The Jealous Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights Essay

The Jealous Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights Throughout Wuthering Heights, Heathcliffs personality could be defined as dark, menacing, and brooding. He is a dangerous character, with rapidly changing moods, capable of deep-seeded hatred, and incapable, it seems, of any kind of forgiveness or compromise. In the first 33 chapters, the text clearly establishes Heathcliff as an untamed, volatile, wild man and establishes his great love of Catherine and her usage of him as the source of his ill humor and resentment towards many other characters. However, there are certain tensions, contradictions, and ambiguities present in Chapter 34 that establish the true intensity Heathcliffs feelings towards Catherine; feelings so†¦show more content†¦He refuses to eat, absents himself from the company of Cathy, Hareton, or Nelly, disappears inexplicably for long intervals of time and refuses to explain his absences. Most disturbing, his strange excitement continues, causing discomfort to all those around him, especially Ne lly. When Nelly asks him where he was the night before his he began to exhibit this odd elation, he tells her, Last night, I was on the threshold of hell. To-day I am within sight of my heaven -- I have my eyes on it -- hardly three feet to sever me (278)! His statement is ambiguous--it does little to explain his sudden change of humor and little to satisfy Nellys curiosity and wonder at his state. Joy in most characters in Wuthering Heights is an uplifting state associated with happiness and delighted exhilaration. However in Heathcliff, as Nelly observes, it is a horrible, frightening thing. In Heathcliff, the mood arouses wariness and fear in others and indicates some inner change so dramatic that its cause is almost unthinkable. Heathcliff offers no coherent explanation for his sudden change of state and the text offers no concrete solution as to what could have caused his dark exhilaration. Thus, the question of his condition is left largely unanswered as Heathcliff continues to exhibit such uncharacteristic behavior, inspiring all the more uneasiness in Nelly, especially. He frightens her greatly severalShow MoreRelatedThe Role of Violence in Wuthering Heights Essay847 Words   |  4 PagesThe Role of Violence in Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights was written by Emily Bronte and published in 1847. Emily Bronte was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1818, but her family moved to a nearby village called Haworth when she was eighteen months old. This is where Bronte spent most of her life, seldom venturing beyond the surrounding area of her village. 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