Romance And Romanticism In Emily Brontë'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.

The opening of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brรถnte intrigues the reader immediately as we meet Heathcliff and learn about his lonely and misanthropic life at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff, undoubtedly, is an intriguing character whom comes across as a sort of misfit as he is completely isolated from society. This character is completely the opposite of others in the novel and he seems to be symbolic of the uncivilized life. The moors, in general, is a symbol of this type of life as well and they seem to be a whole other character in the novel as important as the human beings who inhabit their surroundings. The moors are a lot like Heathcliff rough, dangerous, uncivilized and untamable.

Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a

   "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

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).

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte uses the setting of the English Moors, a setting she is familiar with, to place two manors, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The first symbolizes man's dark side while the latter symbolizes an artificial utopia. This 19th century setting allows the reader to see the destructive nature of love when one loves the wrong person.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was published in 1847 and received many contradictory judgements. One main judgement that criticized the novel was how multiple characters can have a change in characterization depending on the reader. Many of the novel's characters, such as Heathcliff, possess positive values, but readers tend to focus on their negative qualities which allows these characters to change. Growing up poor and homeless, Heathcliff’s character changes many times throughout the novel as he grows older and possess negative qualities towards other characters. Later residing as an old, lonely master, Heathcliff’s change in character at the end of Wuthering Heights signifies that he has gone mad and leads to intentions that Heathcliff has not committed suicide, but lost all will after all he has been through.

When a person is wronged by another, one’s first instinct is to seek revenge with the intention to inflict harm upon those who have wronged them, but instead end up harming themselves in the process. Heathcliff’s main aim throughout the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte was to seek revenge on those who have wronged him during his childhood. It presents the idea of the cycle of revenge through the literally elements of character, irony, and theme. In the novel Heathcliff passionately tries to seek revenge through anger and violence for the abuse which he experiences throughout his childhood.

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

In the novel, Bronte explores the ways of revenge,but it seemed to conclude that revenge is ultimately unsatisfactory, she shows that the only way to resolve it is with forgiveness. In the way the Bronte uses the character Heathcliff to accomplish this. Heathcliff is the character that is in search for justice. In the way that Heathcliff wanted to get revenge with the people the did him wrong. Heathcliff is often shunned, because of his social class status and because of his lack of knowledge, regarding his parentage.

The reader meets Heathcliff through several points of view and it is impossible not to be drawn to him. This is partly due to how much of a dynamic and round character he is. Although some people may see Heathcliff as only cold, there are so many shades to him. As Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights progresses, Heathcliff is shown

Throughout Wuthering Heights, it can be seen that Heathcliff is a social outcast, not fitting in with anything the other inhabitants of Wuthering Heights do. Any reader of the book produces a completely different view of Heathcliff showing even more so that he is misunderstood by many people. There are different

“The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish,” said Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island. Any person can write a book, but to be able to write what you mean and affect your readers is very difficult. A writer simply can’t just drop dialogue into a character’s mouth without having any context of the dialogue. If an author has his or her character saying “I’m broke,” what does this really mean without any context? To Oprah Winfrey, being broke may mean she can’t buy a Silk Jet, a winery, or a country. To a middle- class American, being broke may mean they can’t buy a new pair of shoes that week, buy a new car, or get their hair

“We love with a love that was more than love” stated by a famous poet by the name of Edgar Allen Poe. True love can appear deeper than the surface. Repeatedly humans confide their brain on who they are “infatuated with” and make more “logical choices.” Emily Bronte depicts this well in her outstanding novel “Wuthering Heights.” In the story, two characters by the name of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw are constantly yearning for each throughout the novel but under certain circumstances can be wed together. As an adopted child, Heathcliff comes into the family and attaches himself to Catherine. However, another character, Edgar Linton, similarly loves Catherine but is the complete contrast of Heathcliff. Linton is almost a picture perfect of what society wants in a male being wealthy, respectful, and highly intelligent. On the other hand, Heathcliff is a poor, uncivilized, and simple-minded child. Bronte indicates in her narrative in a “what-if” situation based on the love between them both. She creates a scenario that choosing the “logical choice” is not always the correct choice. The author asks a question of “If it is a choice between the rational and true love, which do you chose?” Because of this, Bronte makes readers think whether to believe the ways of society or what the heart desires.

There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home” .There’s no question that the Victorians were advocates of this viewpoint. Creating a safe and righteous home was one of their most important social values that took precedence over anything else. However, this moral belief falls short in comparison to Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The novel generates irony and unfamiliarity because of all that attention given to the two houses. One would expect the novel to be only about devotion to home and that the focus is on domesticity, when in fact it was absent. The Heights, a house which opens to the living room ,suggests that the novel’s main concern is managing a well ordered home while it turns out to be at odds with the domestic ideals.