Complex And Real Characters In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
750 Words3 Pages
Wuthering Heights is full of complex, real characters that the reader becomes attached to despite their often negative actions. Emily Brontë uses the full presentation of Heathcliff to draw the reader’s sympathy despite despite his cruel, selfish nature by presenting his difficult childhood as an outcast and his inability to be with the woman he loves.
Brontë begins by using one of the narrators, Lockwood, to describe Heathcliff as a closed off, rude loner who lives in a dark house in the middle of nowhere. Despite the initial description, Lockwood immediately takes a liking to Heathcliff, brightly describing them as the same sort of person who likes to be away from people. Lockwood has horrible first experiences at Wuthering Heights, getting chased by dogs, treated rudely or ignores, and having a terrifying encounter with a ghost. Despite this first impression, Lockwood merely becomes more interested in Heathcliff, still claiming that he is a good man. This contradiction of action and thought makes the reader unsure of forming an initial impression of the man, whereas if Lockwood had disliked Heathcliff from the beginning the reader would have as well, and first impressions can be difficult to change.
From there, Brontë uses a servant named Nelly to introduce the reader to Heathcliff as he was as a child. Heathcliff began as an orphan in London, England, and was adopted by the owner of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw. Mr. Earnshaw had two other children, Catherine and