While Heathcliff and Edgar act as foils for one another, it is more useful to consider their function in the novel as individuals. Discuss

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 While Heathcliff and Edgar act as foils for one another, it is more useful to consider their function in the novel as individuals.

In the novel, if Heathcliff is to be considered the primary protagonist, then Edgar is the primary antagonist. Heathcliff’s greatest desire is Catherine and the main obstacle that stands in his way is Edgar who, with his greater wealth and higher social status manages to keep her out of his reach. There is therefore a great connection between these two characters which could be explored in great detail; but is it more useful to consider them as two separate entities in the novel, with their other connections having greater importance?

When viewed together it can be claimed that as the reader we understand the characters more clearly when they are contrasted against each other. Bronte has set up a possible juxtaposition between Heathcliff and Edgar as it allows the reader to gage the extremities of the two men who are, in many respects polar opposites. This is evident in the most immediate of ways: physical appearance. There is an instant difference in the “long light hair” of Edgar whose figure is “almost too graceful” to the face of Heathcliff that is “half covered with black whiskers” with eyes “deep set and singular”. Further and possibly more useful comparisons include the gulfs in class and wealth of the two men. This is obviously an integral element in the novel, not least because Catherine chooses Edgar over Heathcliff because of his social status and wealth. We only need one small segment of Catherine’s speech to identify the significance of this. She opens her heart to Nelly as she honestly tells her that while “Heathcliff is more myself than I am” and that she truly loves him, it would “degrade me to marry Heathcliff”. Catherine is literally weighing up the two men side by side. The fact that she does this in her process of deciding which man she wants to be with shows us that it is of great importance to compare these two characters.

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 The inner workings of their personalities can also be offset against each other. Where Edgar is loving and kind but also weak and feminine, Heathcliff is raw, passionate and ostensibly more flawed. Even from a young age when Edgar “weeps silently” when he and his sister fight over the dog we get an impression of his personality. At the time of this event Heathcliff had himself been roaming the moors in a much more adventurous manner. These are just small fractions of the parallels that can be drawn between these two integral characters.

However it is perhaps just as important ...

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