Love and Revenge As Desire-Driven Emotions in Emily Bronte's - Wuthering Heig

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Love and Revenge as Desire-Driven Emotions in Emily Bronte’s

Wuthering Heights 1847
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1513 2023/‫آذار‬/‫العدد الثالث عشر‬ ‫مجلة إكليل للدراسات االنسانية‬
Love and Revenge as Desire-Driven Emotions in Emily Bronte’s
Wuthering Heights 1847
Fahmi Salim Hameed Maytham Ali Khalefa

Imam Kadhum college Faculty of Basic Education College
Diyala University
Keywords: Desire, Love, Revenge, Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, Tragedy
Summary :
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte presents a panoramic assortment of
emotions as reflected and enacted through its characters. The demonstration of
emotions in the novel varies from love, hate, revenge to other manifestations. The
current research study assumes that such feelings are driven mostly by instinctual
desires; the desire to love in order to possess, the desire to get rid of or get back at in
order to control and dominate, etc. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate
such emotional concepts—more particularly love and revenge—as a
demonstration of desire-driven emotions in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. It
examines how the novel at hand represents such emotions through some of its
major characters such as Heathcliff, Catherine, Hindley Earnshaw, and Edgar Linton.
It also examines how the different characters in the story through their individual,
mutual and/or collective interactions and relationships—whether as main agents or
conduits—contribute to the orchestration of such emotions. In addition, the present
study explores how the pursuit and fulfillment of such emotions mostly culminate in
a tragedy.
Introducing the Novelist and her Work
Emily Bronte is a 19th century prominent female English writer and novelist.
Emily had the privilege of descending from a family of letters. She is one of three
sisters who are all popular and well-known female English writers; Charlotte Bronte
2023/‫آذار‬/‫العدد الثالث عشر‬ ‫ مجلة إكليل للدراسات االنسانية‬1514
and Anne Bronte. From an early age, the three sisters demonstrated prodigious
abilities and excellent skills in reading, writing and appreciating literature. Emily
Bronte and her two sisters revealed an early gifted taste for poetry and fiction as
well. They all wrote both poetry and fiction and the three sisters collectively
published, under the pen names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, a collection of the
sisters’ poetry in 1846. Hence, Emily was known as both a poetess and a female
novelist. Yet, she only published a sole work of poetry and a sole work of fiction—
the novel under study—during her lifetime. Emily Bronte was attracted by fiction
more than poetry and dedicated most of her talent, time and efforts to fiction
writing. Hence, she produced more of herself and of her writing skills into fiction
than prose, communicated with the outer world through that, and thus became
widely recognized as a novelist not a poet.
Wuthering Heights was published one year before the death of its author in
1848. However, this novel is generally regarded as Emily’s magnum opus and a
fictional masterwork that has carried her name and reputation far and wide: “Emily
Bronte published only one novel, Wuthering Heights (1847), a story of doomed love
and revenge. But that single work has its place among the masterpieces of English
literature,” (Kettle 27). Passing away at the age of thirty in addition to being a female
writer, Emily was much younger and less fortunate to have and enjoy recognition
and fame during her life. However, in recent years “Emily Bronte’s reputation has
dramatically risen and the public has shown an enthusiastic interest in reading
Wuthering Heights,” (Asl 1). The publication of Wuthering Heights has taken her
name farther and made her more fame than she—or anyone else for that matter—
could possibly have expected.
Although published during the Victorian period, Wuthering Heights
deviated from the literary norms of the time as it exceptionally represented different
aspects, raises diverse questions and addressed more serious issues than the
Victorian concerns. While the majority of the literary works of the time showed more
interest in and commitment to the general spirit of the age, Wuthering Heights
revealed more interest in and paid more attention to more particular and specific
aspects of the life of an individual human being: “It is different in the sense that it
does not present an overview of the Victorian life and society as the other novels of
the same period are famed to do. She is not concerned with the life of Victorians but
more interested in the life of an individual,” (Mathur 663).
Instead of celebrating the spirit of the Victorian age, the novel astonishingly
portrayed and reflected upon more factual, practical and more important aspects of
people’s lives. It touches upon and explores more imperative and more immediate
matters to a man and a woman’s life such as love, hate, revenge, personal
relationships, friendships and so on:
Yet, Wuthering Heights is an example of the best composed English literary
works. The novel was published in the year 1847, in the Victorian era. The novelist
depicts the power and passion of intense love as well as the dark and evil side of
human nature. The novel revolves around the love relationship between Catherine
and Heathcliff. The climax is a tragedy since the love ends up in revenge. (Sahib
3370)
Such aspects, according to the novel, have more worth and should receive
more recognition than more general matters. After all, those immediate concerns of
an individual hold more symbolic value in shaping and directing the general and
public atmosphere of the entirety of a community.
Wuthering Heights—which is the title of the novel—is a farm house that
is located on a hill, surrounded by moors and is owned by the Earnshaw family. In
this house, the Earnshaw family of Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw live with their two
children; Hindley and Catherine. The closest residential area to Wuthering Heights is
the Thrush Cross Crange, which is situated in a valley four miles away from the
Earnshaw’s, and is surrounded by the woods and a garden. In the Thrush Cross
Crange, the Linton’s family of Mr. and Mrs. Linton live with their two children: Edgar
and Isabella.
