Wuthering Heights Alienism Essay

The culture of set societal rules and conventions urges Catherine to be with Edgar, compelling her to be ‘the greatest woman of the neighbourhood’ due to them being relatively firm in their gentry’s status. This suggests the importance of her social status against the nature of her love for Heathcliff stating, ‘we would be beggars’, through employing the word ‘beggars’ the reader crafts the idea of her belief that she won’t survive without her status. Catherine admits ‘It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him’ Thus implying a swelling sense of her vanity and pride; enough to enjoy the position she gains from being married to Edgar despite her admiration for Heathcliff, being ‘more than (herself) than (she is)’and

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]

The disorderly atmosphere of Wuthering Heights, generated by Heathcliff’s raucous behavior causes Catherine to gravitate towards a more uncivilized and mannerless version of herself. Several times, Catherine snaps at others and throws furious tantrums, as she scolds and even slaps Nelly for cleaning in Edgar’s prescence. The rambunctious setting of Wuthering Heights conjures a different Catherine, where, “to pracise politeness...would only be laughed at,” influencing her to act on rebellious

The concept of commodity fetishism applies both to the perceptions of normal people and people in everyday life and to the formal study of economics. Economists, both then and now study the economy in terms of the movements of money, goods, and prices, which is essentially, the point of view of the corporation. from this point of view, the social dimension of economic life is considered unscientific and unworthy of discussion. Karl Marx argues that this commodity fetishism allows capitalists to carry on with day-to-day affairs of a capitalist mode of production without having to confront the real implications of the system of exploitation on which they depend.

The word greed, everyone knows what it is, people who are the word and know that the basis of our government could be called it. Greed is when someone becomes overly “hungry” for a thing and it starts to consume them. The song “Ill Mind of Hopsin 8” written and performed by Hopsin brings out this issue when inspecting it under a marxist lens.

This has an emotional toll on Catherine that contributed to her death. Heathcliff is repetitively described as “black” in Nelly’s description of him when he was initially brought home by Catherine’s father and taken into the family, symbolically foreshadowing his cunning, wicked personality and the arrival of tragedy to Catherine’s family and her life. Another film technique

During the mid to late eighteenth century, gender roles had a large influence on everyday life in Northern England. As a result, confinement, both physical and psychological, was a tool used to exert power over others. This is seen in both Catherine and Heathcliff’s multiple confinements of others and themselves throughout the novel. Jamie S. Crouse describes Catherine’s confinements as more detrimental to herself whereas Heathcliff’s are more masculine and destructive to others as he seeks to establish control over anyone who stands in his way. Their methods are intriguing as their motives and actions display the effect of gender roles and isolation as they grow up. During their youth, Catherine and Heathcliff were both children who went out

Another aspect which is relevant today and forever it shall remain relevant is selfishness. Catherine's selfish character was depicted when she wanted both Edgar and Heathcliff at the same time. In the beginning, she was introduced as a 'high spirited' character who was wild. However, she drastically changes throughout the book. When she hurts her leg and is forced to stay at Thrushcross Grange, she returns to Wuthering Heights as a well dressed and dignified lady. She was easily swayed to the superior lifestyle of the Lintons and began to look down upon Heathcliff. She even laughs at his rough and dirty appearance and says "I didn't mean to laugh at you. I could not hinder myself Heathcliff. Shake hands at least! What are you sulky for? It was only that you looked odd. If you wash you face and brush your hair, it would be alright. But you are

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

He is no longer a playmate she simply pushes around. He transforms into a desirable bachelor solely because of his wealth. This provides a strong criticism of society’s inability to see past the wealth and opulence in possession of a man that overshadows their true character. Yet, the reason behind these quick judgements can actually be traced back to science. Darwinian literature tells us that our perception of strength is often based on the projection of ourselves. These projections, what we call as appearances, determine others perception as to our strength, our capabilities, and our value in society. After Heathcliff’s transformation, Heathcliff and Catherine are physically strong and robust, active, aggressive, domineering. Edgar Linton is physically weak, pallid and languid, tender but emotionally dependent and lacking in personal force. Even Nelly Dean, fond of him as she is, remarks that “he wanted spirit in general” (Bronte, 1847). Isabella Linton, in contrast, is vigorous and active. She defends herself physically against Heathcliff, and when she escapes from him she runs four miles over rough ground through deep snow to make her way to the

Marx’s analysis of capitalism begins with an investigation of the commodity because the wealth of capitalist nations is essentially “an immense collection of commodities” (Chapter 1). Marx differentiates between the use-value and the exchange-value of any given commodity. The use-value of a commodity refers to its qualitative ability to satisfy a human need, while its exchange-value is the “quantitative relation… in which use-values of one kind exchange for use-values of another kind” (Chapter 1). Therefore, exchange-value is not an intrinsic quality of a commodity; it is only discovered in comparing a fixed quantity of commodity A to a fixed quantity B. Since differing quantities of these two commodities appear to have the same value,

Marx viewed the ‘commodity’ as the most elementary form of modern wealth. The essence of the commodity is the

Heathcliff’s proud commendation of spirits and the dead returning to walk the earth acts as a distressing reminder, a haunting that carries with it all the unfortunate history many would rather keep buried. It is yet another one of Heathcliff’s many Uncanny evocations. Nelly is appalled and condemned him, “You were very wicked, Mr. Heathcliff. Were you not ashamed to disturb the dead?” In this scene, Nelly is the voice of the Western perspective—logical and morally upright in the face of Heathcliff’s abject and strange actions which pay no regard to Victorian values or the desecration of a human corpse. To Heathcliff, his passion and love for Catherine is a spiritual force far more powerful than the accepted Western social rules he rebels against

However, through commodity fetishism these commodities now have a monetary value; this value gives the commodity a “supernatural/unnatural quality” Karl Marx expresses that commodity fetishism, “is nothing but the definite social relation between men themselves which assumes…the fantastic form of a relation between things” (Marx, 165). Through this establishment of monetary value one forgets that this value is something one created, and individuals end up valuing the object more than they value on another. In this capitalist society the real producers of these commodities remain invincible, and when it comes to the exchange of commodities it results in class struggle as individuals feel uncomfortable asking for a higher price due to their social standing in comparison to the authoritive figure they are dealing with. Through the use of historical materialism which looks into historical events that were determined by materialist circumstances, one finds that capitalism is the root of class struggle. This established monetary value governing individual’s perceptions on how society should work was the pathology one needs to solve, but it was avoided through one’s “actively forgetting.” This only leads to the exploitation of lower classes due to one’s actively forgetting that these values are one’s creations. Marx looked into the past to uncover this “truth” and find the root of the

It is the opinion of this essay that the character of Heathcliff evolves a lot more than the character of Catherine. When we first meet Heathcliff, he was found on the streets of Liverpool by Catherine’s father who then adopts him into the family as one of his own. This would have been a dramatic change for Heathcliff. Then after experiencing this quality of life until the death of the father he is then cast into the role of a servant/labourer by Catherine’s brother who despises him. Finally, when Heathcliff hears part of the conversation between Catherine and Nelly, he hears Catherine plans to marry Edgar Linton as she could never marry Heathcliff. “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now”. (82) It is here Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and returns three years later, a gentleman of means and of polite demeanour, not what you would expect from him. Here we can bring back the point that one’s environment dramatically affects one’s behaviour. Like Catherine, Heathcliff defies social norms expected of his gender. After he returns back from travelling having acquired great wealth and on the surface seems a changed man, he would be accepted into middle class society as he displays the characteristics expected of him. It is well described in the book to enforce the dramatic change in him for readers to understand how far he has come from