Wuthering Heights Heathcliff Essay

In Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Heathcliff’s strong love for Catherine guides his transformation as a character. While Heathcliff enters the story as an innocent child, the abuse he receives at a young age and his heartbreak at Catherine’s choice to marry Edgar Linton bring about a change within him. Heathcliff’s adulthood is consequently marked by jealousy and greed due to his separation from Catherine, along with manipulation and a deep desire to seek revenge on Edgar. Although Heathcliff uses deceit and manipulation to his advantage throughout the novel, he is never entirely content in his current situation. As Heathcliff attempts to revenge Edgar Linton, he does not gain true fulfillment. Throughout Wuthering Heights, Brontë uses Heathcliff’s vengeful actions to convey the message that manipulative and revenge-seeking behaviors will not bring a person satisfaction.

Heathcliff is a victim of class hatred but he also manipulates situations to his advantage and becomes an arch - exploiter. For example, after the death of his wife, Hindley went insane. Heathcliff used this opportunity to take revenge and took Wuthering Heights away from Hindley. He then went further and married Edgar’s sister, not for love or monetary gain but to get back at Edgar for marrying Catherine, and treated Edgar’s sister terribly.

Brontë shows how cruelty passes through generations through Hindley’s mistreatment towards Heathcliff. From the moment Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff, Hindley enters a state of melancholy and loathes that his father clearly favors Heathcliff over him. Mr. Earnshaw’s adoption of Heathcliff upsets Hindley, his father clearly favors Heathcliff over him. Consequently, Hindley reciprocates this hatred when he meets Heathcliff, comparing him to satan and wishing for his death. Heathcliff, unable to act against these cruel words, silently absorbs them. This interaction reveals traits of each character: the maliciousness of Hindley’s character, who hates on the young Heathcliff without reason; and the timidity of Heathcliff, fostered by his inability to stand up for himself. Although timid at the moment, Heathcliff assimilates this cruelty so that he can inflict it upon others, just as Hindley does the same to him. This depicts how the victim of suffering develops into the bearer of cruelty. Soon after Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Hindley assumes control of his household and unleashes even more cruelty on Heathcliff. In a fit of

When Hareton falls out of Hindley's grasp, Heathcliff is lucky enough to be walking right under them and catches baby Hareton. However, rather than be happy about saving Hareton, Heathcliff's face shows "the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge" (75). Nelly adds that she feels "had it been dark.. he would have tried to remedy the mistake by smashing Hareton's skull on the steps" (75). Heathcliff being willing to kill an innocent child just to get revenge on Hindley shows just how consumed he is by the idea of revenge and how evil he truly is.

As a young orphan who is brought to Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is thrown into abuse as Hindley begins to treat Heathcliff as a servant in reaction to Mr. Earnshaw’s death. As a reaction to both this and Catherine discarding Heathcliff for Edgar, Heathcliff’s sense of misery and embarrassment causes him to change and spend the rest of his time seeking for justice. Throughout this time, Heathcliff leans on violence to express the revenge that he so seeks by threatening people and displaying villainous traits. However, Heathcliff’s first symptom of change in personality is when Heathcliff runs into Hareton after Cathy “tormented

was to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day."

During this chapter, Nelly is rocking Hareton on her knee when Catherine enters the scene wishing for Nelly to keep a secret. Before Nelly can agree, Catherine proceeds to tell her that Edgar Linton has asked Catherine to marry him. Nelly encourages Catherine to tell her why she wishes to marry Edgar Linton and denies each explanation, claiming that he may not always be handsome, young and rich in concern with what Catherine finds appealing. At the end of the two characters’ conversation, Catherine concludes that she has no business marrying Edgar Linton and it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff. At this moment, Nelly becomes sensible of Heathcliff’s presence and his departure due to Catherine’s unfinished feelings toward Heathcliff. However, Nelly chooses to ignore the slight motion and holds back, deciding not to tell Catherine of his presents, and resisting the urge to tell Heathcliff Catherine’s true feelings. The dramatic movement of this scene not only displays Nelly’s true feelings toward Catherine as a “wicked unprincipled girl,” but also aids the speculation that Nelly is jealous of Catherine’s position in life. Having been raised alongside Catherine under a different social class, Nelly only becomes Catherine’s servant when she turned of age. Her jealousy of Catherine’s position in life may be reflected in the

