In Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights Bronte infuses hatred into a powerful love story. The love in Wuthering Heights is stronger than death, but the characters also portray a hatred in the novel that evokes even stronger emotions in both the reader and the characters. In the first part of the novel, Heathcliff and Catherine’s love is prevalent, but when Catherine marries Edgar Linton, Heathcliff is motivated to get revenge on all those whom he believes have wronged him. Not only does hatred fill the novel, but hatred also fills Heathcliff, however, the hatred is essential as it gives him a chance at redemption. The “minor” characters in part two of the novel are actually not minor at all, but are rather crucial characters needed to lead Heathcliff through his attempts at revenge to reach redemption.
Cathy Linton, Edgar Linton and Catherine’s child, is essential to Heathcliff’s transformation he experiences towards the end of the novel. Part two of Wuthering Heights begins with the first years of Cathy’s life just after Catherine’s death. Cathy’s life gives Heathcliff a second opportunity to love. However, Heathcliff hates Cathy and does not try to form a relationship with his late lover’s daughter, but instead he uses her in his attempted revenge upon Edgar Linton. To illustrate his seriousness to get revenge against Edgar, Heathcliff “shut and locked [the door] also” (253). Heathcliff locks Cathy and Nelly in a room at Wuthering Heights to force Cathy to marry Linton to complete his revenge upon Edgar Linton. Heathcliff’s forced marriage of Linton and Cathy completes his vengeful plan against Edgar rather than leaving his plan frayed and unfinished.
Heathcliff completes his ploy at revenge against Edgar Linton through ...
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...s or even after his death. After his death, all is calm (except for those in the afterlife) around Wuthering Heights. Hareton and Cathy’s engagement to marry leads the reader to believe the “minor” characters have helped Heathcliff through his redemption.
The characters in part two of the novel enable Heathcliff to transform from a vengeful character set out to get revenge upon enemies he has made throughout the first part of the novel to a redeemed character at peace with the decisions he has made. The characters in part two of the novel both enable Heathcliff to enact revenge upon his foes, and to redeem himself by accepting his actions. The characters are essential to Heathcliff’s transformation as a character and Bronte’s illustration of how revenge can lead to redemption.
Works Cited
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York NY: Bantam, 1974. Print.
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
Throughout the frist volume Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, one of the main characters, Heathcliff is portrayed as someone filled with abhorrence. This idea is presented to the reader through different passages throughout the story. Isabella describes Heathcliff and the uses abhorrence as a key word in his rendition as a character. Isabella , “The adjective our gave mortal offence. He swore it was not, nor ever should be mine; and he’d – but I’ll not repeat his language, nor describe his habitual conduct; he is ingenious and unresting in seeking to gain my abhorrence! I sometimes wonder at him with an intensity that deadens my fear; yet, I assure you, a tiger, or a venomous serpent could not rouse terror in me equal to that which he wakens. He told me of Catherine’s illness, and accused my brother of causing it; promising that I should be Edgar’s proxy in suffering, till he could get a hold of him” (144). Equally important is when Isabella questions his personality, and if he even is a man, earlier in her letter. Another example is when Heathcliff expresses his opinion on his wife and how he despises her. The reason that Heatcliff detests Isabella is because her brother is married to Catherine and she is ill, but since he cannot get his hands on her brother she will be culpable for the time being. In the duration of the novel Heathcliff acts, and is described as having abhorrence along with vast hatred towards other characters.
When Linton Heathcliff’s son returns to Wuthering Heights Heathcliff tells Nelly “[his] design is honest as possible…that the two cousins may fall in love and get married. [he is] acting generously to [her] master: his young chit has no expectations, and should [Catherine]second [his] wish she’ll be provided for at once as joint successor with Linton. (215)” Heathcliff’s plan states that although Heathcliff looked down upon little Linton, yet he uses his son and the power of this distorted patriarchal society as weapons to take revenge over Edgar. He tricked little Catherine to Wuthering Heights and forces her to marry his terribly ill son Linton because this is the only way to take possession of the property she inherited from her father as the only child. Due to the acquiescence of patriarchal society, Linton and Heathcliff can easily manipulate little Catherine and hold on to her fate with no effort using the chains of marriage. After women are married to men, men have the right to control their wives and nobody could intervene and the society does not allow women to divorce their husbands because they are men’s personal attachments. As a part of Heathcliff’s plan, Heathcliff made Hareton, Hindley’s son “never be able to emerge from his bathos of coarseness and
Bronte touches on the notion that such brutishness is rooted in deep neglect and exploitation in attempt to correlate the indifference of the natural world. The pain bestowed upon Heathcliff and Hindley showcases the effects of cruelty as their turmoil leads them to seek displaced revenge. This is seen through Heathcliffs relationship to Isabella Linton. After learning of Catherines illness, he blames Edgar and displaces this sense of betrayal through the emotional abuse of Isabella. He indulges in violence frequently, most notably by hanging Isabellas dog and physically abusing her. Bronte continually uses Heathcliffs mistreatment to demonstrate the damaging ramifications involved in mans ability to hate and hones in on the core reason for such destructiveness. It is implied that nuture plays a large role in an individuals upbringing, essentially defining the nature of man. Hatred and vengeance drive the characters immoral motives and perpetuates an ironic succession of equal treatment. The audience sees this unmasked pattern of cruelty in the second generation of the Earnshaws, Lintons, and Heathcliff's. Heathcliff demonstrates the same
In the novel Wuthering Heights, author Emily Brontë portrays the morally ambiguous character of Heathcliff through his neglected upbringing, cruel motives, and vengeful actions.
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.
Through self-centered and narcissistic characters, Emily Bronte’s classic novel, “Wuthering Heights” illustrates a deliberate and poetic understanding of what greed is. Encouraged by love, fear, and revenge, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton Heathcliff all commit a sin called selfishness.
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.
(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.
Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a destructive force, motivating him to enact revenge and wreak misery. The power of Heathcliff’s destructive love is conquered by the influence of another kind of love. Young Cathy’s love for Hareton is a redemptive force. It is her love that brings an end to the reign of Heathcliff.
When Hindley is drunk, Heathcliff “cheat[s] Mr. Hindley”(63) at cards. This is part of Heathcliff’s revenge on Hindley. Eventually, Hindley has to mortgage Wuthering Heights in order to pay his debts, and Heathcliff is able to gain possession of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff tells Cathy, Catherine and Edgar’s daughter, that Linton, his son, “is on his deathbed”(255) and that she should come visit him. Cathy feels obligated to go help Linton, so she and Nelly go to Wuthering Heights. Once they arrive, Heathcliff locks them in and tells them “you shall not quit this place till it is fulfilled”(261); implying that they will not be able to leave until Cathy marries Linton. Heathcliff wants them to marry so that he can get the inheritance. While Heathcliff gains money from his connections, d Cathy and Hindley loses their inheritance, money, and
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.
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.
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...
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights can be considered a Gothic romance or an essay on the human relationship. The reader may regard the novel as a serious study of human problems such as love and hate, or revenge and jealousy. One may even consider the novel Bronte's personal interpretation of the universe. However, when all is said and done, Heathcliff and Catherine are the story. Their powerful presence permeates throughout the novel, as well as their complex personalities. Their climatic feelings towards each other and often selfish behavior often exaggerates or possibly encapsulates certain universal psychological truths humans are too afraid to express. Heathcliff and Catherine's stark backgrounds evolve respectively into dark personalities and mistaken life paths, but in the end their actions determine the course of their own relationships and lives. Their misfortunes, recklessness, willpower, and destructive passion are unable to penetrate the eternal love they share.