Romantic hero or despicable villain? Discuss how Heathcliff is presented in Wuthering Heights and what his portrayal suggests about the nature of love. Wuthering Heights is a story of love and hatred, tenderness and revenge. It is a novel full of opposites and contradictions, one of these, the protagonist himself. It is difficult, regardless of how many times one has read it, to tell if Heathcliff is supposed to be the romantic hero or the despicable villain. This essay will discuss Heathcliff's presentation in Wuthering Heights and how this affects the portrayal of love. On the one hand, the character of Heathcliff could be described as a Byronic Hero. This is a type of romantic hero inspired by Lord Byron, a romantic poet during the
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This is yet another characteristic that Heathcliff has, he is described throughout the novel as being dark, for example 'his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows' (p.g 1) as the reader's first impression of him and in Nelly's description after he returns he is called 'a tall man in dark clothes, with dark face and dark hair.' (p.g 66), the repetition of the word 'dark' suggests that this is more than a psychical darkness of appearance and clothing and is similar to an aura of some …show more content…
The behaviour that he shows regarding anyone other than Cathy is abysmal. The way that he brutalises and degrades Hareton is the perfect illustration of this, Heathcliff has no real reason to do this and is simply using Hareton as a tool in order to get vengeance on Hindley Earnshaw. He also treats with son terribly and sees him as no more than a means through which to exact his revenge on Edgar Linton and Cathy's daughter, Catherine. When he first meets his son he refers to him as 'my property' (p.g 150) and remarks that 'Only nobody else must be kind to him' (p.g 151), this suggests, not only a feeling of complete apathy towards his son, but also little concern for how others treat
This is yet another characteristic that Heathcliff has, he is described throughout the novel as being dark, for example 'his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows' (p.g 1) as the reader's first impression of him and in Nelly's description after he returns he is called 'a tall man in dark clothes, with dark face and dark hair.' (p.g 66), the repetition of the word 'dark' suggests that this is more than a psychical darkness of appearance and clothing and is similar to an aura of some …show more content…
The behaviour that he shows regarding anyone other than Cathy is abysmal. The way that he brutalises and degrades Hareton is the perfect illustration of this, Heathcliff has no real reason to do this and is simply using Hareton as a tool in order to get vengeance on Hindley Earnshaw. He also treats with son terribly and sees him as no more than a means through which to exact his revenge on Edgar Linton and Cathy's daughter, Catherine. When he first meets his son he refers to him as 'my property' (p.g 150) and remarks that 'Only nobody else must be kind to him' (p.g 151), this suggests, not only a feeling of complete apathy towards his son, but also little concern for how others treat