When Anakin Skywalker fails to save the woman of his dreams, he gives himself to the dark side of the force, and transforms into Darth Vader to avenge her death. Displaying behaviors that allow him to be branded a Byronic hero, he even shares a similar fate with the character Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s romantic novel Wuthering Heights. Taking on the role of a Byronic hero, Heathcliff follows the model set forth by Lord Byron himself with his own Byronic heroes: intelligent, manipulative, and emotionally complex. This type of anti-hero seems tough and domineering, but falls short of meeting goals because of moodiness, cynicism, and the emotional trauma they experience. Heathcliff becomes consumed with exacting revenge on his tormentors, but
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A specific incident involving Hindley reveals an aspect of the Byronic hero present in Heathcliff all his life: the inclination to manipulate others. Heathcliff blackmails Hindley into trading colts because his colt has become lame and emerges triumphant after using Hindley’s frequent physical abuse as leverage against him. Heathcliff allows himself to become violently bloodied and bruised in order to assert his intellectual dominance over Hindley, displaying his highly manipulative nature (Bronte 41). Although Heathcliff continues to manipulate Hindley as revenge for his horrible degradation for the rest of Hindley’s life, he doesn’t stop at that. He expands to manipulating everyone around him, taking control of situations into his own hands and harassing everyone involved. According to Atara Stein, “Heathcliff becomes more of an oppressor than his original tormentors” (5). He crushes Hindley under his foot by encouraging him to drink, gamble away his fortune, and mortgage his property (Bronte 206). He preys on Isabella Linton’s naivety in order to marry her and become Edgar Linton’s heir, even though he doesn’t love her at all, but in fact hates her and uses her as a pawn in executing his grand scheme for revenge (Bronte 121). He again plays with other’s emotions later on in the novel when he hatches a diabolical …show more content…
This particular proclivity for self-decimation is notoriously canonical for a Byronic hero. Heathcliff acts erratically and impulsively, tormenting himself with his longing for Catherine. He lingers at Thrushcross Grange, much to the disdain of Edgar Linton, inflicting pain on himself as he sees Catherine dying. Upon Catherine’s death, Heathcliff’s temper becomes uncontrollable as he loses his mind and smashes his head against a tree until it begins profusely bleeding, and then begs Catherine’s ghost to haunt him (Bronte 184). These actions are not beneficial to Heathcliff because he is obsessive and will meditate on events in his life even if they torture him into madness. Years later, Heathcliff is still so incessant on being with Catherine in any way that he bribes the sexton to dig up her grave so that he can see her face again, even if is cold and dead (Bronte 315). Doing things like this out of his own choosing is self-destructive because deep down Heathcliff knows that he can’t have her back and this realization only makes him more focused on his plot for revenge. Eventually Heathcliff commits the ultimate act of self-destruction by locking himself alone in a room where all he can do is be pensive and starve himself. He “...knows he is good at using his stormy power to destroy everything. Death is the only way to set Heathcliff free from his own
A specific incident involving Hindley reveals an aspect of the Byronic hero present in Heathcliff all his life: the inclination to manipulate others. Heathcliff blackmails Hindley into trading colts because his colt has become lame and emerges triumphant after using Hindley’s frequent physical abuse as leverage against him. Heathcliff allows himself to become violently bloodied and bruised in order to assert his intellectual dominance over Hindley, displaying his highly manipulative nature (Bronte 41). Although Heathcliff continues to manipulate Hindley as revenge for his horrible degradation for the rest of Hindley’s life, he doesn’t stop at that. He expands to manipulating everyone around him, taking control of situations into his own hands and harassing everyone involved. According to Atara Stein, “Heathcliff becomes more of an oppressor than his original tormentors” (5). He crushes Hindley under his foot by encouraging him to drink, gamble away his fortune, and mortgage his property (Bronte 206). He preys on Isabella Linton’s naivety in order to marry her and become Edgar Linton’s heir, even though he doesn’t love her at all, but in fact hates her and uses her as a pawn in executing his grand scheme for revenge (Bronte 121). He again plays with other’s emotions later on in the novel when he hatches a diabolical …show more content…
This particular proclivity for self-decimation is notoriously canonical for a Byronic hero. Heathcliff acts erratically and impulsively, tormenting himself with his longing for Catherine. He lingers at Thrushcross Grange, much to the disdain of Edgar Linton, inflicting pain on himself as he sees Catherine dying. Upon Catherine’s death, Heathcliff’s temper becomes uncontrollable as he loses his mind and smashes his head against a tree until it begins profusely bleeding, and then begs Catherine’s ghost to haunt him (Bronte 184). These actions are not beneficial to Heathcliff because he is obsessive and will meditate on events in his life even if they torture him into madness. Years later, Heathcliff is still so incessant on being with Catherine in any way that he bribes the sexton to dig up her grave so that he can see her face again, even if is cold and dead (Bronte 315). Doing things like this out of his own choosing is self-destructive because deep down Heathcliff knows that he can’t have her back and this realization only makes him more focused on his plot for revenge. Eventually Heathcliff commits the ultimate act of self-destruction by locking himself alone in a room where all he can do is be pensive and starve himself. He “...knows he is good at using his stormy power to destroy everything. Death is the only way to set Heathcliff free from his own