What is heathcliff like

After Hindley's return to the Heights and becoming the new owner, Heathcliff receives cruel, abusive treatment at the hands of his foster brother.

His education was cut off and was forced to work in the fields, but manages to seek solace by going out into the moors with Catherine.

One night, the pair go to the nearby house Thrushcross Grange and spied on the Linton family's spoiled lifestyle. They watch, gawk and laugh as the Linton's two children Edgar and Isabella are having an argument but quickly alert their parents when they spot Heathcliff and Catherine. The two try to escape, but Catherine is bitten by the Linton's guard dog. He refuses to leave her behind and tries to pry open the dog's jaws to free her. As she was brought into the house, Heathcliff tries to go inside with her, but the Linton's, disgusted by his appearance and think he is a thief, ask him to leave.

He briefly watches them before he leaves, and he sees how much Catherine loves the attention from the Linton's. He goes back to the Heights alone, but the entire house is locked up by Hindley as punishment for being out too long. Nelly lets him in and he tells her everything that has happened. He was also told by Hindley to never talk to Catherine again.

His reunion with her was very awkward, as he feels insulted when she criticizes his dirty, unkempt face, and grumbles that he likes himself the way he is. The Linton's are invited to the Heights for the Christmas holidays, but Heathcliff is not allowed to attend, and even refuses an offer by Nelly to have him dressed properly and impress Catherine.

That morning, he goes out into the moors but when he comes back, he changes his mind and lets Nelly clean him up and dresses in neat, proper clothing so he can please everyone. Once the guests arrive and the celebrations begin, Hindley mocks Heathcliff's clean, neat style and orders him to be locked up in the attic. After Edgar insults Heathcliff's dirty, long hair, he gets angry and throws hot applesauce at Edgar's face.

He was taken upstairs by Hindley and locked inside his room, where he is visited by Catherine who came through the rafters to see him. Later that night, Heathcliff is released from his room by Nelly and taken into the kitchen where he is given some dinner, since he hadn't eaten for about 2 days. Already fed up by Hindley's constant abuse, Heathcliff tells Nelly he is planning to take revenge on him, and hopes he will do it before he dies.

The following summer in , Hindley's wife Frances dies from consumption after giving birth to a son named Hareton. Heathcliff is satisfied at Hindley's suffering, especially when he starts drinking heavily; but in addition, he receives more abuse by him.

His relationship with Catherine still stays the same as before and wants to spend the day with her than outside in the moors.

When he finds out that Edgar and Isabella are coming over to visit, he confronts her on her relationship with Edgar, who she has already come closer to, and wants her to be with him instead.

Heathcliff storms out when Edgar arrives. As he walks towards the main staircase, he catches Hareton after a drunk Hindley drops him over the bannister. He still has vengeance plans on Hindley, but saves his child anyway on instinct.

Later, he hears a conversation between Catherine and Nelly without being noticed. He hears that Catherine had just accepted a marriage proposal from Edgar and that she couldn't marry Heathcliff on fearing that she would degrade herself, just as how much Hindley had degraded Heathcliff. Heartbroken, furious and ashamed, he flees from the Heights and at this point, the reader or Nelly doesn't know what became of him during his absence.

He was also unaware that as he runs away, Catherine says that she loves Heathcliff so much to the point that they share kindred spirits and are the same person. How he had earned his wealth and power remains a mystery. By now, Catherine and Edgar are married and living together at the Grange, where Heathcliff goes first. He is greeted by Catherine who is happy to see him after a few years, while Edgar isn't very pleased.

Heathcliff stays over for tea, and says he has just received an invitation to stay at the Heights by Hindley and then kill himself after he completes his revenge plan. He arrives at the Heights where he joins in a game of cards by Hindley and his men. Heathcliff beats his opponent and wins a sum of money from him as well as finally staying at the house in exchange for rent.

Heathcliff continues to see Catherine at the Grange in addition to her visiting him at the Heights. He also meets Isabella Linton, who had already took a romantic interest to him and think he's the perfect match for her. He begins his revenge against Hindley by turning his son Hareton against him. He teaches the little boy bad words and naughty behaviour, as well as cutting off his education by sending his tutor away.

Whenever he goes over to the Grange, he takes more interest in seeing Isabella than Catherine and even embraces her one day when they were in the kitchen. He was confronted by Catherine if he truly has any feelings for Isabella and he states to her that she had wronged him after marrying Edgar and this was his plan of revenge.

He is then asked to leave by Edgar, and when he refuses, Edgar summons a group of servants to remove Heathcliff. The two men were both locked up in a room by Catherine to let them fend off each other alone.

But the confrontation was just brief as Heathcliff is punched in the neck by Edgar and leaves since he cannot challenge himself against his opponent and his group of servants. A couple of nights later, Heathcliff whisks Isabella away from her home and they elope.

