A Sympathetic Oppressor’s Suffering and Torture

— Psychoanalysis of Heathcliff in Wuthering

Heights1

Chapter Ⅰ Introduction

Wuthering Heights is a very controversial novel that has been criticized and
analyzed by many critics. The hero Heathcliff is always the main focus. There are
many methods to analyze Heathcliff, and psychoanalysis is a new try that could also
analyze this character accurately. “Psychoanalysis began as a method for the treatment
of neurotic troubles and as a theory destined to explain their nature as well as the
efficacy of the therapeutic procedure.”(Rudolf vii) This sentence means that
psychoanalysis at first mainly deals with unreasonably anxious or sensitive troubles.
Gradually, the meaning of psychoanalysis had changed slightly. Now, it is generally
considered as the theory of giving analysis and information of human mind and the
spiritual condition. Therefore, it is a subject of theories on researching and analyzing
human nature and personalities. In the paper, psychoanalysis will be used as the
theoretical basis to analyze Heathcliff’s torture and sufferings. Through the careful
and thorough psychoanalysis, Heathcliff’s inner world and his afflictions will be
thoroughly revealed.
Wuthering Heights was published in 1847, when the English critical realism
became the dominant stream and class struggle became tense. At that time, workers
and the lower class lived a very hard life. The conflict between the upper class and the

1
All the quoted passages of Wuthering Heights in this paper are from: Bronte, Emily. Wuthering
Heights. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press, 1994

1
lower class became extremely fierce, especially after the famous Chartist movement
in 1830s (Liu Bingshan 325-327). Wuthering Heights was just written under such
social circumstances. In the novel, the great dissatisfaction with the upper class and
the lower class’ miserable life has been vividly depicted. The upper class’ prejudice
and discrimination against the lower class can also be seen. At that time, the common
notion of families of equal standings has also rooted deeply in people’s mind. Just
because of this tense circumstance, Heathcliff’s tragedy is destined. In the paper, this
conventional notion is condemned strongly and Heathcliff proves to be indeed a poor
victim of the unfair society.
Through the thorough psychoanalysis of Heathcliff and his love and hatred, the
paper’ aim is to reveal the sufferings and spiritual torture of him, and depict him as a
victim and a sacrificial lamb who is worth compassionating.

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 Chapter Ⅱ Literature Review

In the introduction chapter, the social background and the definition of

psychoanalysis have been stated clearly. In this literature review chapter, the early
critics’ reviews about the controversial hero Heathcliff will be used to explain why
this paper chooses Heathcliff as the analytic figure. Also, the specific psychoanalytic
ideas of Freud, which are also the theoretical basis of this paper, will also be
explained carefully, so as to help readers have further understand about this paper
2.1 early critics’ reviews
Emily Bronte’s only novel Wuthering Heights is worldwide regarded as a
mysterious novel with extreme strong passions. When Wuthering Heights comes out,
it is fiercely attacked by many critics. These early critics only concentrate on the
“morbid and painful aspects” (Margaret 1088). People have not understood Emily and
her novel for nearly a half century, except very few critics. After critics’ furious
debates for years, now it is generally recognized as a classic with high artistic skills,
and has occupied an important position in English literature. Ralph Fox, the
revolutionary critic of England, considers Wuthering Heights as one great novel of
that time (Liu Bingshan 378).
D. Traversi, in one paper, says that, among all the English classic literature works
of 19th century, maybe no book but Wuthering Heights has received so many
controversial opinions (qtd. in Fang 19). Heathcliff, the hero of this novel, is actually
the cause of so many controversies. A lot of contemporary critics consider Heathcliff
as a brutal savage with no human nature. The American critic E. P. Whipple uses “a
deformed monster” (Elaine Showalter 141) to depict Heathcliff. In fact, many critics
have held the same opinions as Whipple. I think the critics are not very fair. Although

