Wuthering Heights: Child's Emotions vs. Adult Emotions

To begin, Heathcliff uses Isabella as a means of exacting revenge on Edgar Linton, whom he despises. When Heathcliff finds out Isabella is in love with him, he is delighted. His pleasure comes not from a mutual like for Isabella, but rather a vision for revenging Edgar. After Catherine lets slip that Isabella is in love with him, Heathcliff says to her, “...and if you fancy I’ll suffer unrevenged, I’ll convince you of the contrary, in a very little while! Meantime, thank you for telling me your sister-in-law’s secret: I swear I’ll make the most of it. And stand you aside!”(112). Heathcliff’s comment

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.

Heathcliff resents her scorn. He desires to regain her approval. He attempts to be “decent” and “good” for her sake (Brontë 40). However, his attempt to be decent fails miserably. He resents the attentions that Catherine gives to Edgar. Catherine would rather wear a “silly frock” and have dinner with “silly friends” than ramble about the moors with him (Brontë 50). Heathcliff keeps track of the evenings Catherine spends with Edgar and those that she spends with him. He desperately wants to be with Catherine. When Catherine announces to Nelly her engagement to Edgar, Heathcliff eavesdrops, but leaves the room when he “heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him” (Brontë 59). Catherine has spurned his love, choosing Edgar over him. Heathcliff cannot bear this rejection. The love he possesses for her transcends romantic and filial love (Mitchell 124). He feels that he is one with her (Mitchell 123).

As a consequence of Heathcliff's visit to the Grange, Edgar's sister Isabella falls in love with him, and her feelings seem to be sincere. In this one-sided love affair Heathcliff takes advantage of the innocent girl's infatuation to foster his obsession for revenge. (Isabella is her brother's heir). Catherine's reaction is very hard to interpret. It is natural that she is jealous, if she still feels the same for him as before, and that may be the reason why she dissuades Isabella from marrying Heathcliff. But the words she uses, telling her what an abominable creature Heathcliff is, are not the sort you expect to hear from someone talking of a sweetheart. Later on when her husband and Heathcliff are having a quarrel, she stops Edgar from hurting her friend . There is an excess of emotion, and her explanation to this behaviour is that she wants them both, Edgar and Heathcliff: "Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend - if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own" (109).Her love for Heathcliff has not cooled down, instead it seems to be a stronger obsession than ever considering the torments she goes through, when she becomes seriously ill.The last time Catherine and Heathcliff see each other is a very heart-rending meeting. Their love for each other is as strong as ever, and Heathcliff

Heathcliff is abused; his only source of love is his dearest Catherine, yet even that love cannot thrive in Heathcliff’s environment. The problem is not that his love is unrequited, but rather that Catherine believes she would fall to ruin if she were to be with Heathcliff “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him---because he's more

In Catherine's life, there are many things that she wish she could just quit forever, and run away forever. In the novel, Catherine Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, she challenges the main character by putting her through some things that she may or may not like. For example, some things that she does not like include her marriage to most disgusting and in the world, Shaggy Beard, having to do the worst lady lessons all the time, and having to deal with her father that roars all day long.

In the novel, Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, the main character, Catherine is a 14-year-old girl who lives during the Medieval time period. Catherine’s mother tells her, “You are so much already Little Bird, why not cease your fearful pounding against the bars of your cage and be content.” But Catherine cannot be content because she is facing so many conflicts. For example, Catherine is experiencing multiple conflicts and one of them is that she wants to go ice-skating with Perkin and Gerd the miller’s son, but her mother would not speak of it, so Catherine made her a potion of peony root and oil of roses, then she made a list of things that girls aren’t allowed to do. Another conflict is that Catherine wants to avoid having to sew and embroider, but her brother Edward wants her to write every day to grow less childish, so she and her mother made a bargain, then she may forgo spinning as long as Catherine writes this account for Edward. Catherine also wants to ignore suitors that her father chose to marry her, but they do not meet Catherine’s standards, so she tries to get rid of them any way she can, then her father sends her another one. In addition, Catherine wants to go see a hanging, but her mother would not let her go, so she just went with Gerd anyway, then she was disgusted when she saw the hanging. Then Catherine wants to run away to an abbey, but she is a girl and is stubborn and clever, so she thought about it a little bit more, then decides not to,

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

Catherine is so wrapped up in her fictional world of reading that she becomes ignorant of her real life issues with Henry Tilney, for whom she has been love-struck since their introduction. She entertains herself with wild imaginings about his life and family. Catherine's imaginings foreshadow her eager desire for mischief as Austen's story develops. Catherine is endowed with a vivid imagination, but she has not yet learned to use it in concert with her perception, especially in understanding the interactions between people.

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

At this point in the story the intense attachment between Catherine and Isabella begins to slowly deteriorate. Thus far the two girls have been inseparable, but although Isabella promises at that evening’s dance that “nothing…should induce her to join the set before

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a novel that features vibrant character development but the biggest development is that which occurs in Catherine Morland. Catherine’s character nearly develops in all components of her being and she is able to evolve from the unorthodox “heroine” that she is initially described as. In the novel, Catherine starts out as an incredibly naïve and inexperienced girl who confuses all facets of the real world as the plot in a Gothic novel. Catherine develops as a character through her social interactions with those around her as it helps her gain experience with how to correctly perceive the world. With her newly gained experience of her surroundings, Catherine develops and is able to see the real world through a social lens rather than her own subjective lens or that of a Gothic lens.

The presentation of childhood is a theme that runs through two generations with the novel beginning to reveal the childhood of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, and with the arrival of the young Liverpudlian orphan, Heathcliff. In chapter four, Brontë presents Heathcliff’s bulling and abuse at the hands of Hindley as he grows increasingly jealous of Heathcliff for Mr. Earnshaw, his father, has favoured Heathcliff over his own son, “my arm, which is black to the shoulder” the pejorative modifier ‘black’ portrays dark and gothic associations but also shows the extent of the abuse that Heathcliff as a child suffered from his adopted brother. It is this abuse in childhood that shapes Heathcliff’s attitudes towards Hindley and his sadistic

Catherine’s story begins with the description of her living in the village Fullerton where she has grown up with her family of nine siblings and her parents (who educated her over the years). It is then that family friends of the Morlands, the Allens, (a wealthy couple without children), proposal that Catherine comes along with them to visit the tourist town of Bath. Catherine is more than willing to take up the invitation but her expectations of the outside world are exaggerated due to her reading

Mrs. Nelly Dean seemed to not think very highly of Catherine any circumstance. Nelly would never come right out and say something blatantly mean about Catherine but there were always underlying disparagement of her actions. An example of Mrs. Dean's disdain of Catherine is through her thoughts about Catherine’s different love affairs and actions. She never agreed with the way she strung the two poor boys along and how she could be so self absorbed through it all.