Heathcliff is an intricate character in the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. He is a sullen, bad-tempered character, who expresses his own sorrow through the suffering and pain of others. His violent actions towards others, along with his passionate love for Catherine show the qualities of both the villain and the hero, which is what makes Heathcliff such a distinct and complex character. In this novel Wuthering Heights, the readers are witness the turmoil of feelings of betrayal, revenge, and love through Heathcliff’s despondent and violent character. From the beginning of the novel, Heathcliff is an extremely gloomy and vicious character. His mistreatment from Hindley hardens him when he has to endure “Hindley’s blows without winking …show more content…
His day and life naturally becomes brighter whenever he is with Catherine and she positively affects his gloomy behavior. However, Catherine’s betrayal changes him entirely for the worse and causes him to leave Wuthering Heights with only thoughts of revenge. When he returns, Heathcliff wants Catherine to “be aware that he knows Catherine has treated him infernally - infernally” (112). All the pent up feelings Heathcliff had when he left Wuthering Heights explodes when he states “You teach me now how cruel you’ve been - cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy?” (159). He yells indignantly how Catherine deserves everything that is happening to her because she caused him the exact pain in the past. He leads on Isabelle, Edgar’s sister, to express all of the hate and betrayal he felt all those years. When …show more content…
Heathcliff states how “two words would comprehend [his] future – death and hell: existence, after losing her, would be hell” (148). This quote shows how Heathcliff still treasures the relationship he has with Catherine, despite her marriage to Edgar. Despite the horrible treatment he has been giving Catherine, Heathcliff knows how precious Catherine is and how his life has no meaning without her in his life. He now understands how “[he] was a fool to fancy for a moment that she valued Edgar Linton's attachment more than [his own]” (148). Edgar could never love Catherine as much in eighty years as Heathcliff could in a single day. Before Catherine passes away while giving birth, she passionately states how they “may bury [her] twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over [her], but [she] won't rest till [Heathcliff is] with [her]” (125). This depicts a spiritual connection between Heathcliff and Catherine and that Catherine will never be satisfied until Heathcliff lies beside her in eternal sleep. When Catherine finally dies, he cries out for Catherine “to [wander] the earth” and to “not leave [him] in this abyss, where [cannot] find [her]” (165). This depicts how Heathcliff and Catherine are bound together and that all these complications are mere obstacles for their uncontrollable love. He cries out painfully, “I cannot live without my life! I
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.
The short story “The Red Convertible” was written by Louise Erdrich. Louise Erdrich was born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota and was the oldest of seven children. Her mother, who was a Chippewa Indian, worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Her father, who was a German-American, was a teacher of Native American studies in a school that was run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Growing up, Louise’s parents told her many stories of the Indian culture growing up. Her parents encouraged her to write her own stories and her father paid her a nickel for every story she wrote, and even made Louise covers for them. Louise continued to write throughout her childhood and then became one of the first women admitted to Dartmouth College in 1972. She majored in creative writing and English. She also took classes in Native American studies with the chair of the department, Michael Dorris, who she would marry in 1981. After Erdrich earned her masters degree in writing from Johns Hopkins, she collaborated with Dorris on poems and short stories that were inspired by their love for each other and Native American culture. They first published work together shortly after being married and were in need of money, but the quickly written works went on to be award-winning. The couple continued writing short fiction and published novels together. When the couple separated in 1995, Louise moved back to her hometown to focus her work on Native American themes and be with family.
During his early years Heathcliff didn’t deceive those as much, but towards his teenager years his adopted sister Catherine shows how deceitful she can be. Catherine is attacked by a dog and is required to stay at this family called the Lintons for five weeks. While she is there she meets a young man named Edgar and hides her “wild side” to impress Edgar. “Catherine
As a consequence of Heathcliff's visit to the Grange, Edgar's sister Isabella falls in love with him, and her feelings seem to be sincere. In this one-sided love affair Heathcliff takes advantage of the innocent girl's infatuation to foster his obsession for revenge. (Isabella is her brother's heir). Catherine's reaction is very hard to interpret. It is natural that she is jealous, if she still feels the same for him as before, and that may be the reason why she dissuades Isabella from marrying Heathcliff. But the words she uses, telling her what an abominable creature Heathcliff is, are not the sort you expect to hear from someone talking of a sweetheart. Later on when her husband and Heathcliff are having a quarrel, she stops Edgar from hurting her friend . There is an excess of emotion, and her explanation to this behaviour is that she wants them both, Edgar and Heathcliff: "Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend - if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own" (109).Her love for Heathcliff has not cooled down, instead it seems to be a stronger obsession than ever considering the torments she goes through, when she becomes seriously ill.The last time Catherine and Heathcliff see each other is a very heart-rending meeting. Their love for each other is as strong as ever, and Heathcliff
To begin, Heathcliff uses Isabella as a means of exacting revenge on Edgar Linton, whom he despises. When Heathcliff finds out Isabella is in love with him, he is delighted. His pleasure comes not from a mutual like for Isabella, but rather a vision for revenging Edgar. After Catherine lets slip that Isabella is in love with him, Heathcliff says to her, “...and if you fancy I’ll suffer unrevenged, I’ll convince you of the contrary, in a very little while! Meantime, thank you for telling me your sister-in-law’s secret: I swear I’ll make the most of it. And stand you aside!”(112). Heathcliff’s comment
