Revenge In Heathcliff's Wuthering Heights

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.

The Development of Heathcliff’s Character in Wuthering Heights Heathcliff is a character who is ever present in “Wuthering Heights” and throughout the novel his character changes. At first he is a poor, homeless child, then he becomes a loved and neglected victim, then he is a degraded lover, and finally he transforms into a vicious, lonely master. Heathcliff is introduced into the novel as a homeless child. He is a ‘“dirty, ragged, black-haired child”’ who Mr. Earnshaw brings to Wuthering Heights from Liverpool. He is constantly referred to as ‘it’ and a ‘gypsy’.

Cruelty compels one to inflict cruelty upon others. In her novel, Wuthering Heights, Brontë illustrates the rough life of Heathcliff, conflicted with whether he should focus his life on loving Catherine Earnshaw or inflicting revenge on those who tortured him as a child. Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff into the Earnshaw family as an orphan gypsy, a social class that most of the Earnshaw did not care for. The eldest child of Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley, abuses Heathcliff horribly, shaping the way Heathcliff perceives the world around him. Catherine Earnshaw, Hindley’s younger sister, motivates Heathcliff to endure this pain through their affectionate relationship. With his heart focused on revenge, Heathcliff devises a cruel plan to retaliate those who hurt him; he returns to Wuthering Heights as a refined, powerful man. He takes some of his anger out on Hareton Earnshaw, Hindley’s son; this parallels Hindley’s abuse towards Heathcliff. Through Hindley’s and Heathcliff’s abusiveness in Wuthering Heights, Brontë asserts that cruelty cycles from its perpetrators to its victims.

Ann Park Lanphar, author of “The problem of Revenge in Medieval Literature”, states “The desire to return an injury insult, to pay back, to even the score, and thus to gain justice for oneself is a basic human impulse.”(Lanphar, 2010). However, those who choose that path can and will be punished. In fact, the Japanese Government issued a decree in 1873 prohibiting vengeance. The decree states “Furthermore, in extreme cases the undesirable situation often arises that one person wantonly and deliberately kills another in the name of revenge without regard for the rights and wrongs of the case or the justification for his act.”(Mills, 1976). Although it agrees that revenge is a natural human impulse, in no way does it make it acceptable. The government clarifies that you will be punished in saying “Let it be plainly understood that anyone who ignores this injunction and adheres to old customs, taking the laws into his own hands to kill for revenge, will be subject to a penalty appropriate to his offence.” (Mills, 1976). By overlooking the right path to take and choosing to avenge results in punishment, therefore those who chose it can not feel any progress to their

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

Throughout the world of literature, of Homer’s The Odyssey and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, revenge has been a common theme. Revenge can come in the form of many faces. It can manifest itself through pride, greed, carelessness, and murder. Revenge can provoke deep dark feelings towards others. These feelings lead to one not thinking about what’s moral but instead to just act instinctually. Revenge is expressed on behalf of a fatal occurrence. An incidence such as an unfavorable event involving an object or a loved one can ignite a fire in one’s inner being, and lead them to unconscious actions. There are those who go about revenge differently. Instead of acting instinctually they use

was to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day."

Heathcliff is introduced in Nelly's narration as a seven-year-old Liverpool foundling (probably an Irish famine immigrant) brought back to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw. His presence in Wuthering Heights overthrows the prevailing habits of the Earnshaw family, members of the family soon become involved in turmoil and fighting and family relationships become spiteful and hateful. Even on his first night, he is the reason Mr. Earnshaw breaks the toys he had bought for his children. "From the very beginning he bred bad feelings in the house". Heathcliff usurps the affections of Mr. Earnshaw to the exclusion of young Hindley-: "The young master had learnt to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a

In the novel Wuthering Heights a specific person come into mind who was in this case in search for justice. The character that comes to mind is Heathcliff because in a way he is in search for justice for himself because of the way he was treated in his early youth. Heathcliff was taken in as a child by Mr. Earnshaw because he saw that he needed help because he found him in the sidewalk. He was taken in and at that moment Hindley, the son of Mr.Earnshaw, was always very rude to him and disliked him because Mr. Earnshaw favored Heathcliff over his own blood. This mad Hindley jealous and made him treat Heathcliff badly. For example, Hindley didn't like his horse so he wanted to exchange his horse with Heathcliff horse. They got into an argument

The Path Less Traveled Revenge is often the most instinctive route to take when one wronged. However, revenge never accomplishes anything besides worsening the situation for everyone involved. Instead it just causes more strife and loathing. Moreover, one cannot reverse the past through any means; nonetheless, one may be able to achieve peace by relinquishing revenge and choosing acceptance. As the protagonist of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff eventually abandons revenge, which results in his positive change at the novel’s end that reveals Brontë’s message to the reader: revenge cannot create happiness.

Heathcliff’s loathing feelings against Hindley even last long after Hindley’s death. Heathcliff has created a demonic reality in which his mistreatment of Hereton will enable him to gain revenge against Hindley. Heathcliff also maintains his revenge by becoming extremely possessive of the Heights. Heathcliff’s vicious watch dogs ensure the security of the Heights because maintaining complete control of the Heights continues his revenge against Hindley.

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.

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.