An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. - Mahatma Gandhi Gandhi illustrates a world consumed with revenge where every human ends up blind, ultimately worse off than before. In Emily Bronte's novel, Wuthering Heights, the driving need for retaliation dominates Heathcliff's existence and motives, leading to his ultimate self-destruction. While Heathcliff does not literally end up blind, the consequences he experiences in his pursuit of retribution far outweigh the diminutive satisfaction he feels. Both Gandhi and Bronte concur with the unattainability of satisfaction while endeavoring to obtain vengeance. To demonstrate this principle, Emily Bronte characterizes Heathcliff as mentally and physically consumed with a plot for revenge …show more content…
He experiences "the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting this own revenge...he would have tried to remedy the mistake by smashing Hareton's skull on the steps" when he accidentally saves his enemy's child (Bronte 74). Heathcliff immediately regrets the circumstances in which he finds himself, to the point in which he would be willing to "remedy the mistake by smashing Hareton's skull on the steps" if it were darker in the house. Bronte utilizes Heathcliff's savage impulse to murder an innocent child to reveal how the desire for revenge has consumed his thoughts and actions, even those of common human decency. When Heathcliff returns to Thrushcross Grange to see Catherine one last time, he plans to finally "settle [his] score with Hindley," and to "[do] execution on [himself]" to avoid punishment (Bronte 96). Heathcliff's willingness to commit suicide after finally getting his revenge indicates how he views his life as complete and his purpose fulfilled by satiating his one and only wish. He views his body as only necessary to complete his mission and afterwards discardable, illustrating Heathcliff's complete physical infatuation with retaliation. Bronte emphasizes here how Heathcliff loses his purpose in life while he becomes tangled up in a plot for revenge. The intense drive to succeed can render people as
Brontё further imposes the reader against this repressive society that emulates Heathcliff’s rejection because of his inexorable revenge. His revenge against Hindley begins to threaten the system because even with his nebulous and “gypsy” background he manages to ascend into the bourgeoisie status, reducing the unequal system to mere superstition. Arnold Kettle argues that these values represented in Wuthering Heights, which Heathcliff rebels, “reflects the specific tyranny of Victorian capitalist society” against gypsies and those with little social economic status, which Heathcliff embodies.
In his renowned book of philosophy, The Leviathan, Hobbes described that “perpetual and restless desire for power” is a fundamental quality shared by all humans. He also points out that desire is another important aspect of human nature, since it provides motivation for us to strive to reach our individual needs regardless of the possible outcomes of our actions. These two themes are insightfully explored in Susan Jaret McKinstry’s “Desire’s Dreams: Power and Passion in Wuthering Heights”, in which she shows the important role that power and desire play in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. From the desire, passion and the ambition for power being displayed in a relatively closed environment such as the isolated manors, it is clear that Brontë’s view of human nature is that humans will do whatever is necessary in their contest for individual power and fulfillment of desires.
Primarily, Heathcliff's hunger for revenge blindsides the character’s, Hindley, Catherine, Hareton, and young Catherine. Revenge is what Heathcliff wishes to
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
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...
. The reader sees an extraordinary inwardness in Emily Bronte’s book Wuthering Heights. Emily has a gloomy and isolated childhood. . Says Charlotte Bronte, “ my sister’s disposition was not naturally gregarious; circumstances favored and fostered her tendency to seclusion; except to go to church, or to take a walk on the hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home.”(Everit,24) That inwardness, that remarkable sense of the privacy of human experience, is clearly the essential vision of Wuthering Heights. Emily Bronte saw the principal human conflict as one between the individual and the dark, questioning universe, a universe symbolized, in her novel, both by man’s threatening and hardly-to-be-controlled inner nature, and by nature in its more impersonal sense, the wild lonesome mystery of the moors. The love of Heathcliff and Catherine, in its purest form, expresses itself absolutely in its own terms. These terms may seem to a typical mind, violent, and even disgusting. But having been generated by that particular love, they are the proper expressions of it. The passionately private relationship of Heathcliff and Catherine makes no reference to any social convention or situation. Only when Cathy begins to be attracted to the well-mannered ways of Thrushcross Grange, she is led, through them, to abandon her true nature.
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.
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 famous saying that from a true love to a great hatred is only a
“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.
(2) Emily Bronte’s purpose in writing Wuthering Heights is to depict unfulfilled love in a tragic romance novel and hence the theme of Wuthering Heights is love is pain. Emily Bronte reveals an important life lesson that love is not sufficient for happiness and if anything, stirs up more agony. This message is important because, although it is difficult to accept, the message is devastatingly honest. In Wuthering Heights, two characters named Heathcliff and Catherine loved each other immensely. However, their pride and adamance disabled them from making any progress on their romantic relationship. In fact, Heathcliff and Catherine purposely hurt each another through reckless and cruel actions. The author is exemplifying a recurring theme in history that love is associated with pain. The message allows readers to be aware that love is not constant perfection and happiness.
Emily Bronte, on the surface, appeared to be a very withdrawn woman and is said to be reclusive throughout her entire life. She was even incredibly embarrassed when her sister, Charlotte Bronte, found her book of poetry, even though Charlotte was incredibly impressed by it. Beneath the surface lies a woman full of passion and capable of powerful emotions, though she had never felt such emotions, to write a novel that is still discussed today and is regarded as a literary classic. Novels are often regarded as a window to the souls of the authors, and Wuthering Heights is no exception. Wuthering Heights is often seen as a type of construct of Emily’s life and personality, because of the similarity of characters to people in Emily’s life, and how the events that occur at Wuthering Heights are secluded in their own right, much like Emily’s own life.
Bronte's Use of Language and Setting in Wuthering Heights Between pages 15 and 18 there are identifiable ways in which 'Bronte' uses 'language and setting' to establish the characters and create a distinguishable atmosphere. In this essay, themes, genres and styles will be discussed to show how 'Bronte' establishes the characters; there will also be a discussion of the 'gothic' elements which Wuthering Heights contains. Many people would argue that the style of 'Wuthering Heights' is peculiar and complex, the power of Wuthering Heights owes much to its complex narrative structure and to the device of having two conventional people relate a very unconventional tale. Bronte importantly introduces the element of 'the supernatural' into chapter 3 which is an important technique as it grips the reader. Lockwood has come into contact with the ghost of Cathy, who died 18 years before, Some might argue that she is a product of Lockwood's imagination, and it is clear that Bronte has presented these facts in this way so that the reader can make up their own mind on the subject.
...his is impossible to prevent. This leads to Mr. Heathcliff self destruction, because all of his life he has been looking for strategies to get revenge on those he hates. He does not want Wuthering Heights to be a haven, rather a purgatory. To his dismay he realizes his years of revenge, will not last all generations. Seeing how both families, the Linton and the Earnshaw's stand up for one another, Heathcliff understands that the one thing that kept him alive has now been defeated. Therefore his life has no purpose, and he has lost.