When the novel presents the Earnshaw family, it depicts them as a happy
and harmonious family who live a life of ease. One day, Mr. Earnshaw leaves home
for Liverpool on a business journey. While in Liverpool, Mr. Earnshaw pays a visit to
a shantytown at the outskirts of the city in which poor families, orphan children and
underprivileged people live. There he decides to foster a child whom he names
Heathcliff. Having two children, Hindley and Catherine, Heathcliff gets along with
the Earnshaw’s children, thus blessed with a life as normal as any other child’s life
living with both parents under the same roof. Heathcliff is almost the same age as
Catherine; so, they seem to get along very well. Yet, as soon as they grow up and
begin to show signs of maturity, Catherine and Heathcliff appear to harbor affective
feelings and quickly grow fond of one another. Their affection grows stronger by the
day; they become more intimate and start having sex.
However, Catherine’s brother, Hindley is not happy about his sister’s affair
with Heathcliff. He does not want Catherine to continue the affair with Heathcliff.
Hindley does not approve of the union of Heathcliff and Catherine, even as a
slightest possibility and even in a bond of marriage. During these occurrences, Mr.
Earnshaw passes away, which results in making Hindley the head of the Earnshaw
family.
Therefore, Hindley orchestrates a forced marriage between Catherine and
Edgar Linton. Catherine’s marriage to Edgar Linton devastates Heathcliff and
saddens him deeply. As a result, Heathcliff decides to leave Wuthering Heights
behind him and goes somewhere far; it is no longer the place he desires and he is no
longer welcome there. In three years’ time, Heathcliff makes a surprise return to
Wuthering Heights. This time Heathcliff comes back a rich man; hence, Hindley
welcomes him. Besides, his return reawakens Catherine’s feelings for him, which
complicates things for her because she is now a married woman. Catherine has not
overcome her grief yet over losing her baby girl during birth labor and Heathcliff’s
sudden return adds insult to injury.
In view of all that, Heathcliff’s resentment of and rage at Hindley amplifies,
and he becomes more determined to avenge all Hindley’s harms and wrongdoings.
Thus, Heathcliff starts drawing his revenge plans on Hindley. Heathcliff begins to
temptingly trap Hindley into drinking and gambling. Hindley falls into Heathcliff’s
trap and becomes addicted to drinking binges and playing casino gambling games.
Buried deeply under the heavy weight of debts and losses for drinking and gambling,
Hindley loses almost everything he has including his family house, Wuthering
Heights.
Consequently, Heathcliff achieves a grand success in destroying Hindley
and making his life as miserable as it can possibly get. He purchases Hindley’s
property and family heritage in the form of Wuthering Heights. To amplify his
pleasure and consolidate his successful revenge, Heathcliff intends to further
humiliate Hindley and his son as his servants. Thus, he uplifts himself in the social
ranking ladder of Wuthering Heights to a master in order to achieve that.
Moreover, Heathcliff could in a way get into Isabella Linton’s favors.
Heathcliff and Isabella seem to have grown something more serious for one another
and Isabella agrees to run away with Heathcliff. After sometime from their
elopement, Heathcliff and Isabella have their first and only child, a son. Upon their
return to Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff comes back with the intention of passing
and getting hold of the Linton’s land through his son so that he would be the sole
lord of Wuthering Heights and Thrush Cross Crange all at once.
Nonetheless, Heathcliff’s plans of land acquisition get ruined by an
inadvertently accidental counterplan by Hindley’s son and Catherine’s daughter in
the form of growing love between them. Hindley’s son and Catherine’s daughter
grow up, become a couple and thus frustrate Heathcliff’s plans of totally destroying
the Earnshaw and Linton families and attaining all their lands. By the conclusion of
the novel, it is observed that “Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, the main
protagonists of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, face the tragic consequences of
their choices, and of losing each other,” (Karjohn 4). Ultimately, the marriage union
between Hindley’s son and Catherine’s daughter has legally qualified them for the
acquisition of land and all respective properties of the two families. Hence,
Heathcliff’s victories get undone; he ends up a defeated and failing man and
eventually dies as one.
Love as a Desire-Driven Emotion in Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights has presented a delicate and an in-depth
portrayal of a variety of emotions. Through its major characters such as Heathcliff,
Catherine Earnshaw, Hindley and Francis, Edgar and Isabella and Hareton and
Catherine Linton the novel shows that their entire lives revolve around and almost
all their deeds originate in emotions generated by basic desires like love, hate and
revenge. The first demonstration of such emotions is between Heathcliff and
Catherine. They start a love affair that develops into a serious bond. Hindley, on
another hand, starts a hate emotion for Heathcliff till it develops into a serious
manifestation of rejection. On his part, Heathcliff starts a feeling of bitterness and
anger for Hindley and develops it into vengeance. In a similar respect, almost all such
emotions have crowned in tragedies. Except for one example of true and original
demonstration of feeling that has lasted and come to fruition—that between
Hareton, Hindley’s son and Catherine’s daughter—all other demonstrations of
feelings in the novel have terminated and sadly, too.
