The question of how to approach justice has long been deliberated upon by societies and individuals. Justice systems were slowly created so that individuals would not have the sole power to decide what justice looks like, and informal justice developed in the belief of karma and other such ideas that people get what they deserve. While some rely on the justice systems that our society has put into place, others still decide to take matters into their own hands as they become judge, jury, and executioner. In Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, the character Heathcliff is one such believer in avenging oneself. Heathcliff focuses his entire adulthood on taking revenge, thinking himself to be exacting justice. In reality, Heathcliff does far more …show more content…
He begins by avenging his childhood rival Hindley, who had “hated him,” according to the housekeeper Mrs. Dean, since he arrived at Wuthering Heights (38). Hindley abused him as a child, as Mr. Earnshaw liked Heathcliff better, which “bred bad feeling” between the two from the start (38). Things only got worse for Heathcliff when Mr. Earnshaw died and Hindley became the master of the house. Heathcliff was consistently mistreated and Hindley “drove him from their company to the servants,” making him “labor out of doors… as any other lad on the farm” (46). This degradation reaches its paramount when Catherine said that, “It would degrade [her] to marry Heathcliff now” (80). Thus, Heathcliff pledged revenge for all of these wrongs. When he returns to the town after many years absence, he claims that he has come to, “settle [his] score with Hindley, and after prevent the law by doing execution to [himself]” (96). He promptly drove Hindley to drink more than he already had, tricked him into endless gambling, and beat him out of his property and into his debt. True to his altered character and the extremes that Heathcliff had driven him to, Hindley died “drunk as a lord,” and “in debt,” with the property belonging to Heathcliff (182). One would think that Heathcliff was finished with his revenge. Yet, he decides that he can avenge Hindley in death, even, by …show more content…
He resented Edgar for marrying Catherine, as he felt that if he hadn’t been degraded by Hindley he would have been able to marry her. Nelly claims that Heathcliff “[seemed] to hate,” Edgar even as a child and considered him, “as a rival.” (58). His eventual wish to seek revenge was a progression of their childhood rivalry that was only heightened by Edgar’s marriage to Catherine. Heathcliff began to take revenge on Edgar as soon as he returned to Wuthering Heights. He regularly visited Catherine, despite how much this bothered Edgar, as Nelly describes he, “grew pale with pure annoyance,” at Heathcliff’s mere presence (96). After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff continued to take revenge on Edgar by way of his daughter, Cathy. He hoped that his son Linton and Cathy, “may fall in love and get married,” so that he may inherit Edgar’s property upon his sickly son Linton’s death. Heathcliff succeeded, locking both Cathy and Nelly away until Cathy agreed to marry Linton. With this, Heathcliff achieved his desire to become master of Thrushcross Grange upon Edgar’s death, which came soon after. Heathcliff now had control over Edgar’s property and daughter, and had succeeded with his revenge. In his typical manner, he goes past the point of revenge and takes out his dislike for her father on Cathy. In the end, she reminds him so fully of her mother who he had once loved that
...rder to be able to inherit Thrushcross Grange. It seems that Heathcliff is mainly intent in gaining control of the manors to not only gain economically advantageous positions, but to also prove to the ghost of Catherine, which still wandered around the moors, that he would have been worth marrying and that she made the wrong decision. Catherine also had very strong desires for power, which are shown by her telling Nelly that she would never be able to marry Heathcliff because he had been put so far below that she believed it would be degrading to her to marry him, and therefore she decided to marry Edgar Linton instead due to his stability.