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Heathcliff has done many unimaginable cruel deeds, he is in fact a poor victim who
wants to revenge himself on the merciless and unfair world, just as Arnold Kettle has
said that Heathcliff is still worth our sympathy (Yang Jingyuan 386,387).
For many years, how to evaluate Heathciff remains a quite difficult thing. This is
also the reason that this paper chooses Heathcliff as the analyzing object. The paper
aims at discovering Heathcliff’s affliction, torture and sufferings, and thus revealing
Heathcliff’s distortion in an unfair world.
2.2 Psychoanalysis as the theoretical basis
This paper mainly uses Freud’s theories on dream interpretation, the unconscious
theory, the life instinct theory and death instinct theory, the pleasure principle, and
neurotic anxiety theory to analyze Heathcliff’s torture and sufferings and his wanting
to suppress the pain. Freud is a great man, who had done a lot of contributions to the
development of psychoanalysis He generally recognized as one of the most influential
and authoritative thinkers of the twentieth century. Freud’s theories are very abstract
and difficult to understand, especially the theories on dream interpretation and
unconscious theories. However, his psychoanalytic theories can be properly used to
describe Heathcliff. Also, Freud is very famous and his psychoanalytic theories are
accepted by people worldwide. Naturally, it is much more convincing to use his
theories as the theoretical basis. However, the most difficult problem is that Freud’s
theories are abstract and some of them are not directly used to depict these
viewpoints, but these words serves the writing purpose of this paper quite well.
Therefore, some of Freud’s ideas are applied from their original meaning, in order to
give some theoretical evidence and support for the paper, because one theory cannot
be very exactly used to explain all phenomena and ideas. In order to depict
Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual torture, some psychoanalytic theories of Freud
will be applied in this paper as theoretical basis to support my viewpoint. Of course,
the connotative meanings of these theories will not be changed or distorted, so as to
make sure the authority of the theories.

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 Chapter Ⅲ The causes of Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual

torture

After having a thorough description and explanation of this paper’s aim and the
theoretical basis of this paper, in this chapter, the causes of why Heathcliff becomes so
cruel and vicious will be stated and analyzed clearly. Heathcliff’s becoming cruel and
vicious is also the causes of his sufferings and spiritual torture. In this chapter, readers
will have a new understand for Heathcliff and why this paper focuses on analyzing
and proving Heathcliff as a poor man suffers a lot of torture.
3.1 Catherine’s betrayal
Heathcliff, the mysterious hero of this novel, is always the focus of critics’
debates. The American critic E. P. Whipple uses “a deformed monster” (Elaine
Showalter, 141) to depict Heathcliff. However, Heathcliff is not totally vicious and
evil. He also has his motive, his sufferings and torture. Arnold Kettle says that,
although Heathcliff’s deeds are very cruel, we can still forgive and sympathize with
him, and use an ambiguous way to stand by Heathcliff’s side to oppose other
characters (Yang Jingyuan 386,387).
Heathcliff, through all his life, has sustained unimaginable torture, both physical
and mental. And his tragic love is the most severe cause of torture to him. Referring to
his tragic love, we must admit that Heathcliff’s revenge for the rest of his life is the
root of all the miseries. Heathcliff’s tragic love with Catherine and the betrayal of
Catherine is one main reason of his huge change and sufferings. Heathcliff’s love for

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Catherine is beyond time and death. When he is a child, he shares his happiness and
pain with Catherine. He looks down upon Linton’s love for Catherine: “If he [Linton]
loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much as much in
eighty years, as I could in a day” (Ch.14; 149). This sentence shows obviously the
deep love of Heathcliff. He treasures Catherine as his whole life. Without Catherine,
he is a living dead man. So, it is not difficult to learn that Catherine’s betrayal has
shocked and hurt Heathcliff so greatly that he disappears from Wuthering Heights for
many years.
When Heathcliff is a child, he is not a cruel boy. When he becomes ill and Nelly
took care of him, he is very quiet and never complained. Unlike Hindley and
Catherine, Heathcliff is “as uncomplaining as a lamb” (Ch. 4; 37). Also, when Mr.
Earnshaw dies, he and Catherine “both set up a heart-breaking cry” (Ch. 6; 42), and
“no parson in the world ever pictured Heaven so beautifully as they did, in their
innocent talk” (Ch. 5; 42). All these shows that Heathcliff is not a cruel person from
his birth. He bears Hindley’s torture and insult, and tries his best to fight. He loses all
rights and his dignity, and is treated as a humble servant. He has afflicted great
sufferings both in body and spirit. Only Catherine’s love is the support of him.
Therefore, when he hears that Catherine does not choose him just because of his low
rank, Heathcliff is deeply hurt and chooses leaving to escape the disappointment.
Three years later, Heathcliff comes back, turning into a rich, cruel, and vicious man,
and begins his revenge on those people who has made him suffer and anguish.
However, behind the crazy and cruel revenge, what is hidden in Heathcliff’s deep
heart is the lost love and endless miseries. So, Heathcliff’s tragic love and Catherine’s
betrayal is the cause of his bitter and fierce revenge, but it is, at the same time, the
cause of Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual torture.
3.2 Social discrimination against Heathcliff
If Catherine’s betrayal is the main reason of Heathcliff’s huge change in
personality, then, to show his dissatisfaction with the inequitable society is another
reason that Heathcliff becomes so vicious and cruel. 19th century is a particular period

