Violence is used by many people for a variety of different reasons. In Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, violence is a tool used by many characters. Hindley largely uses violence to control Heathcliff and attempt to assert his dominance. Heathcliff takes revenge on Hindley and other characters for previous abuse and manipulation, and Cathy attempts to control people and get what she wants, often using violence to achieve this. Violence is used as both a controlling force and as a means to exact revenge by almost every character in Wuthering Heights. One of the most violent characters towards Heathcliff specifically is Hindley who uses violence to assert control over the Heights and take vengeance on Heathcliff. When Hindley and Heathcliff …show more content…
From their early years, Heathcliff takes out his jealousy of Edgar on Edgar himself. An example of this jealousy is shown here:, “He seized a tureen of hot applesauce, the first that came under his gripe, and dashed it full against the speaker’s face and neck, who instantly commenced a lament that brought Isabella and Catherine hurrying to the place.” (Bronte 61) Here is the first of many substantial acts of violence committed by Heathcliff. He is jealous of Edgar’s wealth and how much his family and Cathy love him. He wants to get revenge on him for taking Cathy away from him, so he uses violence. This further shows that violence is largely used to take vengeance on others, especially by Heathcliff. As the characters aged, Heathcliff exacts revenge on Edgar for marrying Cathy by marrying and then abusing his sister Isabella. He believes that since he cannot directly punish Edgar for marrying Cathy and making her ill, he will punish Isabella instead, “He told me of Catherine’s illness, and accuses my brother of causing it, promising that I should be Edgar’s proxy in suffering, till he could get a hold of him.” (Bronte 143) Heathcliff admits that the only reason he married Isabella is to indirectly take revenge on Edgar through her as a proxy. To do this, he uses various forms of violence and verbal abuse, all as a means to get back at Edgar. This …show more content…
Two of the most notable examples occur in the same event, the first being when she hits Nelly due to her inability to get what she wants. Even though Nelly has been Cathy’s charge for her entire life, she doesn’t hesitate to hit her for such a small reason, “She stamped her foot, wavered a moment, and then, irresistibly impelled by the naughty spirit within her, slapped me on the cheek a stinging blow that filled both eyes with water.” (Bronte 73) This shows that Cathy is willing to do whatever it takes, including use violence, simply to control people so she can get her desired outcome, proving control is one of the main purposes of violence between characters. The second example is when she slaps Edgar as revenge for his attempt to calm her down. This occurs in tandem with her assault on Nelly:, “In an instant one was wrung free, and the astonished young man felt it applied over his own ear in a way that could not be mistaken for jest.” (Bronte 73) At this point, Cathy and Edgar were in love, which makes this more meaningful. Cathy sees Edgar’s attempt to make her stop shaking Hareton as a threat, and reacts by using violence. This is because she is so used to getting her way and having control, that another person trying to control her is foreign. This is also an act of revenge, as Cathy can’t have anyone controlling her and needs to make sure it won’t happen again.
With Heathcliff interfering as well, Edgar is caught in between the two lovers, being used for jealousy and selfish affection. One way in which this is shown is once Edgar stands up for himself for once, tired of the deception around him, yelling at Cathy.
Edgar Linton, normally gentle, also uses physical violence when he fights with Heathcliff over Catherine Earnshaw, now his wife Catherine Linton. Like Hindley, Edgar does not realize that violence cannot produce love. His fight with Heathcliff results in Catherine’s insanity and her eventual death. Catherine, too, is not flawless. When Nelly, under Hindley’s orders, chaperones Edgar’s visit with Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine is furious and strikes Nelly. When her nephew Hareton weeps at this abusive display, Catherine seizes the child and shakes him. She then strikes Edgar when he tries to stop her. The root of Catherine’s violence is not the same as the one that plague Hindley and Edgar: she does not physically hurt her family because she wants to be loved. She feels that she is already loved by everyone, but she
In Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Heathcliff’s strong love for Catherine guides his transformation as a character. While Heathcliff enters the story as an innocent child, the abuse he receives at a young age and his heartbreak at Catherine’s choice to marry Edgar Linton bring about a change within him. Heathcliff’s adulthood is consequently marked by jealousy and greed due to his separation from Catherine, along with manipulation and a deep desire to seek revenge on Edgar. Although Heathcliff uses deceit and manipulation to his advantage throughout the novel, he is never entirely content in his current situation. As Heathcliff attempts to revenge Edgar Linton, he does not gain true fulfillment. Throughout Wuthering Heights, Brontë uses Heathcliff’s vengeful actions to convey the message that manipulative and revenge-seeking behaviors will not bring a person satisfaction.
Heathcliff is seeking vigilante justice. In the book, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, the main, Heathcliff, takes his revenge on the people that have wronged him: Catherine, Edgar, and Hindley. Catherine betrayed Heathcliff, when she confessed that she couldn’t be with him, because of his status. Edgar, Catherine's husband, is know to Heathcliff as the man who took Catherine away from him, and drove her to her death. Hindley degraded Heathcliff to the point that Catherine believed she couldn’t love him.
Heathcliff is a victim of class hatred but he also manipulates situations to his advantage and becomes an arch - exploiter. For example, after the death of his wife, Hindley went insane. Heathcliff used this opportunity to take revenge and took Wuthering Heights away from Hindley. He then went further and married Edgar’s sister, not for love or monetary gain but to get back at Edgar for marrying Catherine, and treated Edgar’s sister terribly.
