Part One
(1) On
Heathcliff: a suppressed orphan coming into
the suppressing devil
Insecurity means a kind of behavior style of one's not being able to affirm
oneself. And this kind of state sometimes results from feeling inferior
to others (when Heathcliff thought that Catherine married Edgar because
of his money and position), and then usually it will make one produce the
strong feeling of failure. In the example of Heathcliff is that instead
of degenerating himself, he devoted the model of revenge and competition
to the full after holding the power.
(In fact, also we can approach the above in another angle. From the
viewpoint of Alfred Adler's inferiority complex, it's because Heathcliff
had the sense of inferiority that leaded him to the need of being superior
to others. The difference is only what Heathcliff used was just the
negative compensating way --- revenge, to quiet down his resent and fear.)
And the behavior of this kind of model (revenge and competition) originates
from the reproduction of one's own childhood experiences. That is,
when there is only one alternative of intro-relationship model being taught
onto the young Heathcliff, he only knew resorting to one sort of solution.
And when Heathcliff grew up, even knowing his own hatred of this kind of
being-abused relationship, we still can see, the victim turned into the
abuse-executant.
These unwholesome childhood experiences made his unconsciousness be suppressed
with a lot of emotions: unrevealed childhood secrets (which aren’t shown
in this book), the hatred for being maltreated and his own family position,
and the unproved love.… These strong, primitive passions and desires are
deeply rooted in Heathcliff's heart, just like a seed, waiting for flourishing
one day.
We can also say that Heathcliff's revenge on the others is the realization
of a kind of pleasure principle. He thought that by doing this, he
could relieve himself of the pain in the past and his loss of Catherine,
but this just made him become the tool of revenge.
And what is the love of Heathcliff? What kind of transformation and
change had his love for Catherine gone through? The only sustenance
for young Heathcliff (after old Earnshaw died) is Catherine. Except
Catherine, no one was willing to really care about him.
And we also can see that only when Heathcliff and Catherine were together,
that his suppressed emotion was truly unfolded. At that time, Heathcliff's’s
love is company-like, pure and only for an object. But when Catherine's’s
behavior and manners became elegant and lady-like, unlike what she exhibited
before, the feeling of being betrayed aroused in Heathcliff's heart.
The change of his only trust (Catherine) made Heathcliff more uneasy and
isolated. Then his love came to blind and uncontrollable. He
needed to do anything to win her back! For the reason she doesn't
love me is money and position, then I will win her back with money and
position.
Just because Catherine is the only one that he ever paid his sincere feeling,
he would choose painfully to insist on this lunatic love. And with
the death of Catherine, the unfulfilled love still would seize the whole
of Heathcliff --- he still needed to complete the uncompleted love.
But the subject for love was dead, how and what could he do? He only
knew to imagine and simulate the on-going love, and let it destroy him.
But destiny made him see the continuance of his unfulfilled love.
This love now appeared in that of Catherine Linton and Hareton Linton.
By their fulfillment, Heathcliff also freed himself from the prison that
he built for himself, and passed away with his fulfilled love.
(2) On
Catherine Earnshaw: the double-faced nymph
Catherine Earnshaw, the mysterious woman that grasped Heathcliff's heart
and life tightly, is like a wild and spirited nymph dancing in the chilly
but pure air. She is beautiful, arrogant, exhibiting a kind of ghostly
charming toward Heathcliff. In some ways, she is like the character
Estella in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. They are like rose
with thorns, leaking infatuating fragrance.
And their lovers
are due to get hurt when obsessed, for it seemed only through torturing
and hurting that they could prove the love. But Catherine is not
completely the same as Estella. She really loved Heathcliff! Their love
had been cultivated from their childhood, and it grew and strengthened
day by day.
After Heathcliff’s leaving, her situation is like a plastic flower in the
vase, though externally she seemed to lead a happy and satisfactory life.
Also, her disposition gradually changed from spoilt to strong inside.
Living in the civilized and vulgar surroundings, her sweet and lady-like
side gradually compensated the loss of Heathcliff, also covered her guilt
(Nelly Dean once blamed Catherine that she should take the responsibility
of Heathcliff’s missing). However, the wild side appeared 2 tears
later with Heathcliff’s re-appearing.
For her, seemingly she could grasp the chance of having both Edgar and
Heathcliff again. And this time, she didn't have to worry the position
and possession Heathcliff used to lack of. She could both have both loves
to fulfill for her two different characters! But for Heathcliff, love means
singular, and the only reason for his allowance of Edgar's survival is
Catherine’s disallowance. Catherine's fantasy thus collapsed with Heathcliff's
revenge and her incapability.
