Set at the end of the eighteenth century, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a mysterious book that maintains the reader on the edge of their seat as Brontë explores the dark side of love, revenge, and the juxtaposition between nature and man. But had Wuthering Heights been set in another time period, many situations-from Heathcliff’s arrival to the Earnshaw family to the union of Hareton and Cathy-may not have occurred. It should also be noted that many events consisted of an eerie, strange feel to them-a similar style seen in many Gothic novels, a popular genre in the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. One of the most important occasions in Wuthering Heights was the fateful day when Mr. Earnshaw came back from Liverpool with a homeless child, who was named Heathcliff. In the nineteenth century, the economy of England had suffered after the war against Napoleon’s France and Liverpool did not have the best reputation, having problems such as being the home of 1,200 thieves under the age of 15 and houses that were in disgusting conditions, as well as overcrowded. As soon as Heathcliff had arrived, the Earnshaws (excluding Mr. Earnshaw) and Nelly were repulsed by his dark appearance, a feature of his that followed him until the day he died. His dark appearance matched his dark nature as he got older and it is possible that Brontë purposely made Heathcliff-the gypsy orphan from Liverpool-the cruel misanthropist who gained power over those who once scorned him. The upper and middle classes worried that those of lower class would one day gain power and money, and those of the upper classes feared what would occur. Brontë frequently compares Heathcliff to the devil, introducing him as “a gift of God; though it’s as dark almost s if it c... ... middle of paper ... ...ound him become bleak; it’s no wonder that Brontë kept comparing him to the devil. His many violent actions-for instance his torturing of Isabella Linton for no apparent reason, his hatred for his own son and his disinterest to take care of Linton, or almost harming Cathy during a meal-show the reader that Heathcliff hates others as much as he loves Catherine; he may know what love is, but he’s a sadistic character. There’s no denying that Emily Brontë wrote quite a captivating novel. She used many elements and events around her-England’s failing economy, British hierarchy, and death from an illness that could easily be treated nowadays being a few examples-to portray her wild imagination. While modern readers can no longer relate to many of those events that affected Brontë’s novel, it is possible to move on from that barrier, and appreciate the story how it is.
As a child and adolescent, both Heathcliff’s sullen manner and unpleasant appearance fail to comply with the so called heroic characteristics that are often encompassed by the genuine romance hero. He does however pursue many similar traits to that of the Byronic hero including his arrogant and selfish morality. “Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil? I sha'n't tell my reasons for making this inquiry; but I beseech you to explain, if you can, what I have married”. Bronte commonly uses other characters prejudice outlooks to emphasise Heathcliff’s unruly behaviour and appearance. One character ...
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.
A parallel description is given to Heathcliff when he is called, in one instance of the Brontean text «dark almost as if [he] came from the devil” (Emily Bronte: 36)
Wuthering Heights is a story full of symbols, themes and motifs among which we can also encounter the opposition between civilization and wilderness. The setting used throughout the novel Wuthering Heights helps to set the mood to describe the characters. We find two households separated by the cold, muddy, and desolate moors, one by the name of Wuthering Heights, and the other by the name of Thrushcross Grange. Each house stands alone and the atmosphere creates a mood of isolation. In the novel, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are the two places where virtually all of the action takes place. However, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, differ greatly from each other in appearance and atmosphere. These differences reflect the universal conflict between the storm and calm that Emily Bronte develops as the theme in the novel. This paper analyzes the way the above introduced opposition is representative for the two estates in the story: Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange as well as for their owners: Heathcliff and the Lintons.
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
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.
A well written and analytical inquiry, the essay is effective in highlighting the ways in which Wuthering Heights is an exploration of race in the nineteenth century. Turki Althubaiti uses many secondary sources in order to effectively consider how race and racial prejudice is reflected through the character Heathcliff. Althubaiti beautifully describes Emily Bronte’s authentic novel as an ‘imaginative art’ that ‘embodies the tensions and conflicts- racial, social, personal and spiritual - of nineteenth century capitalist society’ (p222). He also concludes Wuthering Heights proves to be a place where racial and societal norms were displaced and the dark skinned man with deep black eyes, is not a goblin or a ghoul, rather, ‘a human being, and free, like everyone else’
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...
How Emily Bronte Introduces the Reader to the Themes of Enclosure and the Supernatural in Wuthering Heights
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 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.
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...
It is a question that has baffled readers and critics alike through generations, a question that can be endlessly pondered upon and debated over, as to why Emily Bronte chose to name her first and only novel, after the house in which a sizable part of the action chronicled takes place, despite being armed with characters of such extra-ordinary strength and passion as Heathcliff or Catherine. But on close scrutiny, a reader can perhaps discern the reason behind her choice, the fact that Wuthering Heights is at once a motif, a setting and according to a few critics, even a ‘premonitory indication’ of the tempestuous nature of things soon to occur.
Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights, is filled with many controversial psychological conflicts. The main psychological dispute in the novel is whether Heathcliff’s wicked nature was formed from birth (nature) or whether it was created from the environment that he grew up in and all of the abuse that he suffered at the hands of Hindley (nurture). Everyone is born innocent. It is their environment and their actions that cause them to truly be evil. The same can be said about Heathcliff. His corrupted character was because of his surroundings and experiences, not because he was born evil. Heathcliff was an orphan, growing up in a household in which no one enjoyed his presence. The background in which he grew up in was not the ideal household. Heathcliff’s dark character can also be explained through psychological references such as Sigmund Freud’s id, ego, and superego. Being that he is the id, Heathcliff’s personality represents the most basic desires of a human.
“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.