I’m currently rereading Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. When I read a book and get emotional, I often turn to reddit to see if other people feel the same way. I wanted to see how people felt towards Linton Heathcliff, but I mostly stumbled on the posts about Heathcliff himself. What I observed is that most (~70%) readers do not find his character redeemable, and that they hold an opinion that even though his childhood was brutal, he’s not justified in his actions towards the second generation of the novel. I hold this opinion just.
However, there’re also some readers who say they cannot blame him for his wrath and rage and actions because of the environment he grew up in. They explain this opinion by stating that he’s a mirror to the other characters’s brutal treatment of his character. He was abused because of his lower station in life, as well as him not being white.
Personally, I don’t believe anyone should be forgiven for abusing people who have not contributed to their suffering. Catherine Jr, Hereton, and Linton, being children, make Heathcliff’s conduct towards them monstrous and unforgivable.
Can you, redditors and readers, explain away and forgive Heathcliff’s conduct of the second generation of the novel?
by fantasy_bambi
2 Comments
Yeah I hate him. Like, before I read Wuthering Heights I only knew of Healthcliff by reputation as a romantic figure. He’s not romantic, he’s abusive. And yet some people romanticize that? Yuck.
I think you can understand his actions but not forgive them. It’s not an excuse but a reason. I still struggled because the lengths he went to were monstrous.. but in the end he was treated like less than human and so he became less than human. It’s not forgivable of course, so many people experience abuse racism and trauma but they do not turn into abusers. I found his character and actions abhorrent but interesting.