Exploring the narrative of the novel and the subjects addressed, the
paradoxes shown by the characters become obvious. For example, they have all
married for the wrong reasons and blame others for their marriage failures. In the
case of Heathcliff and Catherine, to begin with, it could be observed that through
their relationship the novel establishes it main idea: “Both the protagonists in this
novel are hateful and violent. Yet, they share the human element of need for
affection. Cathy’s death is an unbearable loss to Heathcliff and his desire to get her
back. Without her, his violence and hatred multiply. He remains obsessed with her
memories,” (Sahib 3377). The connection between the other characters also shows a
tangling web of paradoxes and complications. While Heathcliff, for example, gets
married to Isabella Linton and names their son Linton Heathcliff, Catherine
Earnshaw and Edgar Linton have a daughter whom they name Catherine Linton. The
only person left to carry the Earnshaw family name is Hindley’s son whose name
becomes Hareton Earnshaw. Still, to avoid the confusion of having two characters
named Catherine, Catherine, the mother, will be referred to as Catherine Earnshaw,
whereas her daughter will be referred to as Catherine Linton.
Most of the narrative’s events revolve around Catherine Earnshaw and
Heathcliff and the nature of relationship they have. Although a fostered child, it
seems that not everybody in the Earnshaw family at Wuthering Heights is kind to
Heathcliff. Except for Mr. Earnshaw and Catherine, all Earnshaw family members
including Mrs. Earnshaw treats Heathcliff poorly and receives him coldly. Most of
what happens to/with Heathcliff at the Earnshaw’s house would establish the
ground for his later vengeance: “Heathcliff’s status in the house is no better than a
servant. This humiliation is so great that he bears his hatred deep in his heart and
expects to find change to revenge,” (Ri 2). However, Catherine Earnshaw seems to
share with Heathcliff many qualities in common; they are both wild, violent and
enjoy passionate personalities. Therefore, Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw
connect with each other immediately and their connection develops quickly. Their
relationship grows stronger by time, survives all types of tests and overcomes all
difficulties.
While Wuthering Heights provides an abundant variety of the forms and
types of emotions that will be all indicated herein, it could be indicated that the
novel generally “is a multigenerational story of love and revenge that revolves
around the inhabitants of a desolate farmhouse called Wuthering Heights and its
owner Heathcliff,” (S 421). It is thus “a love story of Heathcliff and Catherine. And it
is also a story of Heathcliff’s revenge,” (ibid 422). Still, the argument of the current
research paper would address with more attentiveness and detail the forms and
types of such emotions—more particularly love and revenge—that are primarily
driven by desire and thus bring about sad effects. The novel seems to be all about
relationships and connections; it presents those connections as motivations and
driving forces that direct and shape all characters’ words and deeds. Those
connections and relationships vary between love, hate, desire, resentment, grudge
and revenge.
In terms of love, the novel presents various types of love such as romantic,
passionate, family, desire, obsessive and true love. Each type of love presented in the
novel would demonstrate a stark difference to or perhaps a multiplicity of other
types. More over all relationships that culminate in marriage establish failing
models: “All the marriages in the novel are failures except that between Hareton and
Cathy of the new generation. They symbolize the true way of executing love, a piece
of wisdom constructed on the mistakes of the previous generations,” (Sahib 3381).
Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton would assumingly represent the type of
true love. As such, it seems to be unselfish and built upon uncalculated and honest
feelings. Besides, it promotes positive and fruitful developments and brings about a
happy ending. Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton get married, inherit both
families’ property and apparently live happily ever after. This love is assumingly a
manifestation of genuine affection, which might possibly be the only type of true
love depicted in the novel.
Other types of love such as obsessive love are arguably desire-driven
demonstrations of feelings. Obsessive love is, for instance, a negative and self-
destructive type of emotions to itself and the people involved in it, generates bad
consequences and end tragically. As such, Heathcliff’s love for Catherine is shown in
his words after he finds out she is dead: “Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as
long as I am living! You said I killed you, so punish me, then! I know that ghosts have
wandered on earth. Oh, God! It is awful! I cannot live without my soul!,” (Bronte 89).
Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw in their relationship presumably portray this type
of love.
Besides, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff’s love seems to be greatly
motivated by desires, of conflicting natures though. Hence, Catherine’s love
originates in her “id’s passion, the desire from Eros to merge with Heathcliff, is now
at war with the ego’s need for progress towards a role as a genteel lady, something
which ought to benefit her materially,” (Karjohn 24). Likewise, Heathcliff’s love for
Catherine is primarily driven by a desire of a conflicting nature: “His very
commitment to Catherine, with whom he yearns to merge, is a desire within the id
through Eros, but the transformation he undergoes is to save his own pride and
therefore motivated by the self-preservation drive in the ego,” (ibid). In addition to
desire, their love is seemingly promoted by some other shared excesses like wildness
and passionate forcefulness.
As such, it could be detected “why their aggression takes over the psyche
when they can neither preserve their material interest nor fulfil their true desire to
merge,” (Karjohn 29). Thus, their love does not generate positive developments and
ends sadly. Heathcliff and Catherine are separated and Hindley forces his sister to
marry Edgar Linton. In addition, as a desire-driven and disparaging type of love,
Heathcliff and Catherine’s love not only causes them to become separated and their
bond severed—physically in the least—but also leads to their eventual and
unfortunate downfall.
In general, the novel portrays love to be so permanent, resilient and
controlling that it endures time, separation and physical decay, and thus sticks
around persistently. Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw better demonstrate such
quality of love regardless of how their love ends or what it has eventually brought
upon them. Almost all characters in the novel are linked together as a couple
experiencing one form or the other of love as mentioned earlier. Those couples
include Hindley and Francis, Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton—after,
seemingly, forcefully parting with Heathcliff—Linton Heathcliff and Catherine
Linton and Hareton Earnshaw with Catherine Linton. Nevertheless, Catherine
Earnshaw and Heathcliff’s love connection seems to be the most prominent,
prevailing and consequential type of them all.
