The plot of Wuthering Heights, although it involves a number of complex relationships, largely revolves around Heathcliff's pursuit of revenge and through his subsequent manipulations of the rest of the characters. He has, at the conclusion of the story, manipulated Isabella into abandoning her home and family, forced the miserable marriage of Linton and young Catherine, and, in some way or another, helped to bring about the death of Catherine which led to the depression of Edgar Linton. He uses profane language, fills those who surround him with the incessant fear of his violent malice, and, perhaps most of all, centers his entire life upon seeking his revenge for the treatment inflicted upon him as a child. He is, in conclusion, the bane of existence of Wuthering Heights. Yet somehow this "lying fiend" of a "monster" possesses somewhat attractive qualities (149). Heathcliff, through his numerous malicious deeds, appears to be void of all human emotion. In his relationship with Catherine, however, his capacity to love is exposed. Despite his moral deficiencies this capacity makes him worthy of sympathy. Heathcliff, despite his bitter personality and moral shortcomings, is indeed a sympathetic character. While his actions are not warranted, they are understandable due to his treatment as a child, the emotional losses he experiences throughout the story, and because passion, not evil, is the force that propels his existence.
             Heathcliff is doomed from his youth to a future of bitterness and revenge, surrounded by the same cruelties as during his brutal upbringing. His animosity is fueled early in his childhood as he becomes "hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment" in the eyes of Nelly, the housekeeper (42). Heathcliff is continually plagued by the hostility of the jealous Hindley after the death of old Earnshaw, and so at an early age he is introduced to the qualities that will characterize ...