Heathcliff as a Byronic Hero

Byronic Hero: variation of romantic hero, created by Lord Byron, extreme anti hero

Otherness

Mysterious Past

rejects values and moral codes of society

arrogant

outsider

intelligent

guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime

charming/attractive

Mysterious Birth

foster sibling

creates animosity

Hindley

nelly

darker skin color

"gipsy"

no longer only/favorite son

originally nelly was seen as more of a foster sibling, once heathcliff arrived she was pushed out and took on role of maid

After Catherine's death lives in self imposed exile

Dark and Brooding b/c of Internal Conflict

Pride

Rejects values and moral codes of society

Sympathetic/great suffering

attractive

Isabella attracted to him

No experience with other men, idealized 'fairy tale' image of romance

A challenge

A Mystery

A rebellion

Ignored her/focused on Catherine

Rich w/ a mysterious and exotic past

hated her brother

talked very little

wants the attention

Edgar’s new source of trouble sprang from the not anticipated misfortune of Isabella Linton evincing a sudden and irresistible attraction towards the tolerated guest. 130

He’s not a rough diamond—a pearl-containing oyster of a rustic: he’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man.


p.132

Catherine warning Isabella against heathcliff

Heathcliff named after dead Earnshaw son

‘It’s a cuckoo’s, sir—I know all about it: except where he was born, and who were his parents, and how he got his money at first. (35)

a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway.” (50)

he was as uncomplaining as a lamb; though hardness, not gentleness, made him give little trouble. (38)

Pride and Black Tempers (41)

Rejected at Linton's when Catherine is brought inside

‘I shall not stand to be laughed at. I shall not bear it!’ (54)

Pride comes out when Catherine laughs at him for being so messy compared to Hindley

‘Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves

But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman: that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire: rather slovenly, perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence, because he has an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose. (5)

'savagely', 'ferocious gaze', 'genuinely bad nature (12), 'universal scowl', 'diabolical sneer', 'bordering on repulsive' (13), 'unmannerly wretch' (16),

Heathcliff Returned

Revenge

‘I’m trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don’t care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!’


‘For shame, Heathcliff!’ said I. ‘It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.’


‘No, God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall,’ (61)

He had reached the age of sixteen then, I think, and without having bad features, or being deficient in intellect, he contrived to convey an impression of inward and outward repulsiveness that his present aspect retains no traces of... personal appearance sympathised with mental deterioration: he acquired a slouching gait and ignoble look; his naturally reserved disposition was exaggerated into an almost idiotic excess of unsociable moroseness; and he took a grim pleasure, apparently, in exciting the aversion rather than the esteem of his few acquaintances. (68)

Mysterious Wealth

Adds to Byronic mystery

He had grown a tall, athletic, well-formed man; beside whom my master seemed quite slender and youth-like. His upright carriage suggested the idea of his having been in the army. His countenance was much older in expression and decision of feature than Mr. Linton’s; it looked intelligent, and retained no marks of former degradation. A half-civilised ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified: quite divested of roughness, though stern for grace. (96)

Tell her what Heathcliff is: an unreclaimed creature, without refinement, without cultivation; an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone. (Catherine to Nelly, when she learns Isabella is infatuated w/ heathcliff) (102)

Pray, don’t imagine that he conceals depths of benevolence and affection beneath a stern exterior! He’s not a rough diamond—a pearl-containing oyster of a rustic: he’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man. (102)

Your bliss lies, like his [Satan], in inflicting misery. (112)

Is Mr. Heathcliff a man? If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil? (Isabella in a letter to Nelly, after marrying Heathcliff) (136)

‘She abandoned them under a delusion,’ he answered; ‘picturing in me a hero of romance, and expecting unlimited indulgences from my chivalrous devotion. I can hardly regard her in the light of a rational creature, so obstinately has she persisted in forming a fabulous notion of my character and acting on the false impressions she cherished. (149)

She cannot accuse me of showing a bit of deceitful softness. The first thing she was me do, on coming out of the Grange, was to hang up her little dog, and when she pleaded for it, the first words I uttered were a wish that I had the hanging of every being belonging to her, except one: possibly, she took that exception for herself- But no brutality disgusted her- I suppose she had an innate admiration of it, if only her precious person were secure from injury! (150)

‘I have no pity! I have no pity! The more the worms writhe, the more I yearn to crush out their entrails! It is a moral teething; and I grind with greater energy in proportion to the increase of pain.’


‘Do you understand what the word pity means?’ I said, hastening to resume my bonnet. ‘Did you ever feel a touch of it in your life?’

He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast being goaded to death with knives and spears. I observed several splashes of blood about the bark of the tree, and his hand and forehead were both stained; probably the scene I witnessed was a repetition of others acted during the night. (169)(after he is told Catherine has died)

His forehead, that I once thought so manly, and that I now think so diabolical, was shaded with a heavy cloud; his basilisk eyes were nearly quenched by sleeplessness, and weeping, perhaps, for the lashes were wet then: his lips devoid of their ferocious sneer, and sealed in an expression of unspeakable sadness. Had it been another, I would have covered my face in the presence of such grief. (180)

Death does not come for Heathcliff through the violence by which he has lived, for he is not enough humankind to die by human means. It is his spirit, so long at war with his body and his mind and will, that at last breaks forth from its dungeon to join the one for whom he has agonized his whole life.

Mr. Heathcliff was there—laid on his back. His eyes met mine so keen and fierce, I started; and then he seemed to smile. I could not think him dead: but his face and throat were washed with rain; the bed-clothes dripped, and he was perfectly still. The lattice, flapping to and fro, had grazed one hand that rested on the sill; no blood trickled from the broken skin, and when I put my fingers to it, I could doubt no more: he was dead and stark!
(335)

One redeeming quality: ability to love

love for catherine

drives entire novel

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same (81)

Cathy, do come. Oh, do—once more! Oh! my heart’s darling! hear me this time, Catherine, at last!’ (28) Heathcliff to catherine's ghost

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