Wuthering Heights Essay
In Wuthering Heights, there are two main characters that have many things that are
different about them and their attitudes toward others. Edgar Linton and Heathcliff are
very diverse opposing forces in the book, they despise each other because they are total
opposites and in search of the same goal, Catherine.
Edgar is the calm element contrasted by the stormy element of Heathcliff. Edgar
represents beauty with his "blue eyes and even forehead", while Heathcliff is the
ugliness as "the little black haired thing". Edgar and Heathcliff both show love for
Catherine but for different reasons. Heathcliff loves Catherine because she is "wild and
a free spirit" and wants to be with her forever, yet Edgar loves Catherine because she is
his wife and he wants to protect her from the evil Heathcliff. Heathcliff who is as
"rough as a saw-edge and hard as whinestone", is an outsider whose soul is torn between
love and hate, and, because of the depths of his passion, he hates as deeply as he loves.
Edgar displays a lot of the characteristics of the Victorian hero, he is the embodiment
of coustancy and tenderness.
The characters of Edgar Linton and Heathcliff in Bronte's Wuthering Heights, are on
opposite sides of the spectrum. They are also locked in conflict with each other over
their love for Catherine, even though Edgar is Catherine's wife Heathcliff loves her and
endeavors for her to be with him forever. This novel is concerned with the duality of
these characters and the internal conflicts that they go through all throughout the
story, and their affections and behaviors toward others.
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