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Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a peculiar character with outrageous actions and questionable decisions. One must ask themselves, if Heathcliff was destined to be this way because of his genetics, or if the way he was brought up led to this behavior. One obvious reason Heathcliff might be as cold as he is, is due to the abuse he suffered from Hindley as a child. This claim is supported by much research that has been done on the long term effects of child abuse.
From analyzing the text, and the research behind the text, it is safe to argue that Heathcliff is the way he is due to the abuse, both physical and emotional, he suffered while growing up.
As Heathcliff grows up in the Earnshaw household he undergoes much physical abuse from Hindley. While Hindley abuses Heathcliff in many ways, one significant occurrence is when he makes Heathcliff a servant after Mr.
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Earnshaw dies, “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” (Bronte 59). Automatically, this puts Heathcliff in less than ideal physical situations and also creates emotional abuse as it automatically puts Heathcliff in a situation lower than all the other characters, making him more defensive. As more and more situations like this occur, Heathcliff becomes angrier and ultimately more like Hindley, the man he hates so much for abusing him (Carlisle 47-48).
He even goes on to abuse the people in his life just like he was abused.
Hindley’s physical abuse is seen through Heathcliff’s increasing violence as the novel progresses. Lockwood notices Heathcliff’s violent tendencies almost immediately, “Heathcliff gradually fell back into the shelter of the bed as I spoke, finally sitting down almost concealed behind it. I guessed, however, by his irregular and intercepted breathing, that he struggled to vanquish an access to violent emotion” (Bronte 45). Even after he goes away and refines himself, Heathcliff has been molded by his abuse, “A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness, though stern for grace” (Bronte 99). This hardness that has come from his abuse ends up being the only way he can be described. Even Catherine, whom he loves, sees his hardness as who he is as she explains him to Nelly, “Tell her what Heathcliff is: an unreclaimed creature, without refinement, without cultivation; an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone” (Bronte 104). By everyone viewing him this way, it makes it near impossible for him to escape this label and become a better person.
For the most part, Heathcliff endures the physical abuse better than expected for a child in his circumstances. However, he lets all the anger and pain build up in him so much, that this physical abuse ends up being more of a form of emotional abuse, which of Heathcliff suffers greatly. Much of Heathcliff’s abuse may have stemmed from the fact that he was treated as an outsider since the minute he entered the Earnshaw home, much of which is racial (Lodine-Chaffey 208). “They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room; and I had no more sense, so I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might he gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. This was Heathcliff's first introduction to the family” (Bronte 52). This emotional abuse leads to negative characteristics such as jealousy and vengeance (Carlisle 46). This jealousy and vengeance is also inherited from Hindley, his abuser. Hindley’s jealousy of Heathcliff comes from Mr. Earnshaw love for Heathcliff, which therefore leads to vengeance toward Heathcliff. When Hindley abuses Heathcliff out of jealously, he is involuntarily teaching Heathcliff that jealousy is an acceptable emotion, and that it is ok to act on that emotion in any way that is pleasing (Carlisle 46). This is seen in the novel as Catherine explains, “He has been blaming our father (how dared he?) for treating H. too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place” (Bronte 40). His jealousy continues to make more problems as the story goes on, as it causes him to leave and abuse the others around him.
Besides jealousy and vengeance, Heathcliff lacks typical human nature as a product of his physical and emotional abuse. Joseph Carroll takes an evolutionary psychology stance on analyzing Heathcliff and observes, “In Heathcliff, human nature has been stunted and deformed. Apart from his passional bond with Catherine, his relations with other characters are almost exclusively antagonistic. The capacity for hatred is part of human nature, but so is positive sociality. No other character in the novel accepts antagonism as a legitimately predominating principle of social life” (245). Heathcliff’s unnatural development is seen even farther as he seems to have almost no love for his own son. This is very unnatural, as according to the theory of evolution, the whole purpose of life is to create offspring and take care of them until they go off on their own (Carroll 243). The only time Heathcliff seems to be natural and follow human nature is when he is with Catherine (Carroll 252). This is probably due to the similar problems that him and Catherine share, “Heathcliff is an orphan or an abandoned child. Catherine’s mother—like Emily Brontë’s own mother—dies when she is a child, and her father is emotionally estranged from her. Both children display a hypertrophic need for personal dominance, and their capacity for affectional bonding channels itself exclusively into their relation with one another. Neither Heathcliff nor Catherine ever becomes a socially and sexually healthy adult” (Carroll 252-253). These shared issues between Catherine and Heathcliff forms an unhealthy bond that leads to further abuse of Heathcliff emotionally.
As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the most effective emotional abuse Heathcliff suffers from is from his love, Catherine. While Heathcliff’s whole life revolves around Catherine, he instead is merely just a part of her life as she goes around doing whatever she wants. Nelly points this out to her when she is contemplating marrying Edgar, “Have you considered how you'll bear the separation, and how he'll bear to be quite deserted in the world” (Bronte 87)? Catherine emotionally abuses Heathcliff as she allows him to love her more than she will ever love him. While she does love Heathcliff, she sees him as below her, “I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” (Bronte 86). One of the most interesting aspects of this particular abusive relationship is that Heathcliff is aware of it all along, “I want you to be aware that I know you have treated me infernally —infernally! Do you hear? And if you flatter yourself that I don't perceive it, you are a fool; and if you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot” (Bronte 112). However, even though he is angry at her, he always loves her and continues the abusive relationship although he knows what it’s doing to him.
Once Heathcliff loses everything he has been living for, it seems that the only way to escape the consequences of his abuse are to die. He is exhausted from the vengeful, painful, life he has lived and gives up his diabolical plans, “My old enemies have beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives: I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don't care for striking. I can't take the trouble to raise my hand!...I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing” (Bronte 276). Once his need for revenge is gone, he starts being careless and treats Hareton, the son of Hindley, his abuser, with respect. By helping Hareton, Heathcliff gets in the way of his own goals, “It expressed, plainer than words could do, the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge” (Bronte 82). Heathcliff finally realizes that in order to escape all the pain from his abusive life, he must die.
Overall, Heathcliff’s complicated character can be explained so much from the abuse he endured, both physical and emotional. Particularly, his relationship with Catherine which he uses to hold himself together, ends up being the most pivotal part in his downfall. He is unable to have any other goals in life because of this relationship and therefore is crippled by it until he dies. Heathcliff’s story shows important insight into how abuse can happen in various situations and the negative outcomes it can bring.
A Character Of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. (2024, Feb 08). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/a-character-of-heathcliff-in-wuthering-heights-essay
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