Earnshaw and raised as his own son. There, he endures daily torment from his step-brother Hareton who abhors Heathcliff and regards him “as a usurper of his parent's affections and his privileges” (Brontë 37). The display of cruelty, ranging between stinging pinches to violent beatings, between such young children appalled readers. Moreover, after Mr. Earnshaw’s death when Hindley became the head of the manor, he further ill-treats his brother by relegating him to the position of a mere servant and by forcing him labor extensively. Retorting to the mistreatment he faces, Heathcliff vows to “pay Hindley back” (Brontë 54). Hence, Hindley initiates a cycle of maltreatment that influences Heathcliff’s future treatment of others. The author opts to include detailed accounts of violence between the young boys, invoking readers to label her as vile for creating the gruesome story while they ironically remain reading the “repelling” novel. As the book progresses, Heathcliff becomes the main perpetrator of hostility, as a result of the vicious rotation of abuse. First, he deceptively marries an innocent girl, Isabelle Linton, to exact revenge upon her brother, and he impairs both her mind and body. He, even, murders her precious dog, seeking to wound her. Heathcliff’s willingness to kill demonstrates his borderline sadistic inclination to receive pleasure from inflicting pain on others. His
In addition, remaining persistent taking over everything that belongs to Edgar. Heathcliff throughout the novel exemplified that for him, revenge was an extensively more influential emotion than love. Ultimately, leads to why Heathcliff does not forgive Catherine for marrying Edgar. Although he does make it known that he loves Catherine and desires to be with her, he seems to show no remorse constantly attempting to ruin the life of her daughter; Cathy. Heathcliff is viewed a villainous figure as a result of his obsession with revenge, becoming more violent as the plot progresses. Frequently, Heathcliff comes across as a very violent character, uttering various threats and his violent acts. He illustrates that he lacks pity and sympathy when he hangs his wife and Isabella’s dog; thus, demonstrating one of his violent acts and validating the aspect of him as a villainous figure. Although Heathcliff basically engages in war among the two households, he would never harm Catherine as his love for her is immense. His love for Catherine reveals that he does truly have a sympathetic side in the mist of his villainous figure.
For self revenge, Heathcliff decided to punish the next generation for the evil deed of a father. Unfortunately for Heathcliff, the love that is his life suddenly died, causing more anguish and wrath to bubble and erupt.
After Isabella escapes there is a small amount of peace on the Yorkshire moors until Heathcliff discovers he has a son named Linton from Isabella. Linton stayed with Edgar after his mother’s death but as soon as Heathcliff finds out he orders his son to Wuthering Heights so he can control him and find a way to aggravate Edgar a bit more. Heathcliff despises Linton the moment he sees him as his son looks just like Edgar. Heathcliff manipulates Linton by using him to allure in Cathy who is Edgar and Catherine’s daughter. Although Edgar did his best to protect his daughter when he fell very ill and was not able to watch her closely she allowed herself to be pulled in my Heathcliff’s tricks. The reason for Heathcliff wanting Cathy was not only to hurt Edgar a bit more but also so that when Edgar and Linton die Heathcliff would be owner of Thrushcross grange. So He forced Linton to marry Cathy which scares Linton: “It’s as if it were a task he was compelled to perform- this interview-for fear his father should scold him.”
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.
Through the actions Heathcliff pursues throughout the entirety of the novel, it is furtively easy to only see him as a malicious brute. In retrospect, the further along one continues throughout the novel, the more it feels as if Bronte is encouraging readers to hate the protagonist; this, however, is not the case. This is evident from the commencement of the novel, through the author’s vivid depictions of the ways in which Heathcliff was brought upon society, starting from his introduction to the Earnshaws. “They entirely refused to have it (Heathcliff) 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------This was Heathcliff's first introduction to the family” (Bronte 59).
Heathcliff is a character with a bad past, which shapes him to be the person he is; his history also affects his relationship with those around him. I felt that Heathcliff is a very important character who has a special antiquity, which points Withering Heights in the direction that Brontë intended it to be.
Heathcliff never shows remorse for his actions, and instead becomes empty and swells with the soul of Catherine. He does eventually find less pleasure in punishing Cathy and Hareton, but he never apologizes. Frankenstein's monster feels so ashamed that he vows to commit suicide, while Heathcliff's death is from the soul of whom he once loved, as revenge consumed him completely. Heathcliff, in the end, wholly believes that the actions he has taken, from hanging the dog of his wife to kidnapping and imprisoning children, are not
Many characters are like Macbeth, and Heathcliff would be one of them. He was a nice good loving and caring man until he got all of the fortune. When he came back he turned into a bad evil person. He physically had abused his wife, he mistreated his son. It's like he just turned into a completely different person when he got his fortune. Heathcliff loved Catherine when they were younger and when he came back and saw Catherine he acted as if he didn’t really care for her or love her.
Therefore, it does not Shock the reader much that Heathcliff left his home then came back for Revenge because we have seen the same concept various times and other books and movies. Heathcliff treatment as a young boy was pure unjust behavior that his siblings they were only fueled by jealousy and rage. Because of these actions towards him, his mindset changed, and his actions were fueled by hate and Vengeance after so much tolerance to the abuse received for
This is seen as odd; one would usually assume that, in this situation, he would do his best to make their relationship flourish, to make up for his failed one, but instead, Heathcliff is too obsessed with revenge, making Catherine’s child suffer as much as possible, just as he had
Since Edgar and Isabella were sources of oppression in Heathcliff’s childhood, Heathcliff feels the need to plot for revenge against them. Heathcliff’s reappearance is his first act of revenge, because he immediately makes Edgar jealous.
He was not only a harsh individual, however. “Heathcliff can also play the romantic type” (Galef 244). This statement holds nothing but true, as he managed to court Catherine for numerous years, and also his wife Isabella, showing them both his affectionate side. The passionate thoughts of Heathcliff vanished after Cathy’s rejection, however, replaced with nothing but vengeance and rage as he set out to make her suffer.
Threw out the story you will see that Heathcliff has a very unhealthy passion; this is the next attribute of a Byronic Hero. This unhealthy passion is driven by revenge. As you read the book it seems that Revenge is the only thing that keeps Heathcliff going. Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights filthy rich after running away for 3 years when Catherine married Edgar. He uses some of his money to loan to Hindley’s gambling problem so that Hindley will become even more engulfed into debt. Heathcliff also wanted to seek revenge against Edgar for obvious reasons. So he
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