6
of tense class struggle. After the completion of Industrial Revolution, England stepped
into capitalism. From 1830s, the conflict and struggle between workers and capitalists
became obviously severe in English social life. The workers experienced great
anguish and pain, therefore, a great number of labor movements and workers’ unions
had occurred. The lower class in England experienced great misery during this period.
They were thought by upper class as dirty, savage, and rude people. The furious
conflicts between workers and capitalists, lower class and upper class, which lead to
the formation of the conventional discrimination of lower rank, have all been reflected
in Wuthering Heights.
When being young, Heathcliff has suffered a lot from Hindley’s torture. When
Mr. Earnshaw is alive, he treats Heathcliff very well, and he is even much fonder of
him than Hareton. However, after Mr.Earnshaw’s death, Hindley has “drove him from
their company to the servants, deprived him of the instructions of the curate. . .” (Ch.
6; 44). Hindley has made Heathcliff degenerate, and it is also a main reason that
Catherine chooses Linton but not Heathcliff. Even Catherine, a wild girl who loves
Heathcliff very much, has to choose Linton, a man whom she does not really love，to
be her husband. After Catherine’s wound and staying in Thrushcross Grange, she has
been exposed to the manners of upper class. She begins to know her status as an upper
class member, and is no longer the wild girl who does not pay attention to her
appearance and manner. She has sensed the huge difference between upper class and
lower class, rich and poor. Naturally, she wants to choose a man that can make her
“the greatest woman of the neighbourhood” (Ch. 9; 78), and make her to be “proud of
having such a husband” (Ch. 9; 78). Through her huge change, we must admit how
great the conventional rank notion has influenced the people at that time.
Because of the social influence, Catherine has formed the same conventional
notion that a reformed rake makes the best husband. Certainly, Heathcliff’s
degeneration and poverty run counter to her thought. So, Heathcliff’s change and
revenge can also be seen as to show his extreme hate and anger to the people. All
his miseries and sufferings are beginning from the social discrimination against

7
him, an orphan with no background. Also, from the novel, we can see that
Heathcliff is very sullen, vindictive, and violent. He will surely revenge all the
humiliation and sufferings, which he has received before. The way he treats Hareton
perfectly proves this point. He does all the things Hindley has done to him to
Hareton: “I can sympathise with all his feelings, having felt them myself-I know
what he suffers now…I’ve got him faster than his scoundrel of a father secured me,
and lower”(Ch.7; 219). These words clearly show his vicious revenge to Hindley.
He makes Hareton experience all the torture and sufferings what he has experienced
when being young, making Hareton develop toward vulgarity and barbarism. This
action can be seen as his violent protest and fight against the social convention. It is
very satiric to see Hareton, the descendant of the renowned Earnshaw family, is
reduced to the status of a humble servant. Here, heathcliff wants to prove that it is a
society of money: if you have money, you will be treated well, but if you do not
have, you will be seen as an animal. For the sake of revenging himself on Linton, he
makes Isabella marry him and maltreats her, so as to make Edgar suffer a lot and
also to seize Edgar’s possessions. His unlikeness to his own son and CatherineⅡare
all based on his hatred for Edgar. All his revenges are taken to compensate for his
own sufferings and his being despised. All his hatred and revenges are based on his
dissatisfaction with the conventional notion and the world.
Accoding to Freud, the life instinct means the motivations that are stirred by the
desire or instincts (George Boeree). Heathcliff’s deep love is his life instinct, and all
his revenges and hardship are driven by his deep but failed love. Heathcliff’s
revenges are based on his own disillusionment of the merciless society. His
revenges are actually the revealment of his own sufferings and spiritual torture.
Under the cover of Heathcliff’s cruel and vicious revenges is his hurt heart, caused
by not only Catherine’s betrayal, but also the disillusionment to the society.

