Heathcliff's Character Development In Wuthering Heights

How does Heathcliff 's character develop from chapters one through to eight?

The novel teases the reader into thinking that Heathcliff is more than what he seems; that his cruelty is merely an expression of his frustrated love for Cathrine Earnshaw or that his sinister behaviours serve to conceal the heart of a romantic hero. Throughout these chapters, we get the impression that as Heathcliff gets older, he loses his innocence and that the love for Cathrine isn 't as pure and is presented in a darker manner.

In the first chapter, Lockwood pays a visit to his landlord, Heathcliff. The first paragraph of the novel provides a vivid physical picture of Heathcliff. He is pictured as a surley, dark man but it becomes noticable that Heathcliff …show more content…
Wuthering Heights is described as a 'misanthropists heaven ' which would suggest that as Heathcliff has lived there for so many years he must be a 'misanthropist '. This doesn 't only suggest that Heathcliff is antisocial but indirectly infers that he avoids human contact because of his lack of trust towards people. Furthermore, this could imply that the lack of trust has been caused because of past experiences and the potential mistreatment that Heathcliff could have endured. This point is further supported when the invitation to come in from Heathcliff is 'uttered with closed teeth '. This shows that Heathcliff feels a discomfort in enabling a stranger to come into his house because of his lack of trust. Alternatively this could be seen as fear on behalf of heathcliff as he may feel scared about letting a stranger enter his personal space. Furthermore, we see that the fear and lack of trust that heathcliff feels is inforced when Wuthering heights is described as containing 'villainous old guns '. We later find out that guests are 'exceeding …show more content…
We discover Cathrine 's scratchings of writing saying 'Cathrine Earnshaw, Cathrine Linton, Cathrine Heathcliff '. This shows Heathcliff as having sentimental values as he has kept the memory of Cathrine on the walls instead of having erased them. This shows us that he is still holding on to the idea of her rather than trying to forget about her. It could also show a lust for her return as the room has remained the way it used to be. Heathcliff could also be living in the past and clinging on to old memories of her despite Cathrine having passed away. This is quite disturbing as it shows that he is still in love with Cathrine. We also discover that Heathcliff is troubled by the idea of Cathrine as he has nighmares with her in them after her reads her diary entry describing Wuthering Heights after her father had passed away. The gothic vision of finding a ghostly hand hitting against the window rather than a branch is as well as a 'melancholy voice ' sobbing to be let in, could show that Heathcliff feels guilt as though he was the one keeping her out and she is 'demand[ing] ' the opposite. The diary entry read 'Poor Heathcliff! ' which could show that Heathcliff feels simple greif towards his friend whom genuinely cared for him and noticed he was treated as a 'vagabond ' by the others in the