Revenge is a major part in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. It began with Hindley and ruined much of Heathcliff’s young life. His lust for revenge ruined the lives of the people who loved him. Finally, in the end it caused him to commit suicide. All of these show how revenge destroys people’s lives.
Heathcliff was an orphaned at a young age and was raised by Mr. Earnshaw, Catherine's father, who soon begins to favor Heathcliff over his son. Because of this, Mr. Earnshaw’s son, Hindley, came to despise Heathcliff. “He has been blaming our father (how dared he?) for treating H. too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place⎯.” (Pg. 22). Hindley’s hostility towards Heathcliff is what caused Heathcliff’s need for revenge. Hindley’s
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 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.
Hindley hated him”’. This shows that Mrs. Earnshaw neglects Heathcliff, not loving him as much as her other children. Hindley hates Heathcliff and therefore abuses him, making him a victim. However, Mr. Earnshaw loves Heathcliff, and along with Hindley and Mrs. Earnshaw, makes him into a loved and neglected victim.
Through self-centered and narcissistic characters, Emily Bronte’s classic novel, “Wuthering Heights” illustrates a deliberate and poetic understanding of what greed is. Encouraged by love, fear, and revenge, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, and Linton Heathcliff all commit a sin called selfishness.
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
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
Most people think that love is the main theme, but that is not the case; In the novel Wuthering Heights, revenge is the main motive for all of the actions in the book because it is present in all of the choices,
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.
As soon as Hindley’s father dies, Heathcliff is taught the true meaning of hate by Hindley. As Heathcliff ages, his hate for Hindley grows inside of him, along with a need for revenge. Heathcliff’s need for revenge allows him to formulate his diabolical plan for taking over both the Grange and the Heights, upon return from his three year sojourn. Heathcliff’s ability to gamble the Heights away from Hindley foreshadows the unyielding power of Heithcliff’s hate when fueled by revenge. Thus establishing hate as the source of Heathcliff’s revenge.
Sins manipulate, eat and digest one's moral self and humanity. William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights demonstrate the fatality of the sin of revenge. Hamlet and Heathcliff experience moral suffering and loss in their humanity through the sin of revenge. However, Hamlet merges as a hero whereas Heathcliff shines as genius a villain. The final outcome of their revenge depend on their process of reason, choice and desire throughout their lives. Many people fall and die in vain of revenge while others rise, defeat and rest free morally from the vice of revenge.
For Heathcliff and Hindley, the two most bent on revenge, stolen love fuels their need for revenge. Hindley needs revenge because he sees “Heathcliff as a usurper of his parent’s affections and his privileges; and he gr[ows] bitter with brooding over these injuries” (33). Hindley was always the entitled child, but because his father favors a mere orphan over him, he feels the pain of rejection. Eventually, Heathcliffe also wants revenge because he believes that Edgar causes the death of his beloved Catherine. He tells Isabella that “she
The relationship between Heathcliff and Hindley revealed and developed the abusive nature of Heathcliff. Heathcliff was taken in as a young boy into a wealthy family that had two children. Ever since the day he was brought home the eldest son, Hindley, resented how the father favored him more. For example, Heathcliff threatened to tell their father if Hindley did not let him have his horse. This one childish threat had created the foundation of the resentment between the two men. Heathcliff threatened to tell their father that Hindley was making him feel unwelcome and abused emotionally, Hindley decided to not see if Heathcliff was going to follow through with the threat therefore gave him the horse. Later on through life, once the father dies, Hindley decides to take his absence as an excuse to start really physically abusing Heathcliff. He would beat him and punch him without thought of how this would transfer into the rest of his life. Heathcliff was also verbally assaulted by Hindley which is a twist on the traditional sense of cruelty. Hindley is demeaning towards Heathcliff and calls him a slave and make sure that he know that he is not equal with himself or his sister Catherine. This point planted the seed of doubt and not being good enough for the rest of his life. This continual mental assault forged the mindset of little Heathcliff to how he would exact revenge on Hindley for all of his wrongdoings. This cruelty from Hindley was due to the favoritism that Heathcliff received as a child, the death of his father, the death of his wife, and the constant reminder of his wife through his son. The constant cruelty is the motive for Heathcliff's actions once he returns to the Heights. Through baiting Hindley, in his own personal torment from his wife's passing, all the money and possessions are gambled away with Heathcliff as the new owner. Wuthering Heights itself
In both Wuthering Heights and Hamlet characters deal with the theme of revenge, however, both characters face revenge with a different perspective. Heathcliff is isolated, pro active and rash, while Hamlet is very public which doesn't allow him to act rashly and he spends a lot of time procratinating. The motifs and methods of both characters also adds to the difference.
Love is a strong attachment between two lovers and revenge is a strong conflict between two rivals. In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses setting to establish contrast, to intensify conflict, and to develop character. The people and events of Wuthering Heights share a dramatic conflict. Thus, Bronte focuses on the evil eye of Heathcliff's obsessive and perpetual love with Catherine, and his enduring revenge to those who forced him and Catherine apart. The author expresses the conflict of Wuthering Heights with great intensity. Hence, she portrays a combination of crucial issues of romance and money, hate and power, and lastly
Hindley and Mr. Linton fear Heathcliff’s malevolence and violence, trying to avoid him as much as possible because of it. Mr. Linton forbids his daughter, Cathy, from visiting Wuthering Heights because he does not want Heathcliff to hurt or harm her. Hindley attempted to murder Heathcliff because of his malevolence (167). Heathcliff’s malevolence may be a symptom of his grief after Catherine died. Catherine was his only and true love, and her death may have caused him to become slightly crazy.