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 Chapter Ⅳ Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual tortures

After the explanation of the causes of Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual torture,
the paper shows clearly why Heathcliff should also be considered as a poor man who
suffers a lot. Now, in this chapter, Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual tortures will be
thoroughly depicted and analyzed. This chapter is divided into two parts. First part
deals with Heathcliff’s sufferings of wandering between love and hate. In this part,
Heathlciff’s spiritual torture and the distortion of his mind will be explained. Freud’s
ideas of life death instinct will also be combined with the analysis to show
Heathcliff’s sufferings. The second part mainly talks about Heathcliff’s sufferings of
being discriminated by the society. Freud’s life instinct theory and pleasure principle
will also be analyzed. Through this two parts, this chapter shows clearly the great and
painful sufferings and spiritual torture of Heathcliff and he should be worthy of
people’s sympathy.
4.1 Sufferings of wandering between love and hate
Actually, Heathcliff is a victim wandering between love and hate. All his life,

9
Heathcliff is living in the abyss of great hatred and great love. The Bible says that
only forgiveness could make you in peace and not suffer. However, Heathcliff’s
miserable youth experience has left great impression on his mind. He does not learn
much knowledge, and does not know that forgiveness is the way to relieve himself.
His personality controls his fate and makes him unforgettable of the maltreatment and
the bullies. After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff sustains great affliction and torture,
both physically and mentally.
In fact we are just using one thing to replace another thing (Freud, 81). A
person must find a substitute to replace the thing he wants to forget (Freud, 81). The
deep love Heathcliff has for Catherine is just the thing he wants to forget, and to be
replaced. The cruel revenge he takes is the substitute. Through all the life, Heathcliff
is bearing the extreme spiritual torture, not only making others suffer, but also making
himself suffer from his deep love. Indeed, his personalities have much to do with his
spiritual torture. Heathcliff is a vindictive persistent and imitative person. Because of
his tragic love, he hates all the people that have helped destroy his happiness. His
vindictive personality determines that he will carry out the revenge at any cost. This
characteristic is also one reason of his spiritual torture. He is just a poor man
controlled by his character, and he can not change it to get rid of the abyss of revenge
and hate. His persistence is another factor of his mental sufferings. He never gives up
his love to Catherine, proving that he is a persistent person, persistent to his love. This
causes his great affliction by the betrayal of his lover and his lover’s death later. The
persistence and honesty to Catherine only push him into a painful abyss, because
Catherine has married and died. Heathcliff no longer has the opportunity to win
Catherine back from Linton. His great love and recall of Catherine nearly make him
crazy. In order to get rid of the great pain and afflictions that this extreme love gives
to him, Heathcliff must find another thing to replace it. As has mentioned before,
revenge is the substitution of love. Heathcliff is in fact using revenge to temporarily
forget the great pain of his love to Catherine.
The two totally opposed emotions torture his mind. Between his great love and

10
the great hate, his mind is twisted and his revenges begin to be out of control. The
Bible says that only forgiveness can make you in peace and not suffer. However,
Heathcliff does not learn much knowledge, and does not know that forgiveness is also
the way to relieve himself. After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff sustains great affliction
and torture, both physically and mentally. He thinks all these miseries have happened
because of Hindley and Linton, so he tries all his means to revenge furiously. After
Catherine’s death, Heathcliff is nearly on the verge of desperation. It is not hard to see
that when his surprising possessiveness cannot be fulfilled, a kind of antagonistic
psychology-- revenge is produced. When Heathcliff is in progress of his revenge to
get his psychological balance, he is in fact running into a predicament that is produced
by himself. In order to revenge, Heathcliff gives up all the possible happiness and
peace. However, revenges and unforgiveness only give him endless torture. During
the eighteen years’ revenges, Heathcliff has not been happy but always been in the
torture of Catherine’s death. Revenge is just like an invisible thread, tying Heathcliff
and forbidding him to forget all the miseries and sufferings to own a new life. In the
end, Heathcliff wakes up from the hatred and unbearable spiritual torture, and begins
to give up his revenge. The unbearable torment for him is that he can see the shadow
of Catherine from Hareton and CatherineⅡ.
I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable

of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready, and in my power, I find the

will to lift a slate off either rood has vanished! (Ch.14; 323)

