Heathcliff Characterization Quotes

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 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).

   "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff" (81)" These words, uttered by Catherine, in the novel Wuthering Heights are for me the starting point in my investigation into the themes of love and obsession in the novel. Catherine has just told her housekeeper that she has made up her mind to marry Edgar Linton, although she is well aware that her love for him is bound to change as time passes. That she is obsessed by her love for Heathcliff she confirms in the above quotation and by saying that she will never, ever be separated from him. Why does she not marry him then? Well, she has

As a young orphan who is brought to Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is thrown into abuse as Hindley begins to treat Heathcliff as a servant in reaction to Mr. Earnshaw’s death. As a reaction to both this and Catherine discarding Heathcliff for Edgar, Heathcliff’s sense of misery and embarrassment causes him to change and spend the rest of his time seeking for justice. Throughout this time, Heathcliff leans on violence to express the revenge that he so seeks by threatening people and displaying villainous traits. However, Heathcliff’s first symptom of change in personality is when Heathcliff runs into Hareton after Cathy “tormented

Surprisingly, Heathcliff is absent for three years from Wuthering Heights. During that time he mysteriously obtains wealth and returns triumphantly. However, at the time of his return Catherine is already married to Edgar Linton. Heathcliff would spend the rest of his life tortured by his separation from Catherine. He becomes so obsessed that he would roam around Thrushcross Grange for days hoping to take her back or take revenge for what she has done to him. Even the day she dies, he is already so mentally deranged that he tries to unearth her body. At that moment, he feels for the first time a "sigh" that he believes to be Catherine's spirit, a presence that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Years later, he reveals to Nelly the terrible situation in which he has been living ever since. He says "she has disturbed me, night and day, through eighteen years - incessantly -remorselessly" (Bronte 211).  It seems that the spell is set on her deathbed when she tells him that she would haunt him for the rest of his life. At that moment Heathcliff forecasts his fate when he says:

1. As it deteriorates and dies, Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship serves as a cautionary tale and a witness to love’s destructive nature. Their love for one another is an addiction. Catherine long for Heathcliff and states, “I wish I could hold you.. till we were both dead” (Brontë 357). Catherine understands their relationship as “a source of little visible delight, but necessary” (Brontë 183). She views herself as one in the same with her lover, “Nelly, I am Heathcliff” (Brontë 183). She is obsessed with him-- regardless of her relationship with Edgar, Heathcliff never ceases to occupy her thoughts. If she were to lose Heathcliff, she would effectively go through withdrawal; their love is an addiction. She wants possession of Heathcliff

Even if Catherine is already married, the main conflict of the novel is the dynamic union between her and Heathcliff, making this scene a central milestone in the

At her age, Catherine should have felt the happiest she has even been after Edgar’s proposal, but her emotions toward Heathcliff changed all that. One way she states her love for Heathcliff by saying: “’My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath’” (Brontë 74), illustrating the everlastings of her emotions and that they will never fade no matter what happens. Yet on the other hand, her ambitions get the best of her in which she says to Nelly: “’I shall like to be the greatest woman in the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband [Edgar Linton]’” (Brontë 71). Instead of marrying for true love as seen throughout fairy tales, Catherine marries Edgar solely for reputation, following her mind instead of her heart. The conflict of her following her heart or her mind has led her into denial by imagining that by marrying Edgar she is doing the right thing and that she could raise Heathcliff, for at this time he is poor. Catherine is not the only one affected by denial, Isabella Linton is as well.

Though not as intense as his father’s affairs, Linton starts secretly writing to Cathy at Thrushcross Grange where she then secretly writes him back as well. At this time, Cathy makes fun of Hareton for his lack of education and filth. Unlike the first love triangle to occur in the family, Linton and Hareton did not once discuss Cathy or have any hatred towards one another. Heathcliff desperately tries to push Linton and Cathy together in hopes of a marriage which then gives him the ownership of Thrushcross Grange. Taking drastic measures, Heathcliff locks Nelly and Cathy in Wuthering Heights and marries Linton and Cathy - who do in fact love each other. Linton eventually dies, leaving only Heathcliff, Cathy, Hareton, and the servants at Wuthering Heights. Until one day when Hareton accidentally shoots himself, Cathy tends to him. At first they argue, but eventually they come to an understanding and start to get along. They eventually fall in love and Cathy promises Hareton how to read. Nelly had this to say about the new couple:

