In his renowned book of philosophy, The Leviathan, Hobbes described that “perpetual and restless desire for power” is a fundamental quality shared by all humans. He also points out that desire is another important aspect of human nature, since it provides motivation for us to strive to reach our individual needs regardless of the possible outcomes of our actions. These two themes are insightfully explored in Susan Jaret McKinstry’s “Desire’s Dreams: Power and Passion in Wuthering Heights”, in which she shows the important role that power and desire play in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. From the desire, passion and the ambition for power being displayed in a relatively closed environment such as the isolated manors, it is clear that Brontë’s view of human nature is that humans will do whatever is necessary in their contest for individual power and fulfillment of desires.
In a place where law and social rules do not seem to apply due to isolation from society, childish and primitive instincts begin to be unrepressed, with wilder acts of violence showing savage emotions and actions in order to fulfill desires. As McKinstry claims, the characters are living in a world where “fantasy and desire overcome adult laws of reality and order” (McKinstry 142). This isolated environment leads to many acts of socially intolerable violence, such as physical harming of others and the putting of more helpless lives in danger. Unacceptable cruelty is apparent from the very beginning of the novel, when Heathcliff is first brought to the Earnshaw manor and is treated as an inferior being by being called “it” by Nelly and…… One of the most absurd examples of this is when Hindley is retrieving Hareton from Nelly during one of his common drunken o...
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...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.
The struggle to fulfill their uncontrollable desires haunt Brontë’s character’s throughout the novel. Not only do they imitate each other’s desires at times, but they also have their own purposes, whether it be revenge or greed.
With so many distortions, many readers may not appreciate Brontë's book. She takes common elements and greatly exaggerates them. She turns love into obsessive passion, contempt into lifelong vindictive hatred, and peaceful death into the equivalent of burning in hell. In doing so, she not only loaded the book with emotions, but vividly illustrated the outcome if one were to possess these emotions.
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
Her selfishness lies within the reality that she married Linton for the things he could have provided for her. Nothing parted Catherine and Heathcliff. Not God, nor Satan, it was Catherine herself – Catherine was the cause of her broken heart. Along with breaking her heart, she also broke Heathcliff’s, which led him to loathe and yearn for vengeance against what Heathcliff thought was the cause of Catherine’s death – her daughter.
Through a series of character foils, Bronte expresses her idea of self-sufficiency. development and growth of the human spirit by contrasting passion with reason. The reason is that it is. By my interpretation of the novel, Bronte suggests that in one's lifetime, they will encounter a number of people and experiences that will arouse enough emotion in them to have the power to change their direction. in life.
The novel Jane Eyre details one woman’s journey to find a place for herself in a world that does not want her. In order to do this, she must find internal strength and solace. For a large portion of the novel, she seeks and fails to find this through external forces. For every two steps forward, she takes one step back because of external forces that draw her away from this internal self. However, Jane does manage to progress and eventually find internal happiness. Her journey and her turn to the external, battle with the internal, and eventual acceptance of her internal self in spite of external forces is embodied in the external and internal imagery that Bronte uses throughout the course of the novel. Such imagery is inherently necessary to Jane’s evolution.
The final sense of alienation and the most implicating occurs with Catherine's marriage to Edgar, Heathcliff considers this a betrayal of his love for her, since she wants the social status and existence at the Grange. Heathcliff is however proud and determined and does not cower when opposed by those consider themselves to be superiors. Finally, when he realizes that Catherine has chosen status, wealth and position over him, he disappears for three years and returns in the manner of a gentleman.
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.
Laban, Lawrence F. “Emily Brontë.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Second Revised Edition. Salem Press. MagillOnAuthors. 2002. 12 Nov. 2002
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
(2) Emily Bronte’s purpose in writing Wuthering Heights is to depict unfulfilled love in a tragic romance novel and hence the theme of Wuthering Heights is love is pain. Emily Bronte reveals an important life lesson that love is not sufficient for happiness and if anything, stirs up more agony. This message is important because, although it is difficult to accept, the message is devastatingly honest. In Wuthering Heights, two characters named Heathcliff and Catherine loved each other immensely. However, their pride and adamance disabled them from making any progress on their romantic relationship. In fact, Heathcliff and Catherine purposely hurt each another through reckless and cruel actions. The author is exemplifying a recurring theme in history that love is associated with pain. The message allows readers to be aware that love is not constant perfection and happiness.
The basic conflict of the novel that drives Heathcliff and Catherine apart is social. Written after the Industrial Revolution, Wuthering Heights is influenced by the rise of new fortunes and the middle class in England. Money becomes a new criterion to challenge the traditional criterias of class and family in judging a gentleman’s background. Just as Walpole who portrays the tyrannies of the father figure Manfred and the struggles of the Matilda who wants to marry the peasant Theodore, as depicted in the quote “(…) improbability that either father would consent to bestow his heiress on so poor a man, though nobly born”(p. 89), Brontë depicts a brutal bully Hindley who torments Heathcliff and separates Catherine from him. Heathcliff, a gypsy outcast picked u...
In Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights play ironic roles in the emotional and physical suffering of the characters that overall created a generational cycle of revenge that is told from the neutral perspective of Nelly Dean to Lockwood. Nelly Dean was the maid to the Earnshaw and Linton family and was a neutral witness to the generational cycle of revenge and suffering. She tells th...
Charlotte Bronte assumed the role of intermediary between her late sister and the perplexed and hostile readers of Wuthering Heights (Sale and Dunn, WH p. 267). Charlotte attempted to provide Emily’s readers with a more complete perspective of her sister and her works. She selectively included biographical information and critical commentary into the revised 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights, which gave the reader a fuller appreciation of the works of Emily Bronte. Charlotte championed the efforts of her younger sister and believed that Emily’s inexperience and unpracticed hand were her only shortcomings. Charlotte explains much of Emily’s character to the readers through the disclosure of biographical information.
Phillips, James. "The Two Faces Of Love In Wuthering Heights." Bronte Studies 32.2 (2007): 96-105. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
Although, Mr. Earnshaw tried to make Heathcliff an equal part of the family, Heathcliff never truly fits in. Heathcliff is from a completely different social class than the rest of his “family”. This led to the hatred that Hindley felt towards Heathcliff. Hindley robs Heathcliff of his education, forces him to work as a servant at Wuthering Heights and frequently beats him. Throughout this all, Heathcliff never complains.