In Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights the idea compensation for love lost is discussed. Wuthering Heights is a quiet house in the country where the Earnshaw's and Heathcliff live. Heathcliff loves Catherine Earnshaw very much but, she decides to marry another man, Edgar. Heathcliff marries Edgar's sister just to make Catherine jealous. At the end Heathcliff abandons his plan for vengeance and professes his love for Catherine only to see her die soon after. In the novel Wuthering Heights Bronte shows that revenge is not the key to happiness through irony, through plot, and through characterization.
             Irony is used over and over in the novel Wuthering Heights to express the notion of revenge. The main ironic incident in this novel is that no one ends up with the person they want to be with despite the fact that they can be with the one they love. For example Catherine loves Heathcliff. Catherine and Heathcliff are soul mates, and she even remarks to Nelly that, " I [Catherine] am Heathcliff!" (142). She is angry at Heathcliff for not leaving sooner to make something of himself. Catherine could have had Heathcliff, but she chooses not to and ends up miserable.
             Another example of irony is that Heathcliff and Isabella do not love each other. Heathcliff thinks that he is with Isabella to get back at Catherine. He sees Isabella as an unsuspecting "young lady"(91). However, Isabella married Heathcliff for spite. She resents the fact that her Catherine married her brother and wanted to get back at Catherine. Neither Isabella nor Heathcliff find happiness in each others arms, and they both die miserable and unsatisfied with each other.
             The fact that Edgar wants to get back at Heathcliff after Catherine's death is very ironic. Edgar won. Catherine marries him and not Heathcliff. Edgar is always jealous of Heathcliff. Before Catherine's demise Edgar tells her that, "It is i...