Is Heathcliff someone you admire or detest? Discuss.

Is Heathcliff someone you admire or detest? Discuss

“Nelly, make me decent, I’m going to be good.” Heathcliff uttered these words, almost a plea for salvation, to his nurse and confidant, Ellen Dean at a point where his life had reached rock bottom. Is Heathcliff, an only child found on the streets of Liverpool, and subjected to unimaginable cruelty as a child, to be detested for his subsequent actions? Are we as people able to dismiss him as a spiteful, almost evil character when we ourselves have never experienced the intense pain of being separated from someone we love so deeply? To decide whether Heathcliff should be admired or detested, we need to examine his character and History in greater depth.

The first person to meet Heathcliff in the novel is Mr Lockwood, his tenant. Lockwood describes Heathcliff as someone who has an “aversion to showy displays of feeling.” This comment seems totally absurd when we see him with Catherine, however. For instance, when Mr Earnshaw has just died, Catherine and Heathcliff console each other so tenderly, Nelly remarks, “No person in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did.” It is as if he can only truly open his soul to her, and her memory alone. Everything else around him seems negligible. This passionate, caring side of Heathcliff is only ever exposed to Catherine. Every other character is treated with contempt, hatred or mere indifference. So to some extent, Lockwood’s remark rings true; Heathcliff’s emotions are only aroused upon the subject of Catherine, the rest of the time he strikes people as a rather withdrawn, quiet man. That explains Lockwood’s assumption; he had no connection to Catherine whatsoever.

Nobody can dispute the fact that Heathcliff’s behaviour, on his return to the Heights, was shameful. To treat Isabella so cruelly, lifting her hopes and then dashing them to hell, was so appalling that for many, any sympathy remaining towards him would soon evaporate in any but the most kind hearted readers. Also, his bullying and violent conduct towards his son, Linton, is also something that makes us warm to the notion of despising Heathcliff, especially when he talks with bemusement of how Linton “shudders when I touch him.” We can see, though, that all these acts of bitter cruelty are linked to one person, Catherine.

Heathcliff was brought to live at Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw, who found him one day, “starving, and homeless, and as good as dumb” wandering around the streets of Liverpool. Nelly describes Heathcliff as “dark almost as it came from the devil.” The first description of Heathcliff is not very flattering, and gives the reader some indication of what is to become of him. Hindley, who saw him as a challenger to his father’s affections, disliked Heathcliff almost immediately. Nelly observes that he “bred bad feeling in the house” from the very beginning, almost like a curse on the Heights itself. So Heathcliff’s introduction to the Earnshaw family is not as welcoming as he might have hoped for. Despite Nelly managing to make Heathcliff sound like a demon with no soul, I feel that he entered the Heights an innocent young child, who when “put [to bed] on the landing of the stairs” by Nelly, “crept to Mr Earnshaw’s door.” I think this means that he just wanted to be loved, and seeing as Mr Earnshaw was the only one who cared for him, that was where he went looking.

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As Heathcliff got older, he became hated more deeply than ever by Hindley, but loved more intensely by Catherine. This, coupled with Mr Earnshaw’s decision that Heathcliff was his favourite, while “Hindley was naught” made Hindley livid. Being nearly 10 years older than Heathcliff, he was able to take his frustrations out physically, which he did in the most brutal fashion. Heathcliff once refers to his arm “which is black to the shoulder” from Hindley’s “thrashings.” Hindley even goes so far as to throw a heavy metal weight at Heathcliff, probably with the intention of getting rid of him forever. However, as I have said before, Heathcliff only ever expressed his emotions where Catherine was concerned, and here, his relationship with her was not at all under threat. Therefore Heathcliff seldom complained of his diabolical treatment, choosing instead to bottle his anger up. There is evidence to support this idea in Chapter 6, where in the middle of making a passionate speech about loosing Catherine to the Linton’s, he remarks that “painting the house-front with Hindley’s blood” would be one of his most satisfying pleasures. This is an incredibly violent thought for such a young person, and gives the reader an insight into his subconscious. We also see his emotional side expressing itself when he talks of “smashing their great glass panes” if they detained Catherine for one second without her consent.

