Wuthering Heights
Character: Heathcliff
He had been described as “the rude, fierce, tyrannical beast of a man”, however many readers
sympathise with him. One of the reasons for this is because the readership becomes aware, very
early on in the novel, of how Heathcliff is treated as a child:
After the death of Mr Earnshaw, it states, “Hindley became tyrannical”, connoting
violence and abuse of power – this is confirmed as Heathcliff regularly receives “a
flogging” and that Hindley would “thrash Heathcliff till his arm ached”.
The verbs “drove”, “insisted”, and “compelling” show how Hindley bullies and forces
young Heathcliff.
Without Earnshaw, Heathcliff is reduced to a status below servants.
We learn that Heathcliff “bore his degradation pretty well”, bottling up his emotions
which later intensified his anguish.
At one point in Chapter 7, Hindley exclaims “Begone, you vagabond!”, serving as a
merciless reminder of Heathcliff ’s origins, and his potential future if Hindley turned him
out of the Heights.
Contrast between Heathcliff and the Lintons:
In Heathcliff ’s first encounter with the Lintons, while he is still a child, his rough, wild
appearance concerns them. They refer to him in the pompous phrase:
“Hold your tongue” “you foul mouthed thief, you!”
“don’t be afraid, it is but a boy – yet the villain scowls so plainly in his face”.
The juxtaposition in this phrase tells us that because Heathcliff ’s wild nature is visible in
his looks, people automatically assume the worst of him. Mr Linton even states:
“Would it not be a kindness to the country to hang him at once, before he shows his nature in
acts as well as features?”
As a child, surrounded by this derogatory talk, Heathcliff ’s wild nature seems almost
inevitable, seeming as though he is being encouraged to be bad natured.
It is thought that Heathcliff withstands this treatment for Cathy however, before long
she begins to hold him in low esteem and a patronising, vicious side to her is presented.
Sympathies for Heathcliff as an adult:
As well as his treatment as a child, the readership is encouraged to sympathise with
Heathcliff after Cathy’s death as he mourns her:
“he dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a
man, but like a savage beast goaded to death with knives and spears”
Violent and frightening display of emotions at the loss of the only valuable thing in his
life.
“if he is a beast, it is a beast in pain provoked into savagery by how he has been treated”
(James Tabbinor)
, “He is a dark- Heathcliff is first introduced to the reader through
skinned gypsy in Lockwood’s narrative as an outsider in
aspect, in dress appearance, with a conflicting presentation of his
and manners a behaviour as a gentleman.
gentleman”
“Dashing a tear from his Shows his desperation – Brontë quickly conveys
eyes (…) come in! come
in! (…) oh my heart’s his love through emotive and affectionate
darling, hear me this language. The tear is unnatural as men usually
time- catherine, at wouldn’t be so emotional.
last!”
He is introduced as an outside again. As a child
“Repeated (…) some
gibberish that nobody
Heathcliff replaces the gifts Mr Earnshaw had
could understand” promised, the whip lost.
“When would you catch selfless nature of their love
me wishing to have
what Catherine
wanted?”
“it was a deep voice, This description fits with the gothic anti-hero. His
and foreign in tone (…) return is described with gothic language, using lots of
something stirred in the
motifs of light and dark. Darkness = a contaminating
porch (…) dark clothes,
with dark face and hair” force which pollutes the calm + disrupts the order of
TG= like what H. did at WH.
“But do you imagine This highlights his disregard for the marital
that I shall leave
Catherine to his duty system – his love transcends barriers of
and humanity, and can convention to some extent? Or does he simply
you compare my believe those barriers don’t exist?
feelings respecting
Catherine to his?
Horse-trough = humble and restrictive, prosaic
“the sea could be as
readily contains in that
metaphor to represent the limits of conventional
horse-trough” love. Cathy’s love is compared to the sea= a
force that cannot be contained. Otherworldly
love?
“But do you imagine This highlights his disregard for the marital
that I shall leave system – his love transcends barriers of
Catherine to his duty
and humanity, and can
convention to some extent? Or does he simply
you compare my believe those barriers don’t exist?
feelings respecting
,“he neither spoke, nor Moment of extreme tenderness- contrasts to
loosed his hold, for
some five minutes usual depictions of Heathcliff + only time we see
during which period he physical intimacy- THCM = tone is very
bestowed more kisses different= insincerity vs artifice.
than he ever gave”
(Link to remember poem)
“oh, Cathy! Oh, my life!
