Wuthering Heights Deception

“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.

Primarily, Heathcliff's hunger for revenge blindsides the character’s, Hindley, Catherine, Hareton, and young Catherine. Revenge is what Heathcliff wishes to

enact upon Hindley because he treats him horribly which results in Heathcliff becoming a servant. The reason for revenge on Catherine is because of unrequited love, she won't let herself marry below her class, seeing as a woman didn’t have much more to amount to in life during the Victorian era. Heathcliff wants revenge on young Catherine simply because she is Edgar Linton and Catherine's daughter. Hareton is actually liked but because he is Hindley’s son, Heathcliff makes him a servant. That's because Heathcliff believes it’s better that way, rather than him being a rich child. “He had the hypocrisy to represent a mourner: and previous to following with Hareton, he lifted the unfortunate child on to the table and muttered, with peculiar gusto, ‘Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we'll see if one tree won't grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!’”. (Brontë 180)
Unlike Heathcliff, Edgar Linton was gentle, but at the same time spineless, he also had great social status.

Which drew Catherine towards him; she describes him as “handsome”, “pleasant to be with,” and “cheerful,” and “rich”. Linton turns Catherine from a wild child to a well-mannered lady. They meet when Catherine got bit by a dog, and then the Lintons take her in while she is healing, this lasts for five weeks. Edgar tames her in a way, his overall persona clashes with hers in a perfect way. His love gives Catherine safety a security in the society. Heathcliff on the other hand is almost obsessed and can't give her the attributes she needs and wants; such as, commitment and how he won't sacrifice anything. However, those exact qualities attract Catherine to him. “She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account.”(Brontë 41) According to Levy, “As a result of the Unlove that they were made to suffer, both Heathcliff and Catherine, by opposite means and in distinct circumstances, turn loneliness into a community of rejection over which they wield absolute control. Heathcliff does this by persecuting those he hates; Catherine, by persecuting those she loves.” Edgar and Heathcliff have a good angel bad angel complex, of course Heathcliff is the bad angel and Edgar is the good angel. The reasons behind this is simply the characteristics portrayed;Edgar

with the calm and mannered side, and Heathcliff with the isolated dark side.
Heathcliff’s isolated dark side leads to his deception on all characters. Heathcliff is extremely deceiving, everything he does benefits himself and himself only. He makes others in pain if that means he isn't in pain. The most important evidence behind this claim is when he forces Isabella into a marriage all for revenge. He is literally taking away her happiness for his own selfish desire for revenge. “I never, in all my life, met with such an abject thing as she is. She even disgraces the name of Linton; and I've sometimes relented, from pure lack of invention, in my experiments on what she could endure, and still creep shamefully cringing back!”(Brontë 150) Marriage, especially back then is a huge deal! Sadly he simply doesn’t care about anyone but himself. His dishonestly is purely intended to hurt not help others. Another evident example is when Heathcliff digs up Catherine’s grave.”To understand Heathcliff's pain-obsessed relationship with Catherine is to understand his psychological core and the role played by Unlove in forming it. His preoccupation with her ghost gives literal expression to the meaning her love came to have for him when she was still living.” (Levy) No matter how messed up and disrespectful it is, he does it anyway, because it makes him feel complete for a moment. Nothing Heathcliff does is for anyone but himself. He just hurts anyone along the way. Heathcliff misleads others to carry out his own personal revenge. These examples show the real deceiving Heathcliff who the readers have come to know.