Although Wuthering Heights and its oppressiveness serve to demean and detain Heathcliff and his social ranking, the house becomes a prison for Nelly and Cathy after Heathcliff acquires possession.
After Mr. Earnshaw’s passing and Hindley gains control of the manor, Wuthering Heights serves to contain Heathcliff in a low, unappreciated social class. With the reigns of Wuthering Heights in Hindley’s hands, Heathcliff no longer lives a free and wild life. Heathcliff does not spend as much time with Catherine, as he now lives a strenuous “servants” life “labour[ing]” outdoors “deprived” of an education (36). Working outside of the house and a lack of education reminds Heathcliff of his social status for someone of his class is not welcome inside
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Longing to reacquaint with Catherine, Heathcliff requests Nelly to prepare Catherine for his arrival. Refusing his importunate request, Heathcliff frantically threatens to “take measures to secure” Nelly and harbor her at “Wuthering Heights till” the next “morning” (120). To influence Nelly to deliver a message “for his satisfaction” to his love, Heathcliff operates Wuthering Heights similar to a prison (120). Nelly agrees to comply to Heathcliff’s assertive demands to evade the restraint of Wuthering Heights. After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff uses his house to jail Nelly and Cathy in order to get revenge. In pursuit of acquiring Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff “regularly imprison[s]” Cathy and Nelly until she marries Linton (207). Linton’s deceitful success “in decoying” the two of them to Wuthering Heights allows Heathcliff to eventually get what he wants by entrapping them in a constraining manor which will “hinder” Cathy (208). On account of their incarceration, Nelly portrays Heathcliff as an oppressive “jailor” who obtains the authority to “detain” and keep Cathy “a prisoner” under his tyrannical “roof” (209, 210). Patiently waiting, Nelly remains “enclosed” from all contact for “five nights and four days” in a room much like a prisoner in a jail cell (212). Day after day, Nelly is “quite concealed” from any interaction (210). Heathcliff does not have a particular reason for extending Nelly’s confinement, he acts out of pure spite for he “is a true scoundrel” (212). Wuthering Heights appears as a cruel jail, absent of justice holding some individuals captive for Heathcliff’s personal
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
Catherine and Heathcliff reveal their fervent devotion and affection for each other when the former is lying on her deathbed, and in those tender, moribund moments earnest and ardent confessions are made that signify their mutual adoration and are harbingers of Heathcliff’s adumbrative vengeance. Heathcliff suffers to see Catherine in such a ghostly state, and weeps at the idea of being without her, crying, ““Would you (Catherine) like to live with your soul in the grave?”” (151) In saying this he demonstrates not only his own pain at her imminent fate, but also their metaphorically entwined lives. He does so by connecting the departure of her soul to his own, claiming that when she dies, so too will he. Additionally, by mere fact that the normally stoic Heathcliff was found in a state of grievance over the unfortunate circumstances is indicative of the gravity and desperation that with her passing he regards. Nelly points out as much by her matter-of-fact remark, “...it seemed Heathcliff could weep on a great occasion like this.” (151) Therefore, Heathcliff’s anguish befo...
...ctive. Catherine is pushed to death and Heathcliff to brutal revenge, bordering on the psychotic. Yet before Cathy’s death, the knowledge that the other loves them is strong enough to make Wuthering Heights such a classic love story, and “that old man by the kitchen fire affirming he has seen two of 'em looking out of his chamber window, on every rainy night since his death,” shows that as they walk together on the moors, their self destruction may have led them to death, but also to what they most desired-being together.
Wuthering Heights is a novel whose main character is said to have a double significance. He is said to be both the dispossessed and the dispossessor, victim of class hatred and arch – exploiter, he simultaneously occupies the roles of working class outsider and brutal capitalist. Heathcliff has all these characteristics because of his experiences. He is a character moulded by his past.
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.
As a child Cathy was wild and headstrong and her determination enables her to get everything that she wants. Although she only loves Heathcliff, she has a choice between him and Edgar Linton, as he too loves her. She chooses Edgar because of his status, but ends u...
