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Critical analsis of wuthering Heights
The character of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights
Analysis of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
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Through a sinister plotline and a tempestuous poetic style, Emily Bronte’s character of Heathcliff displays a violent and bitter personality against those who have harmed, degraded, and humiliated him in her literary masterpiece “Wuthering Heights”. Creatively, this art piece portrays a great deal of the tale’s theme of revenge. Through the siren like rose, the tortured hand, and the vengeful spirit of a snake, this piece exhibits the nature of Catherine’s love, Heathcliff’s past, and his vengeful character; all of which directly relate to the theme of a sin called revenge. Catherine’s beauty and malevolence is signified through the rose. The rose is a flower that symbolizes love, deep passion, and intense magnificence. Like the rose, Catherine was described as attractive and beautiful with ‘a sweetest smile’ and ‘the bonniest eye’; however, Catherine is wicked and selfish. She loves Heathcliff yet she feels marrying him would shame her. Because of this, she marries Edgar Linton despite her love for Heathcliff. The rose’s thorns represent Edgar Linton, as he was part of Heathcliff’s agony. In spite of this, the thorns are also part of Catherine because of her affections for Edgar. The rose puncturing the hand, representative of Heathcliff, depicts Catherine’s cruelty and betrayal of Heathcliff. The rose stabbed through the hand is how Catherine murdered Heathcliff’s heart. The hand is the image of Heathcliff’s past. Hindley was envious of how his father, Mr. Earnshaw, treated Heathcliff so warmly and disregarded his own children to love Heathcliff even more. Hindley began to abuse Heathcliff and treat him like a servant. When Hindley’s wife began to dislike Heathcliff, Hindley, sensing an opportunity, lashed out and abused He... ... middle of paper ... ...f abhorrence. Heathcliff’s heritage is unknown and is implied through many instances that he is the spawn of a demon. Heathcliff’s ambition for revenge became deceased after Catherine Linton and Hareton fell in love. Subsequently, Heathcliff started to see Catherine the elder’s ghost. With that, he stopped eating and become quite ghastly and pale. Ellen Dean then questioned whether he was a ghoul or vampire. As it turns out, Heathcliff died soon after; Ellen doesn’t believe Heathcliff intentionally tried to kill himself though. However, only by ending his reign for revenge was Heathcliff able to see his soul and his life one again. Revenge is sweet; but eye for an eye would make the whole world blind. Only by giving up his ambition for revenge could Heathcliff see Catherine’s ghost. And only by giving up his grudge was he able to see Catherine in the afterlife.
...rder to be able to inherit Thrushcross Grange. It seems that Heathcliff is mainly intent in gaining control of the manors to not only gain economically advantageous positions, but to also prove to the ghost of Catherine, which still wandered around the moors, that he would have been worth marrying and that she made the wrong decision. Catherine also had very strong desires for power, which are shown by her telling Nelly that she would never be able to marry Heathcliff because he had been put so far below that she believed it would be degrading to her to marry him, and therefore she decided to marry Edgar Linton instead due to his stability.
Which drew Catherine towards him; she describes him as “handsome”, “pleasant to be with,” and “cheerful,” and “rich”. Linton turns Catherine from a wild child to a well-mannered lady. They meet when Catherine got bit by a dog, and then the Lintons take her in while she is healing, this lasts for five weeks. Edgar tames her in a way, his overall persona clashes with hers in a perfect way. His love gives Catherine safety a security in the society. Heathcliff on the other hand is almost obsessed and can't give her the attributes she needs and wants; such as, commitment and how he won't sacrifice anything. However, those exact qualities attract Catherine to him. “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.”(Brontë 41) According to Levy, “As a result of the Unlove that they were made to suffer, both Heathcliff and Catherine, by opposite means and in distinct circumstances, turn loneliness into a community of rejection over which they wield absolute control. Heathcliff does this by persecuting those he hates; Catherine, by persecuting those she loves.” Edgar and Heathcliff have a good angel bad angel complex, of course Heathcliff is the bad angel and Edgar is the good angel. The reasons behind this is simply the characteristics portrayed;Edgar
From the beginning of the novel and most likely from the beginning of Heathcliff's life, he has suffered pain and rejection. When Mr. Earnshaw brings him to Wuthering Heights, he is viewed as a thing rather than a child. Mrs. Earnshaw was ready to fling it out the doors, while Nelly put it on the landing of the stairs hoping that it would be gone the next day. Without having done anything to deserve rejection, Heathcliff is made to feel like an outsider. Following the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff suffers cruel mistreatment at the hands of Hindley. In these tender years, he is deprived of love, friendship, and education, while the treatment from jealous Hindley is barbaric and disrupts his mental balance. He is separated from the family, reduced to the status of a servant, undergoes regular beatings and forcibly separated from his soul mate, Catherine. The personality that Heathcliff develops in his adulthood has been formed in response to these hardships of his childhood.
