Heathcliff - A Character Defined By His Past, in Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff is a character with a bad past, which shapes him to be the person he is; his history also affects his relationship with those around him. I felt that Heathcliff is a very important character who has a special antiquity, which points Withering Heights in the direction that Brontë intended it to be.

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 abused; his only source of love is his dearest Catherine, yet even that love cannot thrive in Heathcliff’s environment. The problem is not that his love is unrequited, but rather that Catherine believes she would fall to ruin if she were to be with Heathcliff “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him---because he's more

In addition, remaining persistent taking over everything that belongs to Edgar. Heathcliff throughout the novel exemplified that for him, revenge was an extensively more influential emotion than love. Ultimately, leads to why Heathcliff does not forgive Catherine for marrying Edgar. Although he does make it known that he loves Catherine and desires to be with her, he seems to show no remorse constantly attempting to ruin the life of her daughter; Cathy. Heathcliff is viewed a villainous figure as a result of his obsession with revenge, becoming more violent as the plot progresses. Frequently, Heathcliff comes across as a very violent character, uttering various threats and his violent acts. He illustrates that he lacks pity and sympathy when he hangs his wife and Isabella’s dog; thus, demonstrating one of his violent acts and validating the aspect of him as a villainous figure. Although Heathcliff basically engages in war among the two households, he would never harm Catherine as his love for her is immense. His love for Catherine reveals that he does truly have a sympathetic side in the mist of his villainous figure.

Many characters are like Macbeth, and Heathcliff would be one of them. He was a nice good loving and caring man until he got all of the fortune. When he came back he turned into a bad evil person. He physically had abused his wife, he mistreated his son. It's like he just turned into a completely different person when he got his fortune. Heathcliff loved Catherine when they were younger and when he came back and saw Catherine he acted as if he didn’t really care for her or love her.

Even in his darkest moments he is so passionate that Nelly does not consider him fully human because he reacts so violently that it’s not possible to consider him a human being. Heathcliff’s masculinity is not traditional for the period he lived in; men were supposed to resist and restrain their passions. But Heathcliff is like an animal and the opposite of what was expected in the Victorian

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was published in 1847 and received many contradictory judgements. One main judgement that criticized the novel was how multiple characters can have a change in characterization depending on the reader. Many of the novel's characters, such as Heathcliff, possess positive values, but readers tend to focus on their negative qualities which allows these characters to change. Growing up poor and homeless, Heathcliff’s character changes many times throughout the novel as he grows older and possess negative qualities towards other characters. Later residing as an old, lonely master, Heathcliff’s change in character at the end of Wuthering Heights signifies that he has gone mad and leads to intentions that Heathcliff has not committed suicide, but lost all will after all he has been through.

At the beginning of the novel, Heathcliff was a victim of orphanage at a young age. He had never experienced unconditional love from anyone. After Mr. Earshawn’s death, Catherine became his addiction because she accepted him for who he was in his eyes. At first, Catherine despised Heathcliff. In time, he latches on to her becoming totally engulfed with her. This devotion turns into an overwhelming love addiction towards her (“Wuthering Heights Love and Betrayal). Catherine’s presence helps calms the family’s antagonism for him. Heathcliff tolerated a lot from the family because of the love he shared with Catherine (Peele).

Heathcliff was the primary character that drove the plot of Wuthering Heights. The novel began and ended with him and his vindictive actions are most important to the progression of the story. He was unique from the other characters in the way that he looked, with “black eyes [withdrawn] so suspiciously under their brows...[and] dirty, ragged, black hair” (Bronte 3, 37). Mr. Earnshaw had generously brought this gipsy boy when he returned from a trip, picking him up from the miserable factory towns occupied by the lower classes in 1840. Earnshaw’s family did not receive this boy well, so Heathcliff was often characterized as a demon, epitomizing the equivocal attitude of the upper class, who at times felt charitable to and at times afraid of the lower class.

Heathcliff started out as a young boy on the streets of Liverpool. He was a young gypsy that was very poor. He had absolutely nothing except for the clothes on his back. He was taken to Wurthering Heights by a man on a business trip. This man was Mr. Earnshaw. Mr. Earnshaw felt so sorry for the little boy, but when he returned home with the child his other two children, Catherine and Hindley, were very jealous. Eventually Catherine and Heathcliff became very fond of each other, but when Mr. Earnshaw passed away Hindley had all control. Hindley treated Heathcliff very poorly, and he finally had enough of Hindley demeaning him. Heathcliff fled from Wurthering Heights.

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

Throughout Wuthering Heights, it can be seen that Heathcliff is a social outcast, not fitting in with anything the other inhabitants of Wuthering Heights do. Any reader of the book produces a completely different view of Heathcliff showing even more so that he is misunderstood by many people. There are different

Someone having their true lover marry another person whom they do not truly love would be a difficult and undesirable situation. How a person in a similar situation reacts to it, especially in the long term, can reveal a lot about their character. Such is the case with Heathcliff, the main character of Wuthering Heights, a novel written by Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights takes place from the late eighteenth century through the early 1800s (decade) within the two houses of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange and on the land surrounding them (1, 58). The two houses are located in England and are near the village of Gimmerton (1, 102).

Threw out the story you will see that Heathcliff has a very unhealthy passion; this is the next attribute of a Byronic Hero. This unhealthy passion is driven by revenge. As you read the book it seems that Revenge is the only thing that keeps Heathcliff going. Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights filthy rich after running away for 3 years when Catherine married Edgar. He uses some of his money to loan to Hindley’s gambling problem so that Hindley will become even more engulfed into debt. Heathcliff also wanted to seek revenge against Edgar for obvious reasons. So he

It is the opinion of this essay that the character of Heathcliff evolves a lot more than the character of Catherine. When we first meet Heathcliff, he was found on the streets of Liverpool by Catherine’s father who then adopts him into the family as one of his own. This would have been a dramatic change for Heathcliff. Then after experiencing this quality of life until the death of the father he is then cast into the role of a servant/labourer by Catherine’s brother who despises him. Finally, when Heathcliff hears part of the conversation between Catherine and Nelly, he hears Catherine plans to marry Edgar Linton as she could never marry Heathcliff. “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now”. (82) It is here Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and returns three years later, a gentleman of means and of polite demeanour, not what you would expect from him. Here we can bring back the point that one’s environment dramatically affects one’s behaviour. Like Catherine, Heathcliff defies social norms expected of his gender. After he returns back from travelling having acquired great wealth and on the surface seems a changed man, he would be accepted into middle class society as he displays the characteristics expected of him. It is well described in the book to enforce the dramatic change in him for readers to understand how far he has come from