Wuthering Heights- Is Heathcliff a man or a devil?
"Wuthering Heights" was written by Emily Brontë and was first
published in 1847, it was written during the "romantic period", it is
a story of love, lust and sorrow all held together by extreme passion,
love and hate.
One of the main characters in the book Wuthering Heights is
Heathcliff, he was a orphan who lived in Liverpool, we find very
little about Heathcliff's past before he is adopted by the Earnshaw's,
which makes Heathcliff a mysterious character. When Heathcliff comes
to live at Wuthering Heights after being adopted by the Earnshaw's, he
feels displaced as he does not know where to fit in with the family
who seem to have "tight knit family system". In the beginning it is
clear that Heathcliff is rejected by his older step brother Hindly and
turns to Catherine for affection, but Heathcliff feels he is not
worthy of the affection shown to him by his step father and the family
and this causes problems with members of the family. Hindly
automatically feels threatened by Heathcliff's presence and his hate
for Heathcliff grows as Heathcliff gets the attention from there
father that Hindly feels he deserve and this causes friction between
the two characters. But Heathcliff has needs and one of these is to be
loved which he feels only Catherine can do even from a very young age,
they become the best of friends and feel wild together running in
fields and playing together, and it shows when Heathcliff is young
Catherine is his sole source of self esteem.
When Mr. Earnshaw dies Catherine takes comfort with Heathcliff, and
Hindly comes back from university to attend to the funeral after a
while Heathcliff was degraded by Hindly because of Hindlys jea...
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...raded and running away
from Wuthering Heights isolating himself from his past only returning
when he knows his revenge can be had, Heathcliff is also filled with
dark qualities which make him return to seek revenge, but a Byronic
hero is usually passionate about a particular issue, this particular
issue for Heathcliff is Catherine and we see this as he seems to be
addicted to her. A Byronic hero exhibits several characteristic
traits, and in many ways he can be considered a rebel. The Byronic
hero does not possess "heroic virtue" in the usual sense; instead, he
has many dark qualities. With regard to his intellectual capacity,
self-respect, and hypersensitivity, the Byronic hero is "larger than
life," and "with the loss of his titanic passions, his pride, and his
certainty of self-identity, he loses also his status as [a
traditional] hero" (Thorslev 187).
The Byronic hero in literature is named after Lord Byron and his main protagonist in his poem Childe Harold. The Byronic hero was established during the Romantic period in art and literature as an anti-hero; he is supposed to represent the antithesis of the ideal, chivalrous hero of the time. This hero is dark, mysterious, and brooding. He often harbors the torturing memory of an enormous, nameless guilt that drives him toward an inevitable doom. He holds himself detached and sees himself as superior in his passions and powers compared to society and humanity, whom he regards with disdain. He stubbornly pursues his own ends according to his self-generated moral code, against all opposition. He also gains an attraction from the other characters because it involves their confusion at his obliviousness to ordinary human concerns. Byronic heroes in literature often have the following characteristics: passionate, unrepentant, wandering, isolated, attractive, and self-reliant.
Primarily, Heathcliff's hunger for revenge blindsides the character’s, Hindley, Catherine, Hareton, and young Catherine. Revenge is what Heathcliff wishes to
“The attributes of a Byronic Hero found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, there are certain characteristics in her characters that express the traits of a Byronic hero. Such traits of a Byronic hero are: voluntary exile/Imprisonment, Aloof/Sullen, Restless Spirit, Disdain for rules and regulations of society, Rejection by society, isolation, mysterious, passionate, and Exotic, Intelligence, curiosity, and Fearlessness. These characteristics came from the second-generation Romantic poet named Lord Byron. Lord Byron himself were these characteristics.
Discuss the portrayal of Heathcliff and Hareton Earnshaw in WutheringHeights. Are they products of nature or nurture? I am going to look at the nature and nurture of both Hareton Earnshaw and Heathcliff, of Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights', and try to decide whether these two characters are products of their nature or their nurture. A person's nature is the way they are born, their 'raw state of mind', the parts of their character unaffected by outside influence. A person's nurture is the way they are brought up, and they way they are influenced and shaped by society.