Primarily, Heathcliff's hunger for revenge blindsides the character’s, Hindley, Catherine, Hareton, and young Catherine. Revenge is what Heathcliff wishes to
Hindley, the Earnshaw’s biological son, had the most difficult time with Heathcliff. Heathcliff constantly threatened to tattle on Hindley just to make him furious or get him into trouble. Hindley and Heathcliff’s hatred towards each other never ceased. After Mr. Earnshaw passed away, Hindley finally had the opportunity to mistreat and degrade
Edgars sister Isabella soon falls in love with him and despite Heathcliff doesn’t like her he encourages the relationship as a form of revenge towards her brother. One day Heathcliff is scene being very friendly with Isabella which leads to an arguments between Edgar and Heathcliff. Being very jealous Catherine makes herself ill. Heathcliff takes up residence at Wuthering Heights spending his time gambling with Hindley and instructing bad customs into Hareton. Hindley wastes his money and has to mortgage the house off to Heathcliff to pay off his debts. Two months later Isabella goes to live with Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff finds out that Catherine is very ill. He devises a plan and with the help of Nelly the housekeeper he goes to see her secretly. Catherine is pregnant and in giving birth to Cathy and ultimately dies. After Catherine’s death Isabella leaves Heathcliff and goes to the south of England. There she gave birth to a son called Linton as her brother. With Catherine’s death also came Hindley’s six months after this made Heathcliff master of Wuthering
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...
Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering Heights impacted him both positively and negatively. Catherine Earnshaw was highly welcoming of him, but her brother Hindley
McKibben and Hagan take different approaches to Wuthering Heights, but both approaches work together to form one unified concept. McKibben speaks of Wuthering Heights as a whole, while Hagan concentrates on only sympathies role in the novel. McKibben and Hagan both touch on the topic of Catherine and Heathcliff’s passionate nature. To this, McKibben recalls the scene in the book when Catherine is "in the throes of her self-induced illness" (p38). When asking for her husband, she is told by Nelly Dean that Edgar is "among his books," and she cries, "What in the name of all that feels has he to do with books when I am dying." McKibben shows that while Catherine is making a scene and crying, Edgar is in the library handling Catherine’s death in the only way he knows how, in a mild mannered approach. He lacks the passionate ways in which Catherine and Heathcliff handle ordeals. During this scene Catherine’s mind strays back to childhood and she comes to realize that "the Linton’s are alien to her and exemplify a completely foreign mode of perception" (p38). Catherine discovers that she would never belong in Edgar’s society. On her journey of self-discovery, she realized that she attempted the impossible, which was to live in a world in which she did not belong. This, in the end, lead to her death. Unlike her mother, when Cathy enters The Heights, "those images of unreal security found in her books and Thrushhold Grange are confiscated, thus leading her to scream, "I feel like death!" With the help of Hareton, Cathy learns not to place her love within a self created environment, but in a real life where she will be truly happy. The character’s then reappear as reconciled, and stability and peace once more return to The Heights.
“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.
Hindley, being the only biological son of Mr Earnshaw was envious of the relationship shared between Mr Earnshaw and Heathcliff and burned with fury. He made no effort to hide his resentment toward Heathcliff. Hindley despised Heathcliff to such an extent that when Mr Earnshaw died, he treated Heathcliff more like a servant and for bided him to talk to Catherine. Life then became miserable for Heathcliff and then became revenge driven. Hindley’s abusive and arrogant attitude toward Heathcliff, resulted in the chain of revengeful events that occurred in the novel. Hindley was instrumental in moulding Heathcliff into the destructive character he became.
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
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.
His strong, merciless hate towards others is a result of the events that occurred in his childhood. “I’m trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back.I don’t care how long I wait, if I could only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!” (69) Because of all the torturous things Hindley did to Heathcliff back when they were children, “Hindley had blamed our father for treating Heathcliff too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to the right place,” (30) he hopes Hindley will not die before him just so he can carry out his revenge-driven plan. He is shaped by what has happened in his life previously which then causes meticulous actions that signify his intense hate towards everyone at Wuthering Heights. Although it is essentially not his own fault, some argue that there is no excuse for Heathcliff to act vindictively. In contrast, though, the psychological problems that he experienced have hand-crafted Heathcliff into the person he is. “It expressed, plainer than words could do, the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge.” (58) This only adds to the complete and serious hatred he has for everyone that even saving his nephew from falling from the balcony was a thwart to his own revenge. The audience can conclude based on the characterization of Heathcliff as malicious that he is only focused on
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.