Heathcliff Character Analysis

Since its publication, Wuthering Heights has intrigued its readers; a love story gone wrong, twisted by vengeance and heartbreak. Many important factors of the novel are displayed in the portion of the novel narrated by Ellen. The passage in Wuthering Heights in which Catherine Linton’s funeral is described is vital in explaining important relationships in the novel, particularly the relationship between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton.

Mr. Earnshaw, the father figure at the Wuthering Heights estates, upon returning from a trip to Liverpool, has brought a young orphan boy in place of the gifts he promised his children. Despite Mr. Earnshaw’s kind heart, the family refuses to accept the boy. Wuthering Height’s maid, Ellen “Nelly” Dean, narrating the family’s history to Lockwood, tells him the family’s first impressions and their treatment of the boy. She states, “they entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room; and I had no more sense, so I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might he gone on the morrow” (Brontë 40). Both children are upset at Heathcliff for have crushing the gifts their father has promised to bring back to them. Neither let him room with them, resulting in Heathcliff sleeping on the floor outside of Mr. Earnshaw’s room for the first night of his arrival. Aside from being an orphan, this was Heathcliff’s first experience with rejection at Wuthering Heights. Not only did the children dislike Heathcliff for have ruining their gifts, but the adults did not appreciate his arrival either. Nelly claims she hopes “it might be he gone on the morrow” (Brontë 40). In addition to wishing the boy would disappear, she refers to Heathcliff as not the pronoun “he,” but with the word “it,” degrading him to a “thing” as opposed to a human being. Nelly then descripes Mrs. Earnshaw’s opinion on the boy, “Mrs. Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors: she did fly up, asking how he could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house, when they had their own bairns to feed and fend for?,” (Brontë 39). She is just as welcoming as the children and maid, Nelly, are. She refers to him as a derogatory, gypsy boy,

Brontë has apposed them in every way, even the names indicate what kind of house we should expect. The beautiful and well-kept Thrushcross Grange can be viewed as a haven when compared to the chaotic Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights symbolizes the anger, hatred and deep-felt tension of that house while Thrushcross Grange embodies the superficial feelings and materialistic outlook of its inhabitants. The contrast between the houses is more than physical; rather these two houses represent the people which are living in them. Brontë made Heathcliff and Wuthering Height as one, by making both of them cold, dark, and menacing, similar to the storms which constantly surround both Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights. Thrushcross Grange is parallel with the Linton’s; who are of a welcoming and peaceful manner; who have had virtually perfect lives and who have been hidden by their parents, from the evils of the outside world.

The opening of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brรถnte intrigues the reader immediately as we meet Heathcliff and learn about his lonely and misanthropic life at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff, undoubtedly, is an intriguing character whom comes across as a sort of misfit as he is completely isolated from society. This character is completely the opposite of others in the novel and he seems to be symbolic of the uncivilized life. The moors, in general, is a symbol of this type of life as well and they seem to be a whole other character in the novel as important as the human beings who inhabit their surroundings. The moors are a lot like Heathcliff rough, dangerous, uncivilized and untamable.

Bronte illustrates the Heights as having a very blunt and intimidating appearance. It is a very strong and prominent structure, however it proves to be a very desolate and lonely place. Likewise, those who inhabit it prove to be somewhat tormented souls. Nelly describes Heathcliff after his subjection to the Heights without Catherine, “A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness, though too stern for grace” (Bronte, 95). Just a few miles away, the Grange represents sanity and sensibility with its refinement and pleasant appearance. The civility of its inhabitants, the Lintons, and their distinguished status stand in stark contrast to the more disturbed Wuthering Heights. Bronte takes great care to create these images of the two estates for readers because it is what they stand for that drives Catherine and Heathcliff apart in the first place. Ironically, Bronte also uses setting to reunite Catherine and Heathcliff. The moors that separate the two estates represent a sort of heaven for the two, where they used to lose themselves when they were young, the only place either of the two ever truly felt they belonged. It is here that the two roam together in the afterlife.

