tickle
Mar 3, 2011, 05:23 AM
No, I wouldn't call him a hero. Is that what you got out of the story ?
Wondergirl
Mar 3, 2011, 10:13 AM
SparkNotes --
"Heathcliff defies being understood, and it is difficult for readers to resist seeing what they want or expect to see in him. The novel teases the reader with the possibility that Heathcliff is something other than what he seems."
SparkNotes: Wuthering Heights: Analysis of Major Characters (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wuthering/canalysis.html)
KatnipH
Mar 4, 2011, 07:08 AM
He is very often described as a 'Byronic' hero or a tragic hero, so while personally I wouldn't have used the word to describe him, you aren't wrong in using that term for him.
I think in the book he has a hard life and ends up as a very bitter and sometimes cruel man, I also think that he is tortured by his love for Catherine and this twists him to be spiteful, but I can't really bring myself to hate him.
Mind you, Catherine herself wasn't a particularly nice person, and lots of the other characters are flawed in one way or another, but I absolutely adore this book & love the fact that it shows the realistic & somewhat darker side to a romance story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathcliff_(Wuthering_Heights)