Healthcliff's Control

With Heathcliff interfering as well, Edgar is caught in between the two lovers, being used for jealousy and selfish affection. One way in which this is shown is once Edgar stands up for himself for once, tired of the deception around him, yelling at Cathy.

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.

Catherine desires Edgar because of the money and position he offers her, the text suggests their relationship is founded on a one-sided abusive power dynamic, i.e., her power over him and his continued readiness to give in to her demands and whims. “You’ve made me afraid and ashamed of you," Edgar says to her after she hits him in the head in a fit of anger, yet, like the stereotypical abused spouse, he stays with her. “I saw the quarrel had merely effected a closer intimacy,” Nelly further insists “he possessed the power to depart as much as a cat possesses the power to leave a mouse half killed, or a bird half eaten” (89). Wuthering Heights, unlike its contemporaries, offers somewhat of a subversive take on martial abuse and gender roles. Their (abusive) relationship grows from her

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.

After Catherine died, Heathcliff beseeched her to stay with him and haunt him. He is a self-centered human being, and desires Catherine to be with him even after death. Edgar on the other hand didn't beg for Catherine to haunt him, for he was looking forward to their time together in the afterlife. This proves Heathcliff’s selfishness to needing Catherine with him, and also confirms the fact that Edgar is the one that would unconditionally love Catherine forever. Heathcliff selfishly only wanted Catherine for himself, he visited Catherine’s coffin and removed the blond lock of hair which belongs to Edgar and threw it to the floor, then taking his own and placing it in.

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).

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).

The novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte tells a story of a man named Heathcliff, who spends his whole life fueled by jealousy, revenge, and love. As a young boy, he and a girl named Catherine spend a lot of their time together. Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine and wants to pursue a marriage with her, however Catherine has other plans. Catherine is in love with a man named Edgar, but for all the wrong reasons. Thus begins the story of Heathcliff’s revenge.

Unlike older Catherine, younger Catherine, in the end, had the choice made for her, which made her decision less difficult than older Catherine. Older Cathy decision to marry Edgar, though she loved Heathcliff dearly, was based on social class and wealth, unlike younger Catherine who based her decision instead catering towards a kind of compassion and selflessness that her older Cathy never ha. Also, younger Cathy upbringing, though limited to the watchful eyes of Mr. Linton, was a devoted rearing, unlike older Catherine whose brother, Hindley, ordered his servants to “bolt the doors" and have them "swore [not to] let them in [the] night” she escaped with Heathcliff to have "a ramble at

Even though she is in love with Heathcliff, she marries Edgar Linton from Thrushcross Grange. The marriage of Catherine and Edgar crushed Heathcliff and brought out more inner demons. To Heathcliff this was “a crucial act of self betrayal and bad faith.” (Novel for Students 321) Not only did Edgar marry the love of his life, he also treated Heathcliff as a lesser being because of his class. As a way to get back at Edgar, Heathcliff marries his Isabella, Edgar’s sister. This is a way to obtain his land. Love did not drive Heathcliff to oppose the marriage. Another goal was to break up the marriage but Heathcliff “actuated not by love but by hatred of the Lintons” (David Cecil 245). As a final stab in the heart, Heathcliff secretly plans the marriage of the children Linton and Catherine; so that once Edgar and Linton pass away he becomes owner of the two estates. Heathcliff’s plot was to destroy anyone who took away any happiness in his life by any means possible. The love of his life was stolen away from him, the only person who cared when there was darkness. All Heathcliff could think to do was bring the darkness and pain to those around him.

Before Heathcliff gained his wealth, Catherine told Ellen that “it would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am” (Brontё 69). Catherine uses Edgar’s marriage proposal to stay comfortable in a lifestyle like the one she grew up in, never expecting Heathcliff to gain considerable wealth. When Heathcliff returned to Wuthering Heights, Catherine’s resentment towards her new marriage to Edgar and continuation of her romance with Heathcliff demonstrates the theme of love causing hate. Even though Catherine appears pernicious through her bullying of Edgar, Catherine’s missed opportunity to marry Heathcliff after he attained wealth rouses sympathy for the forbidden

After perusing Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, it becomes blatantly obvious that every character in the book is motivated to behave in a specific way. Although Heathcliff’s motivation is easily identified as revenge, and Cathy Heathcliff is motivated by fear to reside at Wuthering Heights, it would seem that two characters, Edgar Linton and Hindley Earnshaw, encounter similar circumstances, yet respond to them in completely different ways. By comparing and contrasting these two perplexing characters, perhaps the reason behind them acting so distinctly from one another can be revealed.

Bronte, The author of the Wuthering Heights, expresses many themes and morals in her book. The one most important in the Wuthering Heights is the theme of love and cruelty. The main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, show these actions time and time again. They occur because of the other, much like the yin and the yang. Love leads to cruelty and cruelty leads to love. In Wuthering Heights, there are two different types of love shown: platonic and passionate. Both of these types of love lead to cruelty to other characters. As Heathcliff states boldly within the first few chapters of the novel, love’s cruelty survives even beyond death. “Cathy, do come. Oh do – once more! Oh! My heart’s darling; hear me this time, Catherine, at last!”

            When hate is generated into the conflict, it always induces power and becomes domination to the situation. Three years had passed when Heathcliff expatriated Wuthering Heights, comes back as a rich man and finds that Catherine, the only woman he loves on earth, married with Edgar Linton.

He mistreats Linton and it seems as though Heathcliff wants him dead. This is shown by the quote: “His life is not worth a farthing, and I wouldn’t (won’t) spend a farthing on him…” This means that even though his son is dying he doesn’t really care for his life or health. And this is torturing his wife Catherine as well.