How can I bear it?”
Violent, dynamic verbs, “grinding/wrenching” = a
“Don’t torture me till
I’m as mad as yourself, common motif in Brontë’s depiction of H. Contrast to
cried he, wrenching his Sonnet 116 which portrays love as a guiding force. In
head free, and grinding the poem, love is the guide though “torture” whereas
his teeth” in WH it’s the cause of pain.
“May she wake in
torment! (…) I cannot
live without my soul”
“Catherine Earnshaw,
may you not rest as
long as I am living. You
said I killed you- haunt
me then”
, Supposed to be an act of love- to both readers
“So, I struck one side however, quite disturbing. Remember provides an
of the coffin loose” inversion of this scene. Sonnet 116= eternal nature of
love +death imagery. THCM= very physical inversion of
eternality of love+ specifically talks about the grave.
“I have to remind
myself to breathe-
almost to remind my
heart to beat!”
Character: Catherine
“Let me in- let me Cathy is first introduced as a supernatural force,
in (…) thereat transcending barriers of death for love,
began a feeble presenting its enduring nature. “scratching”
scratching outside” connotes a wild animal, conveying her
desperation.
A rebellious, ungovernable child. She is
“A wild, wick slip presented as not fitting the conventional
she was (…) with feminine stereotype.
her bold, saucy”
Bildungsroman = coming of age story for Cathy
asw. Bleeds from dog= menstruation +female
“You look like a lady
now” puberty= sexual socialisation which occurred as
a girl matured. Shows how society pressured
women to repress their ‘wildness’
“Because he is handsome, She loves Edgar for his physical appearance, and
and pleasant to be with so she can climb the social hierarchy. Hes a
(…) he will be rich, and I
shall like to be the greatest socially acceptable and advantageous match,
woman of the unlike Heathcliff.
neighbourhood.”
“I love the ground under
She gives an ephemeral reasoning to marrying
his feet, and the air over Edgar. She sounds like she’s quoting what she
his heas, and everything
he touches, and every
thinks love should sound like, but instead she
word he says” almost sounds bored.
Presents love as temporary.
“I have only to do
with the present”
Character: Heathcliff
He had been described as “the rude, fierce, tyrannical beast of a man”, however many readers
sympathise with him. One of the reasons for this is because the readership becomes aware, very
early on in the novel, of how Heathcliff is treated as a child:
After the death of Mr Earnshaw, it states, “Hindley became tyrannical”, connoting
violence and abuse of power – this is confirmed as Heathcliff regularly receives “a
flogging” and that Hindley would “thrash Heathcliff till his arm ached”.
The verbs “drove”, “insisted”, and “compelling” show how Hindley bullies and forces
young Heathcliff.
Without Earnshaw, Heathcliff is reduced to a status below servants.
We learn that Heathcliff “bore his degradation pretty well”, bottling up his emotions
which later intensified his anguish.
At one point in Chapter 7, Hindley exclaims “Begone, you vagabond!”, serving as a
merciless reminder of Heathcliff ’s origins, and his potential future if Hindley turned him
out of the Heights.
Contrast between Heathcliff and the Lintons:
In Heathcliff ’s first encounter with the Lintons, while he is still a child, his rough, wild
appearance concerns them. They refer to him in the pompous phrase:
“Hold your tongue” “you foul mouthed thief, you!”
“don’t be afraid, it is but a boy – yet the villain scowls so plainly in his face”.
The juxtaposition in this phrase tells us that because Heathcliff ’s wild nature is visible in
his looks, people automatically assume the worst of him. Mr Linton even states:
“Would it not be a kindness to the country to hang him at once, before he shows his nature in
acts as well as features?”
As a child, surrounded by this derogatory talk, Heathcliff ’s wild nature seems almost
inevitable, seeming as though he is being encouraged to be bad natured.
It is thought that Heathcliff withstands this treatment for Cathy however, before long
she begins to hold him in low esteem and a patronising, vicious side to her is presented.
Sympathies for Heathcliff as an adult:
As well as his treatment as a child, the readership is encouraged to sympathise with
Heathcliff after Cathy’s death as he mourns her:
“he dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a
man, but like a savage beast goaded to death with knives and spears”
Violent and frightening display of emotions at the loss of the only valuable thing in his
life.
