The author, with her personal interest in Literature in general and Emily Bronte’s literary works in particular speaking, carried out this study to investigate the nature of love and feud in the novel “Wuthering Heights”. Within the limitation of time and length allowance, the author could only focused on analyzing the love and feud of Heathcliff – one of the main characters in the novel. Throughout the study process, reading and evidencebased analyzing were the most important methods used, though referencing was indispensable. The study resulted in some findings about the nature of Heathcliff’s love for Catherine such as its state of being unconditional, passionate, sacrificial, pure, tragic, immoral, obsessive, and mortal. Besides, the causes of his feud – including both explicit and implicit ones were also found, the result of the research also pointed out that the deepest reason for Heathcliff’s love was the social class discrimination. Within the research duration, the author was specially attracted by the Gothic aspects in the novel, however, she did not manage to include it in her study. As a result, this should be an interesting topic to investigate in further studies relating to “Wuthering Heights”. Keywords
z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER LOVE AND FEUD AS SEEN THROUGH THE CHARACTER HEATHCLIFF IN “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” BY EMILY BRONTE Supervisor THU H NG Student TR N TH H NH Academic year: QH.2008 Hanoi, 2012 z TR H IH NG H S U IH H GI H N I NG I NG TI NG NH U N T T NGHI T NH U V TH H N TH HI N U NH N V T HE TH I TR NG T H “ I GI H ” E I R NTE Gi o vi n h ng n THU H NG Sinh viên TR N TH H NH h : QH.2008 H N i ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Tran Thi Hanh - student of class 08.1.E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordanc with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Hanoi, May 1st 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not have been possible without the guidance and the help of several individuals who in one way or another contributed and extended their valuable assistance in the preparation and completion of this study First and foremost, I would like to send my utmost gratitude to Ms Do Thu Huong whose enthusiastic advice and encouragement motivated me a lot Besides, I would like to thank all my friends in class 08.1.E1, especially my best friends Luu Xuan Lieu and Pham Thi Le Tuyet who always inspired me during the study process Last but not the least, an honorable mention goes to my family and a special person who never stopped giving me the spiritual strength to plod on despite my constitution wanting to give up Again, I wish to express my love and greatest gratitude to all those beloved persons for understanding & encouraging me through the duration of my study ABSTRACT The author, with her personal interest in Literature in general and Emily Bronte’s literary works in particular speaking, carried out this study to investigate the nature of love and feud in the novel “Wuthering Heights” Within the limitation of time and length allowance, the author could only focused on analyzing the love and feud of Heathcliff – one of the main characters in the novel Throughout the study process, reading and evidence-based analyzing were the most important methods used, though referencing was indispensable The study resulted in some findings about the nature of Heathcliff’s love for Catherine such as its state of being unconditional, passionate, sacrificial, pure, tragic, immoral, obsessive, and mortal Besides, the causes of his feud – including both explicit and implicit ones - were also found, the result of the research also pointed out that the deepest reason for Heathcliff’s love was the social class discrimination Within the research duration, the author was specially attracted by the Gothic aspects in the novel, however, she did not manage to include it in her study As a result, this should be an interesting topic to investigate in further studies relating to “Wuthering Heights” TABLE OF CONTENTS I II III IV Acknowledgement …………………………………………………………… i Abstract……………………………………………………………………… ii Table of contents…………………………………………………………… iii Main text ……………………………………………………………………….1 A Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………… 1 Aims ………………………………………………………………….1 Rationale …………………………………………………………… Methodology …………………………………………………………2 Scope of the study………………………………………………….