Heathcliff's Effect On The Environment Essay

One big turning point marked by stormy weather in the book is the day Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights for the first time. After hearing Catherine say that she could never marry him, Heathcliff’s heart is broken and he creeps out of the house. When Catherine realizes his absence, she gets extremely agitated, pacing from the gate to the door of the house and wondering where he could be.

When Heathcliff returns three years later, his love for Catherine motivates him to enact revenge upon all those who separated him from her. Since he last saw Catherine, he has “fought through a bitter life”; he “struggled only for [her]” (Brontë 71). Nelly observes a “half-civilized ferocity” in Heathcliff’s brows (Brontë 70); she views him as “an evil beast…waiting his time to spring and destroy” (Brontë 79). Heathcliff’s obsessive love for Catherine becomes a menacing threat. Heathcliff reproaches Catherine because she “treated [him]

While Wuthering Heights was a symbol of darkness and winter, Thrushcross Grange could only be described as its opposite. Thrushcross Grange can be seen as a happy place that is light and summery. Its inhabitants are blissful and naive. They did not worry or have to fend for themselves because there is always money and servants to wait on them. The inhabitants of the house are ignorant of the cruelties and injustices of the outside world. When Isabella, Edgar's sister, marries Heathcliff and is taken to the Heights, she too learns these realities and is destroyed by them. She is imprisoned in the Heights by her husband. Isabella writes Nelly and describes her depression;

Heathcliff had stepped out of Catherine’s room. His cheeks were slightly flushed, his hair tussled and his clothes looked a bit ruffled as he attempted to smooth it out. It seemed time had slowed down as our eyes met, and in that space of time, he gave me a sinister grin. Of course at that point I didn’t think much on it. I tried to put it out of my mind. Consoling myself with the thought that Heathcliff and Catherine had a strained relationship at best until I saw him entering Catherine’s room late one night, that same week. It was then I realized that something was up between them. The next day I decided to face Catherine on the matter of Heathcliff’s nightly visits’.

him, but that he can not forgive her for what she did to her self.

Isabella conceives a child with the abuser and contemplates taking her life. Isabella is wooed by defiance. Isabella’s desire for boundary breaking and freedom lead her to a perceived love of Heathcliff and a passionate defiance against her brother and sister-in-law. Contrasting Gretchen’s suicide, Isabella instead flees Wuthering Heights and raises her child in a protective

This leads to him running away from the heights entirely, leaving Catherine to marry Edgar. “He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him.” (81). Upon his return (two years later), Heathcliff marries Isabella to get back at Catherine, and her speech about how marrying him would degrade her. Isabella is also taken against her and her family’s will. Heathcliff kidnaps her and locks her away at the heights. In a letter written to Nelly, Isabella confirms that it was truly against her will for her leaving, and that she cannot return in the time of crisis in her brother’s life. “… an entreaty for kind remembrance and reconciliation, if her proceeding offended him: asserting that she could not help it then, and being done, no power to repeal it.” (140). In the act of kidnapping Isabella, Heathcliff’s intent is to hurt Catherine. Catherine would develop almost a jealous-like temper towards the whole situation, as Heathcliff knew it would. Even on Catherine’s deathbed, there is a constant push and pull (in almost a literal sense) of the cruelty that goes on between the two of them. Between the crying, the vexing, and the constant apologies, comes the brutal cruelty of the words Catherine speaks to Heathcliff. “I shall not pity you, not I. You have killed me – and thriven on it, I think.” (164)

While Nelly never develops a very deep connection with or strong positive feelings towards Heathcliff, she does cease in her maltreatment of him, leaving Hindley alone in acting upon his hatred of Heathcliff. This seems to weaken the connection between the pairing of Nelly and Hindley, and with Nelly acting as a neutral agent, the brother-sister bond between Cathy and Heathcliff essentially triumphs within this household. As Mr. Earnshaw grows older and weaker and Hindley continues to antagonize Heathcliff, the curate suggests that Hindley be sent away to attend college, thus marking the first separation the pair of Nelly and Hindley experience (32). With this pair no longer present at Wuthering Heights, the bond between Cathy and Heathcliff grows ever stronger until Hindley returns to attend Mr. Earnshaw’s funeral. When Hindley comes back, he arrives with a young, childish wife, Frances. This newly constructed pair of husband and wife appears to further disintegrate the brother-sister connection Nelly and Hindley had at one point, and their relationship is more fully established as that of master-servant. In her storytelling to Lockwood, Nelly explains that the day he returned, Hindley mandated that she and Joseph, the Earnshaw’s man-servant, were forced to “thenceforth quarter [them]selves in the back-kitchen, and leave the house for him” (36). Hindley’s hatred for

Catherine’s love for Heathcliff is deeply passionate, but ultimately all-consuming and destructive. Even as a child, Catherine is “much too fond of

The novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, takes place in the outsides of England during the late 17th and early 18th century. The novel is a diary kept by Mr. Lookwood the new resident of Thrushcross Grange, one of the two houses located in the moors. The diary does not contain his story, it contains the story of the lives of the people that live or once lived in either house as it is narrated by Nelly, a servant. Nelly starts the narration of the story when she first came into the household, as just a kid, were she had to serve Hindley and Catherine who are just a few years apart from her, at first the troubles in the house were just minor but as the kids grow up and an adoptive child is added to the family the problems evolve and become more common. Nelly continues the narration describing how the two kids grow up, get married, have kids and finally the kids also get married. John Hagan correctly claims that Wuthering Heights is such a remarkable job "partly because it persuades us forcibly to pity victims and victimizers alike" The statement is accurate since that is the feeling that arise as one reads the love novel where loved ones cannot be together and revenge is always in mind. As the book evolves the reader learns to pity Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, and Linton Heathcliff, which play the role of the victims as well as the victimizers.