At one point in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff locks Catherine and Nelly into a room for several days and even “seized her [Catherine] with the liberated hand, and, pulling her, on his knee, administered, with the other, a shower of terrific slaps on both sides of the head” (271). Heathcliff slaps Cathy after she refuses to say in the room with Nelly for the sole reason that Cathy is Catherine’s daughter, and Heathcliff takes out his anger at Catherine on her daughter, which shows how much fury he still has after all of these years. Heathcliff also tries to marry Cathy to Linton in order to take control of Wuthering Heights when Edgar dies. He says that Wuthering Heights would “go to me; but, to prevent disputes, I desire their union, and am resolved to bring it about” (215). The hope of preserving the memory of Catherine is what drives Heathcliff to force his son to marry Catherine. If Linton were to become heir of the property, it would ensure Heathcliff's ownership of Wuthering Heights, fulfilling his
The culture of set societal rules and conventions urges Catherine to be with Edgar, compelling her to be ‘the greatest woman of the neighbourhood’ due to them being relatively firm in their gentry’s status. This suggests the importance of her social status against the nature of her love for Heathcliff stating, ‘we would be beggars’, through employing the word ‘beggars’ the reader crafts the idea of her belief that she won’t survive without her status. Catherine admits ‘It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him’ Thus implying a swelling sense of her vanity and pride; enough to enjoy the position she gains from being married to Edgar despite her admiration for Heathcliff, being ‘more than (herself) than (she is)’and
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.
Furthermore, when Heathcliff returns, Catherine should take no interest in trying to rekindle her feelings for him as Edgar had been putting in effort to make their marriage work 'Mr. Edgar had a deep-rooted fear of ruffling her humour' Up until this scene the couples were getting along and if Catherine had concealed her zealous behaviour towards Heathcliff then the calm atmosphere would have remained. Catherine rudely ignores her husband's presence to the extent that he demands the disrespectful behaviour to be stopped and a decision made 'Will you give up Heathcliff hereafter, or will you giver up me? It is impossible for you to be my friend and his at the same time…' Indeed, Edgar is right to put Catherine's in this difficult situation because any other typical husband at the time would have been less patient with Catherine or banned Heathcliff from the house at an earlier stage. Catherine struggles because the two men in her life represent two types if world and she cannot have both at the same time.
Heathcliff resents her scorn. He desires to regain her approval. He attempts to be “decent” and “good” for her sake (Brontë 40). However, his attempt to be decent fails miserably. He resents the attentions that Catherine gives to Edgar. Catherine would rather wear a “silly frock” and have dinner with “silly friends” than ramble about the moors with him (Brontë 50). Heathcliff keeps track of the evenings Catherine spends with Edgar and those that she spends with him. He desperately wants to be with Catherine. When Catherine announces to Nelly her engagement to Edgar, Heathcliff eavesdrops, but leaves the room when he “heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him” (Brontë 59). Catherine has spurned his love, choosing Edgar over him. Heathcliff cannot bear this rejection. The love he possesses for her transcends romantic and filial love (Mitchell 124). He feels that he is one with her (Mitchell 123).
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.
Women earn 77 cents for every dollar a male earns- this statistic has been utilized to promote the idea that there is institutionalized discrimination against females in the workplace. This misleading figure has been parroted by former President Barrack Obama; and has been propagated by social media: famous feminists like Emma Watson have spoken out about the gender pay gap, and have tried to assert that women are paid less for preforming the same jobs as men- but that is a blatant mistruth. The statistic conveniently omits nuance- and doesn’t accurately portray the American labor force. Almost every country in the Western world has legal ramifications for discriminating against someone on the basis of gender; and even with policies like affirmative
As children, the two were equals playing with each other, but that ended upon Cathy’s stay with Edgar after an accident. Upon her return Heathcliff acts colder, as “...he had ceased to express his fondness for her in words, and coiled with angry suspicion from her girlish caresses, as if conscious there could be no gratification in lavishing such marks of affection on him” (66). By beginning to emotional remove himself from Cathy’s actions, Heathcliff prepares to fight for dominance over Cathy’s time and affection. Cathy is somewhat aware of Heathcliff’s animosity against Edgar by attempting to hide his visits to her. Cathy tries to equalize all three of them by justifying her marriage to Edgar with “‘... if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise and place him out of my brother’s power’” (79). Consequently, her reasoning to bring Heathcliff out of degradation affirms his lower social status, and Edgar’s and her’s mutual social superiority by birth. Social norms dictate Cathy’s reasoning as well, to marry within one’s social class, which Heathcliff is not. Though socially inferior, Heathcliff manages to have power over Cathy by dramatically affecting her emotions upon his leave, since she “burst into uncontrollable grief,” (85) and long after he leaves, Cathy remains so, “Catherine had seasons of gloom and silence...never subject to depression of
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
In her statement, Catherine, is describing how strong her love is for Heathcliff. She states that her love will never end. Catherine states that she is one with Heathcliff, for they share the same thoughts and the same mind. This quote shows that the bond of love cannot be broken and will stand the test of time.