Wuthering Heights is considered a classic piece of literature which means that it has withstood the test of time, proving its importance and relevance with readers throughout the years. The novel takes place in late seventeen hundred – mid eighteen hundred and is written in two parts: the first part is written about one generation, and the second part is written about the second generation. Throughout the novel there are three prominent concepts; love, betrayal, and revenge. The concept of love leads to the desire of revenge. Many of the characters have feelings of suffering and pain due to the concept of betrayal observed throughout the novel.
In the novel, “Wuthering Heights,” the concept of love is obvious and prominent throughout the
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After her marriage to Edgar, Catherine soon becomes so unhappy and she falls ill. Heathcliff believes Catherine’s death was self-inflicted through her behavior. The death of Heathcliff’s one true love leaves him devastated. After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff begs for Catherine’s spirit to remain on earth with him even if it means for her ghost to haunt him. Heathcliff cries “be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! […] I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” (Bronte 169). This quote by Heathcliff demonstrates the intensity and desperation of his love for Catherine; he is willing to be haunted by her spirit rather than be without her.
Young Catherine, the daughter of Catherine and Edgar, has grown up not knowing about Wuthering Heights until one day when she is out wandering. Upon the discovery of the manor, she meets Hareton who is the son of Catherine’s brother, Hindley. Following the death of Heathcliff’s wife Isabella, Linton comes to live with his father at Wuthering Heights. Three years later, young Catherine returns to the manor for a visit where she meets Linton. A secret romance between the two starts shortly after meeting. As a result of the abuse from Heathcliff, Linton dies. Young Catherine and Hareton reunite and their love for each other grows strong.
Several characters betray each other throughout the novel. Two types of betrayal occur, the betrayal of
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.
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.
When Heathcliff returns three years later, his love for Catherine motivates him to enact revenge upon all those who separated him from her. Since he last saw Catherine, he has “fought through a bitter life”; he “struggled only for [her]” (Brontë 71). Nelly observes a “half-civilized ferocity” in Heathcliff’s brows (Brontë 70); she views him as “an evil beast…waiting his time to spring and destroy” (Brontë 79). Heathcliff’s obsessive love for Catherine becomes a menacing threat. Heathcliff reproaches Catherine because she “treated [him]
"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
This excerpt clearly shows obsession; even after Catherine and him die, he still wants to remain with her. Likewise, this passage displays the sick mind that Mr. Heathcliff bears. He digs up a dead body and wants to be buried in a connecting coffin; obviously, something is very wrong with Mr. Heathcliff’s brain. His obsession stems from his deprivation of love at such an early age. His early years could even be considered as abusive; these hardships carry over into his adult life and his relationship with Catherine.
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
Human beings can be truly deranged creatures. Often times they are seen as elevating and putting themselves on a pedestal. They will treat people who are not the same as them as they are garbage and worthless. Although it is not their fault to simply put it, it is human nature. More specifically the ugliness of human nature. The complex characters in Wuthering Heights are guilty of this. Their circumstances drive them to do unthinkable things which unfortunately have drastic outcomes. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a beautifully written novel that shows the ugliness of human nature as seen through the depiction of toxic relationships, displaying revenge and vengeance in the differentiation of social class.
Choosing Wuthering Heights was one of the more challenging steps to the reading assignment. When reading older novels, I find that the plotline is very interesting but it has a lengthy development. When choosing from a selected list, starting with the female writers is my first step. With female writers I find I can get a better perspective of the characters. When I looked up the summary of this book, I saw that there was a romance that was going to be developed between two of the main characters. This is what overall made me pick this book, because when a novel has a love story it makes me enjoy it just a little more.
In her statement, Catherine, is describing how strong her love is for Heathcliff. She states that her love will never end. Catherine states that she is one with Heathcliff, for they share the same thoughts and the same mind. This quote shows that the bond of love cannot be broken and will stand the test of time.
The novel of Wuthering Heights involves passion, romance, and turmoil but most significantly carries cruelty as an overarching theme. Cruelty is apparent throughout the work most importantly when dealing with relationships between Heathcliff and Hindley, Heathcliff and Hareton, and even the emotional cruelty between Heathcliff and Catherine.
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.
The gothic and often disturbing Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s classic novel that contains undeniably powerful writing that created her timeless love story. Andrea Arnold transformed her masterpiece into a cinematic rendition to recreate the wild and passionate story of the deep and destructive love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff.
Where some have looked back to the past, while some have constantly gazed at the present condition and texture of life, and some have preferred to look beyond the past and the present to the state of life in future. Life is a bouquet of moments and every moment is a moment of discovery. Likewise Wuthering Heights is not just a love story; it is a window into the human soul, where one sees the loss, suffering, self discovery, and triumph of the characters in this novel. Catherine and Heathcliff’s passionate nature, intolerable frustration, and overwhelming loss have ruined them, and thus stripped them of their
The novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ (1847) by Emily Brontë and the film adaptation ‘Wuthering Heights’ (2011) by Andrea Arnold each convey respective values and perspectives reflective of the contrasting contexts and forms of each text. The novel, set in the Romantic period, is centred around two families living on the isolated, Yorkshire moors, and the explosive interactions between them. The concept of confinement contrasts against the freedom of nature throughout the novel. Nature is another key theme and a fundamental aspect of the Romantic period, used to present ideas such as rebellion and freedom. Finally, passion within human relationships is thoroughly explored through Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship within the novel. However, as the film adaptation is a product of a contemporary post-feminist, post-colonial time period, these themes can now be explored through lenses such as racial discrimination, feminism, and human connection.
Linton. The arrival of Heathcliff, a young orphan, will upset the lives of the members of the Earnshaw family. Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff raised as brothers and sisters but linked in their youth by an absolute passion and without concession.