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Love and revenge interwoven in Wuthering Heights
Emily bronte's life and work
Explain the theme of revenge in Wuthering Heights
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Wuthering Heights Revenge is one of the many roles in Wuthering Heights. Readers often ask themselves, “In what ways is revenge connected to love?”, “why and how is love so closely connected to vengeance?”, and “is revenge ever sweet for he obtains it?” Emily Bronte, the author of Wuthering Heights, gave off a strong impression that love leads to disaster or revenge. “I’ve treated you infernally- and you’ll take revenge! How will you take it, ungrateful brute?” (pg 109). It’s no secret that Catherine and Heathcliff were in love at the beginning of the book. However, once Catherine marries Edgar, Heathcliff seeks revenge, so it seems to Catherine. Then, Heathcliff takes revenge on the man who took his love, “ ‘Forgiveness!’ said Linton. ‘I have nothing to forgive her, Ellen. You may call at Wuthering Heights this afternoon, if you like and say that I am not angry, but I’m sorry to have lost her-” (pg 141). The quote conveys Edgar’s disown of Isabella, which was Heathcliff’s plan of vengeance against Edgar. Heathcliff married Isabella to take her away from Edgar, just as Edgar took Catherine away from him. …show more content…
“-I to fight my way to Catherine over Linton and his footmen” (pg 149). Heathcliff is willing to “fight [his] way to Catherine” because of his love for her. Heathcliff is desperate for Catherine and won’t let anyone let anyway get in his way. Heathcliff shows his desperation for vengeance against Edgar, “If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day” (pg 144). Illustrating his hatred for Edgar, by calling him a “puny being”, this also shows Heathcliff believes his better for Catherine. By saying, he would love her more in one day than he (Edgar) would in “eighty years”, gives an example of Heathcliff’s drive for
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
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.
Catherine and Heathcliff have had an indisputable connection from the very beginning of the story. A special connection Catherine doesn’t want to admit to, but truly knows it’s there. From their exuberant adventures on the moors, to them making memories in the same household, and eventually Heathcliff’s desire for Catherine’s ghost to haunt him. It’s obvious they would’ve spent the rest of their waking moments together if it wasn’t for their difference in status. Otherwise, they could live the life they are supposed to live. Everything from how compatible and seemingly destined they are for each other, to the unfortunate turn of events that undoubtedly keep them apart. Their lifelong relationship plays a vital role in understanding this story and is expressed through the novel’s use of
“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods; time will change it… My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath... Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” This quote from Catherine explains her love for both men, even though one is stronger than the other. Her love for Edgar is superficial. Edgar Linton is made to feel helpless when Catherine falls into a catatonic depression, after she is alerted that Heathcliff and Isabella eloped. He was gullible to Catherine's love, even if it was not a full devotion to him. She needed to keep up her responsibility as Edgar's wife, and not let herself fall for Heathcliff. Similarly to what Eleanor Roosevelt said, “And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility”
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
Love, betrayal and revenge play leading roles in both Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.” Both works feature doomed relationships, a ghostly haunting, and death. The court at Elsinore, despite its luxurious setting, almost mirrors the seclusion of the Yorkshire moors of Wuthering Heights — making both settings almost prison like. But, it is not setting that makes both works interesting: it is the search for vengeance by the protagonists. Few stories stir the soul more than that of a lover wronged – seeking vengeance on his foes. The lovers, Heathcliff and Hamlet, differ in their nature. One is a passionate brute, the latter a philosopher-prince; yet, despite their differences and being separated by 300 years, they share the same despair and grievances. Even their lives seem to run on almost parallel courses. Each loses a lover, is betrayed by a loved one, and driven almost mad with fury. Indeed, the “central, unifying action of Hamlet” (Abrahms and Brody 44), and of Wuthering Heights, is “revenge” (44). But, where Heathcliff’s sole impetus is revenge, Hamlet is reluctant to enact it. Hamlet’s circumstances, however, do indeed warrant vengeance.
Catherine Earnshaw appears to be a woman who is free spirited. However, Catherine is also quite self-centered. She clearly states that her love for Edgar Linton does not match how much she loves Heathcliff. She is saying that she does love both, and she is unwilling to give one up for the other; she wants “Heathcliff for her friend”. Catherine admits that her love for Linton is “like the foliage in the woods”; however, her love for Heathcliff “resembles the eternal rocks beneath”. She loves Heathcliff and yet she gives him up and marries Linton instead, Catherine believes that if she marries Heathcliff it would degrade and humiliate her socially.
Revenge is one of humanity’s greatest motivators, driving people to take extreme measures to get even. However, people do not attain complete satisfaction and happiness through vengeance, but instead are inflicted with greater self-injury. In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte reveals the futile nature of revenge through the demise of Heathcliff and Hindley Earnshaw and through the success of Hareton Earnshaw, a character who forgives and shows his tormentor compassion.
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...
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
(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.
During the first half of the book, Catherine showed different types of love for two different people. Her love for Heathcliff was her everything, it was her identity to love and live for Heathcliff but as soon as she found out how society views Heathcliff, she sacrificed their love and married Edgar Linton in the hopes of saving Heathcliff from Hindley and protecting him from the eyes of society. In her conversation with Nelly, Cathy who professed her love for Heathcliff quoted “My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself.” Catherine proved Nelly Dean that the only person who can make her feel pain and sorrow is Heathcliff. The extent of her love was uncovered when she sang her praise of “I am Heathcliff” because this was the turning point in the book that allowed the readers to truly understand and see the depth of Cathy's love for Heathcliff. On the other hand, Catherine's love for Edgar wasn't natural because it was a love that she taught herself to feel. It might have come unknowingly to Cathy but she did love Edgar as she said “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees.” Cathy knew that it was not impossible to love Edgar for he was a sweet and kind gentleman who showed her the world but unlike ...
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.
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.
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.