Preview

Why Is Heathcliff Wrong

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
490 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Is Heathcliff Wrong
In the novel Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë, an individual named Heathcliff was wronged many times. He was treated poorly all of his life by his “brother”. Heathcliff fell in love with a woman who loved him back, however she married another man, because he was rich and had a higher social rank. All of the times Heathcliff was wronged during his life inspired him to get revenge on those that treated him incorrectly. Overall, Heathcliff is a maniacal man who is driven by all of the times that people have mistreated him in the past. Heathcliff was found in the city of Liverpool by Mr. Earnshaw and brought back to Wuthering Heights, where all of the Earnshaw children hated him. Brontë states “[Catherine and Hindley] entirely refused to have

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When one thinks of the classic villain, one imagines a dark, nefarious man who will do everything in his power to destroy the protagonist in the most odious fashion, regardless of who gets in his way. He is selfish, neurotic, and downright detestable. In regards to Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, a character that completely encapsulates this concept is Heathcliff. However, there is a character in the novel that rivals and surpasses his chaotic ability and is much more worthy of scorn. Although she does not display the typical, masculine archetype of a villain and does not exactly work against the protagonist, Catherine Earnshaw is evermore heinous and corrupt than her male counterpart. Catherine’s superiority complex, narcissism, manipulativeness,…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Earnshaw, went from his fields, Wuthering Heights, to Liverpool for a business trip where he finds a young boy who was abandoned on the streets. Mr. Earnshaw takes him home with him to join his family. He names the boy Heathcliff after his own son who passed away. Heathcliff then meets Catherine and Hindley, the daughter and son of Earnshaw. He becomes close friends with Catherine, however Hindley doesn’t take a liking to him because he felt liked he was being replaced. After Earnshaw’s wife passed away, he sent Hindley away to college to become more worthy and to put less stress on the household. Soon, Earnshaw’s health was declining and after he passed away, Hindley returned home married to a young woman. He became true heir of their household and used his powers to reduce Heathcliff to a servant of the house. However, Catherine and Heathcliff continued their relationship and didn’t care about punishments. One day, they ran to Thrushcross Grange where they met the Lintons. They also had a son and a daughter, Edgar and Isabella who were polar opposites of Heathcliff and Catherine. The Lintons welcomed Catherine, but rejected Heathcliff making him feel like an outsider again. Heathcliff starts to think of revenge after and is soon filled with jealousy after seeing Catherine spending more time with Edgar. He then runs away from Wuthering Heights after overhearing Catherine telling Ellen she can never marry…

    • 525 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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!” Heathcliff wanted revenge on Hindley for being treated unfairly at the party. Although he was warned by Nelly that God punishes the wicked, Heathcliff does not budge on the fact he will stop at nothing to get revenge on Hindley. "Wuthering Heights" showcased a lot of hatred between the characters of Hindley and Heathcliff that started from when Mr. Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home and, since then, favored him over Hindley. This relationship is based on jealousy because Hindley feels as if he was neglected of attention from Mr. Earnshaw, so he does anything to neglect Heathcliff, hence “I hope he will not die before I…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heathcliff is a prime example of a character with a “diseased mind” that causes him suffering. He spends the majority of his life contemplating and acting out revenge towards Hindley and the Lintons because he believes it was their fault Catherine thought it would “degrade” her to marry Heathcliff, even though she loved him; this is one example of his unstable mind set. In chapter 9 Nelly foreshadows the suffering of Heathcliff by saying “if you [Catherine] are his choice, he’ll be the most unfortunate creature,” this is because Nelly understands that society wouldn’t accept the pair to marry, therefore Heathcliff will be unfortunately heartbroken. Heathcliff believes that Catherine is a part of him: “I cannot live without my soul,” he says which highlights that he is suffering without her. It is from this heartbreak and suffering that his “diseased mind” commenced. Heathcliff’s “diseased mind” heightens when he asks for Catherine to “haunt” him when she is dead; haunting is an element of the Gothic genre but the madness of Heathcliff is enhanced when he requests that Catherine drives him “mad.” The word “mad” is ambiguous in this quotation because it could be viewed that Heathcliff wants to be haunted until he is angry with Catherine so he can destroy his love for her. An alternative view is that Heathcliff wants to be haunted until he is insane and suffering since he is desperate to see Catherine, this becomes true because after Catherine’s death Heathcliff’s mind is haunted by his love for her. Jerold E. Hogle explains this is accurate because characters in Gothic novels are “haunted psychologically” and this is accurately shown through the…

    • 646 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    OverviewThe novel, which features an unusually intricate plot, traces the effects that unbridled hate and love have on two families through three generations. Ellen Dean, who serves both families, tells Mr. Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrush cross Grange, the bizarre stories of the house 's family, the Linton 's, and of the Earns haws of Wuthering Heights. Her narrative weaves the four parts of the novel, all dealing with the fate of the two families, into the core story of Catherine and Heathcliff. The two lovers manipulate various members of both families simply to inspire and torment each other in life and death.…

    • 3193 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heathcliff appears to undergo the most suffering out of all the characters in the novel. From the beginning of Nelly’s story, Heathcliff has faced problem after problem. He is found on the streets of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw, and then brought to Wuthering Heights, and from then onwards, he is referred to as a ‘gypsy’ and linked to the devil. After the death of Mr Earnshaw, Heathcliff loses more than his father figure and protector, he also loses his home, status, and security. Upon the return of Hindley, Heathcliff undergoes emotional and physical abuse, degradation, and the loss of his new life, and he experiences this all while facing the fact that he is slowly but surely losing Cathy to Edgar. As Nelly puts into words, when Cathy marries Edgar, Heathcliff ‘loses friends, and love, and all’, ultimately proving that Cathy is everything to him. Therefore, the death of Cathy lands Heathcliff in his own living Hell, meaning that Heathcliff’s torture becomes life itself. Heathcliff’s death not only relieves him from the tortures of living without Cathy, but brings him to his Heaven: he can finally be with her, without the restraints that had affected them when they were alive.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heathcliff Justice Quotes