Heathcliff has just run away from Wuthering Heights after overhearing a conversation between Catherine and Nelly where he hears Catherine saying, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now”. Heathcliff is very upset after hearing this. He left the room before being able to here Catherine confess her true feelings towards Heathcliff. Catherine panics and feels greatly upset after finding out that Heathcliff had overheard this conversation. She also feels guilty due to the fact that she believes she is the reason why Heathcliff left Wuthering Heights.

In this passage from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Catherine reveals her love for Heathcliff to her maid, Nelly. Unbeknownst to Catherine, Heathcliff was audience to the most detrimental part of her speech, in which she proclaims it would “degrade” her to marry him. Love is not the same for everyone, and Catherine, an unconventional character, realizes sometimes soulmates comes from non-traditional places. Catherine couldn’t be with her soulmate, Heathcliff, because of his lesser social position. Her pleading, desperate tone in this passage is a testament to the deep level of her love for Heathcliff and how badly she wants to be with him, but can’t because their marriage wouldn’t be commonplace. Catherine compares her two lovers, Edgar

Even when Hindley treats Heathcliff like a servant, “because Cathy t[eaches] him what she learn[s], and work[s] or play[s] with him in the fields … Heathcliff b[ears] his degradation pretty well”(40). Heathcliff still feels loved, which explains his contention; however, when his love is taken away, so was his satisfaction. Also, although Heathcliff wants to “accost”(288) Hareton, he cannot, because while closely examining him“ his startling likeness to Catherine connected him fearfully with her” (288). Heathcliff envies Hareton’s love, but he still loves Catherine and cannot hurt Hareton because he looks too much like his lost love. Finally, Hareton does not take revenge on Heathcliff, but he instead chooses to love Heathcliff. After Heathcliff dies, “[Hareton] sat by the corpse all night, weeping in bitter earnest. He pressed its hand, and kissed the sarcastic, savage face that everyone else shrank from contemplating” (298). Even after all the torture and humiliation Hareton faces, he still loves Heathcliff like a father, although he was treated the worst by Heathcliff. Because he does not ruin himself by taking revenge on those who either degraded or mocked him and instead chooses to break the cycle of vengeance, he ends up wealthy and happily married to Cathy. This is how he departs from Heathcliff’s

In chapter 27, Edgar’s health continues to deteriorate and he lay on his deathbed leading Cathy and Mrs. Dean to pay a visit to Linton at Wuthering Heights. This quote is said in response to Cathy, who fights with Heathcliff after she realizes that he has the imprisoned her and Nelly both inside his home, with a plan to not release her until after she and Linton are married. After Cathy is locked inside, Linton reveals to her Heathcliff's plans, and the readers feel a sense of inescapable doom start to exist. This quote is emblematic to the action within this novel because it reveals Heathcliff’s master plan to the readers: to marry off Linton and Cathy so that he may lay claim to Thrushcross Grange. The kidnapping of Cathy and Mrs. Dean is

Instead, he ends up marrying Isabella and treats her miserable because of that fact that he cannot be happy without Catherine, and now she is gone forever. The only thing Heathcliff has left of Catherine is the sounds of her ghost that haunts the grounds of Wuthering Heights. Mr. Lockwood discovers Catherine's ghost when he comes to Wuthering Heights and realizes everything is not right there. “ 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!"(Bronet

Ghosts in Wuthering Heights are grave reminders of love that has been lost and guilty reminders of what could have been for characters like Heathcliff. In relation to Catherine’s first appearance as a phantom, it can be seen as a desperate plea to unfinished business. Following the incident, Heathcliff calls forth towards the ghost in an attempt to retrieve his lost lover. “My heart’s Darling!” Heathcliff exhibits the behavior of a remorseful man hopelessly calling to someone who has essentially lost his soulmate (Bronte, 22).