He also imprisons Cathy and makes her forcefully marry his dying son Linton so he could inherit the ownership of the Grange where the Lintons had lived. The intensity of his hatred identifies his purpose of absolute revenge when he expresses, “Had I been born where the laws are less strict, and tastes less dainty, I should treat myself to a slow vivisection of those two”. Above all his sadistic deeds is digging up Catherine’s grave that shows his determination to be with her in death as the unmarried Catherine had promised him, “I won’t rest till you are with me . . . I never will.” These negative images justify that he has the characteristics of a sinister tyrant that is typical of the gothic hero.
Although Heathcliff is the main tyrant in the novel – “fierce” but “honourable”, he is not the only tyrant because when Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley treats Heathcliff very harshly, as a slave, as he been jealous for years by the fact that an outsider was treated as the “favourite son” of Wuthering Heights by his family members. When his wife Frances dies, Hindley deteriorates and becomes a severe alcoholic, giving himself reckless dissipation. While he is master at Wuthering Heights, it becomes hell for all those who live there and he is often described using unpleasant words like “infernal”, “devil” and “hell”. It was his mistreatment of young Heathcliff that sets off the older Heathcliff’s thirst for revenge. He also has a blackmailing and harming attitude towards Heathcliff. We know this as ,at the beginning of the story, he once ordered Heathcliff – “off dog” and threatened with an iron weight. Alongside a blackmailing attitude he is also cruel and insulting as he once hits Heathcliff on the breast and curses him, “Take my colt, gypsy . . . I pray that he may break you neck”. Therefore Hindley also has the revengeful and callous characteristics of a gothic hero.
Moving on to the oppressor’s identity, Heathcliff is the protagonist in the novel “Wuthering Heights” but he has a mysterious and unknown past which is typical of a gothic hero. His social and parental background are not discussed in the novel. The book only narrates that Mr Earnshaw picked up an orphan from the “streets of Liverpool” when he saw him “starving” and “houseless”. We, as readers, can make assumptions that his darker skin and hair colour may be because of him originally being from another hotter country and being migrated or “kidnapped by wicked sailors” to England as there was a lot of sea and slave trade in Liverpool. This creates a sense of uncertainty about the character Heathcliff as we are never sure about his parental background although at the beginning of the story Nelly (the Heights’ housekeeper) suggests him that his father may be “Emperor of China” and his mother an “Indian Queen”.
When he leaves Wuthering Heights for three years, one can assume that he went to discover his personal identity and perhaps to find out who his real parents were. His unknown identity may also be the reason why he remains discontented and suffers throughout the novel – harshly treated by Hindley, separated from his true love Catherine and haunted by her. Furthermore, it justifies that the reason why he was the most hated character in the novel was that he didn’t have his parents to support him and help him in his problems. It appears that this is also a known fact amongst the characters of the novel as Cathy informs him, “Mr. Heathcliff, you have nobody to love you.” and “however miserable you make us, we shall still have the revenge of thinking that your cruelty arises from your great misery.”
In terms of maltreatment, we often see in a gothic novel that the gothic hero’s harassment of the established society and its values are indiscriminate as he seeks to gain absolute power. In “Wuthering Heights”, Heathcliff disregards the Church and the law. This is evident as he digs up Catherine’s grave to “have her in his arms again” so he could relieve himself as his true love had haunted him for eighteen years. His disregard for the law is linked to his bitter feelings about the Lintons. The Lintons are high in social status and because of their noble and conventional background, they get all they asked for in life. In contrast, Heathcliff can be assumed to be a bastard child who is not educated and does not depend on a civilised framework of life which is why Catherine thinks – “it would degrade me (her) now to marry him”. He despises the Lintons as they are a lot richer than him and are considered an important part of the established society which he will never be. Catherine chose Edgar Linton over Heathcliff because she wanted to be the “greatest woman in the neighbourhood” which wouldn’t be possible if Heathcliff married her.
Consequently, the reason why Heathcliff despises the class system and established society as a whole is because it was the influence of these two factors that resisted him to get what he most wanted in life – his beloved Catherine. It is due to the fact that he was treated harshly and “degraded” by Hindley “beneath his former level” that he couldn’t be a part of the high-class society which Catherine had wanted him to be.
