Curiously, Edgar is the one who acts out of character by striking Heathcliff. This action demonstrates the lengths that Edgar will go for the woman he loves. Previous Chapter Next Chapter Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title.
Are you sure you want to remove bookConfirmation and any corresponding bookmarks? My Preferences My Reading List. Summary and Analysis Chapter Adam Bede has been added to your Reading List! In contrast to the previous chapter, all sympathy that readers gained for Heathcliff is lost when Heathcliff beats Hindley. During the beating, Hindley is the victim of his own past sins and Heathcliff's displaced anger and aggression about Catherine's death.
Soon after Catherine's death, Hindley dies too. The details are not exactly revealed, but Heathcliff claims Hindley "spent the night in drinking himself to death deliberately. Heathcliff has rough intentions with both Linton and Hareton. He refers to his own son as "it," not even affording Linton the level of respect of a person. And Heathcliff essentially steals Wuthering Heights from Hareton. Hareton is the rightful landowner, although the land is in debt. When Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley returns from college, with his new wife Frances, to claim his place as master of Wuthering Heights.
College hasn't altered Hindley's feelings toward Heathcliff, so he decides to make life miserable for his adopted brother by treating him like a servant. With Hindley acting the tyrant, Catherine provides Heathcliff's only solace.
They remain allies and friends. One night Heathcliff and Catherine ramble down to Thrushcross Grange to spy on the Linton children, Edgar and Isabella, who live a pampered and protected existence.
When a dog bites Catherine, she is forced to stay at the Grange for five weeks to recuperate. While there, she captures the affections of young Edgar. Back at Wuthering Heights, life without Catherine has been miserable for Heathcliff, but with Edgar in the picture things will never be the same. Frances dies after giving birth to a son, Hareton. Without his wife to help tone down his rage, Hindley becomes even more vengeful toward Heathcliff. Hindley resents his new son, and he becomes an abusive alcoholic.
His primary activity is making life miserable for Heathcliff and, as a consequence, for everyone else in the house. Though Catherine confesses to Nelly an all-consuming love for Heathcliff, she still marries Edgar. Even out on the isolated moors, social class dictates whom you marry. Heathcliff takes off for three years to who knows where. Heathcliff is now on a mission of revenge against Hindley, who is in even worse shape than before. Loaded with a bunch of money gained during his mysterious absence, Heathcliff sets into motion his master plan to acquire Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Heathcliff exploits the fact that Hindley is a drunken mess and engages him in extended bouts of gambling that eventually lead Hindley to mortgage Wuthering Heights to pay his debts. Tortured by the depth of his love for Catherine, by his sense that she has betrayed him, and by his hatred of Hindley and the Linton family for making him seem unworthy of her, Heathcliff dedicates himself to an elaborate plan for revenge.
The execution of this plan occupies much of the rest of the novel. But though his destructive cruelty makes him the villain of the book, Heathcliff never loses his status as a sympathetic character. Although one can hardly condone his actions, it is difficult not to commiserate with him. In some sense, he fulfills both roles. The love between Catherine and Heathcliff constitutes the center of Wuthering Heights both thematically and emotionally, and, if one is to respond at all to the novel, it is difficult to resist sympathizing with that love.
Correspondingly, as a participant in this love story, Heathcliff never becomes an entirely inhuman or incomprehensible character to the reader, no matter how sadistically he behaves.
If this is true, then one might argue that the book, in creating such charismatic main characters as Heathcliff and Catherine, defeats its own purpose. Similarly, Heathcliff suffers the ill treatment of characters who seem his intellectual and spiritual inferiors; thus when he seeks revenge on a brute such as Hindley, the reader secretly wishes him success.
In addition to exploring the character of Heathcliff as a grown man, this section casts some light on the character of Nelly Dean as a narrator. It is important to remember that Nelly is not much older than Catherine and grew up serving her. This section of the book offers some evidence for the latter view.
I expect you to feel flattered. Perhaps in the past he has suspected Nelly of having feelings for him. Ace your assignments with our guide to Wuthering Heights! Jekyll and Mr. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why do Cathy and Heathcliff develop such a strong bond?
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