He brings her back home to the Heights, where he inflicts abuse on her, and even his servants Joseph and Hareton were unfriendly to her.

By now, Heathcliff may had found out about Catherine's illness, and in addition, he punishes Isabella for causing Catherine's ailing health instead of Edgar. When Nelly arrives after receiving a word of help from Isabella, Heathcliff wants to go see Catherine at the Grange after finding out she is dying, and threatens to hold Nelly hostage until she agrees to bring a letter over written by him.

After Edgar leaves for church and when Catherine receives his letter, Heathcliff goes inside the Grange and into Catherine's bedroom, where the two of them have an overwhelming, intense conversation about their lost love and never being apart again. Cathy pleads to him for forgiveness which he accepts, but cannot bear to forgive what she had done to herself, since she had killed her own self and he cannot ever forgive a murderer.

Soon afterwards, Edgar returns home from church. Heathcliff prepares to leave but Catherine begs him to stay, and he does. As Edgar enters the room, Heathcliff catches Catherine falling from her bed unconscious and places her in her husband's arms, wanting him to look after her than fight with him.

Nelly escorts him out of the bedroom and would tell him about her tomorrow morning. He says he will stay in the garden so he could be near her. The next day, Heathcliff receives news from Nelly that Catherine has died in childbirth. He could immediately tell what has happened and curses her for the pain she had caused and even begs her spirit to forever haunt him and drive him mad, just so they can still be together.

He bashes his head in a tree when he cries out for her spirit. Later, when Nelly lets Heathcliff into the house to see Catherine's corpse, he replaces Edgar's lock of hair with his own in her locket. After Catherine is laid to rest, Heathcliff and Hindley's conflict grows more violent, to the point where Heathcliff was locked out of the house when he went to pay his respects at Catherine's grave.

When he returns, he takes Hindley's gun and shoots him in the wrist, breaks through the glass window and the two of them fight. While the men quarreled, Isabella, now pregnant with Heathcliff's child, goes to the Grange to see Nelly before she flees to London and gave birth to her son Linton. He also keeps Hareton as his servant and forces him to stay at the Heights, when at the same time, he plans to take his son away from his mother.

After he hears that his son Linton was brought to the Grange after his mother's death, he becomes determined to have him in his custody and sends his servant Joseph over to the Grange to deliver the news, and the boy was taken to the Heights the next day.

Ultimately, she ruins her life by falling in love with him. He never returns her feelings and treats her as a mere tool in his quest for revenge on the Linton family. Read an in-depth analysis of Isabella Linton. The mother and the daughter share not only a name, but also a tendency toward headstrong behavior, impetuousness, and occasional arrogance. Thus Heathcliff uses Hareton to seek revenge on Hindley. Illiterate and quick-tempered, Hareton is easily humiliated, but shows a good heart and a deep desire to improve himself.

At the end of the novel, he marries young Catherine. Linton himself dies not long after this marriage. Hindley resents it when Heathcliff is brought to live at Wuthering Heights. After his father dies and he inherits the estate, Hindley begins to abuse the young Heathcliff, terminating his education and forcing him to work in the fields. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff and brings him to live at Wuthering Heights. Earnshaw prefers Heathcliff to Hindley but nevertheless bequeaths Wuthering Heights to Hindley when he dies.

A long-winded, fanatically religious, elderly servant at Wuthering Heights. Joseph is strange, stubborn, and unkind, and he speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent. It is also very difficult to peep into his heart. Sometimes readers can feel the presence of a romantic hero in him.

However, it seems like the darker side of his personality has grown too strong and takes over whenever he tries to be sympathetic to others. While all the characters in Wuthering Heights are unique, it is especially Heathcliff who despite his ill-tempered and cynical attitude engages with his intense and dark emotions.

Readers cannot help sympathizing with him for beneath his sinister behaviour they can feel the presence of a romantic hero. His frustration for not finding his love has made him sadistic and evil. At several points, it appears like he uses his vicious attitude to hide his real emotions and his longing for Catherine.

However, it also seems that he is authentically bent at punishing others around him. At least it so appears because he does not hesitate to demonstrate through his cruelty that he is truly as cynical as he appears.

Still, despite his arrogant attitude it is his longing for his lost love that proves him a hero. However, his pain is what justifies his behaviour to some extent and makes readers sympathize with him. In the initial scenes, he appears as a stubborn, arrogant and inhospitable landlord.

From a literary perspective, he is more the embodiment of the Byronic hero attributed to the writer George Gordon, Lord Byron , a man of stormy emotions who shuns humanity because he himself has been ostracized; a rebellious hero who functions as a law unto himself. Heathcliff is both despicable and pitiable. His one sole passion is Catherine, yet his commitment to his notion of a higher love does not seem to include forgiveness.