Wuthering Heights Sympathy Quotes

   "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

Though he has always been portrayed as wily and somber, he is more so in the latter half of the book than ever. Because of his refusal to change, he causes himself to become nothing more than a remorseful, bitter man. Lastly, Edgar is the one who is demanded to change. While the other characters are given a choice as whether to become someone else, Edgar is forced to change because of his surroundings and involvement with Cathy. At the beginning of the novel, he is described as cheerful and kind; he is also Cathy’s only window into a life that she wishes to have. For instance, the author states, “… he was too good to be thoroughly unhappy long… he recalled her memory with ardent, tender love, and hopeful aspiring to the better world…” (p. 180). In this statement, it is quite clear that Edgar is grieving. He is forced to change his outlook because of Cathy’s passing, and because of this, he changes for the better. Though his mourning may alter him, he finds himself in a better state than before. This is shown by how he is able to move on and accept that he must change to move

Catherine’s crisis starts with her decision to marry Edgar Linton. “Yes, and it worries me, and I must let it out! I want to know what I should do. To-day, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him, and I've given him an answer. Now, before I tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which it ought to have been.”(77) Catherine starts to worry about the decisions she made because she realized she loves Edgar but not nearly as much as she loves Heathcliff. Cathy went on to admit this saying “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” (80) She knows she shouldn't marry Linton because she loves Heathcliff more than anyone else, but she does

In the classic book of Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë gives her insight into the similarities between different emotions. While most think that admiration and hatred are different, they are similar. Moreover, studies conclude that to admire, a person first must dislike and to dislike, a person first must admire. Proving this is Brontë. During the novel, the set of partners’, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and Catherin Linton and Hareton Earnshaw, exhibit an indistinguishable tie of the emotions love and hate. Through her writing, she expresses the thin line between liking someone and hating someone.

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.

Catherine Earnshaw appears to be a woman who is free spirited. However, Catherine is also quite self-centered. She clearly states that her love for Edgar Linton does not match how much she loves Heathcliff. She is saying that she does love both, and she is unwilling to give one up for the other; she wants “Heathcliff for her friend”. Catherine admits that her love for Linton is “like the foliage in the woods”; however, her love for

In the start of Catherine’s marriage to Edgar, Catherine attempts to assert her demanding personality on the soft-spoken Edgar. However, Edgar was untouched by this. During a heated confrontation between Heathcliff and Edgar, Catherine attempts to goad Edgar into being more savage just as Heathcliff. She taunts him into fighting Heathcliff “If you have not courage to attack him, make an apology, or allow yourself to be beaten” (Bronte 119). After this episode, Catherine ends up locking herself in her room for three days with the hope that Edgar would be wild and passionate, again, like Heathcliff, and Edgar remains resilient and shows his control by retreating to his study and paying her no heed. Catherine’s love for Heathcliff and Edgar’s

Martha Nussbaum describes the romantic ascent of various characters in Wuthering Heights through a philosophical Christian view. She begins by describing Catherine as a lost soul searching for heaven, while in reality she longs for the love of Heathcliff. Nussbaum continues by comparing Heathcliff as the opposition of the ascent from which the Linton’s hold sacred within their Christian beliefs. Nussbaum makes use of the notion that the Christian belief in Wuthering Heights is both degenerate and way to exclude social classes.

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

Sensitivity is not an object of Heathcliff’s appeal, and ceases to be when he attains the title of landlord. Evidence of his mental condition lies in the incident where he ruthlessly kidnaps Cathy Linton for his son, and holds her hostage. Environmental fostering due to the seemingly schizotypal Edgar, according to the servant Nellie Dean, contributed to the coldness of Heathcliff

Edgar Linton, normally gentle, also uses physical violence when he fights with Heathcliff over Catherine Earnshaw, now his wife Catherine Linton. Like Hindley, Edgar does not realize that violence cannot produce love. His fight with Heathcliff results in Catherine’s insanity and her eventual death. Catherine, too, is not flawless. When Nelly, under Hindley’s orders, chaperones Edgar’s visit with Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine is furious and strikes Nelly. When her nephew Hareton weeps at this abusive display, Catherine seizes the child and shakes him. She then strikes Edgar when he tries to stop her. The root of Catherine’s violence is not the same as the one that plague Hindley and Edgar: she does not physically hurt her family because she wants to be loved. She feels that she is already loved by everyone, but she

When Edgar was born, his father abandoned the entire family. Then Edgar’s mother died of tuberculosis when he was only 3 years old. He was then orphaned by John Allan and Frances Keeling Valentine Allan. Edgar, as a young child, had a good stepfather-son relationship, but as Edgar

Since Edgar and Isabella were sources of oppression in Heathcliff’s childhood, Heathcliff feels the need to plot for revenge against them. Heathcliff’s reappearance is his first act of revenge, because he immediately makes Edgar jealous.

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 confinement that characters within the texts experience can be translated into modern values based on equality. In the novel, Catherine Earnshaw is constantly controlled by the circumstances that control her; she’s ruled by her father and Hindley throughout her childhood, restricted by her injury at Thrushcross Grange, and forced to marry Edgar because of her isolation from the rest of the world. Even in her passionate relationship with Heathcliff, which reflects the spontaneous, exciting nature of the Romantic period, Heathcliff