In the gothic novel Wuthering Heights written by Emily Brontë, the characters in the plot seek revenge on people that have pained them physically or emotionally. Heathcliff, a mischievous man, seeks revenge on Edgar Linton after Catherine dies to an illness. He also wanted to pursue revenge on Hindley and young Catherine for giving Heathcliff troubles in his life. Hindley, Catherine's brother, seeks revenge on Heathcliff for becoming the favorite adoptive child of Mr. Earnshaw. When Nelly begins to tell her story about Catherine and Heathcliff it takes place in the 1770s. Revenge is a very typical outcome starting from love in the plot of this novel.
Heathcliff wants to get back at Edgar Linton for taking the love of his life and soul away
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Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home around Christmas time. Catherine and Hindley thought Heathcliff was a very peculiar man. As time began to progress Heathcliff and Catherine began to talk to each other and soon fell in love. Hindley always made fun Heathcliff when they were younger and treated him cruelly. “So, from the very beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house; and at Mrs. Earnshaw's death, which happened in less than two years after, the young master had learned to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend, and Heathcliff as a usurper of his parent's affections and his privileges; and he grew bitter with brooding over these injuries” (Brontë 37). Many years later Mr. Earnshaw died, Hindley was set out to make life for Heathcliff even more miserable than before. In fact, he treated Heathcliff like he is a servant in his own home. Heathcliff was introduced like a servant and treated very poorly. Hindley made sure that Heathcliff knew that Hindley’s life was ruined when Mr. Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home. A couple years later Hindley created a plan to kill Heathcliff by shooting him with a knife on the top of the gun. In return of Hindley’s rudeness to Heathcliff, Heathcliff began to return the rudeness to
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
Heathcliff is a character who was abused in his childhood by Catherine’s brother, Hindley, because of his heritage as a “gypsy”, and Hindley was jealous of the love that Heathcliff got from Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley’s father. This is also selfishness upon Hindley’s part since he only wanted his father’s love for his sister and himself. So to reprimand Heathcl...
During the winter of 1801, Lockwood stays at the manor where he meets his landlord Heathcliff, a very rich man who lives in Wuthering Heights. Consumed by curiosity Lockwood asks his maid to recall the story of Heathcliff. Nelly Dean consents to this idea and begins to reminisce while Lockwood writes her tales in his diary. Nelly remembers when she was a young girl that she worked as a servant to Mr. Earnshaw who adopts an orphan from Liverpool. He intends to raise him with his own children, who at first have a distaste for the new child. Catherine, Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, grows to love him and the two become very close. After Mr. Earnshaw’s wife passes, he begins to prefer Heathcliff, the orphan, over his own son. This causes Mr. Earnshaw’s son, Hindley, to mistreat Heathcliff but ultimately ends with Hindley being sent away to college, away from Heathcliff. Three years pass and Mr. Earnshaw dies, leaving Wuthering Heights to Hindley. He returns with his wife and a taste of revenge that is reserved for Heathcliff. Heathcliff begins to have to work in the fields as a common servant, but continues a friendship with Catherine. One night the two run off in hopes to tease the rich children across the fields. Catherine ends up bitten by a dog and has to stay at the Grange for five weeks to heal. During her stay there she is taught to be a proper young lady and becomes fainthearted for Edgar, leaving her friendship with Heathcliff unresolved with complications. Frances, Hindley’s wife, dies after the birth of the baby boy named Hareton. Hindley becomes an alcoholic and starts to be even more cruel and abusive to Heathcliff. Catherine’s desire for a higher social quota drives her to accept Edgar Linton’s proposal, despite her true love ...
Primarily, Heathcliff's hunger for revenge blindsides the character’s, Hindley, Catherine, Hareton, and young Catherine. Revenge is what Heathcliff wishes to
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.
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.
