Discuss the portrayal of Heathcliff and Hareton Earnshaw in WutheringHeights.
Are they products of nature or nurture?
I am going to look at the nature and nurture of both Hareton Earnshaw
and Heathcliff, of Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights', and try to
decide whether these two characters are products of their nature or
their nurture. A person's nature is the way they are born, their 'raw
state of mind', the parts of their character unaffected by outside
influence. A person's nurture is the way they are brought up, and they
way they are influenced and shaped by society.
The Lintons and Earnshaws are part of the Gentry class of Victorian
England; they are both landowning families, fairly high up in the
class hierarchy. But the genetic natures of the families are entirely
different: the Lintons are well behaved, subdued, spoilt, steady,
sensible and arrogant; in comparison, the Earnshaws are strong willed,
moody, generous, free spirited, easily influenced, laid back and
non-formal. The nurture of the characters is connected very strongly
to social status: Heathcliff is denied social status initially by his
birth and subsequently by Hindley, which creates great hatred in
Heathcliff: this denial of status is perceived much more seriously
than what we consider serious today. Catherine chooses Edgar over
Heathcliff for reasons of social status, even though she and
Heathcliff are so similar. Hareton is also denied social status, which
turns his attitudes against the Gentry class and creates rifts between
him and other characters: for example, it makes Cathy and Linton, who
would be his equals, look down on him. Social status is so important
to the characters it is used as a weapon against enemies, and a tool...
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...s him education,
but also the gift of friendship and love which enables Hareton to
become a more complex character with greater respect not only from
other people, but of other people too. In Heathcliff's death, Hareton
can become what he was always supposed to be.
Even though Hareton is affected very greatly by his nurture, we see
his nature too. We see his pride, his passion and sensitivity; we see
that he is very close to nature: all of these things are genetic
character traits, visible in Hareton's father and aunt, Hindley and
Catherine Earnshaw. With Heathcliff, his nurture enhances parts of his
personality, whereas in Hareton's nurture, his nature is dulled and
moulded so it is less extreme. This is done by denying Hareton of
experience. At the end of the novel, Hareton is very much a product of
his nature; Cathy's nurturing allows this to change.
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...
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
Bronte says, ‘His dress and speech were both rude, entirely devoid of the superiority observable in Mr. and Mrs. Heathcliff; his thick brown curls were rough and uncultivated’. The use of the word ‘uncultivated’ when describing his curls is a metaphor for what Hareton’s nature is. It shows that he lives wild, with no rule. A typical anti-hero does not abide to the typical values and rules that society has put in place. A hero’s typical outer appearance is clean and you can generally tell when looking at a hero that he is superior. Hareton lacks the elegance and charm a hero would typically have; his roughness shows that he lives freely, not abiding to societies norms, which makes him an anti-hero. His outer appearance gives no indication of him being a
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 Heathcliff “resembles the eternal rocks beneath”. She loves Heathcliff and yet she gives him up and marries Linton instead, Catherine believes that if she marries Heathcliff it would degrade and humiliate her socially.
Emily Brontë, in her novel, Wuthering Heights, suggests that children, in their very nature, exhibit traits from their parental influences. However, these traits are not always represented at the same time and can come out in different situations. For instance, as Cathy Linton grows up, her personality is a mixture of her calmer father, Edgar, and her more fiery mother, Catherine. She shows both these personalities, but she limits each to the correct time and circumstance. Also, the same goes for Linton Heathcliff, who has become a mixture of both his mother, Isabella, and his father, Heathcliff. Lastly, this is shown in Hareton Earnshaw, who, because he has little to no relationship with his biological parents, has turned into a man more like Heathcliff, his surrogate father, instead of Hindley, his genetic father. In this way, parental influence can shape a child into becoming more like them.
In her novel, Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë uses psychological disorders in order to amplify the characters relationships. While Hindley, Linton, Edgar, and other minor characters suffer from multiple psychological disorders, it is Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff whose disorders shape the layout of the novel through their deep relationship. Their disorders range from histrionic personality disorder to monomania to Munchausen syndrome. Cathy and Heathcliff’s obsession for attention and each other drive them to develop psychological disorders that worsen throughout the novel due to lack of medical knowledge and diagnosis.
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
of all[society’s]wishes”(232).Hareton was also a lower status than Cathy, but their love union was cherished unlike Catherines, and Heathcliff's love which shows Bronte’s view of love.Her view seems to prefer the domestic,stable,and serene love of the second generation to the eccentric love of the first generation lovers.
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.
His wife, Mrs. Earnshaw, is furious that Heathcliff has been brought into the house and the Earnshaws’ son, Hindley, is jealous of the apparent love his father is giving Heathcliff. Hindley therefore beats up and bullies Heathcliff throughout his childhood, especially when he becomes master of the Heights when Mr. Earnshaw dies: ‘…reminded him to order Heathcliff a flogging’. This shows that Heathcliff has been transformed from a poor, homeless child into a neglected victim. However, Mr. Earnshaw treats Heathcliff with more love than his other children: ‘…and petting him up far above Cathy’ This shows that Heathcliff is loved by Mr. Earnshaw but also neglected by Hindley and Mrs. Earnshaw. It is because of Mr. Earnshaw’s love for Heathcliff that Hindley gets jealous and abuses him.
...d to Cathy. He desires to be accepted by her. Cathy willingly loves and accepts Hareton. It is this love which reforms Hareton and dispels the tyranny at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff’s love brought about destruction; Cathy brings redemption to the Heights through her love. Brontë’s Wuthering Heights shows the real effects of love; love has the power to create evil or good.
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...
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.
In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the Earnshaws, a middle class family, live at the estate, Wuthering Heights. When Mr. Earnshaw takes a trip to Liverpool, he returns with an orphan whom he christens “Heathcliff”. During their formative years, Catherine, Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, plays with Heathcliff on the moors and becomes close with him. As a result, they form a special bond and Heathcliff and Catherine fall in love, unlike Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw’s son, who does not get along with Heathcliff. While Heathcliff benefits from his relationships, his connections are disadvantaged in terms of status, reputation, financial stability, and happiness.
At first, the children of Wuthering Heights (Hindley, Cathy, Nelly) all rejected him for his appearance as a gypsy- they thought of him as knavish, grimy, and uneducated. Despite this, Mr. Earnshaw treated with a certain respect by letting him live as with the Earnshaws while still being an outsider to the family. Yet the spectrum of hostility didn’t end with the children. Mrs. Earnshaw questions her husband’s insight, “asking how [Mr. Earnshaw] could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house” when he added another mouth for her to feed at the dinner table. (Chapter 4). Mr. Earnshaw’s attempt to integrate Heathcliff fails once Hindley takes over Wuthering Heights. Despite basically being middle class under Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley takes it on his own to oppress and torture him. Before this, Heathcliff was on a level playing field class wise compared to the Earnshaws. Heathcliff now finds himself as a servant, a laborer working the fields. By subjugating Heathcliff, Hindley drew the line in the sand. Hindley has effectively forced Heathcliff into a lower class, Hindley has colonized