…3 Significance of he study………………………………………………3 B Chapter 2: Literature theory…………………………………………….5 Definition of fiction ………………………………………………….5 Elements of fiction ………………………………………………… 2.1 Plot …………………………………………………………………5 2.2 Structure ……………………………………………………………6 2.3 Setting …… ……………………………………………………….6 2.4 Theme……………………………………………………………….6 2.5 Character………………………………………………………… 2.6 Point of view ……………………………………………………….6 C Chapter3: Development ……………………………………………… Emily Bronte and the novel “Wuthering Heights” ………………….7 1.1 Emily Bronte ……………………………………………………….7 1.1.1 Life ……………………………………………………………….7 1.1.2 Career …………………………………………………………….8 1.1.2.1 Works………………………………………………………… 1.1.2.2 Style …………………………………………………………….9 1.2 The novel “Wuthering Heights”………………………………… 10 1.2.1 Setting ………………………………………………………… 10 1.2.2 Plot …………………………………………………………… 11 1.2.3 Significance …………………………………………………….12 Love and feud as shown in the character Heathcliff ………………13 2.1 The character Heathcliff ………………………………………….13 2.1.1 A character of mysteriousness …………………………………13 2.1.2 A man of no possession ……………………………………… 14 2.1.3 A lonely soul abandoned by the society……………………… 14 V 2.1.4 A symbol of immorality ……………………………………… 15 2.2 Heathcliff’s love ………………………………………………….17 2.2.1 The beginning of love………………………………………… 17 2.2.2 The nature of Heathcliff’s love ……………………………… 18 2.2.2.1 Unconditional…………………………………………………18 2.2.2.2 Tragic …………………………………………………………20 2.2.2.3 Passionate …………………………………………………….25 2.2.2.4 Unconventional ………………………………………………27 2.2.2.5 Obsessive …………………………………………………… 29 2.3 Feud ………………………………………………………………30 2.3.1 The reasons for Heathcliff’s feud………………………………30 2.3.1.1 Explicit reasons ……………………………………………….31 2.3.1.1.1 Heathcliff’s unhappy childhood ……………………………31 2.3.1.1.2 Heathcliff’s loss of love …………………………………….32 2.3.1.2 Implicit reasons ……………………………………………….34 2.3.2 Heathcliff’s revenge …………………………………………….35 2.3.2.1 The revenge on Hindley ………………………………………35 2.3.2.2 The revenge on Edgar …………………………………… 37 2.3.2.3 The revenge on Catherine ……………………………………38 2.3.2.4 The revenge on himself ………………………………………40 2.3.3 Reconciliation ………………………………………………… 41 2.3.3.1 The offspring’s love ………………………………………….41 2.3.3.2 Heathcliff’s death …………………………………………….42 D Chapter 3: Conclusion ……………………………………………… 44 Major findings ………………………………………………………44 Limitation of the study …………………………………………… 44 Suggestions for further studies …………………………………… 45 References …………………………………………………………………….46 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION Aims The aim of this study is to find out the nature of Heathcliff’s love for Catherine as well as the contradictions and the ties in the relationships which cause the feud in Heathcliff’s soul To the author’s hope, both the explicit and the implicit causes of Heathcliff’s feud will be dealt with Besides, the author aims to examine whether the setting or the social background played any roles in causing Heathcliff’s feud Last but not least, how Heathcliff turned his internal feud into concrete actions and how it was reconciled would also be investigated in this study Rationale Literature, according to Nguyen (2003, p 11), is a category of no theoretically precise definitions, but can be tentatively considered as “a form of Art representing boundless creativity of human imagination” Literature has three main functions which interrelate closely to each other, it helps people acknowledge, educate, and entertain (Nguyen, 2003) As for me, English literature, has always been a favorite subject As a child I was always keen on the fairy tales told by my grandmother At high school, I were attracted by controversial literary works, and synthesizing or criticizing one in my own perception has always given me pleasure, even happiness It has driven me to the sense of discovering a new heaven of knowledge that others have never touched upon, though my discoveries were sometimes considered crazy or weird Thereby, up till now, as a student who is working on a thesis as the fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of bachelor of art, I choose Literature as the subject of my graduation paper Among the number of literary works I have read, “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte has obsessed me the most A thorough reading of this great work still makes it difficult for me to understand its shades of meaning However, the more incomprehensible it is, the more strongly I am urged to learn about it until the bitter end Throughout the novel, Heathcliff is the character who leaves the deepest impression on my mind In my opinion, he is the most mysterious person in “Wuthering Heights”, from his appearance in the beginning of the story to his disappearance after misunderstanding Catherine, until his return with the merciless revenge, everything related to him is filled with enigmas The most obvious aspect in this character is his passionate love as well as utmost feud which are caused by the complicated relationships in the story As it is known as a difficult novel, very few critiques or analyses regarding “Wuthering Heights” can be found in Vietnam Nguyen (2003) carried out a study on the wildness in this novel, in which she provided a lot of her understanding about this literary work as well as her profound analysis on the sense of wildness in the plot, the environment and the characters of “Wuthering Heights” Another study was conducted by Le (n.d.) who