Unsurprisingly, because Heathcliff disrespects the privileges of rank and class, he tries to destroy it as it is his aim to be the most powerful. Evidence of this destruction is found throughout the novel. First of all, when he returns to Wuthering Heights after his three year exile, he takes over Hindley’s state and wealth as an attempt to match the assets of Edgar which is what Catherine wanted. Later on in the story, he also stops Hareton’s education and treats him as a slave to seek revenge from Hindley (Hareton’s father) who treated Heathcliff in the same way after Mr Earnshaw’s death. Hareton’s mistreatment is described by the narrator Ellen Dean as to be “reduced to a state of complete dependence on his father’s enemy” and “lives in his own house as a servant” which maintains the malicious and pitiless figure of Heathcliff’s actions building up in the reader’s mind. Moreover, as mentioned before, he forcefully marries Cathy , a “carefully educated” and “lively” rich Linton to his “sickly” son Linton to complete his revenge over Edgar by taking control of the Grange.
To have contempt for all conventional forms of authority is also a characteristic of the gothic hero. At the end of the novel, Heathcliff mocks the institution of the law. He imprisons Cathy (Edgar and Cathy Linton’s daughter) at Wuthering Heights and blackmails her that she wouldn’t leave the building until she married his dying son Linton as he conveys to Nelly, “she (Cathy) must either accept him or remain a prisoner”. For that reason, Cathy marries Linton and the marriage doesn’t take place in a Church but at the Heights where the vicar is called for the rituals which is against the law.
Interestingly, a gothic protagonist’s behaviour and feelings are reflected in the ambiance of his surroundings. His impressions will be linked with an edifice – a majestic nineteenth century building where he will operate in a hostile and grim environment. Heathcliff lives at Wuthering Heights which corresponds to his character – cold and isolated. The “large jutting stones” that are set out the corners of the building’s buildings reminds me as a reader of Heathcliff’s “black” eyes that are “full of black fire” which resembles the dark and overcast setting of the building Wuthering Heights. Inside the building, there is a huge fireplace above which are “sundry villainous old guns” which also seem to portray Heathcliff’s fierce and unsympathetic nature being emblematic of a gothic tyrant.
The power dynamics that Lockwood observes in the household of Wuthering Heights are extremely important. The “bleak” and “harsh” nature of the Yorkshire hills on which Wuthering Heights is situated is not merely a geographical accident but Brontë’s purpose is to mirror the roughness of those of live there. The “storms” and “frosts” and the “far from friendly dogs” at Wuthering Heights alongside the “gaunt thorns” that grows nearby are a personification of Heathcliff’s cruelty and savage behaviour. Furthermore, Heathcliff and the “wind” are very similar as they have no pity for weakness. This is apparent in the novel as Cathy, Linton and Hareton (the less powerful characters) are all persecuted by Heathcliff who treats them “tyrannically” and “wickedly”.
Inevitably, although the brutality of the Gothic hero will persecute several characters in the novel, his major victim, whom he pursues and captivates is a beautiful and light haired woman who is a representation of the positiviteness of her civilised society. Her gentle attitude and polite manner of speaking contrasts the main gothic tyrant’s demonic personality, she is the main gothic heroine. In the novel, the three main female characters, Catherine, Isabella and Cathy are all pursued by Heathcliff. They are all related to the “mild and civilised” Lintons – Catherine marries Edgar Linton and produce Cathy and Isabella is Edgar Linton’s sister. Edgar Linton’s affluence had separated soul-mates Catherine and Heathcliff which made “revenge from the Lintons” Heathcliff’s destructive goal in life. This is why he takes control of the Grange unlawfully as mentioned before.
Catherine is the main heroine but the way Brontë develops her personality doesn’t completely follow the conventional gothic tradition. Although she is light haired, fair and attractive in appearance, she is also spontaneous and imperious in her behaviour as she wants to seek the love of both her lovers, Heathcliff and Edgar and believes that Edgar should respect her love for Heathcliff even when she is married to Edgar as she once declares,
“ Every Linton on the face of the heath might melt into nothing before I would consent to forsake Heathcliff ”. Mysteriously, she is the first gothic heroine to acknowledge the dark side of her soul and she also breaks the customary gothic mould, with a marriage that does not settle contradictions, but aggravates them.
