What do you think about Heathcliff?

Question

I've just finished reading Wuthering Heights the 10th time and I was wondering whether:
1)would Heathcliff have been a better man(as a person) if he had not been rejected by Cathy?
2)was rejection by Cathy the impetus- the driving force that made Heathcliff stand on his own two feet and become incredibly rich?

Answer 1

1. Yes, I think he would have been a better man if she had not rejected him. Cathy should have just followed her heart and married him, and they both would have been MUCH happier. Heathcliff devoted most of his life to revenge, and Cathy only had a few years of happiness when she was with Edgar.

2. I think perhaps Heathcliff worked hard and became rich to make Cathy sorry for her attitude behavior, and decisions. Like I said, Heathcliff was really into the whole revenge thing.:-)

Answer 2

no. I dont think so. Heathcliff was not cruel or unkind due to Cathy alone. It was much deeper. He hated Hindley. It was the hate for Hindley which made him start out and look for the world. Of course the night he heard Cathy speaking to Nelly about Linton sparked it off, but I think Hindley was the main cause. He loved Cathy but couldnt understand Cathy's love for him. cathy on the other hand was torn betwen him and Linton.
Cathy never rejected Heathcliff. She was still a well wisher. Even after her marriage to Linton. What actually gave the impetus to Heathcliff was the idea of money alone. He saw Cathy, his love, being attracted to rich man. He knew Hindley hated him because of among other reasons, his poverty. So money was needed if someone had to take note of him.

However in later life Heathcliff does realise that money was not above Cathy, and that he should have kept to her and not chased money.

It is true that he devoted his life and time to revenge on Edgar and Lintons but his Hindley factor cannot be forgotten or overlookd.
Hope u get that.

TW K.

Answer 3

Catherine was a headstrong young woman who lacked the courage to marry for love, rather than money and position. As in classical tragedy, this was the fatal weakness that led to tragic consequences for her and Heathcliff. But Catherine and Heathcliff's love was so wild and anti-social that I could imagine them coming to a different tragic end even if they had married. This is contrasted with the relationship between Catherine's daughter Cathy and Hareton Earnshaw, whose love is constructive and nurturing, rather than self-destructive.

Heathcliff seems to have been driven by a number of things, including the pain of Catherine's perceived rejection of him and his desire to get even with Edgar Linton and Hinton Earnshaw for shunning him.

Disclaimers:
1) It's been a while since I read this.
2) Im a injanier, not a inglesh majer.

Answer 4

yes i think the rejection from cathy drove him to be a cruel man with wild and sometimes uncontrollable actions. I had to read that book just last year in 9th grade. I have to say that is the worst book i have ever read.