get young Cathy away from Edgar by having her marry his son, Linton.  Heathcliff never finds peace until he gives up his plan for revenge just before he dies.  When Heathcliff gives up his plan for revenge, he meets Catherine in death and truly becomes happy once more.

    Read More

  • Romanticism in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    The scene above truly grasps the idea of Romanticism because Heathcliff is showing his emotions and individuality. His desire to be with Catherine is so powerful that he allows himself to disturb the peace and have enough space available for him to occupy after he has passed. This is very unusual because there are not any characters similar to Heathcliff in this text. This scene makes Heathcliff even more difficult to analyze but at the end we learn that the only thing he sincerely wanted throughout the text was to...

    Read More

  • Revenge and Love in Wuthering Heights

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Foil Characters In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

Open Document