Love and Revenge

Theme of Love and Revenge in Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte’s basic purpose in Wuthering Heights is to show how good may conquer the evil in human nature.
The universal theme of the novel is the co-existence of good and evil. Like Shakespeare’s Hamlet the novel is
concerned with the problem of men and destiny and like Milton’s Paradise Lost it recalls the proud challenge of
Satan and the conflict between good and evil which has dominated man’s entire history.
According to Hilda D Spear the novel is about love and jealousy and revenge, about loss and desire, it is about
selfishness and self-wiltedness and about cruelty. Despite the multiplicity of themes the main theme may be laid
to be the personal theme of love and revenge and the social theme of the contrast between untamed nature and
the conventions of society. The love of Heathcliff and Catherine dominates the novel. It is an uncommon passion.
The deep engrossing passion they show for each has in it a spiritual quality which goes far beyond the normal
personal plain of romantic love. It triumphs eventually after the death of Catherine and Heathcliff.
The relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine is based on the familiar romantic conception of irresistible
passion. Like so many pairs of romantic lovers Catherine and Heathcliff are dedicated to each other. Later
Catherine confides in Nelly the deep love she feels for Heathcliff though she reveals she is to marry Edgar
Linton. Her words “…my great thought is living in himself...I am Heathcliff...He’s always in my mind...” reflect
an almost Christian view of holy love and also suggests that her continued being is entirely depended on him.
Ironically while she is speaking, the presence of Heathcliff is withdrawn from her. When he runs away, she is
left desolate. Catherine’s marriage to Edgar at that period is briefly referred to. We know little more of her life
during Heathcliff’s absence. Only after his return does she express to Nelly the anguish that she has left, “Oh,
I’ve endured very bitter misery”. Significantly, she sees Heathcliff’s reappearance in the light of a religious
experience-an event which “has reconciled me to God and humanity.”
The theme of love is also reflected in the lives of some of the lesser characters. Hindley is a devoted husband
who fulfills every whim of his wife, Frances. They are separated by death and Hindley gives up himself
to drunken dissipation, Edgar’s love for Catherine and younger Cathy’s for Linton also ends in separation
through death. The love of younger Catherine and Hareton is an echo of love of Heathcliff and Catherine and it
is the only one which ends in a happy successful marriage. Otherwise, all other love-relations end in frustration.
So, we may see the main theme not as love but as the frustration of love.
Another powerful theme in the novel is that of revenge and it is linked from the very beginning of the theme of
love. It begins when Hindley takes control of the household at Wuthering Heights and decides to avenge himself
on Heathcliff who had usurped his passion in his father’s affections. Thus, the cycle of revenge begins, for the
repeated indignities, heaped upon Heathcliff make him determined to ‘pay Hindley back’. It is not until later that
Catherine’s marriage persuades Heathcliff to extend his revenge to Linton. Heathcliff obtains the right of
guardianship of Hareton. But he has not encouraged his education and gives him a single step to achieve the
quality of virtue Hareton is degraded to pay for Heathcliff’s degradation. A Cathy is forcibly married to a
Heathcliff to make amends for Catherine and Heathcliff separation. Heathcliff becomes the master of Wuthering
Heights where he once was treated worse than a servant. He also becomes owner of Thrushcross Grange, which
was responsible for taking Catherine from him. But this Old Testament justice is finally resolved in New
Testament grace, Hareton is raised by Cathy just as Catherine had once hoped to raise Heathcliff. Linton dies
making the way for love to blossom between Cathy and Hareton. Even Heathcliff who married Isabella to take
revenge on Edgar, redeems through love and suffering and his spirit is to be reunited with Catherine’s spirit after
death and Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange return to the heirs of Earnshaws and the Lintons.
The novel is concerned with Heathcliff, Catherine, Edgar, Isabella, Cathy and Hareton and through with the
themes of love, of separation and of revenge. Through these characters we are brought face to face with naked
human emotions which we may be unable to sympathize with but which we understand.

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Theme of Love and Revenge in Wuthering Heights

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