After Mr Earnshaw’s death, Hindley became master of the house. This marked the end of Wuthering Heights as it was, with Hindley becoming “tyrannical.” Now Hindley was in a position to exact real revenge on Heathcliff, he did so with all his heart. “He drove him from their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate, and insisted he should labour out of doors instead, compelling him to do so, as hard as any other lad on the farm.” Hindley had two motives for these actions. Firstly, he wanted to see Heathcliff degraded and humiliated, not treated as an equal, like his father had before him. Secondly, mindful of his weakness for Catherine, depriving him of an education and making a labourer of him would, he hoped, make Catherine think again about her feelings for Heathcliff. Despite Catherine’s initial attempts to remedy the situation (by teaching Heathcliff all she had learned,) she soon grew weary of his “dumb” ways, and with the taste of high society still fresh in her mouth from her time at the Grange, she went after Edgar Linton instead. This invoked exactly the feelings of anger, worthlessness and bitterness that Hindley had hoped for. This quote from Heathcliff neatly summarises his mental state at the time:

“I’m trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don’t care how long I wait, if only I can do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!”

When rebuked by Nelly, who reminds him that god is the only one fit to punish Hindley, Heathcliff replies “god won’t have the satisfaction I shall.” This comment, filled with passion and spirit shows how deep down his loathing for his oppressor is entrenched. Also, the hyperbole of Heathcliff’s assertion that his satisfaction shall be greater than that of god himself shows that he has lost any morality he possessed; it is a terrible sin to consider yourself to be superior to god.

However it is not just Hindley who is responsible for transforming Heathcliff from an innocent young child into a reckless, cruel man; the object of his own desires also has a part to play in his demise. Catherine, who after having spent 3 months recovering from her injury at Thrushcross Grange, had acquired a taste for living in such plush surroundings. She knew however that Heathcliff would never be able to provide such luxury, and therefore, rather selfishly, she gained the favour of Edgar Linton, a rich young man who would be able to fulfil her dreams of living with the middle classes. Heathcliff, after overhearing Catherine explain to Nelly how marrying him would degrade her, is so determined to have her that he runs away, returning rich and prosperous three years later. However, if he had waited just a few more moments, and heard a little more of that conversation, he would have seen that Catherine knew that she had “no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven.” The remark about heaven comes from an earlier speech where Catherine explains that her true heaven would be running in the moors, and being at Wuthering Heights. If Heathcliff had heard this, then I doubt he would have run away so abruptly. However, as he has done so often in the novel where Catherine is concerned, his emotions become extreme, and his body listens not to his head but to his heart, and he steals away into the darkness, resolved to make Catherine his whatever the consequences. Catherine’s marriage to Edgar is, in her own words is “foliage in the woods (subject to change)” compared to the “eternal rocks beneath” that hold together the bond between herself and Heathcliff. It is inevitable that the marriage will not last, as such a deep, almost otherworldly bond between the two lovers could never be broken, or even parted for long.

Until his disappearance, Heathcliff had no opportunity to take revenge, as his social position deemed it impossible. However, upon his return as a real Victorian gentlemen, Heathcliff begins to set into motion his plans for revenge upon all those he feels have wronged him. The only person he refuses to seek revenge upon is Catherine herself. This is rather ironic, as she is the central cause of his unhappiness. If Catherine had not been at the Heights, Heathcliff would have ran away from Hindley’s bullying long ago. If Catherine had not fallen in love with the lifestyle of the inhabitants at Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff would never have become so bitter towards Edgar, and consequently Linton and Cathy would never have been treated in the way they were; they wouldn’t even have existed! Despite this, the first person Heathcliff turns his attention to is Hindley. By encouraging him to gamble and drink his money away, and as a result have to mortgage the Heights over to him, Heathcliff manages to take away Hindley’s property and status. Heathcliff also treats Hareton, Hindley’s son, in a similar fashion. He does this partly to further antagonize and humiliate Hindley, and partly out of sheer hatred of the child who is the son of the one he hates so Vehemently. This act of revenge is, I would argue understandable of anybody. It is very hard to forgive someone who has persecuted you for so long. However, Heathcliff’s treatment of young Hareton, using him as a tool against his father, turning him into a savage in front of his very eyes, “gold put to the use of paving slabs,” as he later remarks is taking things beyond the point at which I can sympathise. To drag an innocent young child into Heathcliff’s dispute with Hindley is to behave just as badly as Hindley did towards Heathcliff in the first place.

