Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living... on the streets of Liverpool starving and houseless until being rescued by Mr. Earnshaw. Mr. Earnshaw took Heathcliff to live with his family on his estate in northern England called Wuthering Heights. Mr. Earnshaw's daughter Catherine and Heathcliff were constant companions growing up. Heathcliff even grew to love her. But her brother, Hindley, was a different story. Hindley was abusive towards Heathcliff, and Heathcliff grew to hate him.
Profession... retired. He left Wuthering Heights for three years and came back an incredibly wealthy man. Some speculated that he may have made a fortune on the English highways, but he will never tell.
Interests... reading. He is determined to raise his mind from what others call “savage ignorance.”
Relationship Status... heartbroken. Of her own will, Catherine married Edgar Linton instead of him because he wasn’t the same social status. He can't believe he lost out to “such an insipid, paltry creature.” As he says, “If Edgar loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day. Edgar might as well plant an oak in a flower-pot, and expect it to thrive, as imagine he can restore Catherine to vigour in the soil of his shallow cares."
Challenge... making Catherine sorry that she didn't marry him. He's fought through a bitter life since he last heard her voice.
Personality... romantic, tortured, and at times cruel. Heathcliff is an intense man – he loves as deeply as he hates. With Catherine, he is incredibly loyal and passionate. But don’t get on Heathcliff’s bad side. With those who are, he is vindictive and manipulative.
Get to Know him in...
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When Heathcliff, a poor Gypsy boy, is adopted into wealthy Catherine Earnshaw's family, he and Catherine form a bond that progresses from childhood friendship to teenage passion. Because of Heathcliff's lowly social status, however, Catherine decides she cannot marry him, and instead marries the gentleman Edgar Linton. This sets in motion a chain of events that ravages both the Linton and Earnshaw families with jealousy, revenge, and bitterness, leaving only the ghosts of Catherine and Heathcliff to haunt the moors.
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A poor boy of unknown origins is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy.
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The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley, resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Catherine. After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the Moors and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff they're happy -- until Cathy meets Edgar Linton, the son of a wealthy neighbor.
