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Character Analysis of Heathcliff
Discuss the character of Healthcliff in Wuthering Heights
Character Analysis of Heathcliff
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In the book of Wuthering Heights by Emily bronte the character who exhibits madness or irrational behavior is the character Heathcliff. His horrible behavior consists of bad things like threatening to get isabella pregnant, talking to his son horribly, and using hindley to gain finances, and he blames catherine for her death. A way that Heathcliff exhibits madness is when he threatens Linton by saying that he would impregnate isabella if he doesn’t agree to let him keep Hareton. That was kind of mean because he knows that Edgar doesn’t like him and that is Edgar’s sister. That was reasonable because maybe heathcliff wanted to care of hareton for his former friend that he didn’t like that much, and that would be nice of him to do that and raise him to be a man. Heathcliff wants to protect hareton from getting thrown off that balcony or anything else that would happen that was bad to him, but also wants to corrupt him. …show more content…
Heathcliff took over hareton’s inheritance because he kept loaning money to Hindley for his gambling habit, until he gained control of the property’s finances. Heathcliff reasonable for this because he probably wants to use that money to take care of hareton and supply him with his needs, and also to get back at him because of the way that hindley treated him while they were younger. Hindley treated heathcliff like a servant so heathcliff now wants to take hareton and the finances and treat hareton like a servant. Heathcliff is hoping that he can corrupt hareton in the same way that he corrupted hareton’s father which is reasonable for that hindley did to
...rder to be able to inherit Thrushcross Grange. It seems that Heathcliff is mainly intent in gaining control of the manors to not only gain economically advantageous positions, but to also prove to the ghost of Catherine, which still wandered around the moors, that he would have been worth marrying and that she made the wrong decision. Catherine also had very strong desires for power, which are shown by her telling Nelly that she would never be able to marry Heathcliff because he had been put so far below that she believed it would be degrading to her to marry him, and therefore she decided to marry Edgar Linton instead due to his stability.
Heathcliff cried vehemently, "I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" Emily Brontë distorts many common elements in Wuthering Heights to enhance the quality of her book. One of the distortions is Heathcliff's undying love for Catherine Earnshaw. Also, Brontë perverts the vindictive hatred that fills and runs Heathcliff's life after he loses Catherine. Finally, she prolongs death, making it even more distressing and insufferable.
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
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
Definitive criteria for judging the success or failure of a work of fiction are not easily agreed upon; individuals almost necessarily introduce bias into any such attempt. Only those who affect an exorbitantly refined artistic taste, however, would deny the importance of poignancy in literary pieces. To be sure, writings of dubious and fleeting merit frequently enchant the public, but there is too the occasional author who garners widespread acclaim and whose works remain deeply affecting despite the passage of time. The continued eminence of the fiction of Emily Bronte attests to her placement into such a category of authors: it is a recognition of her propensity to create poignant and, indeed, successful literature.
When Linton Heathcliff’s son returns to Wuthering Heights Heathcliff tells Nelly “[his] design is honest as possible…that the two cousins may fall in love and get married. [he is] acting generously to [her] master: his young chit has no expectations, and should [Catherine]second [his] wish she’ll be provided for at once as joint successor with Linton. (215)” Heathcliff’s plan states that although Heathcliff looked down upon little Linton, yet he uses his son and the power of this distorted patriarchal society as weapons to take revenge over Edgar. He tricked little Catherine to Wuthering Heights and forces her to marry his terribly ill son Linton because this is the only way to take possession of the property she inherited from her father as the only child. Due to the acquiescence of patriarchal society, Linton and Heathcliff can easily manipulate little Catherine and hold on to her fate with no effort using the chains of marriage. After women are married to men, men have the right to control their wives and nobody could intervene and the society does not allow women to divorce their husbands because they are men’s personal attachments. As a part of Heathcliff’s plan, Heathcliff made Hareton, Hindley’s son “never be able to emerge from his bathos of coarseness and
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...
Social status is so important to the characters it is used as a weapon against enemies, and a tool... ... middle of paper ... ... 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.
Emily Bronte, on the surface, appeared to be a very withdrawn woman and is said to be reclusive throughout her entire life. She was even incredibly embarrassed when her sister, Charlotte Bronte, found her book of poetry, even though Charlotte was incredibly impressed by it. Beneath the surface lies a woman full of passion and capable of powerful emotions, though she had never felt such emotions, to write a novel that is still discussed today and is regarded as a literary classic. Novels are often regarded as a window to the souls of the authors, and Wuthering Heights is no exception. Wuthering Heights is often seen as a type of construct of Emily’s life and personality, because of the similarity of characters to people in Emily’s life, and how the events that occur at Wuthering Heights are secluded in their own right, much like Emily’s own life.
Primarily, Heathcliff's hunger for revenge blindsides the character’s, Hindley, Catherine, Hareton, and young Catherine. Revenge is what Heathcliff wishes to
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.
...admit any compromise with passion, any form of mediocrity. This leads us to the completion of his revenge against Hindley and his becoming master of the Heights. The fight between them is described by Isabella with violent language, Heathcliff is described in demonic. terms, "sharp cannibal, teeth, basilisk eyes".
The famous saying that from a true love to a great hatred is only a
...his is impossible to prevent. This leads to Mr. Heathcliff self destruction, because all of his life he has been looking for strategies to get revenge on those he hates. He does not want Wuthering Heights to be a haven, rather a purgatory. To his dismay he realizes his years of revenge, will not last all generations. Seeing how both families, the Linton and the Earnshaw's stand up for one another, Heathcliff understands that the one thing that kept him alive has now been defeated. Therefore his life has no purpose, and he has lost.