Heathcliff's Cruelty In 'Wuthering Heights'
April 25th, 2012
Word Count: 818
The gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, is designed to both horrify and entertain readers with scenes of passion and cruelty. The novel is set around the time period of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, with most of it taking place on the two neighboring houses, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The lead character, Heathcliff, is a huge part in making the novel seem cruel. Heathcliff symbolizes evil while Emily Bronte portrays him as a jealous, controlling, and revengeful man, who through his actions ruins the lives of numerous characters.
One may believe that Heathcliff is very jealous of Catherine and Edgar’s marriage. An example to support this is when Heathcliff hears Catherine agree to marry Edgar Linton “it would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” (Bronte 114) he leaves Wuthering Heights. The degrading of Heathcliff by Hindley, of forcing him into a lower social status results in Heathcliff’s unworthiness in Catherine’s eyes. This leads him into a jealous lifestyle that causes him to carry out his evil actions. Returning years later, Heathcliff …show more content…
Heathcliff marries Isabella only to make her brother turn against her and to get the revenge he believes they all deserve. One may think Heathcliff is never taught that sometimes life just is not fair. Heathcliff is willing to do anything within his power, as long as he hurts Catherine and Edgar as they once hurt him. Yet another example of Heathcliff’s revengeful nature is how he raises Hareton after Hindley dies. Heathcliff forces Hareton to be an uneducated field worker just as Hindley had done to him. Heathcliff does not take the high road to be a better person; instead he takes Hareton as an opportunity to further his revenge on the Earnshaw family. Thus, Heathcliff symbolizes evil by not limiting his wicked actions when carrying out his
Word Count: 818
The gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, is designed to both horrify and entertain readers with scenes of passion and cruelty. The novel is set around the time period of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, with most of it taking place on the two neighboring houses, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. The lead character, Heathcliff, is a huge part in making the novel seem cruel. Heathcliff symbolizes evil while Emily Bronte portrays him as a jealous, controlling, and revengeful man, who through his actions ruins the lives of numerous characters.
One may believe that Heathcliff is very jealous of Catherine and Edgar’s marriage. An example to support this is when Heathcliff hears Catherine agree to marry Edgar Linton “it would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” (Bronte 114) he leaves Wuthering Heights. The degrading of Heathcliff by Hindley, of forcing him into a lower social status results in Heathcliff’s unworthiness in Catherine’s eyes. This leads him into a jealous lifestyle that causes him to carry out his evil actions. Returning years later, Heathcliff …show more content…
Heathcliff marries Isabella only to make her brother turn against her and to get the revenge he believes they all deserve. One may think Heathcliff is never taught that sometimes life just is not fair. Heathcliff is willing to do anything within his power, as long as he hurts Catherine and Edgar as they once hurt him. Yet another example of Heathcliff’s revengeful nature is how he raises Hareton after Hindley dies. Heathcliff forces Hareton to be an uneducated field worker just as Hindley had done to him. Heathcliff does not take the high road to be a better person; instead he takes Hareton as an opportunity to further his revenge on the Earnshaw family. Thus, Heathcliff symbolizes evil by not limiting his wicked actions when carrying out his