Analysis of the twisted character of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

田悦

Abstract： Wuthering Heights is the work of Emily Bronte， one of the British women's writers' Bronte sisters. In order to analyze the twisted character of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. This paper analyzes the formation of the character distortion of Heathcliff from the aspects of external and internal reasons. The intrinsic cause is Heathcliff's introverted， inferior， obsessive character. Its external causes are discrimination， abuse and bullying of him from Theskerliv's living environment， social background， Hindley and the upper echelons. The bitter love between him and Catherine， Catherine's sorrow of betraying love. After all this， Heathcliff's character slowly becomes distorted. Then he frantically accumulated wealth， retaliated against those who had hurt him， and gradually lost himself in the process of revenge.

Key words： Heathcliff; character; living environment; social background; love.

Wuthering Heights is the work of Emily Bronte， a 19th-century British realist writer. The novel takes the love tragedy of the main characters Heathcliff and Catherine as the main clue， and describes Theskerliv's indifference， vicious and distorted character. When he learned that Catherine's betrayal of love was caused by Linton and Hindley， he did not take a method of harmony and blessing， but chose to retaliate against those who had hurt him. So he opened the road of revenge， in the process of revenge， he was blinded by hatred， do whatever it takes to carry out crazy revenge.

1： Heathcliff's twisted character

Heathcliff in the extraordinary circumstances formed an extraordinary character， he introverted， has inferiority complex， longing for compensation， the pursuit of superiority， the original good Heathcliff was insulted， tortured， understand the indifference of human nature and social ruthlessness， and eventually become a vengeful demon.

2： The reason for Heathcliff's character distortion

2.1： The social status quo at that time was a key factor in the distortion of Heathcliff's character.

In Victorian England in the 19th century， the rapid development of capitalism， the intensification of social contradictions and the complexity and cruelty of the social status quo. At that time， the rich and noble were highly respected， and the amount of money and wealth was the only standard to classify people's rank. However， such a standard of classification gives a great blow to people living at the bottom， and heathcliff just reflects the life of these people at the bottom. Heathcliff is a lowlife with nothing， and in the eyes of rich people like hindley， heathcliff is a servant， which makes him even more depressed and self-abased. At the same time， this contradiction of class doomed that he could not be treated equally by the noble class， which doomed that he could not be with Catherine. He suffered discrimination， humiliation... Lost love behind. These physical and mental tortures and unrelenting pressures gradually distorted his character.

2.2： The Influence of the Special Living Environment on Heathcliff's Character

Heathcliff lost the love of his parents as a child and was later adopted by Earnshaw， the owner of Wuthering Heights， who gave him unselfish love and excessive patronage. But this preference aroused the jealousy and hatred of his son Hindley， who thought Heathcliff had taken away his father's love. So when his father died， Hindley became the owner of Wuthering Heights， torturing， cracking down， and verbally abusing Heathcliff. Turn him into a servant and let him work like the other servants on the estate. In such adversity， Heathcliff developed a lonely， melancholy and tough character， and when he was alive， Hescliff treated Heathcliff like a son， and Heathcliff felt and equal treatment， believing that he and Hindley were equal. But Hindley did not expect that when the old gentleman died， he became a servant. This change of identity made him hate in his heart and planted the seeds of hatred， silently hidden in the desire for revenge.

2.3： Beloved Catherine's betrayal of love exacerbates the distortion of his character

Ever since Heathcliff came to Wuthering Heights， except for Herring， only little Catherine cared for him， and slowly Catherine became his spiritual pillar， and then they fell in love， and he loved Catherine faithfully， but because of the disparity between status and identity. He and Catherine did not walk together in the end. When he lost his spiritual pillar. His full love turned into an incomparable hatred， which continued to erode his sanity and turned him into a vengeful tyrant.

References：

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[3]Yang Jingjian， Revenge： A Narrative Pattern and Cultural Expression of Western Literature[J].2004（2）：119

[4]Tao Yanchun， Li Tao， On heathcliff's tragic character in wuthering heights[J]. 2016.