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Character Analysis in Wuthering Heights

Character Analysis Examples in Wuthering Heights:

Chapter I

🔒 9

"I am willing to own..."   (Chapter I)

Given his harsh nature, this is as close to an apology as Heathcliff can make.

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"laconic style of chipping off his pronouns and auxiliary verbs..."   (Chapter I)

Heathcliff is relaxing his speech. Instead of saying "him," for example, he would say, "'im."  He is also dropping the g at the end of verbs—"helpin'" instead of "helping."

 

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"not kept for a pet..."   (Chapter I)

Bronte is gradually creating the picture of an outwardly unsympathetic, unemotional man.

 

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"I have gained the reputation of deliberate heartlessness..."   (Chapter I)

Lockwood sees himself in Heathcliff—his emotions under the surface are not expressed openly. He recognizes that, if Healthcliff is like him, the reputation for harshness is not justified.

 

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"for keeping his hand out of the way..."   (Chapter I)

"Keeping his hand out of the way" means he did not shake hands, an expected sign of civility.

 

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"a degree of under-bred pride..."   (Chapter I)

This phrase indicates that Heathcliff may be, at the least, uncultured or, at the most, illegitimate.

 

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"and other dogs haunted other recesses..."   (Chapter I)

This is meant to indicate the rustic nature of Heathcliff's home—it is suited for the everyday country life of a single man and has no touch of refinement.

 

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"He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him..."   (Chapter I)

Mr. Lockwood, whose given name is never disclosed in the novel, seems not to be the misanthropist that he claims to be.  A true misanthropist would not have a "heart warmed" towards anyone.

 

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"gipsy..."   (Chapter I)

By likening Heathcliff to a "gipsy," Lockwood implies that Heathcliff is not a normal Englishman. Gypsies were considered outcasts—untrustworthy and violent.

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"your rheumatism can hardly be reckoned among providential visitations..."   (Chapter II)

Cathy implies that she, rather than God (Providence), is the cause of Joseph's rheumatism (arthritis).

 

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"I warn you to refrain from provoking me..."   (Chapter II)

Cathy pretends to engage in witchcraft in order to shake up Joseph, who appears to be highly superstitious.

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"Aw wonder how yah can faishion to stand thear i' idleness un war, when all on 'ems goan out! Bud yah're a nowt, and it's no use talking—yah'll niver mend o'yer ill ways, but goa raight to t' divil, like yer mother afore ye..."   (Chapter II)

Loosely translated: "I wonder how you can stand there idle when everyone else has gone out [to work], but you are a nothing, and there's no use [trying to correct] because you are going to Hell just like your mother before you."

This, of course, is a startling comment to Heathcliff's daughter-in-law but is consistent with her treatment from others.

 

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"when a young man without coat..."   (Chapter II)

This is Hareton Earnshaw, a descendant of the Hareton Earnshaw who built Wuthering Heights.

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"She looked at me, leaning back in her chair, and remained motionless and mute..."   (Chapter II)

Mrs. Heathcliff's inhospitable behavior signals that something is fundamentally wrong in this household that has nothing to do with its geographical isolation.

 

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"the “missis,”..."   (Chapter II)

This is Cathy Heathcliff (maiden name, Cathy Linton), the widow of Linton Heathcliff.

 

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"King Lear..."   (Chapter II)

Lockwood refers to King Lear, a Shakespearean tragedy, in order to demonstrate his intelligence and superiority over the lower class.

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"so as by fire..."   (Chapter XVII)

The phrase "so as by fire" is a biblical allusion to Corinthians 3:15: "If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." The phrase suggests that Joseph has been purified through religion.

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"offald ways..."   (Chapter XVIII)

The phrase "offald ways" suggests that Catherine and Heathcliff's behavior is shameful.

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