Is Heathcliffe really a victim? He was initially an orphaned child, endured torment when he grew up with the Earnshaw family, treated as an outsider and lost his one true love, Catherine, to Edgar Linton.
Or is he really a thoroughly spitelful and inhumane character through his treatment of young Cathy, Hareton, Linton and Isabella?
2006-06-07 22:01:26 · 10 answers · asked by LONDONER © 6 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Both. Heathcliffe is the embodiment of passionate love, as opposed to compassionate love. From the first time we see him as a boy, he is described as having something wild in him. It is this wildness that finds its echo in Catherine, and it teaches his soul that he is right; beyond the conventions and forms of the society in which he is brought up, love, "real love" as he feels it, is a thing of wildness, that can only find its expression in the heart of another who feels it, and in a place of natural desolate beauty - like the moors. It's an idea that was later to be given rather more explicit expression in Lady Chatterley's Lover - the physical and passionate element of love drawing Connie to mellors "in the woods", while she remains the Lady Chatterley of society while she is in the house.
Anyhow, with Heathcliffe, the torment of his early years draws a clear line in his mind between him and Cathy and everyone else in their life - who he sees as week or feckless for one reason or another, compared to himself and Cathy. So you could argue that his tragedy is grown out of the torments of his youth, and the sense of his being different from 'civilised' society. However, after Cathy's death, it's as though the wild love that's in him has been twice betrayed - once by Cathy in her spiteful marriage to Edgar, and one by Nature itself, which takes her from him a second time.
This is where Heathcliffe becomes this embodiment of passion over compassion. Passion focussed into love is intense and serves that love well. Passion robbed of love with nowhere left to go can turn you mad, and hard, and unforgiving of those you feel have contributed to the loss of everything you care about. This very passion is what drives him to the cruelty, both spontaneous and planned, against everyone in his life - from Cathy's death until his own, his life is one long act of revenge against the perpetrators of his early torments, their children, and anyone who thinks well of them. With Cathy at his side, he would have been ultimately compassionate, he would have had no care but his life with her. Without her, compassion has no place in him, and all is punishment and fury.
Does this help at all?
2006-06-07 22:17:18 · answer #1 · answered by mdfalco71 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Surely he was both, aren't most bad people also hurt and damaged people. The two are not mutually exclusive.
The book is about actions and consequences (among other things). The way Heathcliffe is treated becomes how he treats others, the later generations of the family pay for the actions of their ancestors. He is a man who cannot deal with his pain and so turns it on others, so that they will suffer as he has.
Fantastic book by the way, the best description of pure passion anywhere.
2006-06-08 07:56:29 · answer #2 · answered by sally maclennan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think Heathcliff is both a victim and a tormentor. that whole book is so heart wrenching, and it is hard to know who one should be feeling sympathy for. i feel the same way about heathcliff and his situation as i do for 'the monster' in shelley's frankenstein. they could have turned out ok, but their environments screwed them up and turned them towards destruction.
2006-06-08 16:25:45 · answer #3 · answered by pinkcat613 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't believe that people are discussing this book. I read it as part of a book club and I thought it was a complete waste of time.
All the characters are vile: To each other; about each other.
They all deserve their wretched endings.
This book has all the depth of a puddle in the Sahara and its vilification on its publication was truly merited.
Try reading Jane Eyre if you want real pathos and characters worth caring about.
2006-06-08 03:07:04 · answer #4 · answered by nagaqueen13 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
heathcliffe is a victim from my point of view , all what he needed is cathy`s love ! i never cried at my life as i remember , but i cried when i read this awsome story :.(
2006-06-07 22:05:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
way to go falco..................... but heathcliff is a very complex character more than catherine...... the reason he came back for shows his quest for revenge but the sad part is he loses himself in da process.....so i guess the first would be a more appropriate description
2006-06-08 00:38:02 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
He represents humanity at its mose base levels. He is a victim, a hero and a villain. Great novel.
2006-06-07 22:10:05 · answer #7 · answered by R.I.P. 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not much to say after reading Falco's outstanding answer except,I wept when I read the book.
2006-06-08 02:46:20 · answer #8 · answered by fivestarmama 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was a poor misjudged guy who lost his one true love .
I cried when i read the book .
2006-06-07 22:24:05 · answer #9 · answered by rudd_linda 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i see your sense!
good book... Spiteful???
Lost and deluded more appropriate!
So you a clever girl then or what?
2006-06-08 03:13:11 · answer #10 · answered by Audiology@Home 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