MovieChat Forums > Wuthering Heights (1998) Discussion > who is with me and hates heathcliffe

who is with me and hates heathcliffe

posted 16 years ago by angelsskisses
21 replies | jump to latest

i hat heathcliffe. isn't hesuppose to be the romantic lead and all. but no. he's a bastard. he has to make everyone suffer. he's a jerk. he first pretty much rapes edgar sister for payback. then he makes cathy die. then he kills cathy's brother. then he takes his son away from edgar for revenge again. then he hold cathy's daughter against her will until she marries his son while her father is on his deathbed. then she becomes a widow right away because heathvliff knew his son was dying. but just before he dies heatcliffe made him write a will to leave everything to him. co heathcliffe the bastard has everything and is making everyone miserable all for stupid revenge. i hate him. why would anyone like him.

[–] silcock-2 16 years ago

It's not so much liking as being compelled by. He's a fascinating character. Yes he behaves apallingly, but that's not really the point, he's not intended to be a romatic lead in many ways. It's more a story about a man who destroys everything and everyone around him for the love of an essentialy selfish woman. This adaptation doesn't really show it but Cathy is just as bad as Heathcliff (i think Orla Bradley's Cathy is too naive), you probabaly feel this way because you were expecting the traditional romantic, dilluted version of the story. It's not what Wuthering Heights is supposed to be nor what Heathcliff and Cathy are supposed to be. They are not likeable, however, they are fascinating and in some ways irresistable.

Please OP use capital letters, it makes what you're saying hard to read ortherwise.

[–] infesto 16 years ago

i agree with the poster above the characters are indeed rather facinating

^^-mate, feed, kill, repeat^^

[–] silcock-2 16 years ago

Uhhh,i did use the word fascinating a bit too much didn't i?? I can be moronic sometimes. Especially when i'm talking about Wuthering Heights.

[–] strippey_strawberries 16 years ago

lol. so much anger.

[–] katzinoire 16 years ago

He was written that way on purpose, there is even a term for it- Byronic (taken from the name of Lord Byron).

Look it up.......

[–] jlowman99 16 years ago

I just watched this version of WH and I was a little disappointed. The main reason was the age of the characters Cathy & Heathcliff. I think we would be alot more understanding of their actions and personality if we knew that they were quite young in the novel. But the actress playing Cathy and especially the actor playing Heathcliff look way too old for the part. Heathcliff looks to be in his thirties before he leaves Wuthering Heights (leaves Cathy). I believe they were not even twenty years of age when Cathy dies and Heathcliff was close to the same age, perhaps a year older.
I liked the 1992 version better, although it seemed to go too quickly. The famous "I am Heathcliff" speech is more complete.
Perhaps the new version that is in the making (or perhaps still in the planning stage) will give us a version that will show the true young ages of the two main characters.

[–] hohi101 16 years ago

I LOVE HEATHCLIFFE!!!

Sweeney Todd the demon barber of MY street Bleeder pride

[–] anklebiter5791 15 years ago

I love Heathcliffe. It's Catherine Earnshaw I hate.

You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.

[–] pumpkinbum 15 years ago

heathcliff was a prick by circumstance and as a result of how he was treated , everything he yearned for he was so close to having then it was snatched out of his fingers hence he turned bitter and twisted. Catherine Earnshaw was a spoilt , precoucious brat. I found Hareton and Cathy Linton easier to like than Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw

"lets get the *beep* kicked out of us by love"

[–] audonamission 15 years ago

I wouldn't spit on Heathcliff or Catherine if they were on fire. My dislike for Wuthering Heights slowly mellowed as each one of the annoying characters died, and all that was left was Cathy, Hareton, and Nelly, whom I liked, despite their flaws.

What Would Leatherface Do?

[–] aidanadia 15 years ago

To the OP,

Heathcliff isn't meant to be any sort of romantic lead. he is not supposed to eb the kind hearted, knight in shining armour. e is who he is, and it's not a nice person. Yes, he does all these terrible things, but this isn't a poetic love story with perfect characters. Heathcliff's flaws are what make him such a fine character, intriguing and lamentable. Don't be fooled just because it's a classic - they're not meant to be happy.

____

Don't make me hex you, sweetheart.

[–] EgyGirl 14 years ago

I hate him sooooooooooooo much, and I was surprised that everyone else loves him. glad I found someone like me

[–] grumpyoldguy1 14 years ago

Spelling and syntax. And read the book.

[–] EgyGirl 14 years ago

Are you talking to me, Jayalanclark52?

[–] KittyGrimm 14 years ago

i hat heathcliffe.

Well, there's interesting news. Never pictured Heathcliff to be a hat sort of person.

isn't hesuppose to be the romantic lead and all. but no. he's a bastard. he has to make everyone suffer. he's a jerk.

No, he's not supposed to be the romantic lead. Nothing that he does is meant to be glorified or romanticized. The whole reason the book was written in the first place was to raise the awareness of abusive relationships in a time when it was not talked of at all, which was why it was so scandalous when it was published.

he first pretty much rapes edgar sister for payback. then he makes cathy die. then he kills cathy's brother. then he takes his son away from edgar for revenge again. then he hold cathy's daughter against her will until she marries his son while her father is on his deathbed. then she becomes a widow right away because heathvliff knew his son was dying. but just before he dies heatcliffe made him write a will to leave everything to him.