paid much of his attention to love and feud presented in the novel However, as the scope of his topic was too extensive, the love and the feud in his work were analyzed in a superficial way He could only transcribe the plot of the novel in his own words without analyzing the nature of the love as well as the contradictions in the relationships which turned love into feud With an effort to improve the limitations of this study and for my own interest, I have decided to carry out a study concerning “Love and feud seen through the character Heathcliff in “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte” Methodology In the process of executing this study, the researcher carries out two basic steps: data collection and data analysis In data collection, the author searches from a number of sources to find the targeted data The types of sources are various such as: books, literature critiques, online journals, and previous studies relating to the topic Although data in both languages are encouraged, as a matter of fact, very little of Vietnamese sources can be found, so the data are mostly in English After being collected, the data are read carefully so that the researcher can evaluate the information and choose the most suitable and reliable one before analyzing it The data are generated and analyzed in a qualitative approach The basic methods that the author uses for analyzing the data are comparison, contrast, and evidence-based analysis and synthesis After the data are analyzed, the findings are synthesized and compiled in a logical way, which results in a complete chapter which is named “Development” in the graduation paper Scope of the study It can be drawn out that “Wuthering Heights” is a huge world which contains a lot of complicated issues such as: family life, the relationships of the members in the family and in the society, social prejudice, and even religious aspects (Le, n.d., p 04) Love and feud can be seen as vital aspects that contribute to the novel’s success However, due to the limitation of time and ability, the researcher just focuses on the love and feud as shown in the character Heathcliff – one of the main characters in this novel Significance of the study As a matter of course, this study is far from perfect and it contains a lot of limitations However, as stated above, there are few data related to this literary work in Vietnam, the study could be a useful reference source for further studies as well as for people who are interested in “Wuthering Heights” Hopefully, the paper will provide students Earnshaw died, Heathcliff’s status was immediately changed into a noble slave by Hindley – then being the owner of the Heights This could be considered as the revenge that Hindley sought on Heathcliff for having usurped his father’s affection, witnessing this degrading treatment, Catherine wrote in her diary: “He has been blaming our father… for treating H too liberally; and swears he will reduce him to his right place” (p 34) Hindley started the whole revenge cycle by mistreating Heathcliff in the first place Afterwards, the revenge theme began in Heathcliff’s mind: “If I might have the privilege of flinging Joseph off the highest gable, and painting the house- front with Hindley‟s blood!” (p 75) It is evident in the novel through Emily Bronte’s portrayal of the character of Heathcliff, that the hatred which stemmed from his dark childhood, motivated him to become vindictive when he grew up He thcliff’s loss of love Though he was initially not welcome by Catherine, within a short period of time Heathcliff became her close friend and they soon formed a very close bond This was also the only positive relationship in Heathcliff’s life, he loved her unconditionally and considered her as a goddess, he once said: “She is so immeasurably superior to them to everybody on earth” (p 79) Heathcliff showed himself as a completely pure and innocent man in his love with Catherine, however, his love was not requited On the day of Catherine’s proposal to Edgar, he overheard her conversation to Nelly, with which Catherine unintentionally broke his heart: “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” (p 127) Catherine made him suffer by her decision to marry Edgar, but he was even more shocked by the way Catherine looked down upon him This saying of Catherine was the major motivator for his hatred on Edgar, who he had already envied before for taking away Catherine from him Heathcliff thought that Catherine preferred Edgar to him as Edgar was more refined, handsome and wealthy: 32 “If I knocked him down twenty times, that wouldn‟t make him less handsome or me more so I wish I had light hair and a fair skin, and was dressed and behaved as well, and had a chance of being as rich as he will be!” (p 88) Heathcliff, at this point, was fully aware of his bitter fate that no matter how much he tried to make himself tidy, clean and handsome, he would