Monday, April 23, 2012

Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff's Bad Luck

"Proud people breed sorrow for themselves" (56).

I feel like this quote is significant. Mrs. Dean says this in response to Heathcliff's sad state of depression that Catherine has developed an interest for Edgar. I think that Mrs. Dean is trying to tell Heathcliff that he should not pity himself and instead talk to Catherine again. She even says "A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad" (57).  Mrs. Dean does give Heathcliff a lot of advice concerning their relationship.  I do feel some sympathy toward Heathcliff because it wasn't his fault that he slipped away from Catherine. The two were going over to the Linton's to eavesdrop and have fun yet it ended up in Catherine being attacked by a dog. It was a little odd that she was at the Linton household so long for the injury and that caused her to start to like Edgar. So really Heathcliff just got landed in a bunch of bad luck. I mean at this point, he's hated by Hindley, his relationship with Catherine isn't the same, and Mrs. Dean is the only person he has that seems to tolerate him.

Also, it appears that Mrs. Dean has dominated practically all of the narration. Mr. Lockwood doesn't really have much comment throughout but he does urge her to continue the story because he is so interested. I can't quite understand why Mr. Lockwood would be so enthralled by the love story of two young people though, considering the story is rather slow and really descriptive without a lot of actual action.

1 comment:

  1. I agree completely about Heathcliffe's bad luck! He seems stuck in this cycle of trying to get back at people (ex. Hindley) and then making things even worse for himself (ex. saving Hareton when he could have made Hindley miserable by his death).

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