The Development Of Jealousy In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte displays her width of character development in many of her works. However, no greater technique is observed than that of the development and starkness of the characters in Wuthering Heights. Her portrayal of the scenery and gloom from the moors can be easily observed to be reflected in the negative specialties of the characters, especially in concern with Heathcliff. A “tormented” character by origin and probably the cruelest, Bronte develops Heathcliff into a figure exuding immense jealousy, tyranny, sorrow, revenge, violence, and passion. In this novel, it is throughout Heathcliff’s development that one can fully observe this spectrum of characteristics in Heathcliff. Heathcliff’s introduction and early stages in concern with …show more content…
Heathcliff conveys many variations of jealousy in this novel, but mostly it stems from his desire for necessities, wealth, or excess. Through Heathcliff’s early habituation at the Heights, he is often quoted and narrated to be quite envious of the wealth and appearance of Edgar Linton, such as when he relays to himself, “I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed, and behaved as, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!” Just as an aside, Heathcliff will eventually develop an immense strain of jealousy and revenge towards Edgar and his lineage that roots itself in these early occurrences, and from the monogamy of Edgar and Catherine. “He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no farther,” explaining how Catherine would refuse to marry someone such as Heathcliff and rather Edgar, since Edgar’s high social and financial status would not degrade her status as well, and upon hearing Catherine’s description of her monogamous plans, Heathcliff fumes with a jealousy that displays itself into other emotions as well. It is through the progression of these individual desires and hatreds that Heathcliff will actually display his physical emotions towards …show more content…
Not much is observed in physical aggression between Heathcliff and many of the characters dear to him like Catherine or Nelly, but it is clearly observed in characters that he tends to had downward associations with. One perfect example is his treatment of Isabella Linton (Edgar’s sister) during her stay at Wuthering Heights with Heathcliff. It was essentially Heathcliff’s objective just to have Isabella reside there in order to became somewhat of a “master” to her son, and often there were notable instances in which Heathcliff openly abused Isabella. The more notable example comes from when he is exasperated by Isabella, in which “[Heathcliff] seized and thrust [Isabella] from the room; and returned muttering, ‘I have no pity! The more the worms writhe, the more I yearn to crush out their entrails!” Now to be concise, not much violence exudes from Heathcliff in the novel, and usually it is quite rare since many fear Heathcliff already and dare not to confront him. However, Heathcliff’s second most common behavior is probably his immense passion towards the events that take place throughout the moorish