Wuthering Heights is a novel which deviates from the standard of Victorian literature. The novels of the Victorian Era were often works of social criticism. They generally had a moral purpose and promoted ideals of love and brotherhood. Wuthering Heights is more of a Victorian Gothic novel; it contains passion, violence, and supernatural elements (Mitchell 119). The world of Wuthering Heights seems to be a world without morals. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë does not idealize love; she presents it realistically, with all its faults and merits. She shows that love is a powerful force which can be destructive or redemptive. Heathcliff has an all-consuming passion for Catherine. When she chooses to marry Edgar, his spurned love turns into a destructive force, motivating him to enact revenge and wreak misery. The power of Heathcliff’s destructive love is conquered by the influence of another kind of love. Young Cathy’s love for Hareton is a redemptive force. It is her love that brings an end to the reign of Heathcliff.
Heathcliff never finds peace through his revenge. In fact, the only time he truly finds happiness is when he gives up his plan for retaliation. Austin O’Malley states “Revenge is like biting a dog that bit you” (O’malley 1). O’Malley’s quote reflects Heathcliff’s immature need to propagate agony in those who have offended him. Heathcliff’s plan for revenge on Edgar and Catherine is to marry Isabella, who is ignorant of love and of men because she has never experienced either. He wants to hurt Edgar because of his marriage to Catherine, and he wants to get revenge on Catherine by making her jealous. Catherine’s death proves that this flawed plan of repayment helps nothing. Heathcliff, haunted by the ghost of Catherine because he is her “murderer,” still is motivated by the need for revenge and tries to get young Cathy away from Edgar by having her marry his son, Linton. Heathcliff never finds peace until he gives up his plan for revenge just before he dies. When Heathcliff gives up his plan for revenge, he meets Catherine in death and truly becomes happy once more.
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.
His strong, merciless hate towards others is a result of the events that occurred in his childhood. “I’m trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back.I don’t care how long I wait, if I could only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!” (69) Because of all the torturous things Hindley did to Heathcliff back when they were children, “Hindley had blamed our father for treating Heathcliff too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to the right place,” (30) he hopes Hindley will not die before him just so he can carry out his revenge-driven plan. He is shaped by what has happened in his life previously which then causes meticulous actions that signify his intense hate towards everyone at Wuthering Heights. Although it is essentially not his own fault, some argue that there is no excuse for Heathcliff to act vindictively. In contrast, though, the psychological problems that he experienced have hand-crafted Heathcliff into the person he is. “It expressed, plainer than words could do, the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge.” (58) This only adds to the complete and serious hatred he has for everyone that even saving his nephew from falling from the balcony was a thwart to his own revenge. The audience can conclude based on the characterization of Heathcliff as malicious that he is only focused on
Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering Heights impacted him both positively and negatively. Catherine Earnshaw was highly welcoming of him, but her brother Hindley
Mr. Earnshaw believes that “the young man, [Hindley], should be sent to college”(45) as Hindley is not treating Heathcliff properly. This shows how Mr. Earnshaw is favoring Heathcliff to Hindley and is forcing Hindley to leave. Catherine becomes good friends with Heathcliff. One night, they spy on the Lintons, their neighbors, and are caught. Mrs. Linton is disgusted that “Miss Earnshaw [was] scouring the country with a gypsy”(53). Catherine is expected to behave like a proper lady, implying that she should not associate with those inferior in status to her because she is part of the middle class. Even though Catherine and Heathcliff have a strong friendship, he ruins her reputation in the eyes of the Mrs. Linton. While having connections proves to benefit Heathcliff status, they appear to be detrimental to his connection’s
In the novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte strongly emphasizes the dynamic and increasingly complex relationship of Mr. Heathcliff and Catherine. Heathcliff, the abandoned gypsy boy is brought to Wuthering Height by Mr. Earnshaw to be raised with his family. After Mr. Earnshaw's death, he suffers harsh abuses from his "brother" Hindley and from Catherine, whom he dearly loves. This abuse will pave the way for revenge. The evolving and elaborate plans for revenge Mr. Heathcliff masterminds for those who he feels had hurt him and betray him is what makes Wuthering Heights a classic in English literature. The sudden change in feelings and emotions in Mr. Heathcliff are powerful scenes. Revenge becomes the only reason to live for him. Revenge is the main theme in Wuthering Heights because it highlights important events, personality flaws, and the path of destruction.
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