Nature vs Nurture Analysis in 'Wuthering Heights

It Is In Their Nature...Or Is It?

A person will develop a certain set of characteristics over the course of his life. Numerous scientific debates have ensued on whether his personalities are influenced by the environment around him or if he is already instilled with his personality when he is born. The debate, also known as the nature versus nurture debate, is very popular among scientists and could possibly lead to how and why people act based on their childhood or family genes. The argument can apply to the cases of Hareton Earnshaw and Heathcliff from the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. They both had similar backgrounds growing up but ended up completely different, one vowing for revenge on everyone he meets while the other eloping with his true love and finding happiness. Heathcliff and Hareton may seem similar at first, but throughout the novel their major differences appear as they

fall under either side of the nature versus nurture debate.
Heathcliff was a young boy when he was brought into the Earnshaw family, where he soon became Mr. Earnshaw’s favorite. This caused Earnshaw’s oldest son, Hindley, to be jealous of and hate Heathcliff and abuse him once his father had died. Heathcliff also endured emotional abuse when he was rejected by his true love Catherine while she said, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff…” (Bronte 80). This spurned Heathcliff’s anger and caused him to plot revenge on anyone who would come across him and his goals. Nonetheless, he did not let his environment completely control all of his aspects as he learned some things no one could have taught him by himself. He had never been shown true love yet loved Catherine with all of his heart and never stayed mad at her. He also learned to be gentlemanly while he was away from the Heights when nobody in the house even acted even remotely pleasant. Heathcliff had the ability to teach himself even more things and not let his environment tell him what he can and cannot do. However, he became engulfed in his anger at how he was rejected and abused as a young boy and let it take over his life.
Hareton was raised very similarly to Heathcliff but did not allow himself to sink to depths as low as Heathcliff had. After Hareton’s biological father Hindley died, Heathcliff took care of Hareton and, as revenge to Hindley, raised him as a wild, savage beast. Hareton “took the master’s reputation home to himself”, meaning that he looked up at Heathcliff as a father and cared what he thought, even though Heathcliff taught him to swear and had always planned to make Hareton a pawn in his game of revenge (Bronte 310). Hareton, surrounded by all of this hatred and hurt, somehow defied the odds and became a better person than Heathcliff ever would have been. Hareton learned how to be kind even though he was around Heathcliff and Joseph, who did not have a kind bone in their bodies. He also learned to care for others, like when he brought Nelly the soup when she was imprisoned by Heathcliff. Instead of becoming like Heathcliff and giving into all the hatred he was fed, he pushed that away and realized he could find a better life without all the things that Heathcliff wanted him to be.
Hareton and Heathcliff gave into different sides of each other, which caused major differences between them.

Heathcliff allowed himself to be engulfed in all of the rejection and hatred he was surrounded by and gave into the way he was nurtured as a boy instead of what he could have become if he had listened to himself and not all the other aspects of his outside life. Hareton, on the other hand, listened to himself and did not get consumed by all the hatred and darkness he was raised in; he learned to be kind and loving towards Cathy without hurting everyone around her. Heathcliff also hated Hindley, the man who brought all of the emotional and physical abuse in his life, while Hareton loved Heathcliff, even though Heathcliff was Hareton’s “Hindley”. Hareton also felt sorrow for Heathcliff when he died, “weeping in bitter earnest,” while Heathcliff felt no remorse or sadness whatsoever, even for the people he had wronged (Bronte 324). Hareton and Heathcliff were majorly different as Hareton embraced his good side and Heathcliff got wrapped up in his damaged

one.