According to The Oxford Companion to English Literature, a Byronic hero is defined as a man who is "proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart ... implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection". In other words, he is a man who is aggressive and mysterious yet passionate about certain things in his life, as well as someone who is quite self absorbed. This allows the reader to view the "hero" in an unfavorable way. This definition fits perfectly for the main character in Emily Bronte 's novel, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff. His origins are unknown, which attributes to the mysterious aspect of a Byronic hero, his intentions for revenge are selfish, and he lashes out towards the people around him.
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When Heathcliff is introduced to the Earnshaw 's, Bronte presents him in an extremely ambiguous way. When Mr. Earnshaw returns from his trip from Liverpool, he returns with a "dirty, ragged, black-haired child" that looks like a "gipsy brat" and cannot speak (Bronte 37). During this time, "gipsies" were thought of as thieves and criminals, therefore they were shunned by society and treated inhumanely. Bronte describes Heathcliff using dark imagery to deepen the mystery and convince the reader to view Heathcliff negatively. Bronte introduces Heathcliff to the reader quite briefly, sparing any details of his past, therefore this ambiguity of his origins sways the reader to question Heathcliff and his motives, and whether his intentions are beneficial to …show more content…
After Heathcliff returns from his three year absence, he offers Hindley a "liberal payment for permission to lodge" at Wuthering Heights (Bronte 99). He is aware of Hindley 's gambling problem and capitalizes off of his despair, which leads to Hindley losing money and becoming indebted to Heathcliff. Bronte probes the idea of Heathcliff 's revenge because he takes advantage of Hindley 's susceptibility in order to belittle him. This parallels the beginning of the novel when Hindley "deprived [Heathcliff] of the instructions of the curate" and instead forced him into hard "labor out[side]", which means he didn 't allow Heathcliff to get an education and he treated him like a common servant (Bronte 46). This parallelism continues to reveal how Heathcliff is out to save no one but himself. In addition to the motif of revenge, Heathcliff betrays Isabella to get back at Edgar Linton for marrying his love, Catherine. Heathcliff woo 's Isabella with his more "reformed" (Bronte 98) appearance, but only because he wishes to obtain her "fortunes and expectations", not her admiration (Bronte 102). Here, "reformed" not only refers to his appearance, but also refers to the change with his attitude (Bronte 98). Bronte completely reverses the audience 's feelings towards Heathcliff by revealing his greedier side through his
When Heathcliff is introduced to the Earnshaw 's, Bronte presents him in an extremely ambiguous way. When Mr. Earnshaw returns from his trip from Liverpool, he returns with a "dirty, ragged, black-haired child" that looks like a "gipsy brat" and cannot speak (Bronte 37). During this time, "gipsies" were thought of as thieves and criminals, therefore they were shunned by society and treated inhumanely. Bronte describes Heathcliff using dark imagery to deepen the mystery and convince the reader to view Heathcliff negatively. Bronte introduces Heathcliff to the reader quite briefly, sparing any details of his past, therefore this ambiguity of his origins sways the reader to question Heathcliff and his motives, and whether his intentions are beneficial to …show more content…
After Heathcliff returns from his three year absence, he offers Hindley a "liberal payment for permission to lodge" at Wuthering Heights (Bronte 99). He is aware of Hindley 's gambling problem and capitalizes off of his despair, which leads to Hindley losing money and becoming indebted to Heathcliff. Bronte probes the idea of Heathcliff 's revenge because he takes advantage of Hindley 's susceptibility in order to belittle him. This parallels the beginning of the novel when Hindley "deprived [Heathcliff] of the instructions of the curate" and instead forced him into hard "labor out[side]", which means he didn 't allow Heathcliff to get an education and he treated him like a common servant (Bronte 46). This parallelism continues to reveal how Heathcliff is out to save no one but himself. In addition to the motif of revenge, Heathcliff betrays Isabella to get back at Edgar Linton for marrying his love, Catherine. Heathcliff woo 's Isabella with his more "reformed" (Bronte 98) appearance, but only because he wishes to obtain her "fortunes and expectations", not her admiration (Bronte 102). Here, "reformed" not only refers to his appearance, but also refers to the change with his attitude (Bronte 98). Bronte completely reverses the audience 's feelings towards Heathcliff by revealing his greedier side through his