The Chain of Love and Cruelty in Brontes Wuthering Heights

Bronte, The author of the Wuthering Heights, expresses many themes and morals in her book. The one most important in the Wuthering Heights is the theme of love and cruelty. The main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, show these actions time and time again. They occur because of the other, much like the yin and the yang. Love leads to cruelty and cruelty leads to love. In Wuthering Heights, there are two different types of love shown: platonic and passionate. Both of these types of love lead to cruelty to other characters. As Heathcliff states boldly within the first few chapters of the novel, love’s cruelty survives even beyond death. â€Å"Cathy, do come. Oh do – once more! Oh! My heart’s darling; hear me this time, Catherine, at last!†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦This leads to him running away from the heights entirely, leaving Catherine to marry Edgar. â€Å"He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him.† (81) . Upon his return (two years later), Heathcliff marries Isabella to get back at Catherine, and her speech about how marrying him would degrade her. Isabella is also taken against her and her family’s will. Heathcliff kidnaps her and locks her away at the heights. In a letter written to Nelly, Isabella confirms that it was truly against her will for her leaving, and that she cannot return in the time of crisis in her brother’s life. â€Å"†¦ an entreaty for kind remembrance and reconciliation, if her proceeding offended him: asserting that she could not help it then, and being done, no power to repeal it.† (140). In the act of kidnapping Isabella, Heathcliff’s intent is to hurt Catherine. Catherine would develop almost a jealous-like temper towards the whole situation, as Heathcliff knew it would. Even on Catherine’s deathbed, there is a constant push and pull (in almost a literal sense) of the cruelty that goes on between the two of them. Betw een the crying, the vexing, and the constant apologies, comes the brutal cruelty of the words Catherine speaks to Heathcliff. â€Å"I shall not pity you, not I. You have killed me – and thriven on it, I think.† (164) Only towards the end of the book does Catherine’s curse of cruelty really end. Cathy Linton-HeathcliffShow MoreRelatedLove In Wuthering Heights Essay1261 Words   |  6 PagesThe story of Emily Brontà «s Wuthering Heights has been one of the most influential and powerful piece of literature ever written. After being published, it garnered a lot of interest because of the theme that was deemed misleading and critically unfit for society. The main theme of the book revolves around the evolution of love, passion and cruelty. During the first half of the book, Catherine showed different types of love for two different people. 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