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Catherine character analysis in wuthering heights
Roles of Catherine in the novel Wuthering Heights by Bronte
Catherine character analysis in wuthering heights
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In Emily Bronte's gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, Catherine Linton's inability to take responsibility for her actions affects the lives of the people she loves the most, including herself. Edgar Linton was devastated by her indecisiveness to choose whom she loved, Heathcliff went mad for the same reason as well, and Catherine suffered mentally and physically due to her inability to decide. “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods; time will change it… My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath... Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” This quote from Catherine explains her love for both men, even though one is stronger than the other. Her love for Edgar is superficial. Edgar Linton is made to feel helpless when Catherine falls into a catatonic depression, after she is alerted that Heathcliff and Isabella eloped. He was gullible to Catherine's love, even if it was not a full devotion to him. She needed to keep up her responsibility as Edgar's wife, and not let herself fall for Heathcliff. Similarly to what Eleanor Roosevelt said, “And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility” Initially, the young Catherine that was in love with Heathcliff would have done anything to be with him. When Mr. Earnshaw passed, Heathcliff's class was degraded as Hindley …show more content…
She betrayed her true feelings for her social ambition, which in the long run, ended up being a poor choice. Her choice affected not only those who she loved, but those she did not expect to hurt. “...and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him…”, this quote from Catherine explains why she cannot marry Heathcliff, and how she tried to hide her feelings from him. Her attempt to hide them failed, so once she showed her true feelings, Edgar started to notice the reality of
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...
To further contrast Edgar’s and Nelly’s opinion s of Catherine ways, Edgar sees Catherine as docile, calm, and loving. This side to Catherine can be attributed to when she stays at the Linton’s home. Catherine spends five with the Linton’s and while she is there she does not show her rough rude side in their company. As describe by the narrator, she took care not to act like a young ruffian and worse than a brute; comparing her to Heathcliff (her lover). While on the other hand, Nelly recognizes this calm behavior displays by Catherine as one of double standard; she being deceitful to get her own
In the novel Wuthering Heights, author Emily Brontë portrays the morally ambiguous character of Heathcliff through his neglected upbringing, cruel motives, and vengeful actions.
The situation is terrible: Catherine is married to a man she does not love and she is more than happy to fix the problem by cheating on her husband with Heathcliff. The situation worsens when she refuses to attempt to conceal this from her husband. As Edgar, her husband, is arriving and Heathcliff, her lover, is leaving, she tells Heathcliff “‘You must not go!” (Bronte 103). Then, acting as the voice of reason, Catherine’s servant asks Heathcliff: “‘Will you ruin her, because she has not wit to help herself?’” (Bronte 103). When Heathcliff stays, it shows a lack of empathy and just how blatantly they do not care about the effects of their immoral actions. This will irreparably “ruin” Catherine’s reputation, yet they do not have the foresight to cease or at least conceal their actions. Their blatant disregard for how their actions might affect the future and hurt Edgar is what makes Catherine and Heathcliff grossly
In Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights” the story is about Heathcliff and Catherine’s difficult love story. It’s also focuses on how Heathcliff is plotting out his revenge on everyone. Heathcliff and Catherine both exhibit madness and irrational behaviors. However, even though Catherine sticks out the most to me simply because of some of the choices she made in her life and then regretted Heathcliff also did some insane things.
Within such a work of art, Emily Bronte described and unlocked many truths about how it’s human nature to perform selfish acts. The actions that Catherine, Heathcliff and Linton all completed were out of love, horror, and hatred.
Isabella is the sister of Edgar Linton and, later on, the wife of Heathcliff. Isabella believed she was in love with Heathcliff before she actually knew him, and she didn’t listen to Catherine’s warnings because she thought she was jealous that she could love him and she couldn’t. Little did she know, Heathcliff did not love her, and only wants her to spite Catherine and so that he can be in the Linton family to take over the property when Edgar dies. Eventually they do marry, in secret against everyone 's wishes, and Isabella immediately regrets it. “promising that I should be Edgar’s proxy in suffering… I do hate him- I am wretched!” Bronte 151. This was after Heathcliff finds out about Catherine’s illness, and is livid at Edgar. So he decides to take all his anger out on Isabella. This shows how cruel and bitter Heathcliff is being to her, and he is just using Isabella. He does not love her at all, he only loved Catherine, And if he can’t have her, then he will be certain that everyone involved with her
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.
Hindley, being the only biological son of Mr Earnshaw was envious of the relationship shared between Mr Earnshaw and Heathcliff and burned with fury. He made no effort to hide his resentment toward Heathcliff. Hindley despised Heathcliff to such an extent that when Mr Earnshaw died, he treated Heathcliff more like a servant and for bided him to talk to Catherine. Life then became miserable for Heathcliff and then became revenge driven. Hindley’s abusive and arrogant attitude toward Heathcliff, resulted in the chain of revengeful events that occurred in the novel. Hindley was instrumental in moulding Heathcliff into the destructive character he became.