Therefore, when Lockwood does encounter Catherine’s ghost, the reader is inclined to believe in his account of the events more so than if he were seeking a life of excitement and adventure. Also, the Christian beliefs of the characters during this time period led them to believe that the spirit did leave the body at death to go to heaven or hell, or to remain stuck on earth. This is shown by several characters, including Zillah who “wanted to get another proof that [Wuthering Heights] was haunted” and Heathcliff who “[burst...] into an uncontrollable passion of tears” and called for Catherine’s spirit to come back to him (Brontë 27-29). The characters’ belief in the existence of ghosts helps to validate Lockwood’s encounter with one. Also, the fact that the spirit presents itself as Catherine Linton is significant as well, for Lockwood “had read Earnshaw

This quote represents the first point of the book in which Lockwood realizes the Heights hold a secret no one wants him to know about. It stirs up his curiosity about the past affairs at Wuthering Heights and leads him to inquire about the story. He doesn’t know why this woman’s name is scratched into the wall so many times with such precision and curiosity. This leads him to investigate the woman and her past relationship with Heathcliff, who loved her enough to ask her to haunt him.

The importance this has towards the novel is that it shows that there is more to the Heights and the moors than just a feeling of the paranormal. There really is a ghost haunting the heights, and this entraps the reader by making them believe that there is more to the novel than just the basic story line. The other reason is that Brontë is trying to emphasise just how much Catherine was in love with Heathcliff.

Through Bronte’s use of the frame novel Lockwood, depicts the landscape of the moors through two contrasting description that explore his changed self-awareness of the world around him. The first “naïve” description of the moors as “a perfect misanthropists heaven” which foreshadows the truth revealed through Bronte’s representation of the malevolent Heathcliff. Bronte has thus depicted how an imposing landscape can affect the experience on an individual (expand). Additionally, Bronte represents the extreme states of being and experiences through her metaphorical representation of the landscape in which she compares her love of Heathcliff to the “eternal rocks” and Linton’s to the “foliage of the woods”. This contrasting representation allows Bronte to convey Catherine’s love and passion for Heathcliff as the experience she lives for, something that is always there and is constantly referenced too throughout the book. Whilst Linton’s as the relationship that withers and dies, thus ultimately linking people and landscapes to explain the impact a landscape can have on how an individual perceives the world around them. Thus, Bronte has shaped the audience response in which she reveals the influence of a landscapes on the identity of an

Yet, not only are the images of Wuthering Heights similar to that of Heathcliff, but both are described using similar adjectives. Wuthering Heights is illustrated as a hostile ‘grotesque’ dwelling, with ’strong narrow windows, deeply set in the walls, the corners defended with large, jutting stones’ (I, 1). This is similar to descriptions of Heathcliff: his ‘savage’ face has ‘brows lowering, the eyes deep-set and singular with black eyes withdrawn so suspiciously under their brow’ (I, 10). Heathcliff’s temperament is therefore exemplified and detailed through the setting in which he is shown, showing the relationship between the character and his setting.

as the victims contemplated revenge, the activity in their brains was recorded. The decision caused a rush of neural activity in the caudate nucleus, an area of the brain known to procss rewards. Revenge is a characteristic that everyone thinks will make them feel better after they have been wronged; but is that really true? Will getting revenge on a person that did something bad towards you make you feel better in the long run? In the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte there are many examples of revenge that still happen today.

He was extremely jealous of the way his father treated Heathcliff after adopting him. As a result of this, Hindley immediately canceled Heathcliff’s education, and practically forcing him to be a servant as retribution to the familial treatment. Finally, there is a strong predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic, specifically as it revolves around ghostly figures. Lockwood had one of the most immediate interactions with these ghosts, by “knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch: instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand. The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, "Let me in—let me in!” This initiated a fear of the unknown and supernatural, affecting the entire cast from the rest of the novel. From these few and obvious examples, is necessities the conclusion that “Wuthering Heights” best exhibits the ideals that are encased within a Romantic

Bronte uses the supernatural as a big part of Wuthering Heights. It has an effect on Heathcliff with after the passing of his wife Catherine. He even digs up her body up just she will be in his hands. Heathcliff that her spirit is still with hi in the afterlife. HeathCliff also eventually passes away also, and people around say they saw both their spirits together.”I have a strong faith in ghosts: I have a conviction that they can, and do, exist among us!” (29.24). With Heathcliff says this he believes that Catherine’s ghost is still with him.

The description of the setting of Wuthering Heights is described so thoroughly, which emphasizes the gothic tradition in this book. It is 1801 and Mr. Lockwood, a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, writes in his diary that he has rented a house in the Yorkshire countryside, or New England. After he arrived there, he visits his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff. Heathcliff lives