Hate, love and revenge take place within the Earnshaws’ and Lintons’ story through a dynamic almost solely based on the fundamental importance of class in late 1700’s Yorkshire. Wuthering Heights is Emily Bronte’s story of these families’ struggles with status which were relevant and normal for that time period. The idea of the importance and the struggle of class can be seen throughout the novel. It is brought forth primarily through Heathcliff and others treatment of him. First, through Nelly’s insistence on Heathcliff imagining a better past for himself, Hindley’s treatment of Heathcliff and the effect this has on Catherine’s feeling, Catherine’s and Isabella’s marriages to Edgar and Heathcliff respectively, and Cathy’s marriage to Hareton.
Heathcliff is received with hatred by his new siblings, Hindley and Catherine. The treatment given to him by the Earnshaw children is caused by his adoptive status and his past as a beggar in Liverpool. His past puts him in a class that is beneath Wuthering Heights and the Earnshaws’. Nelly, the housekeeper, gives Heathcliff advice in regards to his class; "Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of my birth; and the thoughts of what I was should give me courage and dignity to support the oppressions of a little farmer!" (Bronte, 82). If Heathcliff were to imagine a better past where he was in a higher class than that of what he is – a lonely beggar who has found a place to stay through Mr. Earnshaw- it would improve his self-esteem and he would be able to act as through he was of a higher status. His class status is thus of the utmost importance in that it decides the way he will be treated in his new home.
As time passes, Catherine begins to warm up to Heathcliff; she...
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... is an allusion to something elemental beyond class. Through Heathcliff and his many experiences it can be seen that nothing can trump the importance of class – not childhood, love, hate, or money. Class has an unconditional importance within the novel and cannot be outshined by any other struggle. All though, there is also Bronte’s use of a relationship of souls, an element of self that goes beyond social class. This element is seen through Catherine and Heathcliff, however, it is trumped and ruined by class. It is also seen through Cathy and Hareton, whom are not ruined by class in the end, but attempt to find a way to fix their classes in order to be happy. Thus, social class is of great importance, but, Emily Bronte suggests that it is not the only thing that is important.
Works Cited
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights. Ed. Beth Newman. Broadview, 2007
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
Throughout Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë presents and develops several pairs of characters, ideas, and locations that work both together and in contrast to each other, such as the temporal, and perhaps most obvious, juxtaposition of the two properties Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Within these locations emerge three distinct character pairs, tied together by the similar type of relationship upon which each is based: a brother and sister connection, although not necessarily one defined by genetics. These three pairings include narrator Nelly Dean and Hindley Earnshaw, Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and Isabella and Edgar Linton. Each relationship is unique: Nelly and Hindley are both nursed by Nelly’s mother and are raised alongside one another, but Nelly is a servant to the Earnshaw family; Cathy and Heathcliff are raised together after Cathy’s father brings the supposed orphan Heathcliff home from Liverpool; and Isabella and Edgar are biologically brother and sister. Yet, aside from being based on a brother/sister relationship, all three of these pairs share another commonality, which is that each pairing experiences at least one separation and reunion of some sort. These separation periods and times in which the pairs are reunited greatly impact not only their own relationships, but also those of the other pairs and, ultimately, the course of the novel.
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.
Written by Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights is a captivating novel, full of true love, deceit and revenge. Taking place during the 1800’s in Moor country, England the novel primarily focuses on the relationship between a beautiful, headstrong woman named Catherine Earnshaw and a powerful, fierce man named Heathcliff. When a man named Mr. Lockwood rents a house called Thrushcross Grange, he slowly begins to learn about the two local families next door; the Lintons and the Earnshaw’s. Intrigued by the two neighboring families, Mr. Lockwood asks the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights, Nelly Dean, to tell him more about the mysterious Heathcliff whom he had met earlier that day at Thrushcross Grange. At this point, the novel is told through Nelly’s recollections of her past and various diaries. As a young girl, Nelly was the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights. When Mr. Earnshaw returns from a business trip in Liverpool he brings with him an orphaned, gypsy whom he names Heathcliff. From the moment Catherine, Mr. Earshaw’s youngest daughter, laid eyes on Heathcliff, it seemed to be love at first sight. Heathcliff and Catherine spent every minute together and shared everything. As Catherine and Heathcliff get older, Mrs. Earnshaw grows concerned with Catherine’s un-lady like behaviors and sends her to live at Thrushcross Grange with a well- established family called the Lintons. After returning from the Lintons, Catherine notices her and Heathcliff’s relationship had grown so far apart, that he now treated her like a stranger. Catherine marries the oldest Linton, Edgar, hoping to gain social advancement and money. The climax unfolds as Catherine and Heathcliff privately feel as though they are and will always be in love with each other however, Catherine realizes she can not be with Heathcliff because he does not have money. Heathcliff openly professes his love for Catherine, while Catherine kept her feelings bottled up. As the years go by, Edgar and Heathcliff become enemies and attempt to kill each other in hopes of winning Catherine over. Heathcliff marries Edgar’s youngest sister, Isabella hoping to get revenge on Edgar and severely mistreats her to the point in which she disappears. After giving birth to her first daughter, Catherine dies due to stress and grief. After Catherine’s death, Isabella, Heathcliff’s ex wife returns bearing Heathcliff’s son, Linton Heathcliff. Edgar names his beautiful baby girl, Young Catherine, in honor of her mother and when Isabella dies, Heathcliff automatically obtains custody of Linton Heathcliff.
