Heathcliff Monster or Victim
Is Heathcliff a monster, or just misunderstood?
Heathcliff. He is character that perplexes many with his enigmatic ways. With many film adaptations he is played in near enough the same as how he is in Bronte’s book – as a monster. But what is a monster? Is it that he is a vicious murderer? Is it someone with no sympathy for others? Or is it someone without a care in the world? Arguably Heathcliff is all of these and more..
Throughout Wuthering Heights, it can be seen that Heathcliff is a social outcast, not fitting in with anything the other inhabitants of Wuthering Heights do. Any reader of the book produces a completely different view of Heathcliff showing even more so that he is misunderstood by many people. There are different characteristics that critics have used to labelled Heathcliff; some include a social misfit, a devil from hell, or something completely different by labelling him a romantic or gothic hero. The different characteristics indicate that there will never be one ‘label’ for Heathcliff. As the main character of Emily Bronte’s novel, there are some interesting things that revolve around Heathcliff from the time that he arrives at Wuthering Heights as a complete outsider until he dies as a powerful landlord of both Wuthering Heights and Thurshcross Grange. Heathcliff encounters many events that affect him as a person and transforms his rage deeper into his soul, from which he is unable to escape. But does this mean he is a victim or monster?
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 crude and disrupts his mental balance. ‘He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm.’ He is separated from the family,
Heathcliff. He is character that perplexes many with his enigmatic ways. With many film adaptations he is played in near enough the same as how he is in Bronte’s book – as a monster. But what is a monster? Is it that he is a vicious murderer? Is it someone with no sympathy for others? Or is it someone without a care in the world? Arguably Heathcliff is all of these and more..
Throughout Wuthering Heights, it can be seen that Heathcliff is a social outcast, not fitting in with anything the other inhabitants of Wuthering Heights do. Any reader of the book produces a completely different view of Heathcliff showing even more so that he is misunderstood by many people. There are different characteristics that critics have used to labelled Heathcliff; some include a social misfit, a devil from hell, or something completely different by labelling him a romantic or gothic hero. The different characteristics indicate that there will never be one ‘label’ for Heathcliff. As the main character of Emily Bronte’s novel, there are some interesting things that revolve around Heathcliff from the time that he arrives at Wuthering Heights as a complete outsider until he dies as a powerful landlord of both Wuthering Heights and Thurshcross Grange. Heathcliff encounters many events that affect him as a person and transforms his rage deeper into his soul, from which he is unable to escape. But does this mean he is a victim or monster?
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 crude and disrupts his mental balance. ‘He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted that he should labour out of doors instead; compelling him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm.’ He is separated from the family,