Heathcliff Abuse Essay

418 Words2 Pages

Heathcliff’s life is like playing tug of war with barbed wire. He makes others bleed while he is bleeding too. Yet he does not understand, or perhaps just doesn’t care about, how he’s hurting those around him. The abuse Heathcliff suffered in his childhood has turned him dark, jaded, and cruel. He knew not much else but misery. Being found and taken off the streets and introduced to the family the same way one might introduce a new puppy. As well as being called ‘it’ rather than ‘he.’ The only person who really cared about him was Catherine, a girl raised as his sister, but because of how attached Heathcliff became to her, with her being the only one to not treat him like an unwanted pet, he fell in love with her. Now in his adulthood, the …show more content…

Heathcliff was tipped by his childhood and led down the path to become an abusive man who knows nothing about healthy relationships. He hangs his wife’s dogs and brags to her about it during an argument, he hit’s Nelly while she’s trying to stop him from beating Cathy, and he uses his son Linton as a tool for his own selfish gain, and abuses him while he’s on his deathbed. Yet the path too good or evil isn’t always as straight laced as one would believe. A good man can commit hideous acts, and a wicked man can have moments of purity. Heathcliff was a kind boy in his childhood, and apart from one instance has always been nice towards Nelly. Showing a rare level headed side to her, what he could’ve been if he had not been skewed down the incorrect path. During an instance where, during a drunken rage, Hindley threw his baby, Hareton, off of the banister, Heathcliff was there to catch him. Hareton would not have lived if not for Heathcliff. Heathcliff’s mind is in a constant battle with itself. He’s a victim and a villain, causing the same pain to others that he already feels every day. He was never at peace until the day he died, and when he did he was hardly mourned. Even so he has reached peace of mind, where nobody can hurt him anymore, and he can’t hurt them