However, Heathcliff and Catherine never leave the supreme of self-absorption and self-obsession of childhood. When Catherine tells Nelly, “ I am Heathcliff” she describes their other worldly union and when she uses the symbol “ fire and earth” to illustrate their love the reader gets the impression of it being elemental and enduring. This explains why he pursues her even after her death as it is his purpose to meet and reunite with Catherine’s soul which leads to self destruction, his death as a conclusion to the novel when his eyes have a “frightful, life-like gaze of exultation” conveying us he is eventually united with her.
On the other hand, the persecution of Isabella who is described by Nelly as “a charming young lady of eighteen” is due to two major factors. First, she is the sister of Heathcliff’s rich enemy Edgar Linton whom he wants to take revenge from. Heathcliff realises Isabella’s ardour for him but this doesn’t have any significance on him as he wants to see her suffer as he had when he didn’t get to unite with the one he loved most. When Heathcliff utterly rejects her after their marriage, her love turns to hatred very quickly as she then addresses him as “a lying fiend, a monster and not a human being” and also mentions, “The single pleasure I can imagine is to die, or to see him dead” that proves the love for her obsessed husband as exaggerated as she has little sense of reality.
The second reason why I believe she is harassed by the autocrat is because she sees her love for him as a grand passion even when she realises that he is desperately in love with her sister-in-law, Catherine. Heathcliff thinks Isabella’s love for him is an obstacle in his plan to unite with Catherine. He mentions that if he had to live with her “mawkish waxen face”, he would paint on its white, the “colours of the rainbow” implying he would physically abuse her which portrays is unbelievable cruelty and fascination for Catherine, his life desire. He marries her only so it would help him take over the Grange to complete the first part of his revenge quest from Edgar.
Heathcliff persecutes Cathy for a similar reason to Isabella. First of all, Cathy, a “sweet” and “biddable girl” is a Linton, Edgar Linton’s daughter whom he detests in jealousy of his supreme wealth and high social status. The obvious purpose for him to forcefully marry her to his son Linton is to complete his revenge mission against which couldn’t be accomplished when he married Isabella but would be when Linton inherits the Lintons’ home. On reflection, the main reason why Heathcliff persecutes the three “Edgar Linton related” women is because they all have the feminine principles of civilisation and gentleness representing the cultivated society that he despises. Disregarding the reputable culture is one of the villainous characteristics of a gothic protagonist which we see, very clearly, in Heathcliff.
When considering the historical context, Heathcliff seems to embody the anxieties that the book’s upper and middle class readers had about the working classes in the nineteenth century. The reader may easily sympathise with him on three main occasions. First, at the start of the novel when is powerless – his introduction to “Wuthering Heights” when he looks “as good as dumb” and would stand “Hindley’s blows without shedding a tear”.
Similarly, he would also gain the empathy when is a child tyrannized and tormented by Hindley Earnshaw who once beat him “breathless and white”. Hindley dreaded that because Heathcliff was the most liked child at Wuthering Heights he would inherit his father’s wealth and property and this is why he treated him cruelly. This corresponds with the ambivalence the upper classes felt towards the lower class citizens when they were miserable but feared the prospect of the lower classes trying to escape their pitiable circumstances by acquiring social and economic power. However, because Heathcliff ultimately does gets control of the Grange builds up an impression that Heathcliff is a self-made man as he didn’t have any financial support from parents or other relatives but gained his power and supremacy entirely by himself due to his own determination that shows his distinctive gothic nature.
Above all, the readers would also feel compassion for Heathcliff when his beloved Catherine dies as she was the most important person in is life and was his greatest aspiration. We know this because after her death, he emotionally expresses that he “cannot live without his life”. In spite of his cruel and vindictive personality and his satanic and malevolent deeds, the readers would still derive that Heathcliff’s miserable life was due to the fact that he was an illegitimate child who was further degraded by the other established characters like Hindley, Edgar and his own true love Catherine as she haunted him for eighteen years.
In conclusion, these were the aspects of the character Heathcliff that clarify him as a gothic hero to a large extent although I believe he is not the only tyrant in the novel. Heathcliff’s decline in life is largely due to Hindley stopping his education that degraded him to marry Catherine who wanted a rich husband which she could only find in Edgar Linton. His hateful behaviour has evolved from his history of deprivation and affliction. The complex context of his characteristics gives rise to the term “hero-villain”.
