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Characters in wuthering Heights
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WUTHERING HEIGHTS
MAIN CHARACTERS
Catherine Earnshaw ~ She is the daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and the sister of Hindley. She is also Heathcliff’s foster sister. Heathcliff and Catherine are in love, but she marries Edgar Linton instead. When Cathy died, she wanted both Heathcliff and Edgar to suffer because Edgar never understood why she loved Heathcliff and Heathcliff because he never knew why she married Edgar.
Catherine Linton ~ She is the daughter of the older Catherine and Edgar Linton. Her mother Catherine died shortly after she was born. She married Linton Heathcliff and became Catherine Heathcliff. Then after her husband’s death she married Harenton and became Catherine Earnshaw.
Mr. Earnshaw ~ He was a farmer and father of Hindley and Catherine. He is a kind- hearted man who takes Heathcliff in after he found him lying on the street, although his family protested he still took him in.
Edgar Linton ~ He is Isabella’s older brother, who marries Catherine Earnshaw and is the father of there daughter, Catherine Linton. He is a gentle bred, refined man, a patient husband and loving father.
Ellen Dean ~ Ellen is one of the main narrators. She has been a servant for the Linton’s and Earnshaw’s all her life. She knows all of them better than any one else. People that are close to her call her Nelly.
Frances Earnshaw ~ She is Hindley’s wife. She was a rather giddy woman. She displayed a great fear of death, which tells us why she died of tuberculosis.
Harenton Earnshaw ~ Harenton is the son of Frances and Hindley Earnshaw. He marries young Catherine and grows up with his Uncle Heathcliff; his both mother and father die. He is ruff and uncultured having been kept from civilization from so long by Heathcliff.
The Wuthering Heights belongs to Harenton even though Heathcliff runs the household.
Hindley Earnshaw ~ Is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw, he is also Catherine’s older brother. He becomes a violent alcoholic after his beloved wife Frances dies. Also Hindley never got along with Heathcliff because Hindley felt rejected from his father’s affection, because Heathcliff the favorite child of Mr. Earnshaw.
Heathcliff ~ He is taken in by Mr. Earnshaw and raised along with Catherine and Hindley. Catherine was a moving force in his life, and he hated all those who stood between him and his beloved Cathy. However, he was of unknown descendants and was found in Liverpool starving on the streets.
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
Mr. Earnshaw does not have a problem with Heathcliff being a part of the family, unlike his wife and son. However, with a bit of time he is accepted by Catherine, but does not have as much freedom as she does. As Mr. Earnshaw stated when he first brought Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights “But you must e’en take it as a gift from God, though it’s as dark almost as if it
In the early lives of Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, their father 's overzealous love for Heathcliff causes a jealous rage in Hindley that starts the chain of disastrous events to come in the future. Mr. Earnshaw fails to remedy the situation, and Hindley, "learnt to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend … and he grew bitter with brooding over these injuries." The envious feelings that Hindley harbors for Heathcliff leads him to treat the orphan with contempt and cruelty. This in turn generates an intense hatred in Heathcliff for Hindley that fuels a craving for revenge that lasts for nearly all of his life.
Isabella is Edgar Linton's sister and although pleasant, well-educated person has the soft and civilised traits of Thrushcross. Grange. Heathcliff marries her as a way of revenge against Cathy and Edgar as part of his overall plan to own both estates. Not Realising Heathcliff's intentions, she is taken in by his magnetism and
Catherine Earnshaw: a spoiled, selfish child that gains the love of both Heathcliff and Edgar.
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...
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.
After a realization of his true noble personality, Elizabeth then found true love with Mr. Darcy, which cannot be said for the beautiful Catherine Earnshaw, in Wuthering Heights, who is a daughter from a gentry family. At a very young age, an orphan named Heathcliff joined the Earnshaw family. Both Catherine and Healthcliff have been madly in love with one another since then. One would expect them to marry due to their strong attraction for one another but because Catherine has an immature desire for social advancement, she married Edgar Linton, instead of Heathcliff. Catherine is a very spoiled socialite which very well contradicts the honest and virtuous Elizabeth Bennet, but although they make different decisions and are different as a person, both these free-spirited women want to choose their own future that satisfies their desires.
Unlike Satan, the premises of the revenge of Heathcliff take root in his childhood, rather than in a specific moment. Heathcliff grows up with the Earnshaws, a family with two children, Catherine and Hindley. Mr. Earnshaw especially favored Heathcliff, although not related by blood. Because of the favoritism shown, Hindley expresses his anger by antagonizing Heathcliff. In a letter written by the young Catherine Earnshaw, she states that Hindley “has been blaming our father (how dared he?) for treating H. too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place” (Brontë 22). The love of Heathcliff for Catherine helps him survive the time during his childhood after the death of Mr. Earnshaw. However, the “social and intellectual meanness” of Hindley “produces a Heathcliff whose manner and intellect Catherine finds unacceptable” (Vargish 10). Heathcliff does not accept the harsh treatment he receives, as he states “I’m trying to settle how I should pay Hindley back. I don’t care how long I wait, if I can only do it, at last. I hope he will not die before I do!” (Brontë 61). When Nelly tells Heathcliff that God should punish, Heathcliff responds by saying that “God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall” (Brontë 61). The thirst for vengeance Heathcliff harbors has begun to grow into a
From the moment that Heathcliff arrived at Wuthering Heights, he was surrounded my bitterness and hate. Heathcliff was brought into Wuthering Heights to live by Catherine and Hindley’s father, while he was a poor, dirty, and fatherless young boy. This made the children who already lived in Wuthering Heights apprehensive to the young boy, but one of the children, Catherine, eventually learned to accept him. Her brother, Hindley, however, treated Heathcliff as a slave. This fueled a bitter hate towards him deep in Heathcliff.
After Hindley’s father dies, he begins to abuse poor Heathcliff, taking away his education and forcing him to work out in the field’s and. Mr. Earnshaw’s resentful son Hindley oppresses Heathcliff and treats him as a servant. Ever since Heathcliff had arrived at Wuthering Heights, Hindley had loathed him and “from the very beginning, he bred bad feeling in the house; and at Mrs. Earnshaw’s death, which happened in less than ...
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.
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