Both Catherine and Heathcliff grow up in environments of neglect and abandonment, causing them to develop voids in their personalities. Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights, and he says “but you must e’en take it as a gift from God, though it’s as dark almost as if it came from the devil” (Brontë 34). Here Heathcliff is a victim of racial profiling, which is detrimental to development because it has the affect of degrading the self worth of an individual. Heathcliff’s savior refers to him as a spawn of the “devil.” This combined with the reaction of the other tenants of Wuthering Heights makes Heathcliff an outcast. They repeatedly call him “it” and Catherine even “[spits] at the stupid little thing” as Nelly recalls (35). This unwelcoming behavior is a rejection of Heathcliff. Brontë is creat...
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.
Throughout Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, a theme is presented: people need to be valued in order to do good in the world, and when they are not they cause destruction. When Heathcliff was adopted by Mr. Earnshaw, Mr. Earnshaw’s family viewed Heathcliff as a thing rather than a child. Heathcliff was rejected by the servants and the Earnshaw family for being an orphan and being poor. The social status of the Victorian Age was as follows: if a person was white and plump, he/she was identified as wealthy; but if a person was dark-skinned he/she was classified in the working class. This is so by those who were dark-skinned had to spent much of their lives
(4) Wuthering Heights’s mood is melancholy and tumultuous. As a result, the book gives off a feeling of sorrow and chaos. For example, Catherine’s marriage with Edgar Linton made Heathcliff jealous and angry. In retaliation, Heathcliff married Edgar’s sister, Isabella, to provoke Catherine and Edgar. Heathcliff and Isabella’s marriage ignited a chaotic uproar with Edgar and Catherine because Linton disapproved of Heathcliff’s character, and Catherine loved Heathcliff in spite of being married to Edgar. Inside, Catherine wanted to selfishly keep Heathcliff to herself. Their relationships all had tragic endings because Catherine died giving birth to Edgar’s child. Isabella also died, leaving behind her young son. Heathcliff and Edgar resented each other because of misery they experienced together. The transition of the mood in the story is from chaotic to somber.
In Wuthering Heights, it is almost as if the story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff is repeated through Cathy Linton and Hareton Earnshaw. There are some discernible differences between these two relationships, but the general outline of the stories share some striking similarities. For example, Heathcliff could not be with Catherine Earnshaw because her brother, Hindley, had reduced him to the status of a brute. After Mr. Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff was treated like a servant instead of a member of the family. Later in the story, Heathcliff does the same thing to Hareton, Hindley's son, but in a subtle way that prevents any animosity on Hareton's part. Hindley loses everything that would have been Hareton's inheritance, leaving Hareton with nothing. Heathcliff takes advantage of the situation and Hindley's wealth is inevitably turned over to Heathcliff. Heathcliff sees p...
Wailed in distress over forbidden love, “Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” (82) is considered one of the most poignant lines in Emily Bronte’s gothic romance, Wuthering Heights. In this admission, Catherine Earnshaw is claiming the identity of her lover for herself — suggesting they are so intertwined that separation is impossible. Why is it that Bronte chooses to create such an interdependent relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine; so much so that they claim to possess the same being? Arising from Heathcliff and Catherine’s similar childhoods of benign neglect and mistreatment as un-loved outcasts, Bronte suggests that their development into adulthood is hindered and linked from the start — both children associating personality-fulfilling alter
In “Wuthering Heights” Emily Bronte vividly present the main character, Heathcliff, as misanthropist after he suffers abuse, degradation, and loses his beloved Catherine. Heathcliff, a black, orphan gipsy child, is brought to live in upper-class society by Mr. Earnshaw’s generosity. Heathcliff is an outcast in his new society. Thus, Heathcliff’s temperament is depicted in “Wuthering Heights” as cruel, abusive, and vindictive against those who humiliated and not accepted him in society.
In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Edgar Linton’s kind, forbearing, and innocent personality truly set him apart and categorize him directly as Heathcliff’s adversary. Heathcliff’s harsh, merciless, hateful, and mannerless way of carrying himself makes his opposition with Edgar evident very early on. Because of the vast ocean of conflict that occurs between these two men in the novel, they are the perfect pair to analyze in order to understand Bronte’s characters and their motives in Wuthering Heights.
Catherine and Heathcliff’s ardour , intensity warmth for another appear to be the centre of Wuthering Heights, given that it is strongest and more abiding , deep-rooted than any other feeling demonstrates and exposed in the tale, and that it is the beginning , cause of most of the larger collision and clash that construction the novel’s intrigue . Catherine and Heathcliff’s tale, Nelly disapproves and condemns both of thembrutally, cruelly and sternly , condemning their feeling as impure ,dissolute ,indecent .,lewd but this passion is certainly one of the most conclusive and carchy appearance of the book. It is not effortless to adjudge whether Brontë intends the reader to blame and disapprove these lovers as reproachable or to apotheosize , glorify them as sentimental heroes whose love eclipses social benchmarck and normal honesty , morality, integrity. The tale is actually configurated around two coextensive love stories, the prime half of the novel focused on the love between Catherine and Heathcliff, while the le...
The countless negative emotions forced upon Heathcliff in his past resulted in his development of extreme hate as an adult. Heathcliff’s hate manifested itself in his quest for revenge and his lust for power. Wuthering Heights establishes an unyeilding human emotion which can take over a man’s life. Hate can only be quelled through revenge or death. In Wuthering Heights, Bronte uses Heathcliff to show the development of his hate and revenge from the past thorough adulthood, and warns against the destructive power of pure hatred.
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.