Catherine’s love for Heathcliff is not only driven by desire, it is also so
strong, violent and irreplaceable that life might stop without it: “If all else perished,
and HE remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were
annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of
it,” (Bronte 104). Similarly, Heathcliff’s love connection to Catherine Earnshaw is
equally intense, wild and indispensable. It thus seems more than affection; it appears
an adoringly obsessive infatuation: “Be with me always take any form drive me mad!
Only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is
unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul!’
(Bronte 213). In addition to being stimulated by desire, their love enjoys mutually
equal intensity and warmth.
Accordingly, such love even functions as fire that devours everything and
everyone thrown into it and eventually destroys itself. Heathcliff says that he sees
Catherine everywhere, in everyone, and yet he is trying to destroy everything and
everyone that has anything to do with her. This could mean that “by destroying the
people who stood between him and Cathy, Heathcliff takes revenge on them, that
everyone and every place is a symbol not of Cathy, but rather of her absence, and in
destroying those people and those things Heathcliff should be able to reach her,”
(Miller 373). This is the nature of their love as it has gone deeply into them, their
passion has constantly grown and their adoration has persistently intensified.
It could thus be argued that even the death of Catherine Earnshaw is
instigated by her emotional wildness and intensity being reawaken upon his return.
For Heathcliff, “only in death does he think he can be united with Catherine,”
(Karjohn 20). It seems that Heathcliff “is convinced that death would bring about his
union with his beloved Cathy, a final but ghostly union,” (Sahib 3317). In a similar
order, Catherine Earnshaw’s death is assumed to be caused by her love to Heathcliff.
This could assumingly be inferred from her sickness announcement. According to
Freud, Catherine in this announcement “is voicing the coming victory of the death-
drive…, that the id cannot say what it wants; it has not produced a unified will. Eros
and the death-drive struggle within it; …one group of drives defend themselves
against others,” (Freud 118). Such wild, intense and uncontrollable love would most
feasibly be driven by desire, an immensely strong one.
To the contrary, Edgar Linton’s love connection to Catherine Earnshaw does
not enjoy that intensity of desire or immense ferocity. Out of this marriage,
Catherine wanted to be known “the greatest woman in the neighborhood,” (Bronte
89). It is still motivated by desire; Catherine just desires to establish herself in the
society, and marrying Edgar symbolizes the fulfillment of such desire. Besides
achieving a sense of gratification, marrying Edgar has offered Catherine other
privileges such an experience of intellectual development and financial freedom. As
a result, this marriage seems to be healthier, more settled and more fruitful. It could
still be noted that “Catherine’s desire for social advancement prompts her to become
engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for Heathcliff,” (S 422).
After all, the love connection between Edgar and Catherine appears to have brought
about comfort, happiness and a reasonably satisfying fulfillment of pleasures and
desires for both of them. Presumably, it could have ended happily as well had it not
been for Heathcliff’s sudden return.
In view of that, the love connection between Catherine and Heathcliff is
different; it is wild, intense and ferocious in its nature. It appears to be fully
immersed in a different desire, motivated by it and thus is a destructive type of love
that ends wretchedly. During their intimate connection, Heathcliff would usually
describe Catherine Earnshaw as his ‘soul’, and she in return would even envisage
herself with him as just one body, one soul and hence an individual being. When she
dies over childbirth, Heathcliff undergoes an incalculably effacing state of despair
and dejection. Nonetheless, Heathcliff continues to love Catherine with the same
intensity. Heathcliff seems unwilling to “accept that the death of Catherine is the end
of their affair but he takes revenge on those who according to him were responsible
for separating them,” (Mathur 664). Additionally, when Heathcliff nears death, he
throws a big smile sensing Catherine’s spirit to be in a proximity to his. Although
Heathcliff’s apparently welcoming attitude to death has illusively misled people
around him to project him as a heavenly soul, it is at its bottom just a symbolic
expression of his strong desire to be with Catherine.
Still, such desire-motivated love of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw has
ultimately been the road to ruin; not only their ruin, but also the ruin of their families
and everybody around them. From the moment they have met as children at
Wuthering Heights to the moment they have closed their eyes, Heathcliff and
Catherine Earnshaw have loved and desired each other untiringly. And although
Catherine Earnshaw has felt to be debasing herself in loving Heathcliff and even
more in marrying him, she has never stopped loving him or understood why she
should have. Even after Catherine Earnshaw gets married to Edgar Linton, she
neither stops loving Heathcliff nor tries to or even thinks of stopping to desire him, at
the least. On his part, Heathcliff—though devastated by her marriage—harbors the
same feelings and desires for Catherine. Yet, suppressing Heathcliff’s prohibited
desires for Catherine through marrying her off to Edgar has motivated Heathcliff’s
revenge plans and fueled his grudge and vindictively spiteful retaliation.
As a moderate, positive and fruitful connection, the novel represents the
love bond between Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton as a good model of
love. As explained earlier, this marriage best demonstrates the desirable qualities
required in a love connection that could develop positively and reach safe and
fruitful destinations. It is a kind of love that is neither originated in the intensity,
wildness and irrepressibility of desire; nor is it entirely drained of desirable affection
and moderate ferocity that could help it survive, last and come to fruition. Therefore,
the novel depicts such love as the typical illustration of all other types of love
presented in it.