Another one of the many things Heathcliff wanted was power. He seduced and married Isabella Linton, not out of love, but out of selfish thoughts of abusing her to get revenge against her brother, Edgar because he married Heathcliff’s lover. When Isabella died, Heathcliff’s son Linton was handed over to him; Heathcliff forced Linton to marry Edgar and Catherine’s daughter, Catherine – or Cathy – Linton. When Ellen found letters written between the two, Linton’s letters “rendered natural,
Brontë shows how cruelty passes through generations through Hindley’s mistreatment towards Heathcliff. From the moment Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff, Hindley enters a state of melancholy and loathes that his father clearly favors Heathcliff over him. Mr. Earnshaw’s adoption of Heathcliff upsets Hindley, his father clearly favors Heathcliff over him. Consequently, Hindley reciprocates this hatred when he meets Heathcliff, comparing him to satan and wishing for his death. Heathcliff, unable to act against these cruel words, silently absorbs them. This interaction reveals traits of each character: the maliciousness of Hindley’s character, who hates on the young Heathcliff without reason; and the timidity of Heathcliff, fostered by his inability to stand up for himself. Although timid at the moment, Heathcliff assimilates this cruelty so that he can inflict it upon others, just as Hindley does the same to him. This depicts how the victim of suffering develops into the bearer of cruelty. Soon after Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Hindley assumes control of his household and unleashes even more cruelty on Heathcliff. In a fit of
As children, the two were equals playing with each other, but that ended upon Cathy’s stay with Edgar after an accident. Upon her return Heathcliff acts colder, as “...he had ceased to express his fondness for her in words, and coiled with angry suspicion from her girlish caresses, as if conscious there could be no gratification in lavishing such marks of affection on him” (66). By beginning to emotional remove himself from Cathy’s actions, Heathcliff prepares to fight for dominance over Cathy’s time and affection. Cathy is somewhat aware of Heathcliff’s animosity against Edgar by attempting to hide his visits to her. Cathy tries to equalize all three of them by justifying her marriage to Edgar with “‘... if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise and place him out of my brother’s power’” (79). Consequently, her reasoning to bring Heathcliff out of degradation affirms his lower social status, and Edgar’s and her’s mutual social superiority by birth. Social norms dictate Cathy’s reasoning as well, to marry within one’s social class, which Heathcliff is not. Though socially inferior, Heathcliff manages to have power over Cathy by dramatically affecting her emotions upon his leave, since she “burst into uncontrollable grief,” (85) and long after he leaves, Cathy remains so, “Catherine had seasons of gloom and silence...never subject to depression of
Heathcliff wants revenge on Catherine that is why he wants her to be under his control. Heathcliff wants revenge on Catherine because he hears her tell nelly that it is not right to be in love with him so he wants revenge. Heathcliff was very much in love with Catherine and really cared for her. Heathcliff temper is very short and is easily frustrated because he was treated bad by Hindley and was once very poor when his dad had passed.
Heathcliff is further victimized with the aid of Cathy, as well as his extraordinarily strong love for her. the first instance of victimization is accidental, however reasons troubles however. Cathy claims to be in so love with Heathcliff that they're one character, but she won’t marry him because of her preference to further her social popularity. Heathcliff overheard Cathy announcing this to Nelly, and is that is the triggering occasion. hearing this causes Heathcliff to run away for years, returning mysteriously and now not telling all people wherein he became or what he became doing. His go back additionally marks the beginning of his revenge and victimization of the opposite characters.
Since Edgar and Isabella were sources of oppression in Heathcliff’s childhood, Heathcliff feels the need to plot for revenge against them. Heathcliff’s reappearance is his first act of revenge, because he immediately makes Edgar jealous.
and it is what urges him for revenge. After Heathcliff overheard Catherine confessing how it would “degrade her to marry him” he left. I was appalled when Heathcliff returned as a “fierce, pitiless, wolfish” man who immediately
As Heathcliff aged, his love for Catherine—first shown on the night of Mr. Earnshaws death when only the two of them can comfort each other—blossomed and bloomed not into the rose which would have been expected from such a strong, passionate love, but into the twisted thorn bush of Heathcliff’s dark revenge. After Mr. Earnshaws death Catherine’s elder brother, Hindley, became the new proprietor of Wuthering Heights. Under Hindley’s guiding hand, Heathcliff was sent out into the fields with the servants and was no longer aloud to be educated along with Catherine. This was the first time that the two of them were separated, and it later led to Heathcliff’s wreaking his revenge upon Hindley by first driving him to drink, taking his land with gambling debts, and corrupting his son Hareton in the same way that Hindley had done to Heathcliff, but to an exaggerated degree. The next “victim” of Heathcliff’s revenge was Edgar Linton.
Catherine picked on him as a sort of flirt, whereas Edgar was straight mean and crude to him. Heathcliff is planning to get revenge on the two of them for isolating him as a child. Catherine and Edgar are married, and they are quite dysfunctional. Heathcliff plans to marry Edgar’s sister Isabella to make the wedded jealous. In the end, Heathcliff just feels isolated again.
The most common form of violence that is displayed in Wuthering Heights is physical violence. Many of the characters are violent towards one another. One of the most violent characters would be Catherine Linton, who was very fond of physically harming others, “wicked aunt Cathy,’ which drew her fury on to his unlucky head: she seized his shoulders, and shook him till the poor child was waxed livid…” Catherine Linton would physically harm others if she did not get what she desired. Bronte’s imagery of Cathy shaking young Hareton is very powerful, it makes it clear to the reader how far Cathy will go. Cathy is not bother by hurting a child and can be very intense. By using words such as wicked and fury Bronte creates a violent diction in her novel further proving that Wuthering Heights is a novel of violence. An essay written by Judith E. Pike describes the some of the physical violence that occurs and the novel. Pike describes the physical violence the Isabella Linton experienced at the hands of Heathcliff,