How Is Heathcliff A Demotalized Society

Even though he is marginalized, Heathcliff is still able to find a companion in the brutalized society of Wuthering Heights in Catherine Earnshaw. Although life is bleak, their relationship brings joy and freedom in the demoralizing society of Wuthering Heights. But when Catherine is brought into the ideals of her society as a woman, Heathcliff too, is forced to reconcile his status at Wuthering Heights. These two characters were able to form such a close bond because they both as children, were the outsiders in their developing society. But Heathcliff had an even more isolated social experience because of his inability to have claim to a well-standing ancestor. What is interesting about Heathcliff’s lack of background is that he is able to

Unfortunately, Heathcliff’s freedom comes with a price, as it only emphasizes his role as an outsider—because unlike Catherine, he can never truly fulfill a societal role whether it be as a poor servant or a wealthy land owner. His drive to be better than what Catherine sees him, only fuels his anger at her for not loving him. This hate only feeds his need to get back at the Earnshaws for all their transgressions, as he knows that no one in their countryside will ever truly see him as worthy, no matter the wealth he amasses. His isolation, even when he attempts to do as Catherine did and abide by societal roles, is supported in the analysis of Heathcliff through the lens of Marxist Criticism. “…Heathcliff the adult is the atomic capitalist to whom relational bonds are nothing, whose individualism is now enslaving rather than liberating.” (402). Because his need to fit in only exacerbated his torment, Heathcliff as a “gentleman” has no interest in mending his relationship with Catherine nor the rest of the people at Wuthering Heights. Instead he wants his oppressors to feel all the pain he had felt, no

In saying that it was society that pushed him, Heathcliff’s own culpability is forgotten. For he made the choice to stew in bitterness for decades, to hate the woman he had loved for so many years without even trying to discern why she had left him, to torture children who had nothing to do with his pain be subjected to the same hurt that drove him to be the creature he is now. Heathcliff chose to expend all his energies on hurting everyone that could have hurt him, to the point that nothing is left of him—which could be seen as a second side to the idea that society had expunged his younger self. Perhaps also his own dedication to violence, killed the light in him, “I seek no revenge on you," replied Heathcliff, less vehemently. "That's not the plan. The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don't turn against him; they crush those beneath them.” (11.51). These two blind-spots of the primary argument show that perhaps the constraints of society are not truly coming from society, but constructs of philosophy espoused by members of Wuthering Heights’ and Brontë’s society, passing these ideals off as fact. It also shows that society’s pressure to conform does not absolve Heathcliff of his actions, but it does not mean that it was not a factor in his