3. The Formation of Heathcliff’s tragedy
Heathcliff and Catherine are in love with full heart, but their love is over due to Catherine’s betrayal. Their love story will not end forever even if their relationship begins to change, because no matter how Heathcliff revenged, the love between them is not reduced, Heathcliff just uses a deeper emotion with hatred and revenge to express his love. If there were no love, how could you find the so-called hatred?
3.1The Transformation from Love into Hatred
Heathcliff had experienced a very unhappy childhood, just as Nelly has said, “this is a cuckoo’s history”.(Emily Bronte, 1948:30)
He was abandoned by his parents in the street. Old Earnshaw was so kind that he was not willing to leave him alone. So he decided to take him away from Liverpool. Heathcliff became an adopted son of Mr. Earnshaw and Mrs. Earnshaw, and he named him Heathcliff, as it was the name of Mr.Earnshaw’s son, who died in childhood. Since then, Heathcliff was his family name as well as his name. From the beginning, Heathcliff’s come to the family sowed the tragic seed.
It was a kind of psychology competition by instinct what drove the old Earnshaw’s son Hindley to be disgusted with Heathcliff so much since he saw him at first time, and the father’s love for Heathcliff also let Hindley bear a grudge against him. He did not intend to share his aristocratic status and respect with an unidentified man. He seemed Heathcliff as a grabber who was grabbing his father’s love and encroaching his privileges. So he made full use of every opportunity to punish and abuse him. Especially when the old Earnshaw died, suffering of Heathcliff has really started. Hindley maltreated Heathcliff in the mental and physical by every possible mean. Heathcliff was deprived of educational right and was pushed to the line of servants aiming to separate him with his lover Catharine from their different identities. So one of them became a delicate and elegant lady but the other was called a disgusting guy. After Catherine has stayed at Thrushcross Grange for five weeks then went back to Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff obviously felt that the distance between them was widening, Hindley enjoyed Heathcliff’s embarrassment with pleasure. When he saw the quarrel between Heathcliff and Catherine because of Heathcliff’s inferiority, Hindley felt very delighted. A series of storms made him increase his desire to change his identity and status then became a rich man with noble. During Hindley’s brutal abuse, Heath Cliff's mind started to change. In face of cruelty, he was no longer the poor boy who just endured everything, the fire of revenge was burning in his heart. Psychologically competitive consciousness began to sprout, at the same time, revenge fully appeared in his mind. This could make up the excuse for Heathcliff’s love and hatred.文献综述
When he heard Catherine saying that she would marry Linton, his heart was broken. Unfortunately, he did not hear the next words that what Katherine was for his sake and for their love’s sake. He left from home firmly with indignation. It was the beat in mental and physical that made him disappoint with the whole society. We hardly imagined what Heathcliff would be like when he departed from Wuthering Heights. And we could also not imagine what twists and tribulation have happened to Heathcliff over three years. The only one thing we knew was that once Heathcliff has disappeared when he was well-dressed and graceful extraordinarily coming back to Wuthering Heights now. With a memorable hatred, his revenge started. The oppressed has turned into the oppressor, he determined to get revenge on all persons that who hurt and tortured him. He seemed to come from another world where was immoral, irrational and incomprehensible by the public.