Selfishness as Seen in Wuthering Heights

1012 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: sentence of theme selfishness in wuthering heights

Consistently throughout Wuthering Heights, the self-indulgent, mercenary tendencies of human nature can be identified in characters such as Catherine, Hindley, Linton, and Heathcliff. These self-aiming qualities result in these characters through past transgressions, mistreatments, illnesses, and cases of simply being spoiled. Further exploration of these characters reveals that they may not be wholly at fault for their selfish behaviors and may simply be victims of past offenses.

In “Altruism and Selfishness”, Roger Scruton simply defines: “A selfish act is one directed at the self” (39). While the selfish acts committed throughout Wuthering Heights are in themselves fascinating, it is the hows and whys behind these characters’ mercenary qualities that carry the most importance and deserve the most scrutiny.

Young Linton is described as having “the self-absorbed moroseness of a confirmed invalid, repelling consolation, and ready to regard the good-humored mirth of others as an insult” (Brontë 252). Already, from a young age, Linton feels sorry for himself because he knows that he is sick, and he demands special treatment because of it. Once sent to live at Wuthering Heights with his father, “utter lack of sympathy” from Heathcliff and Joseph “had rendered young Heathcliff selfish and disagreeable, if he were not so originally” (Brontë 207). Once he stops receiving the special treatment that he has been served with for his whole life, and is treated as Heathcliff would treat anyone else, Linton becomes even more selfish and intolerable to not just his father and servants, but also to Cathy, his young bride.

Since the adoption of Heathcliff into the Earnshaw family, “Hindley hated him” particularly because Mr. Earnshaw “took...

... middle of paper ...

... Reason And Hedonism.” Utilitas 20.1 (2008): 50-58. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Jenkins, John. “Max Sirner’s Egoism.” Heytrhop Journal 50.2 (2009): 243-256. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Lippitt, John. “True Self-Love and True Self-Sacrifice.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 66.3 (2009): 125-138. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

May, Joshua. “Rational Desires and Empirical Evidence against Psychological Egoism.” European Journal of Philosophy 19.1 (2011):39-58. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Reidy, Dennis E., Joshua D. Foster, and Amos Zeichner. “Narcissism and Unprovoked Aggression.” Aggressive Behavior 36.6 (2010): 414-422. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Scruton, Roger. “Altruism and Selfishness.” American Spectator Oct. 2007: 38+. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Show More
Related

  • Wuthering Heights Essay

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over a long period of time, an individual’s social status has always had a great impact on relationships between others. Relationships such as friendship, romance and even family relationships are greatly influenced by one’s social status. When people value social status to the utmost importance, it often acts as a barrier to further solidify relations with others. “Wuthering Heights” is a classic novel written by Emily Bronte which illustrates how social status gets in the way of relationships. This story (set in eighteen hundreds) displays the true nature of the people at that time because they excessive had pride. Since they had excessive pride, they often judged people based on their social class; hence changing their relationship between each other. In this novel social class was measured by observing an individual’s wealth, appearance and manners. Heathcliff happens to be the male lead character of this story that lacks social class due to his rebellious relationship with Hindley. Afterwards, Hindley degrades Heathcliff’s status this affects his connections with Catherine and Nelly. Since Heathcliff’s status diminishes, Catherine becomes reluctant to continue her affair with Heathcliff. Nelly also becomes wary of Heathcliff because his personality changes after restoring his own status. Thus, it is clearly seen that social class has an impact on the story by altering Heathcliff’s relationship between Hindley, Catherine and Nelly.

    Read More

  • Freud and Hansel and Gretel

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (19621960). The Ego and the Super-ego. The ego and the id (pp. 19-20). New York: Norton.

    Read More

  • Wuthering Heights Feminist Analysis

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    Among the social issues discussed in Wuthering Heights, one of the most prevalent is the treatment of women. This is especially highlighted with Heathcliff, who interacts with three women throughout story. Each woman sees a different man based on his motivation. Catherine sees a loving, beautiful person; Isabella sees an evil, spiteful creature; and Catherine sees an abuser. Heathcliff’s treatment of each woman is motivated by love, anger, and vengeance.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Wuthering Heights

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Demise of a Soulmate in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, the love that Heathcliff’s young niece and nephew share is one that echoes that of what his and Catherine’s love could have been, which provides even more ground for the fiend to tyrannize the two. The semblence in their relationships can be seen in comparable scenes, the first of which recounts Catherine uttering, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (74) Later, Heathcliff pronounces apropos of Cathy caring for Hareton, “Your love will make him an outcast, and a beggar.” (299) The similarities between their two relationships is therefore outlined in their alluded elements of shame and social degradation that can be found in both occasions , and this likeness further agitates the aching heart of Wuthering Height’s antagonist.