“if he is a beast, it is a beast in pain provoked into savagery by how he has been treated”
(James Tabbinor)
, “He is a dark- Heathcliff is first introduced to the reader through
skinned gypsy in Lockwood’s narrative as an outsider in
aspect, in dress appearance, with a conflicting presentation of his
and manners a behaviour as a gentleman.
gentleman”
“Dashing a tear from his Shows his desperation – Brontë quickly conveys
eyes (…) come in! come
in! (…) oh my heart’s his love through emotive and affectionate
darling, hear me this language. The tear is unnatural as men usually
time- catherine, at wouldn’t be so emotional.
last!”
He is introduced as an outside again. As a child
“Repeated (…) some
gibberish that nobody
Heathcliff replaces the gifts Mr Earnshaw had
could understand” promised, the whip lost.
“When would you catch selfless nature of their love
me wishing to have
what Catherine
wanted?”
“it was a deep voice, This description fits with the gothic anti-hero. His
and foreign in tone (…) return is described with gothic language, using lots of
something stirred in the
motifs of light and dark. Darkness = a contaminating
porch (…) dark clothes,
with dark face and hair” force which pollutes the calm + disrupts the order of
TG= like what H. did at WH.
“But do you imagine This highlights his disregard for the marital
that I shall leave
Catherine to his duty system – his love transcends barriers of
and humanity, and can convention to some extent? Or does he simply
you compare my believe those barriers don’t exist?
feelings respecting
Catherine to his?
Horse-trough = humble and restrictive, prosaic
“the sea could be as
readily contains in that
metaphor to represent the limits of conventional
horse-trough” love. Cathy’s love is compared to the sea= a
force that cannot be contained. Otherworldly
love?
“But do you imagine This highlights his disregard for the marital
that I shall leave system – his love transcends barriers of
Catherine to his duty
and humanity, and can
convention to some extent? Or does he simply
you compare my believe those barriers don’t exist?
feelings respecting
,“he neither spoke, nor Moment of extreme tenderness- contrasts to
loosed his hold, for
some five minutes usual depictions of Heathcliff + only time we see
during which period he physical intimacy- THCM = tone is very
bestowed more kisses different= insincerity vs artifice.
than he ever gave”
(Link to remember poem)
“oh, Cathy! Oh, my life!
How can I bear it?”
Violent, dynamic verbs, “grinding/wrenching” = a
“Don’t torture me till
I’m as mad as yourself, common motif in Brontë’s depiction of H. Contrast to
cried he, wrenching his Sonnet 116 which portrays love as a guiding force. In
head free, and grinding the poem, love is the guide though “torture” whereas
his teeth” in WH it’s the cause of pain.
“May she wake in
torment! (…) I cannot
live without my soul”
“Catherine Earnshaw,
may you not rest as
long as I am living. You
said I killed you- haunt
me then”
, Supposed to be an act of love- to both readers
“So, I struck one side however, quite disturbing. Remember provides an
of the coffin loose” inversion of this scene. Sonnet 116= eternal nature of
love +death imagery. THCM= very physical inversion of
eternality of love+ specifically talks about the grave.
“I have to remind
myself to breathe-
almost to remind my
heart to beat!”
Character: Catherine
“Let me in- let me Cathy is first introduced as a supernatural force,
in (…) thereat transcending barriers of death for love,
began a feeble presenting its enduring nature. “scratching”
scratching outside” connotes a wild animal, conveying her
desperation.
A rebellious, ungovernable child. She is
“A wild, wick slip presented as not fitting the conventional
she was (…) with feminine stereotype.
her bold, saucy”
Bildungsroman = coming of age story for Cathy
asw. Bleeds from dog= menstruation +female
“You look like a lady
now” puberty= sexual socialisation which occurred as
a girl matured. Shows how society pressured
women to repress their ‘wildness’
“Because he is handsome, She loves Edgar for his physical appearance, and
and pleasant to be with so she can climb the social hierarchy. Hes a
(…) he will be rich, and I
shall like to be the greatest socially acceptable and advantageous match,
woman of the unlike Heathcliff.
neighbourhood.”
“I love the ground under
She gives an ephemeral reasoning to marrying
his feet, and the air over Edgar. She sounds like she’s quoting what she
his heas, and everything
he touches, and every
thinks love should sound like, but instead she
word he says” almost sounds bored.
Presents love as temporary.
“I have only to do
with the present”