Bronte, The author of the Wuthering Heights, expresses many themes and morals in her book. The one most important in the Wuthering Heights is the theme of love and cruelty. The main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, show these actions time and time again. They occur because of the other, much like the yin and the yang. Love leads to cruelty and cruelty leads to love. In Wuthering Heights, there are two different types of love shown: platonic and passionate. Both of these types of love lead to cruelty to other characters. As Heathcliff states boldly within the first few chapters of the novel, love’s cruelty survives even beyond death. “Cathy, do come. Oh do – once more! Oh! My heart’s darling; hear me this time, Catherine, at last!” (28)
The intensity of feeling between Catherine and Heathclif defies family barriers imposed by Catherine's brother ,Hindley after their father's death. Heathcliff was ill-treated by Hindley after the death of the old Earnshaw: He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate … He bore his degradation pretty well at first, because Cathy taught him what she learnt, and work or play with him in the fields. They both promised fair to grow up as rude as savages, the young master being entirely negligent how they behave, and what they did, so they keep clear of him…… and the after punishment grew a mere thing to laugh at. The crute might set as many chapters as he pleased for Catherine to get by heart, and Joseph might thrash Heathcliff till his arm ached, they forget everything the minute they were together again. (Pg 44) Thus, it is clearly obvious that since childhood their feeling for each other defies all the family barriers imposed on them. No outside force would be strong enough to eclipse their emotions. Even when she grows old enough for the question of marriage to arise, Catherine's relationship with Heathcliff remains much as it was when they were children. The way the two spirit intertwined are clearly illustrated in Catherine's speech below: My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff"s miseries; my great thought in living is himself. If all else perish, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the Universe would turn to mighty stranger. I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees-my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath-a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff-He's always in my mind-not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself-but, as my own being-so, don't talk of our separation again-it is impracticable…… Catherine loves both Heathcliff and Edger Linton on different basis-She loves Linton because he is handsome, and pleasant, and young, and cheerful, and rich, and loves her. Her love for Heathcliff is a must: it is the deepest impulse of her nature, it is "necessary". Through her feeling for Heathcliff, Catherine discovers her own identity, her place in the world-as he does through her.
(4) Wuthering Heights’s mood is melancholy and tumultuous. As a result, the book gives off a feeling of sorrow and chaos. For example, Catherine’s marriage with Edgar Linton made Heathcliff jealous and angry. In retaliation, Heathcliff married Edgar’s sister, Isabella, to provoke Catherine and Edgar. Heathcliff and Isabella’s marriage ignited a chaotic uproar with Edgar and Catherine because Linton disapproved of Heathcliff’s character, and Catherine loved Heathcliff in spite of being married to Edgar. Inside, Catherine wanted to selfishly keep Heathcliff to herself. Their relationships all had tragic endings because Catherine died giving birth to Edgar’s child. Isabella also died, leaving behind her young son. Heathcliff and Edgar resented each other because of misery they experienced together. The transition of the mood in the story is from chaotic to somber.
The sympathy that Emily Bronte generates for Heathcliff in the beginning of her novel Wuthering Heights leads the reader to understand the reasons for his moral ambiguity but not justify or overlook his violent, revengeful nature at the close of the novel. Bronte purposefully distorts elements of her work and portrays Heathcliff as inhumane and ghostly to reinforce the idea that people can simultaneously have villainous characteristics (to the extent that they are unrealistic) in addition to desirable qualities. Heathcliff’s consuming passion for Catherine and overabundance of emotion lead him to destroy the lives of all those who surround him when that love cannot be fulfilled. Ultimately, Bronte’s initial illustration of Heathcliff as a helpless orphan with no place in
Of course Heathcliff would have gotten demented and frustrated from Catherine’s constant insults and contradictions. The only person he has ever truly loved has left him for another, the man who his antithesis and who he can never surpass. Catherine’s indifference to Heathcliff’s feelings when she confesses to Nelly that marrying him would degrade her is Heathcliff’s breaking point. He sees Edgar as the target for his revenge, when really Catherine is to blame. Edgar had no idea Heathcliff’s full affections for Catherine. He would not have been in his nature to purposely steal away Catherine from her at this initial stage. She is the culprit for prompting Heathcliff’s vengeful heart. In the words of Spacks,
During the first half of the book, Catherine showed different types of love for two different people. Her love for Heathcliff was her everything, it was her identity to love and live for Heathcliff but as soon as she found out how society views Heathcliff, she sacrificed their love and married Edgar Linton in the hopes of saving Heathcliff from Hindley and protecting him from the eyes of society. In her conversation with Nelly, Cathy who professed her love for Heathcliff quoted “My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself.” Catherine proved Nelly Dean that the only person who can make her feel pain and sorrow is Heathcliff. The extent of her love was uncovered when she sang her praise of “I am Heathcliff” because this was the turning point in the book that allowed the readers to truly understand and see the depth of Cathy's love for Heathcliff. On the other hand, Catherine's love for Edgar wasn't natural because it was a love that she taught herself to feel. It might have come unknowingly to Cathy but she did love Edgar as she said “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees.” Cathy knew that it was not impossible to love Edgar for he was a sweet and kind gentleman who showed her the world but unlike ...