Hareton vs. Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

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Wuthering Heights is a book written by Emily Bronte, which consists of many static and dynamic characters. Its characters are oftentimes hard to decipher from one another, whether it be their names are similar, start with the same letter, or are the same name entirely. Wuthering Heights is about many issues of Bronte’s time, such as racism and class, through a love triangle between a free-spirited woman, a rich, well-mannered man, and a poor, discriminated man. Their love triangle outlives them and their offspring have their own love triangle. In my opinion, two of the characters that exemplify the racism and class issues face in the book are Heathcliff and Hareton, they are similar in that they are brutish, violent, and had similar adolescent experiences, but their dissimilarities in that Heathcliff runs away from his tribulations and Hareton chases his tribulations and tries to overcome them, caused them to turn out differently later in life.
Heathcliff and Hareton had equally tragic upbringings. Heathcliff was “adopted by Mr. Earnshaw after Mr. Earnshaw found him wandering the streets of Liverpool (Bronte 40-42) and Hareton was “fathered” by Heathcliff as seen when Hareton refers to Heathcliff as “Devil Daddy” to Nelly (109). Heathcliff was abhorred by his adopted brother Hindley, and Hindley could not contemplate why his father took in such an “abominable creature” and treated “it” better than his own pure blood (42-43). When Mr. Earnshaw discovered that Hindley tormented and mistreated Heathcliff, Bronte states “This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. He took to Heathcliff strangely, believing all he said (for that matter, he said precious ...

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...heir dissimilarities in that Heathcliff runs away from his tribulations and Hareton chases his tribulations and tries to overcome them caused them to turn out differently later in life. As a result of the way they approached their tribulations, Heathcliff had to endure living a lonely, brooding life, and Hareton achieved happiness with the woman he loves. Bronte gives Heathcliff’s character justice in the end by letting Heathcliff’s ghost and old Catherine’s ghost reunite in the afterlife. However, it was woeful that they could not be together during their lives; they might have if Heathcliff faced his problems like Hareton did. Heathcliff succeeded in revenge by making Hindley’s son his, but happily Hareton changed and gained the one thing Heathcliff could not: happiness.

Works Cited

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. New York. A Signet Classic. 1959. Print.

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