One of the most prominent themes found within this text is isolation. Most noticeably, the moors are depicted as a barren, desolate place in which people try to avoid for the most part. For young Catherine and Heathcliff, however, the moors serve as a sanctuary, a safe place for them to run off to and get away from Wuthering Heights. The moors allow Catherine and Heathcliff to separate themselves from the real world, at least for a little while, and provide a place for them to be together without judgement, expectations, or guilt. Once they return home however, they do not escape isolation. Sitting out in the middle of nowhere on the moors, both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are isolated from society. Considering this, the two dwellings depict opposing settings. Where Thrushcross Grange is well maintained, classy, and homey, Wuthering Heights is unkempt, rugged, and exposed to the elements. The descriptions of these homes serve to represent the individuals who live within them. Living in Thrushcross Grange,

Throughout this novel there are many significant examples hidden in the pages. One of the most significant symbols in the novel is the dark Wuthering Heights and the bright Thrushcross Grange. These two represent not only the setting but the characters as well. Wuthering Heights is the home of Mr. Hindley Earnshaw and Heathcliff. These two characters show a sense of evilness and cold heartedness throughout the novel which is also represented by their home. Thrushcross Grange is the home of Mr. Edgar Linton and his sister Isabella. These two exemplify much class and hold high standards to not only themselves but others as well. Their home at the Grange represents these two characters strongly. The young Catherine Earnshaw lived at Wuthering Heights, where she was a child of mischief, and then left home to live at Thrushcross Grange which transformed her into a lady of class. “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so, he

The first paragraph of the novel provides a vivid physical picture of him. He has dark hair and skinned as Lockwood describes how his "black eyes" withdraw suspiciously under his brows at Lockwood's approach, that is why Hindley called him gypsy. Nelly's story begins with his introduction into Earnshaw's family as an orphan brought to live at Wuthering Heights. He Fall in love with Catherine Earnshaw, but he leaves Wuthering Heights when he hears that Cathy will marry Edgar. One day he returns to get revenge and gain the property of Wuthering Heights and Thrush cross Grange. He makes everyone miserable until the end, when he gives up his plan of revenge and dies. Heathcliff is powerful, fierce and often cruel man. His vengeful machinations drive the entire plot, and his death ends the book. The desire to understand him and his motivations has kept countless readers engaged in the novel. However the novel teases the reader with the possibility that his sinister behaviours serve to conceal the heart of a romantic hero, or that Heathcliff's cruelty is merely an expression of his frustrated love for Catherine. Traditionally, romance novel heroes appear dangerous at first, only later to emerge as fiercely devoted and loving so, Heathcliff did conversely when he showed love first, and then he took

To start the novel, Nelly acts as a caretaker for Catherine and becomes her friend, even though she ultimately dislikes Catherine. Nelly raises Catherine and her sibling, Hindley, as was typical of families at the time. When Heathcliff comes along, he also falls under Nelly’s care and he becomes her favorite. After observing the initial interactions between Heathcliff and the other children, Nelly begins to realize that Catherine actually acts rather bratty and begins disliking her. As the story progresses, and Mr. Earnshaw dies, Catherine undergoes another change as Hindley takes charge and pushes Heathcliff to the wayside. However, Nelly remains constant and loving towards Heathcliff yet remains kind towards Catherine. Even later, as Catherine must stay at the Linton’s following an injury with Heathcliff, Nelly remains her confidante. Catherine tells Nelly what is happening in her life after she returns home before anyone else. Even when she throws a tantrum when Nelly will not leave her and Edgar alone, per the instructions Nelly was given, Catherine still confides in her about what is happening in her life. Nelly is the first to find out when Edgar

Because of the civilized Linton family, Catherine exchanges her savage rebellion and freedom to conform to the civilized Thrushcross Grange. Catherine’s first impression of life with civilized Lintons puts to rest any doubt that Heathcliff and her were inside such a room, ‘we should have thought ourselves in heaven!’ (ch.vi, p.38). Thrushcross Grange is eventually brought into Heathcliff, Catherine and Hindley’s drama. The impact Wuthering Heights had on the Linton family is a metaphor for the corruption of culture by nature. The parody of the patriarchal nature of culture, that Brontë depicts, inflicts sorrow and entrapment on the characters which eventually leads to their disaffection. Catherine eventually rejects the new civilized life when she states that, "heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out, into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy" (ch.ix, p. 63). The excerpt symbolically brings more attention to civilization and its