First of all, he doesn't "make Cathy die," she dies of childbirth difficulties and blames him for his death because of the things she did to him. Secondly, Hindley isn't killed by Heathcliff, he dies of alcoholism. Thirdly, Linton's dying is none of Heathcliff's doing. Other than that, yes, he does abuse Cathy and Isabella, he does hold young Cathy hostage and wants Wuthering Heights to himself because of his obsession with the elder Cathy. Again, nothing that he does is meant to be glorified.

co heathcliffe the bastard has everything and is making everyone miserable all for stupid revenge. i hate him. why would anyone like him.

For the third and final time, nothing that Heathcliff does is glorified or romanticized. You are not meant to like any of the characters because liking them is completely irrelevant to the story. What you are supposed to do whilst reading the book or watching any filmed version is to think about the situation of the story and look at it as a depiction of what does actually happen. Wuthering Heights is not a romance.

Lastly, before you try to write a literary criticism, please get your facts straight, please use spell check, please use proper grammar and think about what you're reading/watching because that is what you have to do to read a book or watch a film like Wuthering Heights. It's not a story that you simply read/watch for entertainment; you have to think about it.

---
I can't help being a gorgeous fiend. It's just the card I draw!-Lestat

[–] silcock-2 14 years ago

Thanks for that Luna. You said everything I wanted to say. Heathcliff is no romantic lead. On the contary, he's a far more interesting than that. In Heathcliff you have a brilliant portrayal of the cycle of abuse. Heathcliff is abused which leads him to become an abuser. It's a far more honest and insightful depiction of the effects of abuse than you would find in most other Victorian novels, which is why, as you said, the novel was so scandulous when it was first published. The true brilliance of Heathcliff is that he is a monster, but, you see the his decent into becoming one. Emily Bronte doesn't pass judgement on him like most authors of the day would have, rather she paints a physcological profile of him. Very impressive. People don't seem to realise just how ahead of its time WH was, there's really some very sophisticated insights into human nature that the Victorian audience wouldn't have responded to. So, no Heathcliff is not the romantic lead that Darcy, Rochester or Rhett Butler are and I would be worried if someone thought he was. But, for my money he's twice the character that they are. Truely brilliant creation. Obviously that is lost on some.

[–] auverin 12 years ago

Kudos on everything you just said. (I'm a little late to posting, but oh well.)

I'm of the opinion that Heathcliff is a wonderfully constructed character, and no film adaption of the book will ever be able to fully replicate his depth and complexity. He is indeed a despicable character, yet in reading the novel you can't help but appreciate him. For all his malicious intent, he is certainly a highly intelligent person, incredibly perceptive, and adept at getting what he desires. (Perhaps with the exclusion of Catherine.) One has to respect the fact that he gains both the Heights and the Grange, despite his being at best an illegitimate child of the elder Earnshaw. Not to mention that the only force greater than his malice is his resounding love for Catherine - selfish though she may be. It's perhaps his most profound redeeming quality, and Bronte's comment on the nature of love. (If someone so horrid can love so deeply, how does that attest to the power of love in general?) Obviously not the only theme of the novel, but perhaps the most prominent - aside from the cycle of abuse.

I must admit that I'm actually rather fond of Heathcliff. His complexity is utterly intriguing, and I find that he is one of the few literary "villains" that I never get tired of. (Particularly when he gets his hands on a bowl of applesauce.)

[–] SaCha1689 13 years ago

Before Heathcliff was the victimizer, he was the victim: a victim of class prejudice and gross mistreatment at the hands of "superiors." Emily Bronte did a great job of portraying what prejudice can breed: anger, resentment and a thirst for vengeance. Heathcliff is a realistic character in that he didn't turn out happy-go-lucky after all that happened to him. We can't condone his actions, but his wrongdoings are representative of the society that chewed him up and spit him back out. Characters don't have to be likeable to serve their purpose in a story.

http://zeitgeist-sacha1689.blogspot.com

[–] moonchild05 13 years ago

I have always loved this story, especially the complete version. I was watching this trying catch up on a couple of versions I hadn't seen before. I couldn't watch it past the moment when Mr. Earnshaw dies because it is so ludicrous that Catherine and Heathcliff are so OLD. Ruined it for me. I also hate when they depict the Earnshaws as a peasant family when they were not. Terrible version and not worth wasting time on. IMO

Moon

[–] maria-virokhovsky 10 years ago

You should have waited until Hareton and young Cathy make appearance. Matthew Macfadyen is so brilliant here (as in everything he does), that he redeems this movie, just like Hareton and Cathy redeem love, killed by Heathcliff and Catherine. I found older Catherine's performance to be a weak link in this movie. She's supposed to be very interesting, wild, crazy, selfish, cruel. All this was lost, and she wasn't very convincing in the scenes she appeared. I must say I rather loved Heathcliff, even though I agree, I wanted a younger Heathcliff, but he did a brilliant job.

But OMG, Hareton's character is so interesting. His and Heathcliff's relationship so touching. Shows how your son is not the person who shares your DNA, but the person who you raised. Hareton is raw, uneducated, yet with a tender heart and suffers immensely at the open misery of the only person who cared for him through his life. Yet he stands up to him to defend young Cathy. And to see how Cathy warns up to him despite all the circumstances, just because he's such a sweet lad underneath, and she sees it. Helps also that Matthew is so breathtakingly beautiful in this, it just hurts. I'd recommend to give it another shot.