Let's advance deeper into the mind of Catherine. Seldom we see her reveal
of insecurity or anxiety. For example, when hurt by dogs, she didn't scream,
she just asked Heathcliff to leave (instead, it's the silent Heathcliff
that madly shouted); when cured in the Thrushcross Grange, her heart didn't
have the space of Heathcliff or fear. She just completely adapted
herself to new environment and different people.
She followed her pleasure principle to live. In her childhood, we see that
she got more satisfaction from Joseph's madness and curse, and enjoyed
in it. But in the Thrushcross Grange, she tried to win other people's praises
to make her happy. And as mentioned above --- “her lovers are due to get
hurt when obsessed"--- Catherine always got in her way to love Edgar and
Heathcliff, for She knew clearly their souls. She knew how to make
them laugh, how to make them cry, how to make them mad, and how to made
both hurt each other to prove their love to her.
Her character is like the taking-overs of Id and ego in turns (Id dominates
more). Also, there's no space for the existence of super-ego in her character
(or we can more boldly hypothesize: the position of superego in this book
is almost covered since morality seemed to degenerate to the most bottom!).
First, let me make an example to explain Id and ego. In chapter 8, when
Catherine instinctually pinched Nelly spitefully on her arms (Catherine's
Id), Nelly screamed out on purpose to make Edgar witness Catherine’s other
side, also to make Catherine embarrassed. Catherine lost control and then
even slapped Nelly and Edgar. Then Catherine tried to use her way
to keep Edgar (Catherine ego).
The appearances of ego appeared mostly during the peaceful period in Thrushcross
Grange. Catherine's Id side was regulated and compensated by her enjoyment
and working on other people’s praises and comfort. But the ego side was
never covered and made disappeared. This part of her human nature, just
like her love toward Heathcliff, won't change as the passage of time; instead,
it will maintain its essence like "the eternal rocks beneath."”.
Catherine's Id side exhibited to the utmost in her final proclamation toward
Heathcliff. Her emotions contained the mixture of most jealousy,
suspicion, violence, and curses. The essence of love didn't change,
but transferred to the form of hatred that would destroy herself and Heathcliff.
(3) On
Nelly Dean: kindly angel? Or disguised devil?
Though the story is mostly about the relationship of two families, Nelly
Dean, the housekeeper (previously a servant) played quite an important
role. Also, her involvement with the development of Heathcliff and Catherine’s
love was fatally decisive. And from some aspects, we can even say that
she is the cause of all the miseries!
How we perceive the story is from her viewpoint and construction. In this
story, we seldom see she was sick, and the image of her was always energetic.
She’s busy taking care of little Hareton and Catherine Linton, giving advices
to Catherine, doing rough working in many ways, she seemed to be the only
normal and good person in the wild and violent story. She thought of herself
this way, too.
But just because in many situations she was too “ubjective" and couldn’t
perceive her own mistakes, she also thus hid many important clues that
would rescue others from the miserable results. For example, in chapter
9, When Catherine Earnshaw was talking to her about her love toward Edgar
and Heathcliff, Nelly knew Heathcliff was hiding aside and listening, however,
she chose not to let Catherine know and let the misunderstanding occur
b/w Catherine and Heathcliff. Even in the following development when
Heathcliff was carrying out his revenges step by step, she didn't try to
tell him what Catherine told that night. Maybe when Heathcliff realized
Catherine’s love toward him, the hatred of revenge would vanish from his
heart…However, Nelly didn't speak it out.
As what I mentioned earlier, “he position of superego is almost covered
since morality seemed to degenerate to the most bottom in this book", actually
Nelly was playing such a role in this book. She was one of the representatives
of authorities that execute the function of conscience punishment.
We don't’t know her background at all. She seemed to come from nowhere.
And everything couldn't be without her. She was playing such a role,
but she didn't play it well.
She approached things from her perspectives, she couldn't understated the
inner motives of others. Though her judgements were not that instinctive,
however, they're intuitive and lack of careful considerations.
We can see her role was more than just a housekeeper, she was also a friend,
a communicator, a nanny...Almost, if we don't examine carefully, she was
also playing the hostess! After the death of Mr. Earnshaw, the self-identification
for being a hostess was more obvious. But because of her position,
she could only exhibit her influences indirectly. For example, in
chapter 10, when Heathcliff visited Thrushcorss Grange, she just said someone
is visiting Catherine, but after Catherine’s leaving, she told Edgar it’s
Heathcliff's coming.
Part
Two
References:
1. Emily Bronte. Wuthering
Heights. Bookman Books LTD. Ed. Graham Handley. Nov. 1993.
2. Joseph Rosner.
translator???. All about psychoanalysis (??????). Sec. ed. ?????. Dec.
1994