never be regarded as a member of the aristocracy and equal to Catherine for his ignoble root On hearing the utterance, Heathcliff left the Earnshaw’s house, and three years later, he returned to Thrushcross Grange as an established gentleman, which was the beginning of his revenge Heathcliffs vindictive nature was revealed when a confrontation with Catherine mentioned his plan of revenge: I want you to be aware that I KNOW you have treated me infernally infernally! Do you hear? And if you flatter yourself that I don‟t perceive it, you are a fool; and if you think I can be consoled by sweet words, you are an idiot: and if you fancy I‟ll suffer unrevenged, I‟ll convince you of the contrary, in a very little while! (p 178-179) As immense as his feud was, Heathcliff’s love for Catherine never faded He determined to see Catherine as he knew for sure that she did not forget him either However, that was also the last time he could see Catherine because she died shortly after the birth of little Cathy, this made Heathcliff feel that the newborn child had taken away his Catherine, his vengeful nature motivated him to revenge all those he thought to have interfered with the relationship between him and Catherine, and so his plan of revenge took a new turn, it then involved the offsprings: “I want the triumph of seeing MY descendant fairly lord of their estates; my child hiring their children to till their fathers‟ lands for wages That is the sole consideration which can make me endure the whelp” (p 334) 33 In short, the miserable childhood which was filled with degradation and illtreatment from Hindley and the obsessive love which was stolen haunted Heathcliff in his adult life, thus affecting his interactions with and behavior towards other people in a negative way 2.3.1.2 Implicit reasons In a more critical way of analysis, the ill-treatment of Hindley and other people to Heathcliff, the refusal of Catherine to marry him all rooted from the conventional discrimination by social classes Catherine’s diary provided a clue to the discrimination that Hindley practiced on Heathcliff: Poor Heathcliff! Hindley calls him a vagabond, and won‟t let him sit with us, nor eat with us anymore; and, he says, he and I must not play together, and threatens to turn him out of the house if we break his orders (p 34) Not only Hindley but all the other members in the Earnshaw’s family, except for Catherine, showed their contempt to Heathcliff On his first introduction to the Heights, “Mrs Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors” (p 57) Even the other servants in the Earnshaw’s house did not show their respect for Heathcliff, Joseph always had reason to hit the poor parentless child, and Nelly Dean – through her narration about Heathcliff’s story – repeatedly call him “it” And even Catherine who was friendliest to Heathcliff did not hide her awareness of the distinction between her and Heathcliff In their games on the moors, she always wanted to play as a mistress who could freely use her hands to treat the servant Heathcliff When Catherine came back from Thrushcross Grange, she showed her interest in Edgar who had a higher status than Heathcliff, and made fun of Heathcliff’s dirty appearance Catherine decided to marry Edgar Linton rather than Heathcliff, and this decision widened the gap between social classes Edgar Linton was a wealthy man of 34 high status, and Heathcliff was poor and possessed no assets In fact, Catherine did not fall in love with Edgar at all: “I should only pity him - hate him, perhaps, if he were ugly, and a clown” (p 123), but she was attracted by his wealth, his outward appearance and his status in the society Catherine did really have a comparison between Edgar and Heathcliff, Edgar Linton would be rich and she would be the greatest woman of the neighborhood if she got married to Edgar In her sharing with Nelly Dean, she confessed: “If Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars” (p 129) Catherine’s actions were motivated by class discrimination when she recognized the she could not marry the lower-classed Heathcliff due to her middle-class background, and she strived to achieve higher status by living with Linton Thereby it is possible to say that Heathcliff’s feud in “Wuthering Heights” was attributed to social class, or class discrimination to be more specific In this literary work, readers met Heathcliff in different social status through each stages of his life From a working class homeless gypsy, he became a middle-class farmer’s son, afterwards was degraded into a domestic servant and farm hand, and finally again to a middle-class landowner The improvement from the servant to the boss was not only a trick of fate, it resulted from Heathcliff’s intense feud and burning determination to take revenge, and so he spent his own life upgrading himself He thcliff’s revenge 2.3.2.1 The revenge on Hindley Hindley – the cruel landowner