Evolution of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff - His Own Worst Enemy Heathcliff, one of the central character of Wuthering Heights, evolves from an empathetic, innocent victim to a self-centered vindictive individual. This transformation is slow and develops in three distinctive parts. First, Heathcliff is sympathetically portrayed as an interloper. Next, he is characterized as an individual who is beginning to lose his innocence because he is coping with situations beyond his control. Finally, Heathcliff is a hardened man who manifests …

…transition from tormented to tormentor has made Heathcliff a villain. He is an alienated and embittered man who has let life ruin him because he never got over a circumstance of his adoption that left him insecure and the rejection by Catherine that left him lonely and frustrated. Throughout the course of Heathcliff’s change from an innocent child to a corrupted man, the reader loses his empathy for Heathcliff and replaces it with hatred.