The novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte,
centers on a very binary mood in both its structure and characters, such as the
repetition of Hindley’s behavior through Heathcliff. The novel is essentially
split in two halves, the first being where Hindley is in control of the manor,
and the second when Heathcliff is in control. They both exhibit the same
terrorizing behavior on the children around at the time. Hindley’s constant
scaring of Catherine and Heathcliff is so traumatizing that Heathcliff grows up
only to repeat the same behavior toward Hareton, Cathy, and Linton.
Hindley
was always disliked by his family, especially when baby Heathcliff came to fill
his father’s idea of a son, and his mother died. He grew up with a constant
hatred toward Heathcliff, and he could never be truly happy at home. After he
returned from college to take over Wuthering Heights, Hindley expressed his
deep-rooted anger by treating Heathcliff as a servant, even though he had grown
up as gentleman’s son in the manor. No matter what Heathcliff did to try to be
respected as a child of the house, Hindley still treated him with disgust,
“Hindley opened it on the other; they met, and the master, irritated at seeing
him clean and cheerful…shoved him back out with a sudden thrust, and angrily
bade Joseph ‘keep the fellow out of the room-send him into the garret until
dinner is over,”(Bronte 42). Hindley had no reason at all to exclude Heathcliff
from the dinner, the young boy had even washed up for it, yet Hindley hated him
so much that he forbid him from joining the rest of the company for dinner. Because
Hareton and Catherine were friends, Hindley treated Catherine badly too; he
forbid her from playing with Heathcliff, always talked angrily, and did not
even treat her like his sister. Hindley was never able to recover from his
cranky, negative attitude and wasted his life away drinking, and yelling at
Heathcliff, Catherine, and other servants in the house.
Heathcliff
grows up treated horrible by Hindley, betrayed by Catherine, and left with
nobody, therefore takes out his anger on others. Like Hindley, Heathcliff acts
out on the children because of a deep-rooted sense of revenge. For Hindley, the
revenge was on Heathcliff for making him feel worthless to his family; for
Heathcliff, the revenge is for Hindley’s mistreatment along with Catherine
breaking his heart. Heathcliff treats Linton as a pathetic child, whom he is
embarrassed to be the father of. He constantly bosses him around and makes him
feel even more insecure than he already does. Heathcliff learns this behavior
from Hindley, who treated Heathcliff this way when he was younger. When Cathy
comes to talk to Linton, and possibly marry him, Heathcliff locks her and Nelly
in the house. He treats them horribly as he keeps them prisoners and even hits
Cathy, “He seized her with the liberated hand, and, pulling her on his knee,
administered with the other, a shower of terrific slaps on both side of the
head,”(Bronte 199). Just before the incident, Heathcliff had seen in young Cathy
an image of her mother, the woman he once knew loved, and broke his heart; it
was then that Heathcliff’s anger maximized and he seized the small girl. Over
time, he lost most of his love and passion he used to have as a child and was
as harsh and Hindley toward Hareton, Linton, and Catherine. The rash
personality of Hindley was directly inherited in Heathcliff’s character and he
turned into an almost exact duplication of Hindley.
Works Cited:
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New
York: Scholastic, 1961. Print.