who had created all the pain in Heathcliff’s childhood must be the person on whom he most longed for taking revenge: “I‟m trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back I don‟t care how long I wait, if I can only it at last I hope he will not die before I do!” (p 95) After he came back to the Heights, Heathcliff started his revengeful plan by slowly draining away all the resources, land, and health from Hindley He kept Hindley drunken and addicted to gambling with 35 him, Hindley gambled away every bit of money he had to Heathcliff And by that way the mortgage of Wuthering Heights went entirely to Heathcliff, thus enabling him to become the owner of the house that had always belonged to the Earnshaw family At last Hindley had nothing, not even his dignity, because he then became Heathcliff's servant Heathcliff understood the fact that wealth justified social class, this motivated him to take all of Hindley’s possessions, to push him into the position of a slave and have him suffer all the feelings that Heathcliff had suffered before Finally, Hindley descended into a life of alcoholic madness He attempted to murder Heathcliff with a knife, but his plan was not successful, and he died shortly afterwards According to Heathcliff’s report, Hindley locked himself in the room and drank for the whole night When Heathcliff and Joseph managed to enter the room, he was nearly dead, and the doctor’s appearance was too late to save his body However, according to Joseph: “I‟d rayther he‟d goan hisseln for t‟ doctor! I sud ha,‟ taen tent o‟ t‟ maister better nor him - and he warn‟t deead when I left, naught o‟ t‟ soart!” (p 299) Consequently, whether Heathcliff had killed Hindley or not was a suspicion Moreover, after Hindley’s death, Heathcliff did not even want to celebrate a funeral for his enemy: “That fool‟s body should he buried at the cross-roads, without ceremony of any kind” (p 298) All those were not enough for Heathcliff’s thirst for revenge After Hindley’s death, Heathcliff overtook the right on the dead’s last property – the son Hareton: “Now, my bonny lad, you are MINE! And we‟ll see if one tree won‟t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it” (p 300) Heathcliff saw the “first-rate qualities” in Hareton (p 351), he planned to bring this child up and educate him in a damnable way, in order to destroy all the positive things in him, and Heathcliff felt pleasure in finding the savage characteristics in Hareton: 36 If he were a born fool I should not enjoy it half so much But he‟s no fool; and I can sympathise with all his feelings, having felt them myself I know what he suffers now, for instance, exactly: it is merely a beginning of what he shall suffer, though And he‟ll never be able to emerge from his bathos of coarseness and ignorance I‟ve got him faster than his scoundrel of a father secured me, and lower; for he takes a pride in his brutishness I‟ve taught him to scorn everything extra- animal as silly and weak (p 351) This was a really cruel crime of Heathcliff, the child was totally innocent but he tried to spoil little Hareton’s soul merely because it was the son of Hindley – his enemy He let Hareton grow up in illiteracy and built in the child all the worst characteristics on earth Moreover, Heathcliff was even more satisfied by Hareton’s love and respect for him as the only friend in the world in spite of all his ill-treatment toward Hareton: “If the dead villain could rise from his grave to abuse me for his offspring‟s wrongs, I should have the fun of seeing the said offspring fight him back again” (p 351-352) 2.3.2.2 The revenge on Edgar Since his first meeting with Edgar, Heathcliff had started to hate this wealthy and admirable boy because he caught all Catherine’s interest in him When Catherine decided to accept Edgar’s proposal, Heathcliff left the Heights with a bitter pain in his soul and a burning desire for plotting revenge on Edgar who had stolen his love On his return to Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff was lucky enough to find the means to wreak his vengeance on his childhood enemy Edgar, who was then the lawful husband of Catherine Thanks to Catherine’s announcement, Heathcliff knew that Isabella Edgar's sister and the future heir to Thrushcross Grange – had a special interest in him Immediately he plotted in his mind a plan of revenge, because at that time Nelly Dean saw him “smile to himself - grin rather - and lapse into ominous musing” (p 171) In 37 spite of Catherine’s and Nelly’s advice, Isabella managed to elope with Heathcliff, became his wife and stayed at Wuthering Heights, for which Edgar no more regarded her as his sister Therefore, Heathcliff started his revengeful plan by taking Edgar’s sister away from him However it was not enough, right after marrying Isabella, Heathcliff began to treat her so badly that she soon regretted her decision: “I hate him - I am wretched - I have