Heathcliff’s presence in Wuthering heights put the Earnshaw family in turmoil and fighting; family relationships soon become unpleasant and hateful. It seemed Heathcliff was a trouble maker. ‘Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him...we were plagued’ this suggests that Hindley grew jealous of Heathcliff because he is practically taking his sister away from him, tensions grew between them. Hindley took his violence out on Heathcliff but he ‘would stand Hindley’s blows without winking or shedding a tear’ The image created implies there is something not right, as Heathcliff was only a little boy and didn’t react to Hindley's violence, suggesting he’s not human, or he is creating revenge to fight back. Heathcliff is described as ‘usurper of his father’s affections, and his privileges’
The role of Heathcliff as a usurper, leads to him suffering at the hands of Hindley. His ill-treatment from Hindley makes Heathcliff have a deep hatred for him. After Mr. Earnshaw’s death Heathcliff has a very deep and enduring hatred and an all consuming passion for revenge. Heathcliff will never forget the injury and pain inflicted on him during his poor childhood. When Heathcliff returns from a three year absence, Heathcliff has his revenge planned and wants to revenge everyone that wronged him as a child; this becomes an extremely overpowering passion that leads to him becoming in power of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He controls the decline of Hindley by encouraging him to drink excessively and to start gambling. ‘I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. 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 knows he wants Hindley to endure the pain and misery that he encountered from him; he wants revenge more than anything.
Heathcliff also has revenge directed on Edgar as he took away Catherine from him. Although Catherine and Heathcliff were deeply in love, they both knew why they couldn’t be together forever. ‘It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff...if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars?’ Such language explores how Heathcliff’s social class would totally degrade Catherine to the same level, and she doesn’t want that, her social standards are much higher. She would be looked down upon. Heathcliff realises what Edgar has that he doesn’t and wants to try and improve his appearance to feel better. ‘Nelly, make me decent, I’m going to be good.’ Bronte’s language shows he wants to prove he can be as good as Edgar Linton no matter social status. Heathcliff describes that no matter what he does to improve his appearance and manners he won’t be near as good as Edgar. ‘But Nelly, if I knocked him down twenty times, that wouldn’t make him less handsome, or me more so. I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!’ This strong, powerful language emphasises Heathcliff trying to be different. His social position prevents him from achieving alot of things.
Heathcliff creates a plan to try and get ownership of the Grange and secure it for himself from the Linton’s. He marries Isabella, who is besotted with him to get revenge on Edgar and to make him jealous. However, two months down into their marriage, Isabella regrets marrying Heathcliff. ‘He’s a lying fiend, a monster, and not a human being!’ Isabella can’t stand to be with Heathcliff anymore. Isabella asks in her letter to Nelly if Heathcliff is ‘a man? ...is he a devil?’ Isabella’s ill treatment leads to a deep hatred for him. She describes him as a monster, not a human being.
When Catherine dies, Heathcliff’s life becomes torture. The love of his life has gone and he now has revenge focussed on his mind. He lives in misery and despair without Catherine. ‘I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul’. This language implies how close they were, and how much they loved each other. Nelly describes his actions with ‘He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears’. Heathcliff is described as being inhuman, violent and being demon like.
In conclusion, Heathcliff has many different types of characters in Wuthering Heights. As a child he characterised as an outsider with his social background, sullenness, and his fierce and passionate attachment to Cathy. When Heathcliff becomes an adult, he is quite a different man. He has a strong hatred for the people that wronged him as a child, villain like driven by revenge, distorted and twisted. The Victorian tale conveys the differences in social class and how that can affect people. Overall, I believe that Heathcliff is more a fiend from hell as he has a high capacity of hatred for alot of people who wronged him because of his social class. In Wuthering Heights, there are many descriptions of him being demon like, inhuman and monster like. He causes too much pain on people and has an all consuming passion for revenge. Although the reason for Heathcliff to be obsessed with revenge was driven by his social class, if he wasn’t from such a poor background, he wouldn’t have been treated like he was.