Such harmony between Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton is mostly
attributed to the slow, natural and realistic responsiveness according to which the
young couple build their connection. In the beginning, the novel shows Hareton and
Catherine to be in disagreement and have conflicting views. Then, the young couple
start falling for each other, probably through such disagreeing disputes though. After
that, Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine decide to move a step further in their
connection and they get engaged. In addition to what has been indicated above, this
gradual but steady and sensible development in the young couple’s relationship is
greatly due to certain constructive attitudes and qualities both Hareton and
Catherine have demonstrated throughout the process.
Catherine Linton, for instance, has shown the will and potential to admit
her errors and the humility to ask for Hareton’s forgiveness, too. Hareton, on his part,
has demonstrated both mindful consideration to understand that people make
mistakes and true compassion to forgive and forget. Moreover, Hareton educates
himself into reading, becoming affably outgoing and into becoming cheerfully
optimistic about life, people and everything else. Catherine regains her sociability,
compassion, and big-heartedness on account of their love for each other as well.
Such combination of the good, required and desirable has helped strengthen the
connection between Hareton and Catherine and made them establish the perfect
esprit de corps. Through extending their effect, they have also helped Heathcliff
recognize his existence to be more tolerably endurable.
In the light of all the above, it could be suggested that Heathcliff and
Catherine Earnshaw’s love connection represents a negative model, whereas
Hareton and Catherine Linton’s love bond epitomizes the positive model. Still, these
two types of love connection would assumingly denote the two key types of love in
the novel. They also indicate the two main categories of love investigated in the
current research paper. The first type of love could be categorized as bodily desire,
instinctual or unreasonably philosophical love, and it is that between Heathcliff and
Catherine Earnshaw. The second type of love examined herein could be assumed as
a reasonable, practical, honest love, and it is that between Catherine Earnshaw and
Edgar Linton, might not be lacking physical or corporeal qualities though.
To further highlight the implications and complicating aspects of the variety
of love types presented in the novel, it would be better to investigate the nature of
such relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, on one hand, and
between Catherine and Edgar Linton on the other. In this triangle, Catherine
Earnshaw demonstrates diverse emotions for each, and thus has a particularly
different type of love and relationship with each of them. Although Catherine has
known Heathcliff since their childhood and their affection for each other has grown
with them, she seems to have felt and demonstrated almost the same feelings for
Edgar Linton once she is married to him, forcefully though.
Yet, it is observed that Heathcliff and Edgar have different individual
qualities, would represent contrasting views of love and thus Catherine’s love of
them would stand for divergent types of love. Hence, it would be suggested that
Heathcliff and his love represent nature, whereas Edgar and his love indicate culture.
As such, the two men would accordingly symbolize the natural as well as cultural
features and sides of Catherine’s character. Though apparently forced by her brother
Hindley to marry Edgar, Catherine tells her servant Nelly that she has feelings for
him, too. Consequently, it could be contended that Catherine’s confession of love for
both men supports the argument presented above that she is infatuated by both of
them.
Furthermore, Edgar Linton enjoys a social ranking and personal qualities
that both play in his favor and further enhance the assumption of the running
argument. The novel presents Edgar as a man to whom Catherine could easily be
attracted; he is a more advanced individual than Catherine at the social level,
wealthier and better-mannered. Hence, when Catherine’s servant, Nelly, objects to
her criteria of proper marriage, Catherine is infuriated, shows an injured pride and
thus attempts really hard to convince her servant of her cause. Catherine tells Nelly
that she honestly loves Edgar, even admires him and everything he says or does. She
also admits that she might have failed to reveal such feelings because she is afraid of
people interpreting them as more of a fixation than of a sense of true and pure love.
Catherine assumes that marrying Heathcliff would make them both needy
and in a wretched state of living, while marrying Edgar would help them lead a rich
and comfortable life. Besides, Catherine mistakenly supposes that by marrying Edgar
she could make use of his money and help Heathcliff. Catherine’s complicated
relationship to Heathcliff and Edgar thus reveals more paradoxical implications
about such love. One major paradox lies in the understanding that Heathcliff is
remarkably proud—that Catherine denies—and so would not under any
circumstances accept taking money from Linton, more precisely after marrying
Catherine. To the contrary, Edgar’s marriage to Catherine is more than a sufficient
reason for Heathcliff to intensify his hostility for Edgar and motivate revenge.
A further complicated paradox in Catherine’s relationship with both
Heathcliff and Edgar is shown upon Heathcliff’s return. Although Catherine does not
manifest any feelings of remorse or regret upon marrying Edgar, she demonstrates to
harbor feelings for Heathcliff still, and shows them upon his reappearance. In that
sense, it could be suggested that Catherine’s love for Heathcliff and for Edgar is
driven and stimulated by desire, of different natures nevertheless. Her love for
Heathcliff would signify a naturally and instinctually bodily desire for they have both
experienced intense sensations, whereas her love for Edgar would indicate a social
and cultural desire for they have demonstrated and developed mutual affections and
etiquette, of a superficial nature however. Still, Edgar personifies the ideal Victorian
husband; he is rich, belongs to a high class, an estate owner, good-looking, well-
mannered and well-versed in a diversity of matters.
