Beaten to the Bone

                   One genuine question I have had while reading through the first eleven chapters of Wuthering Heights is, why do I feel the need to be so compassionate towards Heathcliff? Heathcliff is not a flawless character in this book, nor are in of the characters in the book truly blameless, but why do I feel as though the past wrongful actions of others towards Heathcliff allow him to be the “victim” in the book? How does Heathcliff's flawed past make his future bad actions acceptable in the reader's eyes?

                   The reason I ask this question is because normally while reading a book, I feel some animosity towards a character like Heathcliff. He is what others in the book call a vagabond who likes to cause mischief. As Catherine writes in her journal, “Hindley calls him a vagabond, and won't let him sit with us, nor eat with us any more; and he says, he and I must not play together, and threatens to turn him out of the house if we break his orders” (Bronte 22).

I feel like the quote from Catherine diary listed above show the tornness about my troubles for showing Heathcliff compassion based on the cold actions of others. Heathcliff's actions, were all premeditated because of the actions of others, such as Hindley. Hindley treated Heathcliff horribly and therefore I feel as though the hurtful actions of others, like Hindley, shaped Heathcliff into the person he later became. I am not saying that Heathcliff is blameless because of the actions of others, but I feel as though I can understand where Heathcliff's animosity is coming from.

                 Heathcliff walks a fine line between animal-like characteristics and human like desires when it comes to his relationship with the other characters in the book. For example, “I found him very intelligent on the topics we touched; and before I went home, I was encouraged so far as to volunteer another visit, to-morrow. He evidently wished no repetition of my intrusion. I shall go, notwithstanding. It is astonishing how sociable I feel myself compared to him” (Bronte 8). Therefore in this passage, we see Heathcliff as a well-natured, intelligent man who lacks some social skills. However, later in the meetings, Lockwood describes Heathcliff in a negative sense. Lockwood later said, “I no longer felt inclined to call Heathcliff a capital fellow” (Bronte 12). Nelly describes Heathcliff as, “rough as a saw-edge, and hard as whinstone! The less you meddle with him the better” (Bronte 35).

                  In the eleven chapters as a whole, I think Heathcliff is more the victim from the poor actions of the other characters. For example, when Mr. Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home, “Mrs. Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors: she did fly up- asking how he could fashion to bring that gypsy brat into the house” (Bronte 37). Right from the beginning of Heathcliff's stay with the Earnshaw family, I feel compassion towards Heathcliff because he is immediately unwelcome and Mrs. Earnshaw refers to him as an it. No one should ever be referred to as an it, and I feel as though Heathcliff's actions are in response to this feeling of unworthiness and it-ness that started from the very beginning of his family life with the Earnshaws. I think Heathcliff was a kind soul who was mistreated and later became a “hard” person in response. I think his personality is a reflection of others actions because of multiple stories in the book, but one in specific would be Nelly's story about how Heathcliff acted when he was sick when he was younger. “Heathcliff was dangerously sick, and while he lay at the worst he would have me constantly by his pillow; I suppose he felt I did a good deal for him, and he hadn't wit to guess that I was compelled to do it. However, I will say this, he was the quietest child that ever nurse watched over. The difference between him and the others forced me to be less partial: Cathy and her brother harassed me terribly: he was as uncompelling as a lamb; though hardness, not gentleness, made him give me little trouble” (Bronte 39). From this little episode, I feel as though Heathcliff, if he had been treated right would have been the most loving, gentlemen in the household.

                 However, like I have mentioned, Heathcliff also acts poorly. Because Mr. Earnshaw was the only one who ever showed him any favor, Heathcliff used this advantage to use others. “ As an instance, I remember Mr. Earnshaw once bought a couple of colts at the parish fair, and gave the lads each one. Heathcliff took the handsomest, but it soon fell lame, and when he discovered it, he said to Hindley, 'You must exchange horses with me; I don't like mine, and if you won't I shall tell your father of the three thrashings you've given me this week, and show him my arm, which is black to the shoulder” (Bronte 39). Heathcliff manipulated others and used with his close relationship with his father as the bait.

                 In conclusion, my feelings are more compassionate towards Heathcliff because I feel like his problems are due to the mistreatment others show him. He isn't a mean person, but simply hard. His hardness was acquired from the cruel actions of others calling him an it and beating him both physically and emotionally. An abused person shouldn't have to treat their abusers with care, so instead Heathcliff is understandable in not retaliating but becoming hard and coarse. I still feel as though Heathcliff is the victim in the book and his bad actions are caused by others wrong doings against him.