been a fool” (p 233), and the single pleasure she could imagine was “to die, or to see him dead!” (p 244) Finally, as she could not stand living with Heathcliff anymore, Isabella had to escape from Wuthering Heights to a secret place and alone gave birth to Linton – the true son of Heathcliff A few years afterwards, Isabella died, alone still, and her son was then and forever motherless In general, Heathcliff took revenge on Edgar by destroying his sister’s life and happiness, though he did not succeed in his plan to obtain power over Edgar via his marriage to Isabella However, Heathcliff never gave up his ambition to “provoke Edgar to desperation” (p 243) After the death of Isabella and Catherine, he overtook the right to bring up his son Linton, and continued to plot another plan to steal the ownership of Thrushcross Grange In order to accomplish this evil he used Edgar’s own daughter – little Cathy Heathcliff trapped and turned Catherine into a prisoner in Wuthering Heights and forced her to hurriedly get married to his sickly son Linton before he died, by which he would be the rightful owner of Thrushcross Grange In the meantime, Edgar was also lying on his deathbed, but Heathcliff did not let her go home to stay by her father’s side until after the hasty wedding He was fully satisfied on seeing Edgar spend his very last moments in loneliness: “I shall enjoy myself remarkably in thinking your father will be miserable: I shall not sleep for satisfaction” (p 439) Finally, after Edgar’s death, Heathcliff successfully became the owner of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange 2.3.2.3 The revenge on Catherine 38 Catherine was the person whom Heathcliff loved more than anything in his life, he devoted all his heart to her However, for her desire of upgrading Heathcliff and herself, Catherine chose to marry Edgar and that left a deep scar in Heathcliff soul He did not hate her, however, for his love was too passionate and unconditional When he came back and meet Catherine again, he actually said that he would not want to seek any revenge on her, but sometimes he accidentally did For instance, when Catherine informed Heathcliff about Isabella’s feeling for him, he immediately built in his mind a plan to seek revenge on Edgar with the help of Isabella, and he did not hide this savage intention to Catherine, which filled her with anger and sorrow: Oh, the evil is that I am NOT jealous, is it?‟ cried Catherine „Well, I won‟t repeat my offer of a wife: it is as bad as offering Satan a lost soul Your bliss lies, like his, in inflicting misery You prove it Edgar is restored from the ill-temper he gave way to at your coming; I begin to be secure and tranquil; and you, restless to know us at peace, appear resolved on exciting a quarrel Quarrel with Edgar, if you please, Heathcliff, and deceive his sister: you‟ll hit on exactly the most efficient method of revenging yourself on me (p 179-180) This quarrel ended in a fight between Edgar and Heathcliff, and the commitment of Catherine’s long-term illness which finally her to death And even when Catherine was on her way to death, Heathcliff continued his revenge on her by continuously blaming her for betraying him and betraying her true feelings In his opinion, by marrying Edgar, Catherine had killed Heathcliff, and also killed herself He accepted to forgive his murderer, but never would he it to Catherine’s murderer, which meant that he would never forgive Catherine for her fault: 39 It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands Kiss me again; and don‟t let me see your eyes! I forgive what you have done to me I love MY murderer - but YOURS! How can I? (p 259) Those of his words would obsess Catherine’s soul and never let her rest in peacefulness And Heathcliff actually did not expect Catherine to have a rest on heaven: “May she wake in torment” (p 268) He begged her soul to wander around the moors and haunt him for the whole remainder of his lifetime 2.3.2.4 The revenge on himself Throughout Heathcliff’s revenge on Hindley, Edgar, Catherine, and the next generation the reader could also see his self-revenge On Catherine’s death he said that he was her murderer, and invited her soul to haunt him till he died However, it was not Catherine who haunted him, it was his obsessive love and unlimited feud that tied him in the prison of evil Heathcliff managed to seek revenge on everyone whether they were related or not to his misery in the past, but after all, what could he gain with those effort? He had nothing rather than the two houses Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, which had never been valuable to him What he truly wanted was love and respect, yet they seemed unreachable to him, because with all his cruelty and immorality, no one could love or respect him, whom they were all frightened by and tried to stay away from During his whole life after Catherine’s death, Heathcliff