From the beginning of the novel and most likely from the beginning of Heathcliff's life, he has suffered pain and rejection. When Mr. Earnshaw brings him to Wuthering Heights, he is viewed as a thing rather than a child. Mrs. Earnshaw was ready to fling it out the doors, while Nelly put it on the landing of the stairs hoping that it would be gone the next day. Without having done anything to deserve rejection, Heathcliff is made to feel like an outsider. Following the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff suffers cruel mistreatment at the hands of Hindley. In these tender years, he is deprived of love, friendship, and education, while the treatment from jealous Hindley is barbaric and disrupts his mental balance. He is separated from the family, reduced to the status of a servant, undergoes regular beatings and forcibly separated from his soul mate, Catherine. The personality that Heathcliff develops in his adulthood has been formed in response to these hardships of his childhood.
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 sympathetic part of Heathcliff shows through when he sees Catherine in the beginning stages of her sickness after childbirth. “He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold, for some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say…” (159). The sympathetic part of Heathcliff kicks in when he sees the woman he loves dying right before him. Heathcliff began to ask Catherine the questions he had not been able to ask her before, whether it had been due to his pride or to his absence - was insignificant., “‘...You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton?” (162). When the novel begins, it is mentioned that Heathcliff is shouting, “‘Come in! Come in!’ he sobbed. ‘Cathy, do come. Oh do - once more! Oh! My heart’s darling, hear me this time - Catherine, at last!’” (28). Heathcliff attempts to get Catherine’s ghost to speak to him, because his main goal is to be united with her in death. Heathcliff’s character changes relatively fast when he sees Catherine dying in her bed. There is a sympathetic side shown that has not been quite expressed before, and also the feelings that Heathcliff kept bottled
Masculinity. A word that has set communities aflame and drenched generations into utter disrepair. A term that changes in every culture and era. A term that one can’t simply define. Some attempt to define it in opposition of the term femininity. Others prefer to define it to fit to their tailored needs and societal expectations of the time. In literature, the era in which the text is written depends greatly on how people go about integrating this term in their work. The Bronte sisters come from a long lineage of female writers that follow directly the Romantic period. Their heros and how they interacted with the heroines in the novels were largely based on Lord Byron’s ideal Byronic Hero. The two sisters Charlotte
The basic conflict of the novel that drives Heathcliff and Catherine apart is social. Written after the Industrial Revolution, Wuthering Heights is influenced by the rise of new fortunes and the middle class in England. Money becomes a new criterion to challenge the traditional criterias of class and family in judging a gentleman’s background. Just as Walpole who portrays the tyrannies of the father figure Manfred and the struggles of the Matilda who wants to marry the peasant Theodore, as depicted in the quote “(…) improbability that either father would consent to bestow his heiress on so poor a man, though nobly born”(p. 89), Brontë depicts a brutal bully Hindley who torments Heathcliff and separates Catherine from him. Heathcliff, a gypsy outcast picked u...
A Byronic hero is typically arrogant, rebellious, anti-social, and darkly and enticingly romantic. They have a tendency to be influenced by past events and they are driven by all-consuming passion.
Emily Brontë, in her novel, Wuthering Heights, suggests that children, in their very nature, exhibit traits from their parental influences. However, these traits are not always represented at the same time and can come out in different situations. For instance, as Cathy Linton grows up, her personality is a mixture of her calmer father, Edgar, and her more fiery mother, Catherine. She shows both these personalities, but she limits each to the correct time and circumstance. Also, the same goes for Linton Heathcliff, who has become a mixture of both his mother, Isabella, and his father, Heathcliff. Lastly, this is shown in Hareton Earnshaw, who, because he has little to no relationship with his biological parents, has turned into a man more like Heathcliff, his surrogate father, instead of Hindley, his genetic father. In this way, parental influence can shape a child into becoming more like them.
The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.
Flemming, James. "Byronic Hero: Definition, Characteristics & Examples." Education Portal.com. Education Portal, 2003. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. .
In the novel Wuthering Heights, the dark and mysterious Heathcliff once began his life with an open heart, but after mistreatment from Edgar and Hindley he turns to revenge. Heathcliff's actions are reasonable; he has been hurt from the unfair reason of discrimination. Heathcliff slowly becomes sickly obsessed with planning an elaborate revenge after eavesdropping a conversation between his beloved Catherine to Nelly. He hears his young beautiful and idolized Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff” (77). Heathcliff, heartbroken and hopeless, abruptly leaves Wuthering Height for two years. Catherine is left wondering where he is. Heathcliff leaves in search of revenge.