Now married; Heathcliff to Isabella and Catherine Earnshaw to Edgar
Linton, it becomes difficult and inappropriate for Heathcliff and Catherine to meet
despite their sparkling affection. Unfortunately, soon after Heathcliff’s return to
Wuthering Heights, Catherine Earnshaw dies during child labor. Yet, Heathcliff pays
Catherine a visit while she is still in labor, and waits by her side until she gives birth
and passes away. She gives birth to a daughter who is given the name Catherine.
Years pass by at Wuthering Heights; Heathcliff is growing in age, Edgar is
old and sick and about to die and Isabella is already dead. Their children; Linton
Heathcliff, Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton have by now grown into young
adults. Hareton and Catherine Linton also seem to have grown a mutual affection
and have even developed a serious connection. Heathcliff thus takes his son Linton
into his house and custody and begins to brood plans of uniting him and Catherine
Linton into a bond of marriage so that the ownership and property of both the
Earnsahwas and Lintons would be his.
Nonetheless, when Heathcliff observes that Hareton Earnshaw and
Catherine Linton have a real connection and love each other truly, he abandons his
plans of marrying his son to Catherine Linton, acquiring both families’ lands and
thus destroying them all. Heathcliff sympathizes, rather empathizes, with Hareton
and Catherine Linton for they remind him of his youthful love with Catherine
Earnshaw. Heathcliff sees himself and Cathy in Hareton and Catherine and he seems
to finally care for their innocence; something Heathcliff has not shown throughout
his vengeful journey. As Heathcliff decides to let them be, Hareton Earnshaw gets
married to Catherine Linton and they both become legally entitled to the property of
Wuthering Heights and Thrush Cross Crange. Heathcliff eventually passes away and
leaves Wuthering Heights forever, seemingly as he is brought to it in the first place.
Revenge as a Desire-Driven Emotion in Wuthering Heights
Revenge and retaliation is as central a theme as love in Wuthering Heights.
The novel reveals that several of its major characters execute a variety of deeds of
retaliation and revenge against one another. The reasons for revenge start to emerge
and accumulate at the Earnshaws family from the moment Mr. Earnshaw comes
back with Heathcliff. The moment “old Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff home instead
of the presents his children have expected, his children are jealous of this orphan,”
(Ri 2). Hindley thinks that Heathcliff has seized his father’s affection, and thus starts
brooding revenge plans against him. Heathcliff, on his part, acts out a series of
retribution acts against Hindley and follows up with his son, Hareton. He also
pursues a number of revenge campaigns against almost everybody. Heathcliff
orchestrates revengeful acts against Hindley, Edgar Linton, against Hindley’s son,
Hareton, and even against the woman he has always loved; Catherine Earnshaw.
Edgar Linton is also shown to have enacted certain acts of revenge against Heathcliff
and against his sister, Isabella, for marrying him.
The sequence of vengeful acts starts rolling—as mentioned above—at
Wuthering Heights within the Earnshaw family. There, Hindley starts acting out
vengefully against Heathcliff treating him nastily because he thinks his father is nicer
to Heathcliff than to him. Hence, it seems like Heathcliff has taken over Mr.
Earnshaw’s whole affection, and thus deserves Hindley’s retributive acts. After Mr.
Earnshaw’s death, Hindley starts using Heathcliff as a servant: “Three years later, Mr.
Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. He returns with a wife,
Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathcliff. Once an orphan, later a
pampered and favored son, Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common
laborer, forced to work in the fields,” (S 422). Moreover, Hindley retaliates against
Heathcliff by employing his sister, Catherine: “she was much too fond of Heathcliff.
The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from
him,” (Bronte 49). He separates between them as he orders Catherine to marry Edgar
Linton.
In return, Heathcliff initiates a series of vengeful acts against Hindley that
start with taking hold of Hindley’s money and ends with treating Hindley’s son,
Hareton, abusively and unkindly. In order to retaliate at his father, Heathcliff denies
Hareton the right to education, deprives him of his rightful social position and makes
him an indented farmworker at his ranch. As for losing Catherine, Heathcliff
becomes “destructive and more resolved to seek for revenge on those culpable for
his misery. Catherine tells him that sometimes she has the feeling that his true
passion is hate, rather than love Judged by his bare deeds,” (Sahib 3373). As such,
Heathcliff cruelly pursues his revenge in a uniquely personal way. He “gets his
revenge by letting things take their own course. He lets Catherine marry Edgar and
remain married to him. He lets Isabella’s passion satisfy itself. He lets Hindley
Earnshaw drink himself to death. He lets Linton die,” (Bloom, Emily Brontë's
Wuthering Heights 37). He does not distinguish between guilty and innocent people
and even cares less about those whom he loves.
After getting convinced that he has lost Catherine, Heathcliff turns his rage
to other methods like acquiring land: “Finding her married, he starts acquiring
estates by manipulation in order to take revenge on those keeping Catherine away
from him,” (Karjohn 20). Like Hindley he regards Edgar Linton, too as his enemy
because Edgar “married Catherine the woman he loved. So he begins to take revenge
on him. He also places himself in line to inherit Thrush Cross Grange by marrying
Isabella Linton, whom he treats very cruelly,” (S 422). Besides, it is clear in the novel
that Edgar—just like his parents— does not respect Heathcliff. He “looks down
upon Heathcliff who has no social status. Their attitude toward Heathcliff becomes
indirect reason for Heathcliff to take revenge,” (Ri 2). Heathcliff thus sets out
retaliating against Edgar Linton Through tempting his sister Isabella, eloping with her
and eventually marrying her.
