Although certainly not as complex as the character of Heathcliff, Hareton Earnshaw from Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights, is a compelling character in his own right. He is a character who has been raised to be a massive fuck you to the family that he was born into, nonetheless, he seems to have no issue with this, because he loves the man, as a father, who made him this way. Yet, despite his feeling content with being uneducated and acting as a servant to his father figure, regardless of being born into a wealthy family, Hareton eventually makes an effort to effectively change who he is for love. With this in mind, the focus of this essay will be to evaluate how Hareton came to be who he is, and why him changing for love, even if …show more content…
it seems like it will improve his life, is simply him engaging in an ultimately damaging self-fulfilling prophecy. One of the key components to the construction of Hareton as a character, prior to his change on behalf of love, is that growing up he has no consistently loving figure in his life.
For this section I will only be talking about the two key paternalistic figures in his life, these being Hindley Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Meanwhile, on the maternalistic side there exist three main figures that could have provided him with a meaningful kind of love, but ultimately failed to, these being his mother, Nelly, and Cathy. It could be argued that Isabella Linton belongs on this list as well, however, due to Heathcliff’s hatred towards her, it seems implausible that Hareton would have ever allowed her to be a loving figure in his life out of a sense of loyalty to Heathcliff. Starting on the maternalistic side, theoretically, the obvious dispenser of love would have been his mother, and to her credit based on the brief interaction she has with her son, it seems safe to say that she would have fulfilled this role if given a chance. For instance, although she is already expected to die, one of the housemaids says that “she talks as if she thought of living to see it grow a man. She’s out of her head for joy, it’s such a beauty” (99). Essentially, even though Hareton’s mother knows that she’s likely to die, she can’t help but to imagine him growing up and she is still in high spirits until her expected death occurs
(101-102). The other two key maternalistic figures in Hareton’s life, who are difficult to talk about separately, are the housekeeper Nelly who, for a short time, provides him with the kind of love that he needs, and his aunt Cathy who is at her very best indifferent to him, and at her very worst violent towards him. For instance, when Hareton is still a young child he is said to follow Nelly, who is his is primary caretaker, wherever she goes (112).
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
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.
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.
For Hareton, he was stripped of his education, so he doesn’t know all the potential that resides within him. He was raised by a man who had no love for him because of what his father did to him. Hareton will become a product of his environment, being mean and malicious, as well as, not having a true definition of what love is. Linton can’t be comfortable with who he is because of his father exploiting his current state. He is naturally sickly, frail, and weak, and his father is using that to play on Catherine emotions as apart of his plan. He is talking to Nelly and says, “My design is as honest as possible. Ill informs you of its whole scope. That the two cousins may fall in love, and get married. I’m acting generously toy our master; his young chit has no expectations, and should she second my wishes, she'll be provided for, at once, as joint successor with Linton.” Nelly then goes to say, “If Linton died as his life is quite uncertain, Catherine would be the heir.” Heathcliff responds, “No she would not, there is no clause in the will to secure it so; his property would go to me; but, to prevent disputes, I desire their union, and am resolved to bring it about.” (Chapter 7: Volume 2) He has the potential to be nice and kind without having any other intentions attached to it. Lastly, you have Cathy, who is a lot like her mother, who constantly requires the
“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine”. (Brontë 156) Since the beginning of time, love is something all aspire to attain. It has shown through novels, movies, plays, and songs, however not all love is the same. In Emily Brontë’s novel, Wuthering Heights, published in 1847, characters illustrate through disputes that occur, deception and selfishness. This is illustrated through the events of; Heathcliff's hunger for revenge, Edgar Linton's impact on Catherine in comparison to Heathcliff, and Heathcliff’s deception on all characters.
Growing up as an orphan from a tender age, deprived of a structured family and family support system, exposed to the negative influences life offered, it is almost a certainty that his behaviour will not be that of an ideal gentleman. Heathcliff was adopted by Mr. Earnshaw. He was then given a well structured and steady family including a brother Hindley and sister Catherine. Mr Earnshaw made certain that nobody took advantage of Heathcliff and poured out his affection onto Heathcliff. However, Heathcliff became overwhelmed by all the attention and affection, manipulated the situation and used it to his advantage.
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.
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.
He lost his mother the year of his birth and spent a great deal of his childhood hiding from his father, whose first instinct when drunk is to kill his son. Hareton manages to survive, but Linton Heathcliff is not so lucky.
...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.
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 ...
(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...
Heathcliff accomplishes this by making Catherine’s daughter marry his son. Heathcliff makes Linton and Catherine’s daughter mary. Catherine’s daughter says"'Loving!' cried I, as scornfully as I could utter the word. 'Loving!' Did anybody ever hear the like! I might just as well talk of loving the miller who comes once a year to buy our corn. Pretty loving, indeed! and both times together you have seen Linton hardly four hours in your life! Now here is the babyish trash. I'm going with it to the library; and we'll see what your father says to such loving." (Bronte 140). Then he makes her work for him after Linton dies. Then he makes Hareton do servant work and he becomes
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.