Wuthering Heights Question . Am I the only one who does not feel sorry for Heathcliff?

Question

I am almost done reading Wuthering Heights. Its a good book. I was looking at questions on here about Wuthering Heights and a lot of the time when Heathcliff was mentioned people felt sorry for him. Am I the only one who does not feel sorry for him? I know he had a hard life but when most people break up with someone (I'm using break up for lack of a better word) they are upset about it but they do not spend the rest of their life taking it out on relatives of the person. He even dug up Catherine's grave to look at her. That's just weird.

Answer 1

Heathcliff is a stalker. I can't stand it when someone talks about how romantic Cathy and Heathcliff are. He killed her dog and hung it up in a tree! You call the cops when someone does that! You aren't alone in not feeling sorry for him, I just think it's a small minority who actually remember that he was a sick psycho.

Answer 2

Wuthering Heights was written in 1848, a time when English society was going through the throws of the Industrial Revolution. Life was changing so rapidly that people were having a hard time coming to grips with it all. Another major thing at the time was Darwin's discoveries which was questioning the Christian church's theories of life itself. Heathcliff represents the turmoil of the times. He is everything Cathy shouldn't want but does because he is from the city, exciting, yet earthy. She drifts from what is familiar to what is unfamiliar, new and challenging (Heathcliff). I feel sorry for him because Cathy couldn't quite give up the familiar. Because of that she haunts him. He is of another place/time than Wuthering Heights and the only thing that keeps him there is Cathy. It's his obsession. He is an urchin from the city with no roots - she represents the ultimate goal of a person like him because she is gentrified.

Answer 3

You may not be the only reader who have had this same feeling since the book was written. The book is wonderful and set another precedence to what a hero should be -- and according to Emily Brontë, he can be the ruffian and at times the polar opposite of what the quintessential hero have been portrayed. Yes Heathcliff had a hard life, yet in spite of it came back richer (albeit somewhat of a dubious source) and yes he did dug up Catherine's grave and killed her dog -- the author wants you to look beyond the actions but go deeper into the source, its meaning. He so wanted to desperately see Catherine again, and nobody was worth living, even her dog, and himself for that matter because she was no longer alive. I think this is one of the beauty in this story, that one must look beyond people for what they do, recognize a potential for something good. A hero is not perfect -- here, Heathcliff does not claim it, but we certainly do catch glimpses of it. Love at this point really has no boundaries it recognizes, even death was certainly not one of them.

Answer 4

TriCyclic gave an excellent answer. I would add that the viciousness shown to Heathcliff by Cathy's brother makes him appear more of a victim as well, and makes him sympathetic. I'm one of those people who didn't feel much sympathy for Heathcliff OR Cathy, however. I guess I'm cold-hearted.

Answer 5

Heathcliff was a departure from the knight in shining armor type. Instead of being charming, dashing, well-groomed, aristocratic and educated--he was a gypsy whose roots were questionable, was dirty, poor and rough on the edges.

He suffered childhood abuse and was out to take revenge--he wasn't a nice person at all. He was very bitter and angry. The sad thing about the romance was, (and maybe that's the reason why a lot of people feel sorry for him) that inspite of making a 'respectable' man out of himself, meaning after he earned his estate, educated and groomed himself, he still failed in getting the respect he wanted, and most of all, he still couldn't make Catherine love him the way he wanted. And talk about unrequited love!.

The reason why he's so relevant is because everyone goes through a phase in their lives where they can't get the person they want/love no matter how hard they try, and for some, that enough to drive them mad, like Heathcliff.

Answer 6

I agree with you, I do not feel sorry for Heathcliff. He succombs to jealousy, rage and bitterness about his past instead of finding ways to overcome it. He is a self-centered ego-maniac, (so is Catherine, btw) and he manipulates other people to get what he wants. He has no appreciation for the help offered to him by others (Nelly Dean) and it seems that he has no desire to make his life better for himself. I personally believe that it's his own fault that his lot remains so terrible because he doesn't do anything to mend it! He doesn't try, so why should I feel sorry for him?

Answer 7

He wasn't normal. They feel bad for him because they are looking at it from his point of view. He had a hard life. It's true what you're saying, but Heathcliff was a sick person.

Answer 8

Personally,I found Heathcliff revolting and frightening! He is the type of anti-social personality that you hear has been killing people in the basement for years! And frankly I think he and Cathy deserved one another!!

Answer 9

He's a gothic hero, so he has to be brooding and weird and dark.Personally I do feel sorry for him, Catherine did a very bitchy thing... I love it when men can't get over their women (that's why I'm a big reader, 'cause there's no chance that'll happen in real life *lol)

Answer 10

It's been awhile since I read this book but I remember being really disappointed by the characters. In the end I didn't care about ANY of them! They all seemed selfish and childish to me.

If you want to read a wonderful book try Jane Eyre, it is one of my favorites.