How Does Heathcliff Change In Wuthering Heights

Victorian literature predominantly endorsed happy endings, as seen by the renowned Charles Dickens’s novels. Although less known, Emily Brontë was also revered for her writing that ended optimistically. The inclusion of a conclusion that left readers buoyant and not disconsolate earned Brontë a large audience. In the final chapters of Wuthering Heights, Brontë’s only novel, Heathcliff undergoes a spiritual reassessment of himself and apprehends that the love he feels for Catherine surmounts his hunger for revenge against all those, and their children, who hindered him from being with her.
Heathcliff, an orphan boy brought to Wuthering Heights by the owner, Mr. Earnshaw, grew up playing in the moors together with his step-sister Catherine
Heathcliff unmistakably detests the alterations in his lover’s mindset and his attitude worsens when he overhears Catherine’s remark that it would “degrade [her] to marry Heathcliff now” (Brontë 80). He runs away before she marries Edgar Linton for his high status and returns as a wealthy and powerful man with eyes set on vengeance against the Linton family for dividing Catherine and him. He begins by deceitfully showing interest in Edgar’s sister Isabelle and deluding her into marrying him. Once wedded, he displays his true colors, abusing his wife constantly and even hanging her cherished dog. Heathcliff believes that he will be more jovial if the members of the Linton family are despondent. However, the opposite occurs. His obsession with the idea of revenge engenders insanity, particularly after Catherine’s death. Instead of coping with his lover’s
His love for Catherine commences to transcend his desire for revenge as he ages. In certain instances, he is so fanatical about being with Catherine, he overlooks his values as the landlord of two manors and his objective of bringing despair to the entire Linton generation. When Catherine’s ghost appears to Heathcliff’s petrified tenant, Lockwood, one night, Heathcliff becomes “oblivious to virtually everything--except his preoccupation with the ghost” (Levy). Instead of consoling Lockwood so he does not lose a valuable leaseholder, Heathcliff frantically beseeches the ghost to reappear. He presents himself in a state of madness to Lockwood, without a care for the response of his tenant. This negligence exemplifies the protagonist’s disregard for societal judgements in favor of returning to his lover. Furthermore, the completion of Heathcliff’s moral reconciliation occurs when he does not scorn or vehemently prevent the love between young Catherine and Hareton. Their youthful ardor resemble closely that of Heathcliff’s and Catherine’s, and yet, he is apathetic towards it. His ability to abandon his rancorous and vengeful behavior and permit the children of his adversaries to love freely illustrates the amiable transformation in Heathcliff. His spiritual reassessment is an “awakening from life into death” and ensues in a rising from “emotional death,” where he is imprisoned on earth,