Initially, it was the name of his son who died soon after his birth. Mr. Ernshaw did not bother to give a boy his family name. Heathcliff's name is also his surname.
Unlike every other character in the novel, Heathcliff has only a single name that serves him as both Christian name and surname. This places him radically outside social patterns and conventions, and Heathcliff is described by Catherine as an 'unreclaimed creature' (Vol.
Catherine's daughter, Cathy Linton, also gains the names Heathcliff and Earnshaw: As a Linton from Thrushcross Grange, she marries Linton Heathcliff (Heathcliff's son who is from Wuthering Heights), then marries Hareton Earnshaw (her uncle Hindley's son and her cousin who is also from Wuthering Heights).
Type of Villain
Thrushcross Grange Heathcliff is the main antagonist of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by the late Emily Brontë.
The surname Heathcliff is the 4,307,654th most frequent last name worldwide, borne by around 1 in 347,025,996 people.
Boy. English. From the English surname for someone living on a heath. Heathcliff is a character from Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.
Later in life, he becomes a gentleman "in dress and aspect." Nelly Dean states that he could be an "American castaway." Heathcliff may have been of mixed race because he is described in the original book as a "dark-skinned gipsy" and "a little Lascar" – a 19th-century term for Indian sailors.
Wuthering Heights masquerades as a love story, but it is really a study of trauma. Catherine and Heathcliff both have Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and also shows signs of BPD.
In his account, Heathcliff is the illegitimate son of Mr Earnshaw, born of a formerly enslaved woman who is brought to Liverpool docks from the Caribbean.
Catherine gives birth to a daughter, Cathy, delivering her two months early—the baby is born at midnight, and Catherine passes away two hours later. Upon hearing the news from Nelly, Heathcliff seems to already be aware.
Lockwood estimates Heathcliff as about forty and Cathy as not yet seventeen.
Heathcliff gets his name from Mr. Ernshaw, his adoptive father. Initially, it was the name of his son who died soon after his birth.
After informing Nelly of how she pursued her escape, and paying one last visit to Thrushcross Grange, her childhood home, Isabella removes somewhere "south of London", where she gives birth to Heathcliff's son, Linton, who resembles Isabella in every aspect.
In chapter 29 of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff tells Nelly Dean about how he dug up Catherine's body just after she was buried, back in chapter sixteen. Heathcliff went alone to the churchyard and, wild in grief for Catherine, dug down to her coffin and attempted to wrench it open.
First, Catherine and Heathcliff were not blood siblings. We don't know if Heathcliff was officially adopted by Mr Earnshaw; the fact that he did not automatically inherit Wuthering Heights when Hindley died suggests not. Secondly, there is no actual evidence in the book that the two of them ever had sex.
Recuperating from his wanderings, Lockwood asks Nelly about Heathcliff and his daughter-in-law. Nelly informs him that the widow's maiden name was Catherine Linton, the daughter of Nelly's late master, and that Hareton Earnshaw is the nephew of her late master's wife.
Catherine explains that she cannot marry Heathcliff because Hindley has degraded him so much; however, she expresses her love for Heathcliff. She prefaces her remarks with "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff," and these are the words he overhears.
Heathcliff, the father, was in love with Catherine Earnshaw, but Edgar Linton married her. So for revenge, Heathcliff married Edgar's sister Isabella and spent a few months abusing her before they split. As a result, they had a son, Linton Heathcliff. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies. Hareton and young Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married on the next New Year's Day.
When Catherine sees the wounds on Heathcliff's back from some mysterious master or parent, she doesn't treat them or kiss them, she licks them, as though it's her only sustenance in this overwhelming landscape that swallows people whole.
Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Upon Heathcliff's arrival, he is faced with oppression, violence and hatred. This leads to Heathcliff vowing revenge on all who contributed to his pain and suffering – the ambitious Heathcliff ultimately causes his own downfall by being fuelled by hate.
Their relationship is portrayed in scenes of play that quickly become about domination and power. Cathy expresses her love by pulling out Heathcliff's hair and literally licking his wounds. Her actions are no less menacing when she takes advantage of Edgar's weak nature.
Wuthering Heights teaches you that everyone has a bad side. Brontë created no virtuous characters: all of them are capable of cruelty; all are a combination of good and evil, like real people. This moral lesson is one of the most life changing experiences you may get out of reading.
About eleven o'clock that night was born the Catherine you saw at Wuthering Heights: a puny, seven-months' child; and two hours after the mother died, having never recovered sufficient consciousness to miss Heathcliff, or know Edgar. Cathy is a very curious and mischievous girl.
Heathcliff's love for Catherine enables him to endure Hindley's maltreatment after Mr. Earnshaw's death. But after overhearing Catherine admit that she could not marry him, Heathcliff leaves. Nothing is known of his life away from her, but he returns with money.