were never free from feud and obsession, and he never wanted to let himself be Heathcliff always forced himself to believe in the existence of Cathy’s phantom, and to seek for it Never did he let his pain fade, eighteen years after Catherine’s death, he also dug her grave up in order to see her again: “I got the sexton, who was digging Linton‟s grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it I thought, once, I would have stayed there” (p 461) 40 With this action, Heathcliff seemed to dig up all the memories about his sorrowful past and force himself to remember his own pain Being obsessed for the whole life was the cruelest revenge that he took on himself 2.3.3 Reconciliation Heathcliff’s feud was aroused in “Wuthering Heights” since he was a child, it was strengthened during his childhood, and maintained until the very last end of his life However, in the end of the story, this seemingly irreconcilable feud disappeared in order for joy and happiness to come back on the moorlands The feud in Wuthering Heights was reconciled by the death of Heathcliff and the beginning of love between Hareton and little Cathy 33 The offsprings’ love After Linton’s death, Thrushcross Grange became Heathcliff’s properties and little Catherine certainly turned into a taciturn widow At first she showed her contempt for Hareton who had been educated to be an illiterate savage man, Hareton was also annoyed at Catherine’s presumptuous and the two disliked one another for quite a long time Catherine enjoyed mocking at Hareton for his inability to read and naively assumed him to be stupid However, as time trickled on, Catherine began to look at Hareton through a different set of eyes Eventually the two became friends, the misunderstanding of the other fade away and they gradually fell in love in spite of attempts to intervene by Heathcliff He harassed Hareton in front of Catherine in order to encourage her to believe that Hareton was indeed a fool He burned all the books so that Hareton would not be able to learn to read However, it was his poor treatment of both Catherine and Hareton that helped the two bond together, Catherine was attracted by Hareton’s interest in studying and she decided to help him study They overcame Heathcliff’s attempts to cultivate hatred between them At this point, their love was somehow similar to that of Heathcliff and Catherine before, which touched the 41 seemingly numb heart of Heathcliff, especially when he saw their identical eyes – Catherine Earnshaw’s eyes: They lifted their eyes together, to encounter Mr Heathcliff: perhaps you have never remarked that their eyes are precisely similar, and they are those of Catherine Earnshaw (p 515) Perhaps it was this similarity that prevented Heathcliff from harming these two young people, and made him give up his hatred for the two families Earnshaws and Lintons The story ended in the happy scene of the two lovers: He was a young man, respectably dressed and seated at a table, having a book before him His handsome features glowed with pleasure, and his eyes kept impatiently wandering from the page to a small white hand over his shoulder, which recalled him by a smart slap on the cheek, whenever its owner detected such signs of inattention Its owner stood behind; her light, shining ringlets blending, at intervals, with his brown looks, as she bent to superintend his studies (p 492) The atmosphere in Wuthering Heights changed incredibly, everything was bright, calm, and full of vitality How hard it was to imagine the gloomy and mournful scene on this moorland just a few months before The love between little Cathy and Hareton was a symbol of hope and reconciliation, it originated in harsh conditions, then survived and overcame the spiteful actions of Heathcliff It also had the power to convert Heathcliff’s heart which had been full of animosity 33 He thcliff’s e th However strong and fierce Heathcliff and his hatred was, he finally felt tired, his resolve for revenge weakened until he no longer had an interest in that former determination: “I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing” (p 516) Heathcliff himself recognized the fact that he had gained nothing from his revenge, and that it was the high time for him to rest in peacefulness and to reunite with Catherine This ending was actually foreshadowed in 42 the previous chapter when Heathcliff had bribed a sexton to dig Catherine’s grave and removed one side of her coffin so that his body would be placed on that side In her narration, Nelly gave a detailed daily account of the deterioration of Heathcliff's health and how he finally died: Heathcliff passed sleepless nights wandering outside the house and in Catherine’s grave, he refused to take any food and wished to be left alone And the other morning, Nelly found him dead in Catherine Earnshaw’s room with his hand stretching out on the open window sill, hinting that he has become