Center

The center of this story lies in abusive relationships, their roots, and what becomes of them.

At its core, Wuthering Heights is an exploration of the classic psychological debate over Nature vs. Nurture. Was Heathcliff born cold, distant, and rude, or did he have these tendencies thrust upon him?

When Heathcliff first enters the mansion, a mere “gispy” boy taken off the street, he is not treated well. Bronte writes, “Cathy, when she learned the master had lost her whip in attending on the stranger, showed her humour by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing; earning for her pains a sound blow from her father, to teach her cleaner manners.  They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room; and I had no more sense, so I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might he gone on the morrow” (36).  Heathcliff is not respected by his new family. In fact, they literally spit on him and treat him like a common dog by placing him on the staircase. He is given no respect, and therefore is not taught how to respect others.

If, when Heathcliff arrived to the Grange, he had been welcomed with open arms into a loving home by all his family members, would he still have turned out the way he did? If everyone was not so horrible to him, would he horrible back? As Nelly lays out the troubles of Heathcliff’s past, one cannot help but feel bad for him. He was never given a chance to succeed as he had the potential too. Although old Earnshaw may have been incorrect in so obviously playing favorites with him, it wasn’t Heathcliff’s fault. He only knew unkindness, and so he only treated others with unkindness.

Similarly, his gipsy upbringing makes it hard to know what his true nature is. Other characters are more simple: Lockwood is obviously from a nice English family, Nelly is a servant who was probably born into the trade, and the histories of the other characters are told to us through Nelly. However, Heathcliff’s clandestine past makes it harder to understand if he was predestined to be awful. However, the fact that he was found as a  “dirty, ragged, black-haired child”(36) on the city streets, it’s unlikely that his parents were kindly people who taught him good morals.

So maybe it’s a combination of the nature and nurture. Maybe Heathcliff has a predisposition for awfulness and, paired with his bad treatment from the Earnshaws, he gradually became a terrible person. Or maybe it’s none of these things. Maybe there is no such thing as Nature vs. Nurture. Maybe Heathcliff is bad because he is. Maybe there is no literary, psychological, or otherwise reason. Maybe we are who we are and that is the end of the road.