Heathcliff’s words shows that he has begun to be tired of the revenge, and does not
want to continue the affliction and pains that make him suffer for many years. He
even thinks Hareton as a “personification” (Ch.14; 323) of himself. It shows that his
hatred begin to vanish. Finally, Heathcliff chooses death to end all the miseries and
torture. Here, Heathcliff has aroused death instinct. Freud believes that the goal of all
this motion is to be still, to be satisfied, to be at peace, to have no more needs (George
Boeree). Then people will have death instinct. After long years’ revenges and the
spiritual torture, Heathcliff has been both physically and mentally tired, and naturally,
he wants to search for a way to be free from all the pains. Then his death instinct is
aroused. And here, death instinct does not mean whole satisfaction, but means the

11
unbearable torture and sufferings gathering for many years. He can no longer bear the
painful affliction of strong love and hate. His existence seems nothing but suffering.
Death is naturally the best medicine to help him get rid of the spiritual distortion and
he can also stay with Catherine forever. By then, Heathcliff has totally gotten rid of
the extreme harass, especially spiritual torture, and dies happily because finally he has
been relieved from all the hatred and affliction. Emily arranges this end mainly to
show that Heathcliff is not a totally cruel and evil person from his birth, and he also
has his sufferings and torture. This means that Emily still shows great sympathy to
this cruel oppressor, because he has also once been an oppressed person and has for
his lifelong time living in the abyss of hatred and love.
4.2 Sufferings of being discriminated
4.2.1 Trying to fight against discrimination
From the above, we can see Heathcliff really suffers a lot of torment. What’s
more, Heathcliff is also a poor victim of the conventional discrimination of low rank.
Heathcliff tries hard to keep Catherine stay by his side. He admires Edgar very much.
He wishes he “had a chance of being as rich as he [Linton] will be” (Ch. 7; 55). In
order to hold Catherine’s love, he wears clean clothes and tries to have good manners.
All these shows Heathcliff’s attempts to retain the only love he has in the world, and
his willingness to behave well. His extreme unwillingness to lose Catherine and her
love for him destine his tragic life and his cruel revenge. He has used all his strength
to love Catherine and fight against the social convention, and cannot share just a little
love with others. The deep love for Catherine is Heathcliff’s life instinct. According to
Freud’s ideas, life instinct means an indispensable motive that makes one successful
(George Boeree). Therefore, although Emily does not depict how Heathcliff becomes
wealthy, we can sense it from his life instinct. After making a lot of wealth using three
years, he returns, using his wealth to revenge himself on them. Once a person has
been deeply wounded, in his heart, there will be a huge shadow that will take a long
time or even the whole life to recover. Catherine’s betrayal makes Heathcliff not love
others or accept others’ love. Heathcliff attributes his tragic love to his degeneration

12
by Hindley, Linton’s wealth, and social discrimination.
When Mr. Earnshaw is alive, Heathcliff is treated well and receives some
education. However, after Mr. Earnshaw’s death, Hindley becomes the master and
treats him badly. Heathcliff is deprived of all pleasure and the right to receive
education. Heathcliff is made “so low” (Ch. 9; 80) and totally reduces to the lowest
rank. The conventional idea of families on equal standing and discrimination against
the lower class has deep impression in people’s mind, even Catherine, who actually
loves Heathcliff so much, can not abandon the convention that she has learnt from
childhood. When she finds that Hindley has degenerated Heathcliff to the lowest rank,
she thinks that “would degrade me to marry Heathcliff” (Ch. 9; 80). She will not bear
“if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars” (Ch. 9; 81). Just in order to match
her noble status, she chooses Linton to be her husband. Indubitably, it is the biggest
shock to Heathcliff. For a long time, his sufferings of Hindley’s maltreatment are all
for Catherine. However, Catherine’s notion of families of equal standing has wounded
him mercilessly. Although Heathcliff uses all his power and strength to fight against
the social discrimination and tries hard to protect the true love between Catherine and
him, he still fails. It is also the main reason of Heathcliff’s coming back to revenge
himself on those people who have discriminated against him and have destroyed his
dream of marrying Catherine.
4.2.2 His powerlessness before the conventional traditions
Although Heathcliff is a powerful and strong man, he seems powerless before the
influence of the convention. He tries to fight against his fate. In order to keep his
lover, he can change himself: “Nelly, make me decent, I’m going to be good” (Ch. 7;
55). In order to win his true love, he is willing to do everything, let alone to change
his characteristics. However, his effort and struggle can not withstand a single blow
before conventions. Catherine cannot get rid of the influence of social convention.
The only person really loving and caring about him leaves him. It is essentially a
severe blow to Heathcliff.
When the desire of marrying Catherine is destroyed, Heathcliff’s mind is hurt

