Many literary critics speculate that Heathcliff is a dark personification of the author herself. Heathcliff could be counted as the hero during the first half of the book, but after his lover Cathy dies he grows bitter and seeks revenge on Cathy's widower Edgar Linton and her daughter and namesake Catherine Linton.
He acts with a great deal of cruelty, often to individuals who are particularly weak or defenseless. He marries Isabella Linton knowing that he does not love or respect her, and his behavior after their marriage quickly makes her regret her decision to marry him. Isabella tells Nelly that Heathcliff is a “Monster!
In keeping with the supernatural themes present in the novel, it is speculated that Heathcliff might be a demon or a hellish soul. His appearance would be faithfully interpreted as resembling a Roma, or Gypsy, as he is described with dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin.
Heathcliff displays symptoms of disorganised insecure attachment. As well as Inhibited grieving, it's likely he also has problems with mentalisation.
Lynn L Heathcliff is both a source of evil and a victim of it. His mistreatment based upon on his social class explains him... somewhat. His apparent deep seated need to avenge his past treatment is troubling in a psychological way.
Heathcliff Abuses His Child
Another example of Heathcliff's brutality is the way that he treats his own son. Heathcliff despises his son because he is weak, thin, and fair-skinned. He reminds Heathcliff of his dead wife, Isabella, who he didn't seem to like, much less love.
As Heathcliff grows older, he remembers the violence he has been taught, but takes it to another level by imposing violence on the loved ones of the people he hates. He is able to exact his revenge on Edgar by marrying and then abusing Edgar's sister, Isabella.
He says that he can forgive her for the pain she has caused him, but that he can never forgive her for the pain that she has caused herself—he adds that she has killed herself through her behavior, and that he could never forgive her murderer.
First, Catherine and Heathcliff were not blood siblings. We don't know if Heathcliff was officially adopted by Mr Earnshaw; the fact that he did not automatically inherit Wuthering Heights when Hindley died suggests not. Secondly, there is no actual evidence in the book that the two of them ever had sex.
To get revenge against Edgar for taking Catherine from him, Heathcliff marries Edgar's sister, Isabella, and treats her badly. In chapter 17 of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, grief intensifies Heathcliff's abuse of Isabella to the point that she must run away.
Heathcliff, for example, continually desires contact with Catherine's ghost, even going so far as to plead with her to haunt him when she first dies. He also exhumes her grave so that he can look at her again, and he has part of her coffin removed so that he can truly be buried by her side when he dies.
After the death of Catherine, Heathcliff grows restless towards the very end of the novel and stops eating. Nelly Dean does not believe that he had the intention to commit suicide, but that his starvation may have been the cause of his death. He wanted to be with Cathy in eternal life.
Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, in Emily Bronte's novel, Wuthering Heights, could both be diagnosed with the personality disorders: codependency and narcissism.
a violent and cruel way are taken into account, Heathcliff cannot be labelled as the real villain of Wuthering Heights; an authentic villain is not capable of loving anyone, least of all the way Heathcliff loves Catherine. This explains why, for some other critics, the true villain of Wuthering Heights is Ellen Dean.
Because of those evidence, Heathcliff as the main character who had been analyzed can be stated as the sufferer of narcissistic personality disorder. This disorder tends to lead to sufferers who love themselves excessively because of their anxiety and fear. They need recognition from other people.
From the above analysis, we can see that there are some obvious reasons fo Heathcliff's revenge in the novel. His low status in the family, Hindley's cruelty to him, the Lintons' lack of sympathy, and more importantly, Catherine's change of love to him, all these make him to take revenge on this ruthless world.
Heathcliff tells Nelly that he persuaded the sexton to dig up Catherine's grave. He stares at her dusty corpse and bribes the sexton to put his body next to hers when he dies. He has no fear of disturbing the dead, he tells Nelly. Cathy has been haunting him for eighteen years.
Answer and Explanation: In chapter 29 of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff tells Nelly Dean about how he dug up Catherine's body just after she was buried, back in chapter sixteen. Heathcliff went alone to the churchyard and, wild in grief for Catherine, dug down to her coffin and attempted to wrench it open.
The problem is that Catherine has married Edgar Linton. While not really happy in the relationship, Catherine is made more miserable by Heathcliff's decision to marry Edgar's sister Isabella. Heathcliff dotes on Isabella for the purpose of making Catherine jealous. Tragically, Catherine grows ill and dies.
After Heathcliff dies under mysterious circumstances, Hareton and Cathy Linton are engaged to marry and planning to move to the Grange. Heathcliff is buried next to Catherine and Edgar, and there are rumors that his ghost has been seen walking on the moors.
Oh, you said you care nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe.
Heathcliff responds to news of Catherine's death. As Nelly witnesses his reaction, the readers see his passionate and desperate love for Catherine. However, his wish that her soul would not rest shows the selfish side of his love: He prays that she would haunt him so he would not lose her.
Heathcliff's son by Isabella. Weak, sniveling, demanding, and constantly ill, Linton is raised in London by his mother and does not meet his father until he is thirteen years old, when he goes to live with him after his mother's death.
It's true that having been raised as siblings, Heathcliff and Cathy's infatuation is laced with a queasy tug of incest. But even without that, their relationship can easily be read as obsessive, destructive, co-dependent – in a word, toxic. Maybe it's best not to think of Wuthering Heights as a romance at all.
The threat of sexual immorality with Heathcliff is heightened by chronological details: Cathy's baby, 'a seven month-child,' is born seven months after the return of Heathcliff (p. 137).