wuthering heights
... hearts by breaking my own." Another cause for Cathy’s anger involved Isabella’s feelings for Heathcliff. Cathy continually warned Isabella that Heathcliff was an uncaring, brutal and ferocious man. In Cathy’s eyes, this was the only way she was able to excuse herself for her awful mistake of marrying Edgar using false ideals. Isabella’s words, “I love him more than ever you loved Edgar; and he might love me if you would let him," penetrated into Cathy’s soul. Cathy now knew her feelings of love for Edgar were false. Since she could no longer have Heathcliff’s love, Cathy realized it would destroy her for Isabella to be with him. Finally, Cathy’s selfishness had begun, “If I were only sure it would kill him, I’d kill myself directly!” Vengeance and anger now filled Cathy’s soul, as she wanted Edgar to suffer, and would go to any means to do it. She lay awake at night, refrained from eating and worsened her condition only to punish others for her mistakes. Since these recent acts were carried out as a revenge plan for Edgar, Cathy grew even more enraged when she found Nelly had not told Edgar of her condition. This irrational conduct was a direct result of her pursuit of false ideals. These examples make it obvious that Cathy’s death was self-inflicted. Her false ideals stood in the way of her dreams, and in the end she defeated herself. “You teach me how cruel you’ve been -- cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself.” Heathcliff’s anger from Cathy’s betrayal led to the destruction and suffering of others. After Cathy Sr.’s death, Heathcliff’s only objective in life was to destroy others with his power and manipulation. For Heathcliff, those around him served only as a tool to get the things he wanted. Heathcliff took pride and pleasure in controlling Hareton. He denied Hareton an education, resulting in his unsociable and withdrawn manner. Heathcliff had reproduced the pattern of control Hindley had inflicted on him; because Hareton is bright, and loves Heathcliff, his revenge was even more powerful since he had stunted the growth of a smart boy. Hareton began to acquire some of Heathcliff’s brutal characteristics; one afternoon, he hung a litter of puppies on the back of a chair. The childhood of Cathy’s nephew was destroyed as a result of Heathcliff’s plan of revenge. The lives around Heathcliff were bound to suffer because Cathy’s pursuit of false ideals destroyed him. Catherine’s pursuit of false ideals destroyed Heathcliff, and in turn, the lives of those around him were bound to suffer. Secondly, Heathcliff’s harsh environment destroyed Linton. Heathcliff took revenge on Edgar by marrying Isabella. Together, they had a child and in Heathcliff’s “care”, this child became very weak. Upon his arrival, Linton instantly could not survive under the harsh conditions at Wuthering Heights. After having lost his Mother, Linton became very ill; a boy his age cannot proceed without special attention from those who love him. Heathcliff made the worst of the situation, by refusing to “spend a farthing on him”. After several weeks, Linton had spent so much time in bed that the reader was under the impression that he was afraid to come out of his protected room into the brutal surroundings of Wuthering Heights. “...and I never knew such a faint hearted creature.” Cathy’s betrayal turned Heathcliff into an uncaring beast, which led eventually to Linton’s suffering and early death. Lastly, Heathcliff used the power of manipulation to get what he wanted. When Edgar was deathly ill, he kidnapped Nelly and Cathy Jr. and locked them up in Wuthering Heights. He presented the ultimatum that she marry Linton in the early morning or she would be locked up until Edgar is dead. This presented the enormous threat of Edgar dying alone, and brought out Cathy Jr.’s true feelings of hatred and bitterness toward Heathcliff. She fought Heathcliff’s power and would suffer any consequence to reach her Father, before he died. When Cathy and Linton are married, Heathcliff did not care for Linton, he cared only for Cathy Jr.’s suffering. Heathcliff’s drive for power and manipulation transformed him to “...a lying fiend! A monster and not a human being!”, and was the direct result of Cathy Sr.’s betrayal of her true feelings of love for him. Had she followed her heart, and married Heathcliff, others would not have suffered so greatly. The misery of Catherine’s betrayal ended finally with Heathcliff’s suffering and self-inflicted death. Cathy Jr. was the only character accountable for the destruction of Heathcliff’s plan. She stopped him before he could ruin anyone else’s lives. “Mr. Heathcliff, you have nobody to love you; and , however miserable you make us, we shall still have the revenge of thinking that your cruelty arises from your greater misery! ... Lonely, like the devil, and envious like him? Nobody loves you - nobody will cry for you when you die! I wouldn’t be you!” At this moment, Cathy sees Heathcliff and Linton clearly, and courageously set up tactics to defeat them. From this point on, Cathy Jr. became the strongest character of Wuthering Heights, and was able to set apart the evil characters from the rest. Hareton and herself finally had a chance to make up for the misery Heathcliff caused them both. Cathy’s strength demeans Heathcliff, and from this point on in the novel, Heathcliff became disinclined to society. Had Cathy Sr. followed her heart from the beginning, Heathcliff would never have suffered so greatly. Another cause of Heathcliff’s deterioration was the happiness that Hareton and Cathy found within each other. Together, they noticed that the environment at Wuthering Heights was very cold and unhappy. The current bushes that had been planted for decades were removed by Cathy and Hareton and replaced with their own “happy” plants. Heathcliff despised the two, only because they had each other. ...