Self Destruction In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

In Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights Heathcliff is taken into Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, much to the disapproval of his children, Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw. Catherine later becomes fond of Heathcliff, and they form a strong bond, eventually falling in love; however, Hindley's animosity for Heathcliff grows as Mr. Earnshaw favors him over his own son. As they grow older, the siblings' respective feelings towards Heathcliff intensify, until Heathcliff leaves the estate. Upon his return, Catherine is married to Edgar Linton, Heathcliff's opposite, and Hindley descends into a pit of despair due to losing his wife. The destinies of Hindley, Catherine, and Heathcliff are determined by their individual choices, which prove to be

Hindley's denial of Frances' inevitable death causes his self-destruction. Before her passing, he claims, "Frances is quite right: she'll be perfectly well by this time next week" (62-63). Then to the doctor he expounds, "I know you need not-she's well-she does not want any more attendance from you! She never was in a consumption. It was a fever; and it is gone: her pulse is as slow as mine now, and her cheek as cool" (63). As for his behavior, "he grew desperate: his sorrow was of that kind that will not lament" (63). He turns to alcohol and gambling to escape his emotions, and Nelly declares, "the servants could not bear his tyrannical and evil conduct long" (63). Hindley's penchant for gambling eventually causes him to become so indebted to Heathcliff, that Heathcliff acquires Wuthering

During the three years that Heathcliff is away from Wuthering Heights, he accumulates enough wealth to return and gamble with Hindley. This leave from Wuthering Heights gives rise to leverage to destroy Hindley. Also, when Catherine passes away, Heathcliff exclaims, "you said I killed you-haunt me, then!" (161-162). He pleads, "be with me always-take any form-drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!" (162). He does not care which form she takes, as long as he can be comforted by her presence near him because he "cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" (162). This provokes the inference before Heathcliff's death that he sees Catherine's apparition when he "gazed at something within two yards distance. And whatever it was, it communicated, apparently, both pleasure and pain, in exquisite extremes" (316). Although he does not eat much in his last days, he seems mentally fulfilled because he is "within sight of my heaven" (313). His mutterings of Catherine's name in his chamber emphasize how his wish for Catherine to haunt him remains with him until his last