Nelly Dean is quite knowledgeable about Wuthering Heights and the events that transpired there; however, she is blunt and opinionated. She does not fail to mention that he has taken a genuine interest in Heathcliff sinc...
...he was able to interpret the events of her life, and for the first time tell a visitor of everything that has gone on. Since Nelly’s life was not personally haunted by regrets, like Catherine and Heathcliff’s, she is able to recite the past and present in a clear and rational way. Lockwood believes her story and is so intrigued by all the dreadful events that took place across a lifetime on these Yorkshire moors. From the outside looking in it may appear that the Earnshaws and Lintons were just a private family living their lives, but nobody really knows what goes on behind closed doors, except for the help, our Nelly. This is why her narration is crucial and without it, the story of Wuthering Heights may still exist, but would not be as believable.
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
The basic conflict of the novel that drives Heathcliff and Catherine apart is social. Written after the Industrial Revolution, Wuthering Heights is influenced by the rise of new fortunes and the middle class in England. Money becomes a new criterion to challenge the traditional criterias of class and family in judging a gentleman’s background. Just as Walpole who portrays the tyrannies of the father figure Manfred and the struggles of the Matilda who wants to marry the peasant Theodore, as depicted in the quote “(…) improbability that either father would consent to bestow his heiress on so poor a man, though nobly born”(p. 89), Brontë depicts a brutal bully Hindley who torments Heathcliff and separates Catherine from him. Heathcliff, a gypsy outcast picked u...
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.
When Hindley is drunk, Heathcliff “cheat[s] Mr. Hindley”(63) at cards. This is part of Heathcliff’s revenge on Hindley. Eventually, Hindley has to mortgage Wuthering Heights in order to pay his debts, and Heathcliff is able to gain possession of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff tells Cathy, Catherine and Edgar’s daughter, that Linton, his son, “is on his deathbed”(255) and that she should come visit him. Cathy feels obligated to go help Linton, so she and Nelly go to Wuthering Heights. Once they arrive, Heathcliff locks them in and tells them “you shall not quit this place till it is fulfilled”(261); implying that they will not be able to leave until Cathy marries Linton. Heathcliff wants them to marry so that he can get the inheritance. While Heathcliff gains money from his connections, d Cathy and Hindley loses their inheritance, money, and
In the novel Wuthering Heights, the dark and mysterious Heathcliff once began his life with an open heart, but after mistreatment from Edgar and Hindley he turns to revenge. Heathcliff's actions are reasonable; he has been hurt from the unfair reason of discrimination. Heathcliff slowly becomes sickly obsessed with planning an elaborate revenge after eavesdropping a conversation between his beloved Catherine to Nelly. He hears his young beautiful and idolized Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff” (77). Heathcliff, heartbroken and hopeless, abruptly leaves Wuthering Height for two years. Catherine is left wondering where he is. Heathcliff leaves in search of revenge.
At first, the children of Wuthering Heights (Hindley, Cathy, Nelly) all rejected him for his appearance as a gypsy- they thought of him as knavish, grimy, and uneducated. Despite this, Mr. Earnshaw treated with a certain respect by letting him live as with the Earnshaws while still being an outsider to the family. Yet the spectrum of hostility didn’t end with the children. Mrs. Earnshaw questions her husband’s insight, “asking how [Mr. Earnshaw] could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house” when he added another mouth for her to feed at the dinner table. (Chapter 4). Mr. Earnshaw’s attempt to integrate Heathcliff fails once Hindley takes over Wuthering Heights. Despite basically being middle class under Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley takes it on his own to oppress and torture him. Before this, Heathcliff was on a level playing field class wise compared to the Earnshaws. Heathcliff now finds himself as a servant, a laborer working the fields. By subjugating Heathcliff, Hindley drew the line in the sand. Hindley has effectively forced Heathcliff into a lower class, Hindley has colonized