(Dys)Function in the Moors: Everyone's a Villain in Wuthering Heights

Abstract

Emily Bronte's classic Wuthering Heights combines legends, myths, and notions of romance, but it is also full of villains, dastardly acts, betrayal and revenge. Criticism of the work often centers around the characters of Heathcliff and Catherine1 and their perceived feelings for one another, thwarted by fate, chance, and bad decisions.2 Many scholars point fingers at Heathcliff as being the ultimate "villain" of the story3; I, however, believe that the term "villain" is controversial, and this term can apply to all of the characters, not just Heathcliff-at least in the context of the world where the story takes place. In general, the villain can be a character who wishes evil things to happen and who helps to make these evil things happen. The villain may also be the dark side of human nature, the opposite of the hero, or what the hero could become if s/he ever fails. If we indeed have no heroes in Wuthering Heights, then the characters in the novel must all have a dark side (which may or may not be obvious), or be outright malicious in their intentions through their actions.The novel has no "good" characters-even the Lintons, whom Nelly our narrator describes as virtuous, have cruel intentions as they are introduced fighting over a dog, and they repeatedly exhibit passive behaviors where action is called for. For the inhabitants of the moors, villainy is linked with identity, but the characters of Wuthering Heights tend to defy definition and boundaries. Villainy is ascribed to "otherness" and that which is not understood; because of misunderstandings and biased attitudes of most characters, readers form negative opinions and assume villainy before evil deeds are performed. Villainy in the novel therefore stems, at least in part, from social condemnation of certain characters early on in the novel.Heathcliff often receives most of the criticism for being the most definitive villain in the novel; however, I believe he merely is placed in this position through the Nelly/Lockwood narration frame, which causes him to appear to exceed the villainy of other characters.4 Overall, I believe Heathcliff gets too much blame from critics for being devilish. In no way do I intend to excuse his behaviors- particularly in the second half of the novel-nor do I have any romanticized notions of his heroism (as Isabella Linton does). What I fail to see, is how he is considered to be so much worse than many of the other characters of the novel to be examined here. Truly, after Catherine's death we see a desperate man: a man who goes so far as to throw a knife at his own wife and has disdain for all around him in the living world. Ingrid Geerken makes a claim in her article '"The Dead Are Not Annihilated': Mortal Regret in 'Wuthering Heights'" that Heathcliff is the only character to draw blood: "Only Heathcliff ever draws blood in the novel, and he does so in order to entice Catherine's shade to appear to him. These injuries constitute a sacrificial offering to the dead" (396). Here, Geerken even justifies his violence by ascribing a cause-and-effect thought process. If Heathcliff performs evil acts, he believes Catherine's ghost will appear. Why would Catherine be enticed by wicked behavior, unless she herself is inherently evil and villainous?Also, there are several other instances in the novel where blood is drawn, which involve Catherine. One moment is when Lockwood is "dreaming" (as he believes he must have been) that Catherine is outside his window. He severs her wrist on the broken glass, and describes the blood spilling down the windowsill: "I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bed-clothes..." (25). Although only a dream and not real blood, the imagery in this passage is very strong and stays with the reader. Another instance of bloodshed is much simpler and easily goes by unnoticed; it is when Heathcliff has left the moors after Catherine has decided to marry Edgar and she falls into a delirium. …