    Read More

  • Selfishness in "Wuthering Heights"

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Linton Heathcliff is only interested in himself. He is a sickly and scared young man. Like his mother Isabella Linton who accused Catherine Earnshaw of selfishly wanting Heathcliff for herself – in which she didn't- Linton enjoys inflicting and watching people suffer. As Heathcliff threatened to kill Linton, Linton only thought about his own life and, decided to betray Cathy, tricking her into staying at Wuthering Heights and getting married to him, instead of returning to Thurshcross Grange to where her father lies on his deathbed.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Heathcliff In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights?

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Psychological and Ethical Egoism

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    For someone who believes in psychological egoism, i t is difficult to find an action that would be acknowledged as purely altruistic. In practice, altruism, is the performance of duties to others with no view to any sort of personal...

    Read More

  • Characters of Catherine and Heathcliff in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    Heathcliff's many-faceted existence is marked by wickedness, love, and strength. His dark actions are produced by the distortion of his natural personality. Although Heathcliff was once subjected to vicious racism due to his dark skin color and experienced wearisome orphan years in Liverpool, this distortion had already begun when Mr. Earnshaw brought him into Wuthering Heights, a "dirty, ragged, black-haired child"(45; ch.7). Already he was inured to hardship and uncomplainingly accepted suffering. Heathcliff displays his strength and steadfastness when he had the measles, and when Hindley treated him cruelly if he got what he wanted. From the very beginning he showed great co...

    Read More

  • Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Heathcliff - A Character Defined By His Past, in Wuthering Heights

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    Growing up as an orphan from a tender age, deprived of a structured family and family support system, exposed to the negative influences life offered, it is almost a certainty that his behaviour will not be that of an ideal gentleman. Heathcliff was adopted by Mr. Earnshaw. He was then given a well structured and steady family including a brother Hindley and sister Catherine. Mr Earnshaw made certain that nobody took advantage of Heathcliff and poured out his affection onto Heathcliff. However, Heathcliff became overwhelmed by all the attention and affection, manipulated the situation and used it to his advantage.

    Read More

  • Wuthering Heights

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cathy & Heathcliff come to make friends with the Linton children. After the death of her mother, Cathy looks upon them as polite and etiquette breed, different from her own. When she becomes sick due to a dog-bite, Cathy is nursed back to health by Mrs. Llinton and remains there during the period of her illness. After that period, she comes home transformed into a “lady”. Heathcliff only becomes angry and hurt by her change, feeling left behind.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Personality In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    He was treated poorly as a child and was raised to have a negative outlook on life, inspiring his permanently disagreeable adult personality. This continued state of negative being can be seen in other characters as well. His early life is similar to Cathy Linton’s in the sense that she parallels her mother, Catherine, since she was born to her and is treated like her. She is born to have her specific characteristics, but also grows in a situation in which her household treats her like Catherine. Both Heathcliff and Cathy are destined for their lifestyles, as their pasts are not due to their personal actions. This can also be seen in Linton Heathcliff, who is perpetually weak from birth. Although Heathcliff attempts to raise him to be abusive, he fails, and Linton remains a wailing brat. This shows that the effects of childhood last long into adulthood, and what is established in early life cannot be

    Read More

  • The Role Of Isolation In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

    244 Words  | 1 Pages

    Isolation is a powerful force. Human beings live, work, and play in groups, and to be separate from the whole of humanity can disorient us, debilitate us, and even make us question our place in the world. Isolation is easily confused with other forms of aloneness such as loneliness and alienation, but the condition of being isolated requires that one be detached from others through reasons not in one’s control. This can be taken into context as to why Heathcliff’s feelings of revenge for basically everyone at Wuthering Heights. His feelings overshadowed and clouded his judgement and made him a bitter man, isolating him from those who he once held dear. Heathcliff’s great natural abilities, strength of character, and love for Catherine Earnshaw all enable him to raise himself from humble beginnings to the status of a wealthy gentleman, but his need to revenge himself for Hindley’s abuse and Catherine’s betrayal leads him into a twisted life of cruelty and hatred.

    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 Selfishness as Seen in Wuthering Heights

Open Document