Likewise, Edgar Linton—just like Hindley Earnshaw—chooses to act
vengefully against Heathcliff and his sister, Isabella, for agreeing to marry Heathcliff.
He prevents her from making any contact or communicating with Heathcliff, for any
reason and by whatever means. Moreover, it has become clear “that Linton is
pursuing Catherine only because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if
Catherine marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrush Cross Grange—and his
revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be complete,” (S 423). Therefore, when “Edgar
Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to
Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Catherine marries Linton,” ( ibid).
Although all revenge acts have bred unfortunate and cruel outcomes on their targets,
Edgar Linton’s revenge act against his sister, Isabella, appears to be one of the most
painfully punishing ones. This is so because—in addition to having nobody but him
to turn to—it has occurred at a time Isabella recognizes the truly malicious
character of Heathcliff; yet, she helplessly resorts to him all the same. Coming to
learn at deathbed that Edgar would allow her son to move in with them at Thrush
Cross Crange is the only deed that might have offered Isabella with a little comfort
and a sense of solace, though coming as a death wish.
As for Heathcliff, he builds his revenge campaigns on several reasons
presuming that he has sufficient grounds to carry on. He thinks he is rightly entitled
to execute revenge against Hindley because he supposes that Hindley has been cruel
to him. In addition, Heathcliff finds himself unable to forgive Hindley for making
Catherine marry Edgar Linton, which is an additional reason to retaliate at Hindley.
Similarly, Edgar Linton deservingly receives Heathcliff’s retaliation, Heathcliff
assumes, for marrying Catherine and taking her away from him. Even Hareton
Hindley Earnshaw could not escape Heathcliff’s vengeful campaigns, though he has
done Heathcliff no wrong whatsoever. Heathcliff declares: “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,
(Bronte 125). The orphan justification Heathcliff offers for getting back at Hareton is,
for instance, that Hareton happens to be the son of his enemy, which is, according to
Heathcliff, as good a reason as any other.
Heathcliff carries on executing his revenge acts eventually extending them
to his half soul and better self, to Catherine, supposedly for abandoning him and
agreeing to marry Edgar Linton. In that order, Heathcliff’s retaliatory acts would gain
more momentum, worth and space, for they seem to have spared no one and have
reached in damage and consequence to include whole families of the entire
population in the novel. His “frustration in love as well as cruel and unjust treatment
that he gets made him destructive and revengeful. But he realizes at the end of the
novel that he no longer cares about getting revenge,” (S 424). Yet, when Heathcliff
eventually recognizes that “Catherine has chosen status, wealth and position in
preference to him” (Ri 3), he dies a failing man whose revenge has got him nowhere
and no satisfaction as well.
By the beginning of the novel, Heathcliff is the oppressed person and the
victim of bad treatment and cruel acts. However, as soon as he initiates his
retributive acts, he “becomes himself the oppressor, but at the end of the book the
oppressed-turned-oppressor weakens and breaks down,” (Chen 263). His
vengeance affects everyone even his beloved, Catherine Earnshaw, who goes mad
and ultimately dies, most likely because of him and all that he has done. It seems, in
due course, that both Heathcliff and Catherine are just the opposite of each other.
Hence, although the love pledge between them is exceptional and solid, their
contrast can lead to ruin and revenge even within love bond they have
demonstrated and enjoyed.
Concluding Remarks
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is a brilliant work of fiction that
excellently assimilates the themes of love and revenge in its narrative. The novel
provides a uniquely mesmerizing account of various feelings, on top of which are
love and revenge, mostly as desire-driven demonstrations of emotions. The novel
has shown that vengeance is just as bizarre as love. Heathcliff has exacted
retribution on both his enemies as well as his loved ones, but on himself for
seemingly it is only death that has given him true revenge. That is to say, some
wounds are too painful to heal. Hence, revenge is a very powerful human incentive;
it even grows stronger, more uncontrollable and becomes intense so much so that it
eventually destroys all sides. Heathcliff, Hindley, Edgar and possibly Catherine seem
to have all been motivated by desire in love and revenge, but one that has ultimately
ruined them all.
In addition, it has eventually turned out that Catherine is the only person
who can control this fierce man. Therefore, when she has stopped controlling him
and abandoned him for Edgar Linton, he cuts loose his feelings of hatred, revenge
and destructive forces within him; and thus his cruelty and desire for revenge
intensifies. Because his love bond with Catherine is extraordinary, his sense of
revenge, too, is forceful and his grief is unrivaled. Hence, Heathcliff is eventually
revealed to be torn between violence, passion, love, revenge, cruelty and sadness.
Works Cited
1. Asl, Moussa Pourya. "The Shadow of Freudian Core Issues on Wuthering
Heights: A Reenactment of Emily Brontë’s EarlyMother Loss." Advances in
Language and LiteraryStudies (2014): 1-8. PDF.
2. Bloom, Harold. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights: A Contemporary Literary
Views Book. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. PDF.
3. —. The Victorian Novel. New York: Chelsea House, 2004. PDF.
4. Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights: A Novel. New York: Penguin Books,
1995. Print.
5. Chen, Jia. A History of English Literature. Shanghai: The Commercial Press,
1986. PDF.
6. David, Deirdre. The Victorian Novel. United Kingdom: Cambridge
University press, 2001. PDF.
7. Evans, Barbara. A Bibliography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973. PDF.
8. Evans, Gareth. Everyman’s Companion to the Bronte’s. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1973. PDF.
9. Freud, Sigmund. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works
of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1923-
74. PDF.
10. Hafley, James. "The Villain in Wuthering Heights." Nineteenth Century
Fiction (1958): 199-215. PDF.
11. Johnson, Rebecca. Wuthering Heights. New York: Pocket Books Printing,
2004. PDF.
12. Karjohn, Erika. Self-Betrayal: Marxist and Psychoanalytic Analyses of Emily
Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. D-essay. Göteborg: English Göteborg
University, 2012. PDF.
13. Kettle, Arnold. An Introduction to the English Novel. London: Hutchingson
House, 1951. PDF.
14. Mathur, Dr. Meeta. "Wuthering Heights: Story of Passion versus Love."
Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) (2014):
663-4. PDF.
15. Miller, J. Hillis. “Repetition and the Uncanny” In Emily Bronte Wuthering
Heights: the 1847 text, background and criticism. Ed. Richard J. Dunn. 4th
edition. New York & London: n. p., 2003. PDF.
16. Ri, Li. "An analysis of the causes of Hithcliff’s revenge in Wuthering
Heights." 4th International Seminar on Education, Arts and Humanities
(ISEAH 2018) (2018): 1-3. PDF.
17. S, Girish Patel B. "Theme of Love and Revenge in the Novel Wuthering
Heights." International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT)
(2021): 421-4. PDF.
18. Sahib, Afrah Abdul Jabbar Abdul. "Love and passions in Emily Bronte's novel
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20. Winifred, Gerin. Wuthering Heights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
PDF.
‫‪1535‬‬ ‫العدد الثالث عشر‪/‬آذار‪2023/‬‬ ‫مجلة إكليل للدراسات االنسانية‬
‫احلب واالنتقام كعواطف مدفوعة بالرغبة يف مرتفعات ويذرينغ إلميلي برونيت‬
‫عام ‪1847‬‬
‫م‪ .‬ميثم علي خليفة‬ ‫م‪ .‬فهمي سامل محيد‬
‫كلية الرتبية األساسية ‪-‬جامعة دياىل‬ ‫كلية االمام الكاظم(ع)‬

‫‪basiceng18te@uodiyala.edu.iq‬‬ ‫‪elecd1@alkadhum-col.edu.iq‬‬
‫الكلمات املفتاحية‪ :‬الرغبة‪ ،‬الحب‪ ،‬االنتقام‪ ،‬إميلي برونتي‪ ،‬مرتفعات ويذرينغ‪ ،‬املسأااة‬
‫امللخص‪:‬‬
‫تقدم رواية مرتفعات ويذرنغ من تسأليف ايميلي برونتي مجموعة بانورامية من‬
‫املشاعر كما تنعكس وتنفذ من خالل شخصياتها‪ .‬يختلف إظهار املشاعر في الرواية من الحب‬
‫والكراهية واالنتقام إلى مظاهر أخرى‪ .‬تفترض الدرااة البحثية الحالية أن هذه املشاعر‬
‫مدفوعة في الغالب بالرغبات الغريزية‪ .‬الرغبة في الحب من أجل االمتالك ‪ ،‬والرغبة في‬
‫التخلص منه أو العودة إليه من أجل السيطرة والسيطرة‪ ،‬وما إلى ذلك‪ .‬لذلك‪ ،‬تهدف‬
‫الدرااة الحالية إلى التحقيق في مثل هذه املفاهيم العاطفية ‪ -‬وخاصة الحب واالنتقام‪-‬‬
‫كدليل على املشاعر التي تحركها الرغبة في مرتفعات ويذرينغ في إميلي برونتي‪ .‬إنه يبحث في‬
‫كيفية تمثيل الرواية الحالية ملثل هذه املشاعر من خالل بعض الشخصيات الرئيسية مثل‬
‫هيثكليف وكاثرين وهيندلي إيرنشو وإدغار لينتون‪ .‬كما يفحص كيف تساهم الشخصيات‬
‫املختلفة في القصة من خالل تفاعالتهم الفردية واملتبادلة و ‪ /‬أو الجماعية وعالقاتهم ‪ -‬اواء‬
‫كعوامل أو قنوات رئيسية ‪ -‬في تنسيق هذه املشاعر‪ .‬باإلضافة إلى ذلك ‪ ،‬تستكشف الدرااة‬
‫الحالية كيف أن السعي وراء مثل هذه املشاعر وتحقيقها يتوج في الغالب بمسأااة‪.‬‬
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Love and Revenge as Desire-Driven Emotions in Emily Bronte’s

Article · April 2023

Fahmi Salim Hameed

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Fahmi Salim Hameed Maytham Ali Khalefa

‫احلب واالنتقام كعواطف مدفوعة بالرغبة يف مرتفعات ويذرينغ إلميلي برونيت‬

‫م‪ .‬ميثم علي خليفة‬ ‫م‪ .‬فهمي سامل محيد‬

‫كلية الرتبية األساسية ‪-‬جامعة دياىل‬ ‫كلية االمام الكاظم(ع)‬

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