Wuthering Heights - Heathcliff

             The Cause Of All Evil – Revenge In Wuthering Heights by Martin Steinbrink
             "Wuthering Heights" was written by Emily Bronte in 1847. The time and place of the action are roughly similar to the actual life of the author, since the novel starts around 1770 and ends in 1802 and is set in Yorkshire, Middle England. The novel is very special and is counted among the world's classics. The reader can understand it as a romance, a realistic description of living around 1800 in this region or even as an exciting familysaga. Its main character is Heathcliff, around whose life, longings and characteristic features the whole plot has been set. There are several concepts in the novel which are worth to be examined more thoroughly, but since I think the theme of revenge is the most important topic, which influences and determines the whole course of the novel, I would like to deal with this.
             In my opinion there are four relations between characters in the novel which are mainly influenced by the striving for revenge. I want to discuss all four of them and examine if a connection or an intention by the author does exist.
             The first one is the relationship between Hindley and Heathcliff. Since Heathcliff has always been the favourite of Hindley's father and therefore been preferred to his real son, Hindley starts very early to develop hate for his rival for paternal affection ("but Hindley hated him...and we plagued and went on him shamefully", 39). Especially after the father's death, Heathcliff, who has been brought up like a son in the family, suffers from a bad treatment. Thus he is not allowed to talk to Catherine, the love of his life. In revenge, Hindley prevents the love between Catherine and Heathcliff from developing by putting him down in the social hierachy. Catherine chooses Edgar instead, because she feels a marriage between her and Heathcliff would be degrading. This is an absolutely crucia...

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