13
very much. This can be analyzed by Freud’s pleasure principle. “The quest for
immediate instinctual satisfaction, however, encounters the forces society brings to
bear on its new member, and uninhibited quest for satisfaction, therefore, results in
numerous unpleasant experiences.” (Rudolf, xi) It means that when the desire and
wish of a person are opposed to the society’s tradition, his desire and wish will have to
be destroyed. If this happens, his mind may meet great shock and a lot of miserable
experiences, and it is likely for his mind to be twisted and become abnormal. A strong
and powerful man is easily to be wounded severely, and the spiritual wound will take
a long time and may be the whole life to cure. Heathcliff is just this kind of person.
His biggest desire and instinctual satisfaction is to marry Catherine, but this desire has
been mercilessly destroyed by the conventional notion of family of equal standing and
discrimination against the lower rank. Heathcliff’s heart is full of hatred and
abhorrence to this notion and the people. From above, we can see Heathcliff is really a
sufferer and victim of the conventional notion and discrimination of low class.
Through Heathcliff’s tragic love, Emily Bronte successfully criticizes the inequality
and unfairness of the conventional discrimination of upper class. Heathcliff’s
miserable sufferings and torture in his tragic love are also worthy of our sympathy and
forgiveness.

Chapter Ⅴ Heathcliff as a sacrificial lamb in the process of

changing from psychologically suppressed love and hate to real

revenges

In the previous chapter, Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual torture has been
revealed and analyzed carefully and detailedly. This chapter, in order to further prove
Heathcliff’s worth of people’s sympathy and forgiveness, analyzes Heathcliff as a
sacrificial lamb in the process of changing from psychologically suppressed love and
hate to real revenges. It analyzes this mainly from three aspects. The first two parts
explain and analyze the reasons why Heathcliff becomes a sacrificial lamb. The last

14
part mainly talks about the psychological wound in his planned revenges. Through
this chapter, Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual torture are further depicted.
5.1 Being a sacrificial lamb
The original meaning of a sacrificial lamb is “someone or something that
suffers, especially unfairly, in order to protect another person, group or organization”
(Xu 1266). A word will have different meanings in different contexts. And here, in
this paper, the meaning of a sacrificial lamb is changed slightly to suit the context of
analyzing Heathcliff. Here, it means that a person who has suffered greatly in the
process of changing from psychologically suppressed love and hate into real revenge.
It might sound very abstract to some people. Actually, love and hate is a pair of
antonyms. These two words are the antonyms of very strong emotions, and either one
can make a person suffer a lot of hardship and affliction. So, it is easy to understand
how painful it is for Heathcliff to own this two extreme furious emotion
simultaneously. Heathcliff has really suffered a lot, and, in the depth of his heart, it is
as anguish as in the hell. Cliff Notes evaluates that, actually, Heathcliff is just a person
whose spirit is torn into piece by love and hate, because the deeper he loves, the more
painful he is (qtd. in Ma 88). Naturally, he wants to be relieved from the sufferings.
Then, he chooses revenge as the way to escape the sufferings. He has thought that
revenge is the right way, because he thinks that seeing his enemies painful is very
happy. However, his wrong choice makes him a sacrificial lamb.
5.2 The reason of being a sacrificial lamb
The reasons are various, but the main reason is because of Heathliff’s spiritual
distortion. The solitude and maltreatment in the childhood, and the frustration of his
love make his immature spirit hurt greatly prematurely. Besides, he does not learn
much knowledge, and does not know forgiveness of others meant relief for himself. In
his eyes, the oppressors must be punished, and only in this way can his hatred and
hardship be compensations for him. The long years’ repression of his hatred and
miseries makes Heathcliff’s mind distort. In order to carry out his revenge, he has to
repress all his hatred, desperation, disappointment, and hardship. Although Emily