He goes so far as to scheme for the future of the generation after his, and he latches onto his revenge plans similar to how a falcon catches a fish with its talons. Linton’s sickly demeanor is a contrast from Heathcliff’s brooding and strong body, yet the father has no tolerance whatsoever with his son. He does not feel any guilt for forcing his already sickly son to pursue Cathy, and raises Hareton in a similar fashion to how he himself was raised. Furthermore, Heathcliff acknowledges his similarities with Hareton. He compares Linton and Hareton by saying, “who is one is gold put to the use of paving- stones, and the other is tin polished to ape a service of silver” (ch. 18). Hareton has an enormous potential to exceed expectations, yet he is held back by lack of education that Heathcliff forbids him to have. Heathcliff is truly evil because he has already experienced the pain that Hareton will suffer, yet he does not lift a finger to change Hareton’s

Cathy Linton, speaking above, displays the ability to love someone even when they do not deserve it. She draws her greatest strengths from love and kindles a fire of hatred towards Heathcliff because she has fallen for Linton.

The relationship between Heathcliff and Hindley revealed and developed the abusive nature of Heathcliff. Heathcliff was taken in as a young boy into a wealthy family that had two children. Ever since the day he was brought home the eldest son, Hindley, resented how the father favored him more. For example, Heathcliff threatened to tell their father if Hindley did not let him have his horse. This one childish threat had created the foundation of the resentment between the two men. Heathcliff threatened to tell their father that Hindley was making him feel unwelcome and abused emotionally, Hindley decided to not see if Heathcliff was going to follow through with the threat therefore gave him the horse. Later on through life, once the father dies, Hindley decides to take his absence as an excuse to start really physically abusing Heathcliff. He would beat him and punch him without thought of how this would transfer into the rest of his life. Heathcliff was also verbally assaulted by Hindley which is a twist on the traditional sense of cruelty. Hindley is demeaning towards Heathcliff and calls him a slave and make sure that he know that he is not equal with himself or his sister Catherine. This point planted the seed of doubt and not being good enough for the rest of his life. This continual mental assault forged the mindset of little Heathcliff to how he would exact revenge on Hindley for all of his wrongdoings. This cruelty from Hindley was due to the favoritism that Heathcliff received as a child, the death of his father, the death of his wife, and the constant reminder of his wife through his son. The constant cruelty is the motive for Heathcliff's actions once he returns to the Heights. Through baiting Hindley, in his own personal torment from his wife's passing, all the money and possessions are gambled away with Heathcliff as the new owner. Wuthering Heights itself

Earnshaw became his adoptive father. “A dirty ragged black-haired child” the triplication of pre-modifying adjectives carry pejorative connotations as Heathcliff had been living on the streets of Liverpool therefore as he had been a homeless beggar, Nelly and the Linton’s believed that he was not fit for decent, well respect homes such as Wuthering Heights or Thrushcross Grange. The vocative “gypsy brat” (Ch.4) also carries pejorative connotations as young Heathcliff is condemned by religious folk and because he seemed to have no parents or a stable home, he was considered a ‘bastard’ child and a devil that “bred bad feeling in the house”

Ruled by a wish for vengeance, Heathcliff makes the two of them suffer as he has previously suffered under Hindley's cruelty. As part of his revenge, Heathcliff also marries Edgar Linton's sister, Isabella, and cruelly mistreats her. He also unintentionally hastens Catherine's death, which is the point of climax for Heathcliff.

When she returns he is dirtier than before - "I shall be as dirty as I

While at Thrushcross Grange, she grows infatuated with Edgar, despite her love for Heathcliff. Edgar came from an upper class family as well and took care of her when she was in a dog accident. This leads to her acceptance of Edgar Linton’s marriage proposal despite her statements regarding her love for Heathcliff. Heathcliff overhears unfortunate passages of Catherine's discourse and disappears for a period during which he mysteriously makes his fortune and changes irrevocably from the person he was. Vengeance consumes him, and Heathcliff attempts to destroy the lives of those who wronged him, (as well as their children). Ultimately, Heathcliff’s bitterly executed vengeance is effaced by a love between Hareton and Cathy that mirrors Heathcliff’s own love for Catherine. Hareton is Catherine’s nephew and Cathy is Catherine’s daughter, which makes the two first cousins.

Heathcliff does not show love for Hareton, nor is he sympathetic to young Cathy’s fear in her arranged marriage. He hates himself and takes it out on those around him. Even after Catherine’s death, Heathcliff continues to search for affirmation from Catherine. He begs, “Cathy, do come. Oh do- once more. Oh! My heart’s darling! Hear me this time” (Brontë 20). Heathcliff’s unquenched longing for affirmation only ends in his death.