Unlike Satan, the premises of the revenge of Heathcliff take root in his childhood, rather than in a specific moment. Heathcliff grows up with the Earnshaws, a family with two children, Catherine and Hindley. Mr. Earnshaw especially favored Heathcliff, although not related by blood. Because of the favoritism shown, Hindley expresses his anger by antagonizing Heathcliff. In a letter written by the young Catherine Earnshaw, she states that Hindley “has been blaming our father (how dared he?) for treating H. too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place” (Brontë 22). The love of Heathcliff for Catherine helps him survive the time during his childhood after the death of Mr. Earnshaw. However, the “social and intellectual meanness” of Hindley “produces a Heathcliff whose manner and intellect Catherine finds unacceptable” (Vargish 10). Heathcliff does not accept the harsh treatment he receives, as he states “I’m trying to settle how I should pay Hindley back. I don’t care how long I wait, if I can only do it, at last. I hope he will not die before I do!” (Brontë 61). When Nelly tells Heathcliff that God should punish, Heathcliff responds by saying that “God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall” (Brontë 61). The thirst for vengeance Heathcliff harbors has begun to grow into a
Heathcliff's love for Catherine transcends the normal physical "true love" into spiritual love. He can withstand anything against him to be with her. After Hindley became the master of Wuthering Heights, he flogged Heathcliff like a slave. Although Heathcliff could have simply run away, his decision to endure the physical pains shows his unrelenting devotion to Catherine. Fortunately, Catherine feels as deeply for Heathcliff as he does for her, explaining to Nelly that "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…" Their love for each other is so passionate that they can not possibly live apart. At Catherine's death, Heathcliff hopes that she will not rest, but will haunt him until he dies. This absurdity contradicts the traditional norm that one should pray that the dead rest in peace. Near the end of the novel, we learn that Catherine has haunted Heathcliff, allowing him only fleeting glances of her. This shows that despite their physical separation, nothing can part them spiritually. When Heathcliff dies and unites with Catherine once again, the neighbors see them haunt the moors. We finally see the power of their love; Not only does this love transcend physical barriers, it transcends time as well...
The appearance of Heathcliff is based on how people treated him in the past as well as all the prejudices he had to face throughout his entire life. Although he does have a aggressive and bad side of himself he still can be pointed out to be the hero of Wuthering Heights. He never gave up on anything: His passionate love for Catherine, Wuthering Heights or the plan of going to heaven despite everything that happened before. At the ent
The initial downward spiral of Heathcliff’s life was predominantly caused by harsh influences in the environment in which he was raised. Heathcliff, an adopted child, grew up in Wuthering Heights, a desolate and dystopian estate when compared to the beauty of the neighboring Thrushcross Grange. In childhood, Heathcliff displayed evidence of a sympathetic personality through his emotional attachment to Catherine and kind attitude towards Nelly. At the time of Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Nelly describes a scene where, “Miss Cathy had been sick, and that made her still; she
Catherine and Heathcliff reveal their fervent devotion and affection for each other when the former is lying on her deathbed, and in those tender, moribund moments earnest and ardent confessions are made that signify their mutual adoration and are harbingers of Heathcliff’s adumbrative vengeance. Heathcliff suffers to see Catherine in such a ghostly state, and weeps at the idea of being without her, crying, ““Would you (Catherine) like to live with your soul in the grave?”” (151) In saying this he demonstrates not only his own pain at her imminent fate, but also their metaphorically entwined lives. He does so by connecting the departure of her soul to his own, claiming that when she dies, so too will he. Additionally, by mere fact that the normally stoic Heathcliff was found in a state of grievance over the unfortunate circumstances is indicative of the gravity and desperation that with her passing he regards. Nelly points out as much by her matter-of-fact remark, “...it seemed Heathcliff could weep on a great occasion like this.” (151) Therefore, Heathcliff’s anguish befo...