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the story “Wuthering Heights”, almost all of the characters were seeking for justice in their own way. However, the character who stood out most was Heathcliff. He was treated horribly for ages and came looking for revenge/justice to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff was most hated by Hindley throughout his entire childhood and even some adulthood. Although the majority of Heathcliff’s hatred went to Hindley, Heathcliff still developed hatred towards Edgar for having Catherine choose him over himself.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights, he is no longer the impoverished boy as before. He is wealthy now and has lost all compassion for others. The first person he seeks revenge on is Hindley, who was responsible for the time that Heathcliff spent as a laborer. Hindley is impressionable due to a drinking problem and Heathcliff draws him into a debt which allows him to inherit the manor after Hindley's death. By seeking revenge on the brother of his former love, Heathcliff begins his acquisition of the things which he believes are rightfully his. As Hindley was abusive as a youth, the reader doesn't necessarily feel bad for the revenge Heathcliff so deeply desires. However, these actions are what will ultimately lead to Heathcliff's death, as he will realize that all he has wrought on those who've made his life miserable can't return the love he felt with Catherine or cease his haunting by her memory.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Written in the 19th century, the concepts explored within “Wuthering Heights” would be terrifying towards its audience. The 19th century was an age whereby there was a huge expansion of the British Empire; therefore there was a lot of new cultural difference introduced into Britain at this time. Therefore the concept of the “other” would have been one which was unfamiliar, and unaccepted to a 19th century audience. Our protagonist and “gothic hero” Heathcliff is a character which would have scared a society and this is symbolised by his degrading treatment by all those who are considered as “normal”. The “unreclaimed creature” is immediately dehumanised through his descriptions as “it”, and is immediately victimised by all the other characters within the stories. Catherine “spits” at him and Hindley often strikes him. But I think it is Heathcliff’s “dark” skin tone arguably scares his companions into acting in such a way. Like other dark figures such as Othello in Shakespeares “Othello” Heathcliff posses the capability to love a “thousand” times better than Edgar Linton, thus suggesting that he posses the capability to love a thousand times better than us, the audience. He is what Freud described as a monumental figure- he is larger than life. His capability to love like a God causes us to immediately denounce him into an “imp of Satan”, a “devil daddy” and practically shove him into the category of the sub- human. This is simply because we as humans want to see ourselves as the best and like God; Catherine for example assumes herself as entering “heaven”. However she even acknowledges the supernatural capabillity of Heathcliff describing his love as the “eternal rocks beneath” even though there is no “visible delight”. This only leads to the angels “flinging” her out of Heaven because of their anger and onto the Heights- the dwelling of Heathcliff. Her infatuation with this “black villain” only proves that h e is greater than the normal and the ordinary i.e. the…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ written by Emily Bronte, the writer explores the characters of Catherine, Heathcliff and Edgar amongst many others. She portrays them as being caught in a ‘love triangle’, showing the difficulty of choosing the right person and how it can affect their lives both positively and negatively. Prior to the second part of chapter 10, Bronte writes about the character of Heathcliff disappearing from Wuthering Heights, their place of residence after hearing about Catherine choosing another man instead of him. He left after hearing the woman saying the words ‘’ It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now;’’, without hearing of her love for him. Due to this miscommunication, she had married Edgar, after which Heathcliff eventually returned.…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Catherine Earnshaw

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Catherine Earnshaw is the daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and his wife; Catherine falls powerfully in love with Heathcliff, the orphan Mr. Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool. She was born at Wuthering Heights and was raised with her brother Hindley. Catherine loves Heathcliff so intensely that she claims they are the same person but does not marry him because Hindley has degraded him after their father's death so her desire for social advancement motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead, a neighbour from Thrushcross Grange and he is handsome and rich, another reason for Catherine marrying him. She is quite passionate about Heathcliff though, and does not want to give him up. She becomes ill when Heathcliff and Edgar fight, and dies in childbirth.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heathcliff’s madness derived from multiple factors but is rooted from hate shown by Hindley. When Mr. Earnshaw founb Heathcliff in the streets and…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The betrayal is the novel Wuthering Heights is mostly talking about revenge because it is almost a big force than love is in wuthering heights. “(Through he knows he has been cruelly treated, heathcliff cannot help but love catherine).” Betrayal is a action of betrayal one's country a group or a treachery.Considering catherine gets mad at Heathcliff for marrying Edar in the novel . “ (She knows that if catherine marries edgar it isnt going to be pretty.)”…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Heathcliff is haunted by his past of childhood mistreatment and grows up with a mentality seeking revenge to those he believes took so much from him. His inability to let go of his past abuse, affects not only himself but the people around him.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Wuthering Heights, written by the author, Emily Bronte, the character that suffers and responds in a tragic way to injustice is Heathcliff. Heathcliff is brought to a house where they had money, and he was a homeless kid. The difference in social status led other kids in the house to mistreat him, and make fun of him. He was forced into isolation by Hindley due to his physical appearance. Consequently, Heathcliff suffers in different manners throughout the novel, the main one being solitude. Heathcliff responds to such injustice by making the life of those who mistreated him miserable.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays