Wuthering Heights: Who is Heathcliff?

[@janesgems7]

There's one thing a lot of people don't think of when describing Heathcliff as some kind of demon....and that is, what happened to him before Earnshaw found him? We have zero knowledge of what kind of a life he endured. Was he abused? Absolutely certain of that, his strange behaviour - a tendency to keep his emotions bottled up, never crying or showing outward distress whenever Hindley beat him - practically yells that he had learned long ago never to let your tormentors see how they've hurt you. Instead, he keeps that deep inside, turning pain into hatred and hurt into a lust for revenge. Heathcliff was a man of extremes - he loved, and hated, with equal passion and fierceness. But, he was still a man, still human. And although he was VERY hard to like, he was also impossible to truly hate. I think we all have a little of him inside us, whenever we have our hearts broken, or rail at the injustice of life.

[@hibasohail2497]

I love the way he narrates. Like he is so passionate about literature nd those deep complex feeling that authors often pose.

[@tunisiayoumna4623]

Heathcliff is the angel of revenge . He is everyone , he is you and me , he is the love and the hate , he is the revenge and the forgiveness , he is the life .

[@tracesprite6078]

Hi Tunisia, I think that most of us live our lives way better than Heathcliff lived his fictional life. He was violent and cruel in a sickening way. I'm glad that most people these days are much more mature. It's possible to be passionate but not as selfish as Heathcliff and Catherine were.

[@fernandopessoa7077]

It’s fictional, Tracesprite, fictional..

[@anattcherikover4936]

Wuthering Heights is deeply supernatural. It begins (more or less) with a ghost, and ends with "unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth". Accordingly, Heathcliff is a demon who arrives out of nowhere. He possesses all members of both families. Some yield, others struggle but lose. The twist is that only one, the first Cathy, also possesses him back. This is the beginning of his undoing, accomplished by the next generation. IMO, there is one film adaptation that gets it right, the Japanese version called Arashi ga oka, 1988, by Yoshishige Yoshida.

[@janesgems7]

I've visited Top Withens, it is an extraordinary place, despite the long walk.

[@writerspen010]

Heathcliff: Landlord from Hell. I love it xDD

[@paramitachakraborty5477]

It is a mater of contradiction whether Heathcliff's love had sexual orientation only. But his love for Cathy had a kind of destructive power which could have destroyed everything obstucting its path, and almost did.

[@Abcdefghijklmno4840]

I AGREE. BUT TRULY I CANNOT SEE SEXUAL RELATIONS IN THE BOOK. THEY NEVER MENTIONED THE WORD SEX OR INTERCOURSE. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO SEE SEXUAL ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE BOOK

[@BUBBLESPOGO]

@@Abcdefghijklmno4840 i agree. It wasnt about that at all.

[@tracesprite6078]

@@Abcdefghijklmno4840 Yes, it's mostly about the power of various personalities upon one another.

[@futurez12]

SPOILER: The novel made me wonder if it was simply the setting of Heathcliff's purgatory. He appears like a demon, as if from nowhere; he doesn't know who he is himself, and seems to be in a state of perpetual anguish and suffering; until he eventually gets the relief he so desired. It really felt like that to me, but I'm probably way off.

[@lsu1222]

Yes! Read the book Literature and Evil by Bataille, he compares Wuthering Heights with hell!

[@RR-pj9kk]

@@lsu1222 god! I want read this book! !

[@yasminabrar3798]

Heathcliff is an excellent character,wrote by Emily Bronte ,no one can in future can do it

[@acratone8300]

In the book, Heathcliff is described as a "dark-skinned gypsy" and "a little lascar". The term "lascar" was used in the 19th century to refer to Indian sailors, and was sometimes used for a gypsy. In the story, Heathcliff will also take out his revenge on innocent persons because of who they are related to in order to punish that other person. Miss Bronte created Heathcliff to be alluring and what today we might call "cool". But dangerous.

[@nancyhey1012]

But a lot of times, characters from classic literature are not intended to be likable. Take Scarlet O’Hara from Gone With The Wind, for example. She was a charismatic character, but she was certainly anything but likable most of the time. Yet we were still made to have sympathy for her at times too. Heath cliff was similar.

[@janesgems7]

Yes, despite the vileness of his actions, he had a terrible life.

[@littleman7514]

Heathcliff is a cool cat

[@veronicaleighauthor]

Bowen implies Heathcliff could be Irish, fleeing from the famine in the 1840s. But didn't the events take place from 1770s to the first decade of the 1800s? I mean, he could have been Irish, but he didn't flee from the 1840s famine.

[@joaoluizsn]

Veronica Leigh actually, his ethnic background are usually believed to be Romani

[@o.m.a6220]

Romani or a Lascar

[@BUBBLESPOGO]

There were many orphan children starving in the streets of England at that time.

[@janesgems7]

I was convinced he was a Romani, but the interesting thing about his character is that he was ahead of his time....because Heathcliff was a victim of racism and 'classicism', which shaped his personality, and ultimately his vengeance.

[@lisellesloan3191]

Also, the novel says that he spoke a different language when he was first adopted, so how could he be Irish?

[@GrimmGhost]

Chapter 3: Heathcliff stood near the entrance, in his shirt and trousers; with a candle dripping over his fingers, and his face as white as the wall behind him.

[@tamarabedic9601]

At one point, Nelly says: “A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad, if you were a regular black” (the implication being that he is not one). On another occasion Nelly says playfully, “You’re fit for a prince in disguise. Who knows but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen” (VII).

[@GrimmGhost]

@@tamarabedic9601 Hindley throwing an iron weight at Heathcliff: ” Hindley threw it, hitting him on the breast, and down he fell, but staggered up immediately, breathless and white"; How often are people of dark complexion described as visibly blushing, turning red, turning blue, turning green or white? Two different descriptions of Heathcliff as being visibly white, in the mid nineteenth century, West Yorkshire moors, were the demographics were homogeneous.

[@philipmilner9638]

When they said 'Indian Prince in the novel - I always assumed 'Red Indian'.

[@2-0-5Snipermonke.Enjoyer]

Round and round we go..

[@neki2898]

Catherine... I can hear your voice... WHERE ARE YOU CATHERINE?!

[@none1601]

Erlking heathcliff moment🙀 (Limbus comoany reference)

[@avenginggoddess]

Background music is intolerable. It's distracting and makes it hard to hear the speaker.

[@LVaderM]

I'm the real Heathcliffe. No one will ever understand the depths, the love, the hate, the depths of misery and passion, since his time, that I do. It's a curse. Trust me.

[@christinecallahan5512]

You are so right......

[@tracesprite6078]

Hi Lance, I really hope that you don't give up on love. I hope that you meet that special someone who understands you really well. Even if you can never forget one particular person from your past, please do try to enjoy life with someone who loves you. Please let yourself enjoy the everyday pleasures of love and kindness, pleasure and goodness. There are real satisfactions there to be had.

[@LVaderM]

@@tracesprite6078 oh I have her. 20 years of marriage now. I just have to remind her how crazy I am about her. lol

[@tracesprite6078]

@@LVaderM Lance, it's wonderful to be passionate and full of desirous love. However, it's not at all attractive to be cruel or harsh. It's very important that you love your partner in a caring way that enhances her life and health as well as enhancing your own life and health. There are so many ways to show others that we love them. Thinking up ideas that will bring her joy and make her life better will ensure that you are a beloved and treasured lover.

[@orlandotrustfullandhiscosm4110]

For fucks sake why the need to play background music over the person speaking? Doesnt bloody help that the man talking is quietly spoken either! smh

[@joldendoves2795]

I don't think you've quite got the point of the book.

[@L_Martin]

Which part of his interpretation specifically did you disagree with?

[@Abcdefghijklmno4840]

The man is absolutely wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The love that Heathcliff had for Cathy was anything but sexual!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why o why must people lie about Wuthering Heights??????????????????????????

[@mike-wi8wm]

It is a book, you can have any opinion you like.

[@fabulistfairy]

Not sexual towards Catherine, but towards Isabella perhaps.

[@Abcdefghijklmno4840]

***** Yes my friend, but let's not step away from the truth. You cannot consider something in a way that is totally contrary of what it is.

[@Abcdefghijklmno4840]

I know. It is a deep profound love I agree. But in my opinion I don't see anything sexual in it, although Heathcliff always desired Cathy and wanted her to always be with him

[@Abcdefghijklmno4840]

You really think so? I do agree that he had an obsession with her.