Heathcliff is a character who was abused in his childhood by Catherine’s brother, Hindley, because of his heritage as a “gypsy”, and Hindley was jealous of the love that Heathcliff got from Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley’s father. This is also selfishness upon Hindley’s part since he only wanted his father’s love for his sister and himself. So to reprimand Heathcl...
The sympathetic part of Heathcliff shows through when he sees Catherine in the beginning stages of her sickness after childbirth. “He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold, for some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say…” (159). The sympathetic part of Heathcliff kicks in when he sees the woman he loves dying right before him. Heathcliff began to ask Catherine the questions he had not been able to ask her before, whether it had been due to his pride or to his absence - was insignificant., “‘...You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton?” (162). When the novel begins, it is mentioned that Heathcliff is shouting, “‘Come in! Come in!’ he sobbed. ‘Cathy, do come. Oh do - once more! Oh! My heart’s darling, hear me this time - Catherine, at last!’” (28). Heathcliff attempts to get Catherine’s ghost to speak to him, because his main goal is to be united with her in death. Heathcliff’s character changes relatively fast when he sees Catherine dying in her bed. There is a sympathetic side shown that has not been quite expressed before, and also the feelings that Heathcliff kept bottled
Catherine Earnshaw is the daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and his wife; Catherine falls powerfully in love with Heathcliff, the orphan Mr. Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool. She was born at Wuthering Heights and was raised with her brother Hindley. Catherine loves Heathcliff so intensely that she claims they are the same person but does not marry him because Hindley has degraded him after their father's death so her desire for social advancement motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead, a neighbour from Thrushcross Grange and he is handsome and rich, another reason for Catherine marrying him. She is quite passionate about Heathcliff though, and does not want to give him up. She becomes ill when Heathcliff and Edgar fight, and dies in childbirth.
Heathcliff starts off as a young innocent boy, who does not know anything. He is adopted by the Earnshaw family, and then Hindley mistreat Heathcliff as they grow up. Hindley notice that Mr. Earnshaw, his father favors Heathcliff more than him, right away he sees Heathcliff as an enemy. Hindley goes to college and later returns after his father death and seeks revenge on Heathcliff by putting him back to his place. “He has been blaming our father (how dared he?) for treating H. too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place.”(pg15) Hindley starts by mistreating Heathcliff again just as Hindley did in the first place. His grudge of Mr. Earnshaw's love for the gypsy sets off a reaction for abuse and mistreatment towards him. He physically abuses Heathcliff makes him sleep next to the horses, brings him down to a servant and is not allowed to see Catherine. Hindley’s determ...
On the face of it, it would seem that the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff is self-destructive to an extreme. Due to the lovers’ precarious circumstances, passionate personalities and class divisions, it seems that fate transpires to keep them apart and therefore the hopelessness of their situation drives them to self destruction. However, although the relationship is undeniably self-destructive, there are elements within it that suggest the pain Heathcliff and Catherine put each other through is atoned for to an extent when they share their brief moments of harmony.
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 nature, as seen in chapter 17, “in rousing his rage a pitch above his malignity” there is hyperbole and melodrama as the cruelty that stemmed from his abuse in childhood has been passed onto Isabella in adulthood.
Heathcliff never finds peace through his revenge. In fact, the only time he truly finds happiness is when he gives up his plan for retaliation. Austin O’Malley states “Revenge is like biting a dog that bit you” (O’malley 1). O’Malley’s quote reflects Heathcliff’s immature need to propagate agony in those who have offended him. Heathcliff’s plan for revenge on Edgar and Catherine is to marry Isabella, who is ignorant of love and of men because she has never experienced either. He wants to hurt Edgar because of his marriage to Catherine, and he wants to get revenge on Catherine by making her jealous. Catherine’s death proves that this flawed plan of repayment helps nothing. Heathcliff, haunted by the ghost of Catherine because he is her “murderer,” still is motivated by the need for revenge and tries to get young Cathy away from Edgar by having her marry his son, Linton. Heathcliff never finds peace until he gives up his plan for revenge just before he dies. When Heathcliff gives up his plan for revenge, he meets Catherine in death and truly becomes happy once more.