Heathcliff: My Favorite Fictional Character
Trauma, Vengeance, and Society’s Perception
Hi again! November is also coming to a close, can’t believe 2023 is almost over.
Today I thought I’d talk about my favourite fictional character ever: Heathcliff from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
Wuthering Heights in itself is an extremely polarising book, people either love it passionately, or hate it passionately. But both groups tend to agree that it's a book unlike any, it’s shocking and just throws us off-balance, it’s raw and untamed. And most of that raw, untamed energy comes from its main character, our hero, rather anti-hero, Heathcliff.
Despite Wuthering Heights being my favourite book and Heathcliff being my favourite character, I would agree that he’s not a pleasant guy. As much as I love him, if he were real, I'd make a run for my life.
So, why do I even like him?
I like him because he portrays a side of human nature that often remains unaddressed, even suppressed.
Heathcliff, before he becomes the notorious Byronic hero he's famous as, starts out as a helpless, lonely orphan child. With his dark skin and wild appearance and incomprehensible language, he’s a misfit at Wuthering Heights, far from welcome. No-one except Mr. Earnshaw likes him, even Cathy takes some time to warm up to him. And then, after Mr. Earnshaw’s death, not that he was an attentive guardian in the first place, he’s left at Hindley’s mercy. And Hindley hardly, if ever, misses a chance to abuse him. Heathcliff spends his entire childhood being despised, degraded, and discriminated against, by everyone except Cathy. And then even Cathy abandons him. He’s only fifteen at that time. He’s still a child.
Then he returns at eighteen, an adult, with his mind set on revenge. And he does get his revenge. Unleashing horror on those who did him wrong. His revenge is ruthless, it’s hardly justifiable after a certain extent, especially when it comes to young Cathy, Linton and Hareton. But it’s also very human.
The thing is, victims of abuse sometimes lash back violently. It’s a direct consequence of the trauma. But society often refuses to acknowledge these effects of abuse and instead perpetuates the 'good victim' myth, expecting victims of abuse to react with acceptance and forgiveness. When they deviate from this idealised victim-image, they're often villainised.
Heathcliff's character challenges this notion, revealing the raw, uncomfortable reality that victims of severe abuse can be deeply scarred and respond in ways that don’t fit society's expectation of a ‘victim', meek and powerless, always ready to turn the other cheek. It's a crucial reminder that the fault doesn't solely lie with the victims, no matter how morally unacceptable their actions might be. The societal structures that allow such abuse to continue and more importantly, the abusers, are also equally responsible.
Heathcliff, since his childhood, is characterised by everyone as despicable, and as if accepting that characterisation, in the end he becomes despicable. His story is one of a tragic hero who makes the wrong choice and doubles down on it. He’s unrelenting in his quest for revenge, never showing an ounce of remorse for his actions. He reminds me of another favourite character of mine, Edmond from The Count Of Monte Cristo. Edmond has a story somewhat similar to Heathcliff’s. He also pursues revenge, but ultimately finds redemption.
While stories like Edmond’s are more hopeful, more comfortable to read, they don’t always capture reality. And while Heathcliff’s story is utterly hopeless and uncomfortable, sometimes reality is hopeless and uncomfortable. And unless we address that reality, we’ll never be able to reform it.
Heathcliff compels us to understand him and other victims of prolonged abuse, rather than judging them from a position of moral superiority, to extend empathy to those whose stories don’t fit into the typical narrative of victimhood.
I can’t help wondering how Heathcliff would have turned out had he been shown some love and empathy growing up. I am inclined to believe he’d be very different from the mad, bad, dangerous to know anti-hero we saw him as. And that thought mellows my heart.
What about you? Have you read Wuthering Heights? Do you like Heathcliff’s character? Don’t forget to let me know.
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