Essay on Hareton vs. Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

Hareton is introduced at an early age to domestic abuse, both physical and mental, that leads him to distort his mind on how he views life and who he has to respect. From his birth, Hindley’s father detests him and wishes to avoid all contact with his son. The death of Hareton’s mother upon his birth greatly troubles his father Hindley who

Wuthering Heights is a novel whose main character is said to have a double significance. He is said to be both the dispossessed and the dispossessor, victim of class hatred and arch – exploiter, he simultaneously occupies the roles of working class outsider and brutal capitalist. Heathcliff has all these characteristics because of his experiences. He is a character moulded by his past.

Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a

This cold treatment only progressed and became abusive when Mr. Earnshaw, one of the few people to ever care about Heathcliff, dies and his son who loathes the protagonist becomes the master of Wuthering Heights. “He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm” (Bronte 71).

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

Both Moll and Sissy are given an education, Moll succeeds, while Sissy does not. Similarly, Catherine Earnshaw goes to live with the Lintons, and becomes their adopted daughter for five weeks. While she lives with the Lintons, Catherine is educated on how to be a proper lady. With the Linton’s help, Catherine’s “manners were much improved”(WH 55). When she returns home, she is a completely different woman, and rather than “a wild savage… [she was] a dignified woman”(WH 55). Even though Moll, Sissy, and Catherine are educated with different methods and on different topics, they all have an opportunity for an education; however, both Heathcliff and Hareton are deprived of an education which results in them being academically unsuccessful in relation to Moll, Sissy, and Catherine. When Hindley returns from university, and becomes master of the house, he stops Heathcliff’s education. He “deprive[s] [Heathcliff] of the instructions of the curate, and insist[s] that he should labour out of doors instead”(WH 49). Similarly, Heathcliff deprives Hareton of an education in order to get revenge on Hindley. Heathcliff says, “and we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!”(WH 182); implying that Heathcliff wants to ruin Hareton by making him uneducated just as Hindley had done to him. Heathcliff deprives Hareton of an education by “[tying] his

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.

As Heathcliff seeks his revenge, he becomes fiendish and is constantly associated with diabolical feelings, images and actions. The use of the imagery reinforces the inhuman aspect of Heathcliff. He regrets saving the infant Hareton. Nelly recalled that his face bore the greatest pain at he being the instrument that thwarted his own revenge. He takes perverse pleasure in the fact that Hareton was born with a sensitive nature, which Heathcliff has corrupted and degraded. Heathcliff's pleasure at this corruption is increased by the fact that-: "Hareton is damnably fond of me". Heathcliff's cruelty is also evident when he hangs Isabella's dog despite her protestations. His attitude is devoid of fatherly feeling. He sees him only as a pawn in his revenge and his main

Martha Nussbaum describes the romantic ascent of various characters in Wuthering Heights through a philosophical Christian view. She begins by describing Catherine as a lost soul searching for heaven, while in reality she longs for the love of Heathcliff. Nussbaum continues by comparing Heathcliff as the opposition of the ascent from which the Linton’s hold sacred within their Christian beliefs. Nussbaum makes use of the notion that the Christian belief in Wuthering Heights is both degenerate and way to exclude social classes.

In her novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë uses a formal style of writing to portray the language of those used during the early 1800s. Throughout the majority of the novel, Nelly Dean is telling the story of how Wuthering Heights came to be the place that it currently is. Throughout Dean’s narration, characters are voiced differently due to their role in society. An example of this is shown when Brontë would use fragments of words to represent the speech of Hareton, one of the servants of Wuthering Heights. In contrast, Catherine, being well educated, would use sophisticated grammar and an extensive vocabulary whenever she spoke. Heathcliff was revealed as a two-sided character in this reading. On one hand, the author would use negative

The social classes in Wuthering Heights are an insight to the society that  Emily Bronte experienced. The British society of 1770 wasn’t accepting of a person with darker features which is reflected in how Heathcliff is treated in the novel. Orphans were also never meant to rise from their station below the servants. This is an insight into why Hindley Earnshaw hated Heathcliff and referred to him as a usurper of his father’s affections. When Hidley became master of Wuthering Heights he returned Heathcliff to his “rightful” place.

The gothic and often disturbing Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s classic novel that contains undeniably powerful writing that created her timeless love story. Andrea Arnold transformed her masterpiece into a cinematic rendition to recreate the wild and passionate story of the deep and destructive love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff.

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”

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).

Hareton Earnshaw, a victim of Hindley, Heathcliff, and Cathy, stands up for himself, shocking the reader’s perception of his character. Hareton is a victim of his father’s alcohol abuse and gambling addiction. These addictions are a result of Frances’ death and the reader becomes sympathetic towards Hindley; however, Hareton is the innocent victim affected by the lack of care from his father. Hareton is a toddler when Hindley holds him over the railing of a staircase, threatening his life. Once Hindley dies, Heathcliff takes on the responsibility to care for young Hareton. He does not know that he is being used as part of Heathcliff’s plan to get revenge on Hindley for abusing him as a child. Heathcliff wishes to keep Hareton ignorant and uneducated in an effort to degrade him. When describing Hareton, Nelly, the house servant, says, “He appeared to have bent his malevolence on making him a brute: he was never taught to read or write; never rebuked for any bad habit which did not annoy his keeper; never led a single step towards virtue, or guarded by a single precept against vice” (Bronte 152). Hareton is a victim to society because he is kept an uncivilized and ignorant young man. The reader feels sympathetic towards him because he is made to be an inferior