Wuthering Heights
" 'You needn't have touched me!, he answered, following her eye and snatching away his hand. 'I shall be as dirty as I please, and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty'" (55).In Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, the reader gets the impression that the malevolence and evilness in Heathcliff's character is greatly caused by the maltreatment he experiences during his youth. Thus it is his degradation to the position of a mere servant, the denial of his love to Catherine Earnshaw, and the brutal abuse by Hindley that causes him to become a "fierce, pitiless, wolfish man" (103). Hareton, however, who has been brought up with the "same wind to twist [him]" by far doesn't turn out as "crooked" (187) as Heathcliff. In contrast to Heathcliff, Hareton is able to preserve a noble character, and against all odds, manages that "all his rudeness, and all his harshness [deserts] him" (314) at last. Through/ With/ By the example of Hareton, the novel suggests that the character of a human being is not completely determined by his environment, but that each individual has a choice, to a certain degree, how to respond to the way they are treated.
[his] degradation, pride, and happiness" (324). He also lets Hareton experience the "disgust at being taken for a servant" (196). Even though he is called an "idiot," a "dog" and made fun of because of his "frightful Yorkshire pronunciation" (220) and his inability to read, Hareton does not turn against those who insult him, not even when Cathy is present. From childhood on, this difference in their characters can be detected in their behaviors. He even seems to forgive those who treated him badly, and does not hold up his former maltreatment to those who did him wrong. He thus is the only one who "weeps" for Heathcliff in "bitter earnest" (335), the character who is almost solely responsible for his deterioration. The "associations" Hareton "awakens" in Heathcliff, disable him to "slate off the roof" of either household (323). To achieve his goal, Heathcliff refuses Hareton any education, similarly as he himself was denied an education after old Earnshaw's death. But though Heathcliff derives satisfaction from seeing an Earnshaw suffering under social and educational inferiority, he ultimately does not manage to achieve happiness. The realization of Hareton having prevailed despite his "laboring" to "revenge [himself] on the representatives" of his enemies, finally even seem to cause to exhibit a "fine trait of magnanimity"(323). He often even shows satisfaction and amusement by seeing his past replayed in another person: when he watches Cathy make fun of Hareton, he "[studies] the familiar landscape with a stranger's and an artist's interest" (218), and asks: "Nelly, you recollect me at his age.
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Acceptance Essays