15
does not depict about what happens in the three years of his disappearance, we can
sense the extreme difficulty and affliction, and the possible distortion of his spirit.
After long years’ repression, Heathcliff’s mind is in the condition of neurotic anxiety.
Neurotic anxiety is the fear of being overwhelmed by impulses (Boeree). Neurotic
means the Latin word for nervous, so this is nervous anxiety. It means a person is easy
to lose his temper and control, and might do some abnormal and radical things. The
Neurotic anxiety also explains Heathcliff’s distorted mind and he himself is also the
sufferer. Because of the influence of the exterior environment, his possible virtues,
such as his dignity, his endurance, his persistence to love, has been distorted and
repressed, and the evil part of his personality has been released. His revenge can be
seen as a way to pursue love, equality, and fairness. Although it is not the right way,
and the revenge is too cruel, we still can’t help sympathizing with him because of his
tragic fate.
5.3 His psychological wound in his planned revenges
According to Freud, people are controlled by the unconscious 2 feelings that you
are afraid to look at. To Freud, the unconscious is the source of our motivation, such
as our drives or instincts, and things that are put there because we can’t bear to look at
them (Boeree). That means sometimes we are doing things according to our
unconsciousness and might not be very sensible. To Heathcliff, his distorted spirit and
Catherine’s death are the unconscious that he cannot admit. Therefore, he tries to use
pitiless and well-planned revenge to conceal his spiritual distortion and forget
Catherine’s death. However, in the process of revenges, the unconscious is still
revealed. He had to see his spiritual distortion and Catherine’ death again and again,
feeling great miseries and anguish. At last, his mind has completely collapsed. He can
no longer bear his distortion and the affliction caused by Catherine’ death. During his
revenges, his mind is much wounded. Instead of having pleasure and happiness in the
process of revenges, he fills endless sufferings and pain. Heathcliff’s early years in

2
Preconscious means “anything that can easily be made conscious; the memories you are not at
the moment thinking about but can readily bring to mind.” Unconscious means “the things that are
not easily available to awareness, including many things such as our drives or instincts, and
things that are put there because we can't bear to look at them.”
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Wuthering Heights has caused many severe problems to his mind. The long years’
maltreatment and lack of love turns Heathcliff into a merciless, cruel, and callous
person. In other words, the people and environment in Wuthering Heights have
destroyed him. While reading Wuthering Heights, people might not like Heathcliff,
but it is also quite difficult for them to completely detest him. Heathcliff’s deep and
emotional love to Catherine, and tragic fate are always sympathetic to people.

Chapter Ⅵ Conclusion

This paper deals with the sufferings and spiritual torture of Heathcliff, the
mysterious and controversial hero. The paper has analyzed the topic mainly from
psychoanalysis with some theories of Freud as the supporting evidence. In the
literature review part, the thesis refers to the brief development of psychoanalysis, and

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gives some introduction of Freud’s psychoanalytic theories. Then, the reasons of
Heathcliff’s sufferings and spiritual torture in his tragic love have been clearly
introduced to give readers a whole understanding of this novel. Next, the sufferings
and spiritual torture have been thoroughly analyzed, combining together with Freud’s
psychoanalytic theories. Finally, the paper has pointed out that Heathcliff is in fact a
sacrificial lamb in the change of psychologically suppressed love and hate to real
revenge, helping to make people have more understanding of Heathcliff and try to
sympathize with his tragic fate and great love.
Naturally, at last, from this paper, we can reach a conclusion that, although being
a cruel oppressor, Heathcliff still has his own miserable sufferings and great spiritual
torture, and he still worth our sympathy. From Heathcliff’s cruel revenge and his
spiritual torture, we can see how the social discrimination that the people have
destroyed a possible kind and happy man. In the process of carrying out the cruel
revenges, Heathcliff’s mind has been severely distorted and he also suffers a lot in the
revenges. Apparently, Heathcliff has been an oppressor who has done many vicious
deeds, but actually, he himself is also the sacrificial lamb and victim who also worth
our sympathy and forgiveness but not a vicious devil with no human nature.

References

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Liu, Bingshan. A Short History of English Literature. Zhengzhou: Henan People’s
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Reflection

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