Heathcliff’s second act of revenge is upon Edgar Linton, the man he perceives as having stolen what is rightfully his. As he cannot physically attack him (for fear of distressing Catherine, as he tells Nelly later on) he sets out to disgrace him by marrying his sister Isabella. Also, by becoming part of the Linton family, he would have the right to all Edgar’s property upon his death. This was something Edgar dreaded. This is again, in my eyes, morally on a par with his treatment of young Hareton. Heathcliff obviously has no love for Isabella as he “stared hard at [her] as one might do at a strange repulsive animal.” Isabella seemed attracted to Heathcliff because of his credentials as a character in a romantic novel, which she enjoyed reading. He, having only enough room for Catherine’s love, looked upon anyone attempting to invade that space with disgust. However, seeing the potential for revenge, Heathcliff married her anyway. Their union not only achieved the desired effect with Edgar, it also made Catherine jealous, something that was probably at the back of Heathcliff’s mind all the time. We can see the motive for Heathcliff’s revenge upon Edgar and Catherine clearly. Indeed he himself makes so secret of his plans. At one point, during a heated argument regarding Isabella he tells Catherine “I am not your husband, you needn’t be jealous of me!” This comment is followed by the fact that has tormented him ever since his return: “I want you to be aware that I know you have treated me infernally – Infernally!”

When Catherine dies, Heathcliff is distraught. When trying to discuss the matter with Nelly in Thrushcross Park, where he spent the night following her death, he cannot even bring himself to “pronounce the name.” Even after witnessing Heathcliff’s merciless revenge, even Nelly has to admit that he has a “heart and nerves” just like his “brother men.” This episode reminds us of the gravity of their relationship; even a hardened man like Heathcliff breaks down at the very mention of her being. Heathcliff also makes an interesting comment that parallels something Catherine said earlier. Whilst weeping over her death, he says, “I cannot live without my soul!” This is similar to Catherine’s earlier statement where she is trying to explain the situation with Heathcliff and Edgar: “If all else perished and he remained, I should still continue to be…[if] he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.” These two quotes again reiterate this supernatural bond that seems to exist between Catherine and Heathcliff. This does not appear to be accidental; ghosts and spirits appear elsewhere in the book as well, once at the beginning when Lockwood sees Catherine Linton, and again when Heathcliff digs up Catherine’s grave. This is the ultimate proof, if anymore were needed of the unquenchable, unwavering passion that flows between these two people. It is so great that no mortal could ever experience what they have. With such a deep-rooted connection between Catherine and Heathcliff, Heathcliff’s seemingly cruel and bitter acts of revenge begin to become more understandable. However, I feel that the relationship between these two is so unique it is rather like the concept of god to someone religious; it is so overwhelmingly complicated, you cannot even begin to pretend you understand it all.

Heathcliff was named after a child who died young and never reached his prime. The same can be said of our Heathcliff, who spent his life, homeless, bullied, infatuated, jealous or full of malice. Never was he truly happy. So should he be admired or detested? I feel that to admire such a man would be wrong. Although the way he maintained his dignity and love for Catherine even though he was being treated like dirt is admirable, the way he went about seeking revenge, drawing in and abusing the innocent to achieve his ends is disgusting. However if I was forced to endure such a childhood, then I wonder whether or not my mind would be affected the way Heathcliff’s was. So, to conclude I feel that I can neither admire nor detest him, as events on both ends of the scale seem to cancel each other out.