How Does Dean Present Heathcliff As A Hero

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

Heathcliff is a character defined by his sympathetic past. Growing up as an orphan from a tender age, deprived of a structured family and family support system, exposed to the negative influences life offered, it is almost a certainty that his behaviour will not be that of an ideal gentleman.

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).

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

Dreaded till the day she died, Catherine confessed to Nelly that “[she is] Heathcliff! He’s always, always in [her] mind: not as a please, any more than [she is] always a pleasure to [herself], but as [her] own being” (87). After marrying Edgar, she has been haunted by the thoughts of Heathcliff because of his presence and torturous schemes to Edgar’s sister, Isabella. Through fear of Heathcliff’s sharp words and actions, Catherine is “cannot live apart” from Heathcliff

Once in the kitchen catherine was telling nelly that she loved Heathcliff and wanted to him but it would degrade her to do so according to her family, but in the same sentence she said that she loved him.” ...it would degrade me to marry heathcliff now; so he shall never know how i love him…”.(bronte.81) Not hearing the last part he left. He still loved her because when he found out she was sick he traveled on foot. When he got there she was happy “oh edgar darling!

When Catherine dies he prays “Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as I am living! You said I killed--you--haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad!

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.

His love and obsession for Catherine come back to haunt him; Heathcliff sees Catherine everywhere and is still obsessed with her, this is shown through the tone, diction and imagery in the passage. Heathcliff’s anxiety of seeing Catherine everywhere and obsessiveness

“My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” (Brontë, 82)

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.

This was how he showed his affection, yet it only lasted as long as Catherine had lived. Close to her death “he gnashed at [Nelly], and foamed like a mad dog,” greedily gathering Catherine to him. Nelly didn’t feel as if she “were in the company of a creature of [her] own species” anymore. Even in Heathcliff’s habitual attraction, he made it appear in a form of aggression. His emotions, compared to the other characters, are portrayed more drastically. Even Mr. Lockwood’s first encounter with Heathcliff leaves him feeling that “a tiger of venomous serpent couldn’t rouse terror in [him] equal to that of which” Heathcliff wakens. It seems the thing Heathcliff is most protective about is himself. He uses his inhumane behavior to scare off anyone unwilling to handle it, leaving him completely alone in his time of death.

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

Heathcliff is an interesting individual with several adjectives that describe him. Although he has several descriptors, the majority of them are negative. Even though he is the main character in the novel, most people would agree he is negative and gloomy. In a survey that conducted by Dr. Brooks two thirds of the surveyors sympathized with Catherine rather than the one third that sympathized with Heathcliff. When asked Dr. Brooks class found it hard to give any positive adjectives to describe him. Vengeful, spiteful, crazy, cruel were among the most popular adjectives to be contributed.