a ghost just like his lover Catherine How Heathcliff died was a mystery, however, there was a fact that he had expected for this ending Before his death, “he had a strange joyful glitter in his eyes, that altered the aspect of his whole face” (p 522), and he told Nelly that he had seen Catherine There might be a possibility that Catherine’s phantom came to pick Heathcliff with her for their reunion The last scene of the story portrayed three graves beside each other, and the ghosts of Heathcliff and Catherine wandering in the Heights Bronte crafted the image of the three graves in subtle and graceful terms From that time on, the souls would really rest in peacefulness and reconciliation Death was just the beginning of a brand new story in which the souls desiring for love would reunite and stayed together 43 Chapter 3: CONCLUSION Major findings “Wuthering Heights” was a great romantic novel that sang the praises of love and its power In “Wuthering Heights” there existed two contradict aspects: love and feud, which were most obviously seen in the character of Heathcliff Heathcliff’s love was represented in this novel with various particularities: romance, passion, tragedy, obsession, and the state of being unconditional and unconventional However, his love paralleled with an immense hatred which derived since he was a child under the illtreatment of Hindley, and this hatred soon burst into a burning desire for revenge when he lost the love Heathcliff plotted a series of revenge on the people he thought to have hurt him after Catherine’s death Love and feud went together and obsessed the whole life of this poor man, driving him to evil and immorality At last when he felt tired of committing non-sense crimes, he chose to let his soul rest and reunited with that of Catherine It could be drawn out from the fates in Wuthering Heights that social class was the main reason which caused all of Heathcliff’s agony, leading him to lose all his ethics and humanity Love played a decisive role in this literary work, it was love which took part in causing the irreconcilable feud, and love itself ended the story by reconciling the hatred between the two families The story praised the power of love and demonstrated Bronte’s belief in humanity and altruism Limitation of the study Within the limit of time and the targeted number of pages, the study hindered itself from profound investigation of Heathcliff’s death and the love between little Cathy and Hareton to bring out the similarities as well as differences between the two leading love stories in “Wuthering Heights” and how the insiders dealt with obstacles in their love Therefore, it is hope that these matters will be dealt with in other studies in the future 44 Suggestions for further studies During the process of the study, the researcher was attracted by the Gothic elements that Bronte had used in her literary work, which showed her unlimited imagination and creation Death in this novel was never an end, it was the beginning of a brand new life in which the people would live with no hatred and revenge Whether there was a ghost of Catherine or not, whether her soul haunted Heathliff’s life and brought him to death or not, and whether the love between Heathcliff and older Catherine affected on that of little Catherine and Hareton or not… should be an interesting topic to be investigated in further studies 45 REFERENCES Beaty, J (n.d.) The Norton Introduction to Fiction Norton Company Bhattachrya, A (2011) Elements of Literature Retrieved December 11th from www.buzzle.com/articles/elements-of-literature Bronte E (1846) Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell London: Aylott and Jones Bronte, E (1992) Wuthering Heights Wordsworth Bronte, E (2000) Wuthering Heights Literature Press Cohen, B (1985) Writing about literature Scott and Foresman Company Le, M K (n.d.) Love and feud in “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte Nguyen, T H The wildness in “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte Pykett, L (1989) Emily Bronte USA: Barnes and Nobble books Bronte C., Bronte E., & William J (1910) A Short Biographical dictionary of English Literature London, J M Dent & Sons; New York, E P Dutton Wilson R (1972) The Life and Private History of Emily Jane Bronte New York: Haskell House 46 ... together with his love and feud shown in this novel Emily ronte n the novel “Wuthering Heights” 1.1 Emily Bronte 1.1.1 Life The life of Emily Bronte, as being noted by Pykett (1989, p 17), could... ……………………………………………………….6 C Chapter3: Development ……………………………………………… Emily Bronte and the novel “Wuthering Heights” ………………….7 1.1 Emily Bronte ……………………………………………………….7 1.1.1 Life ……………………………………………………………….7... Catherine’s, Edgar’s and Heathcliff? ??s 1.2.3 Significance This sole novel of Emily Bronte was first published in 1847 with contradictory comments Through the love between Cathy and Heathcliff, “Wuthering