Comparing Bronte's Heathcliff In Beyond Good And Evil

In Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that “What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil” (Nietzsche). It has been with this mindset that popular culture has come to define Heathcliff. They have glossed over his flaws, and painted an image of a man suffering as a tragic victim of circumstance. They make him out to be a tortured romantic who only acts out of a righteous vengeance born from the injustices of a world cruelly preventing him from ever being together with his one true love; Catherine. This interpretation cheapens him as a character; it is an infantile portrayal of a complex character for the sake of satisfying the expectations of the masses for how a romantic hero should act. Heathcliff is indeed a passionate lover, but he is far more than that. He is a man possessed by a horrific capacity for violence; so implacable in his pursuit of revenge that his wrath extends not only to the lives of the ones who personally wrong him, but to the children of his enemies as well. This depiction that society has grown so fond of elevates a man, who is every bit as repulsive as he is sympathetic. Indeed, Heathcliff is nothing short of a satanic figure in this text. Bronte’s Heathcliff is not a man to be admired, but reviled like a devil; ultimately society’s romanticized version of the character provides a twisted

While Heathcliff’s affection for Catherine is irrefutable, the magnitude of his crimes from his return to Wuthering Heights onwards cannot be adequately explained as merely the actions of a spurned lover. One of the man’s greatest motivations may indeed be love; however, the only emotion this man exemplifies is wrath, and no other character is as fiercely dedicated to vengeance as