拜伦式英雄视觉下的希斯克利夫

贵州省盘县第十一中学 高林丽

　　【摘  要】 《呼啸山庄》艾米莉·勃朗特的唯一部作品。小说以爱情、背叛和复仇为主线勾勒出了希斯克利夫的孤独阴郁，暴躁叛逆。他以桀骜不驯的性格，强烈的爱情、孤独性格、暴戾乖张的复仇者形象，体现了拜伦式英雄的特点。文章将从拜伦式英雄的视觉来对希斯克利夫所具有的特点进行分析，以其在故事里的形象，性格和部分语言为佐证来证明他就是艾米莉.勃朗特笔下的“撒旦式英雄”。 
　　【关键词】 拜伦式英雄;爱情;叛逆;复仇

　　ABSTRACT
　　Wuthering Heights ,one of the controversial works in the history of English literature ,is the only and representative work of Emily Bronte, an English woman novelist of critical realism in the 19th century. In the novel Emily deals with love ,rebel and revenge of its hero, Heathcliff .And uses these as hints to create the round character, who is alone and gloomy, violent and revolt. For these characteristics make others find it is difficult or afraid to close him. Since he shows the typical characteristics ,strong love, lonely character and cruelly perverse avenger's image, of the Byronic hero. This article will analyze the typical characteristics which Heathcliff had showed in Wuthering Heights in the view of Byronic hero ,and according to the love story ,the character's personality and their languages have been used in the novel, it will prove Heathcliff is Emily. Bronte's “Satanic hero”.
　　Key words: Heathcliff ; Byronic hero ; personality ; love ; revolt ; revenge
　　Heathcliff，on the Prospective of Byronic Hero
　　1   Introduction
　　Because of the need of his poems, Byron created the image of the Byronic hero. Byronic hero is derived from his poem the Oriental narrative, which was written in1813—1816.In this poem Byron creates a series of Byronic heroes. The Oriental narrative is a set of typical romantic poetry, including the pagan , the island and so on .These poems in a lyric style are used to express the author's own feeling .The environment and the plot described in the poem are all the east or southern Europe , which are full of exotic emotional appeal ,and the circumstances are rich of legendary and nervousness. Heroes in poetry are all the reverse and lonely rebels known as “Byronic hero” .These characters have some special characters. They are independent and they pursuit freedom .They are stubborn ,firm  and courageous enough to show contempt to the existing social system and never compromise to society. They would rather die for freedom, not born for humiliation.
　　But at the same time they are very proud, lonely, isolate from the other people and society .Because of their individual struggle by themselves, their opportunities are usually slim  ; their personalities are grief ,indignation and melancholy .They are destined to the catastrophe of a tragedy. And they are both social rebel and the victim of society. Byron's poems have effects on the later generation's literary works, such as Jane Eyre  , Wuthering Heights . The heroic image of the two works in a sense is the embodiment of the Byronic hero. Among them, Wuthering Heights was written in the late 1840 s-just in a few years later of English romantic movement .In this period, the Lord romantic writers like Black, Wordsworth , Keats, Shelley and Byron emphasize the man's inner essence in their works .However ,when they gradually come into the man's heart ,surprisingly they find that except for noble and dignity there are still the solid core with dark and violence .As a result ,the so-called Satanic hero has occurred in romantic literature .The character likes the hero who is strong and creative, but at the same time it also is the product of darkness and untamed  passion . He would be different from the heroes in earlier English novel, who are handsome and natural, amiable and affable or enthusiastic and rash .He is like a vultures stand on cliff alone and gloomy ,violent and revolt. For these characteristics make it difficult for one to gets close to or fear close to them .Since he shows the typical characteristics ,strong love, lonely character and cruelly perverse avenger's image,  of the Byronic hero . For example ,Milton's Satan, Byron's Manfred and Shelley's Prometheus. Obviously, Emily Bronte's Heathcliff is like them .He is an angel with evil and the fury in his heart. This paper will analyze the background, love, revenge and death of the Byronic hero, Heathcliff . Seen from the tragedy , Heathcliff is a complex character,  he seems to be an out and out vile creature, and sometimes even a criminal. But he is also a person who though is ruthless but has the infinite implied tenderness and great love deep inside his heart. This image , Satanic Hero ,is also what the author has shaped by heart .
　　2   The Characteristics of Byronic Hero
　　Byronic hero, also called Satanic hero , opposite hero , sentimental hero or romantic hero ,is an individual rebel image who is created by Byron ,the British poet. As the name suggests, it is branded with Byron's thought, temperament and the mark of his personality .It reflects the author's melancholy, loneliness, and the loss of anguish ,and is the portraiture himself in his spirit world . All these rebels are genius .Because of private reasons they stand up to against the state power, social system and religious morality, but usually they have no clear purposes to struggle. Although they pursue personal freedom ,they often insulate themselves into the lonely and proud world .The unfair world disappointed them then they rose up to against it. However, the characteristics of loneliness ,full of affection, contradiction, mourning and extreme and rebellious behaviour make them  melancholy, lonely and pessimistic. And due to from the masses, persisting their old ways ,and always can't find the right way out ,finally , they often end with failure or death .Obviously ,these are different from the traditional heroes ,who are decent, inspiring ,and heroic multifariously. In addition, this kind of characters are contradictory both in thought and character . On the one hand, they not only love life and pursue happiness ,but they are full of enthusiasm ,strong love ,and  have special characters .They also dare to defy the existing social system, and swear never to get together with the evil society . Therefore, they are determined to revenge , protest and avenge to the  evil society . On the other hand, they are independent , egocentric ,mysterious, extreme, ruthless and hysterical .Even they generally fail at last, they still struggle with their fortunes for the concern of human sorrow. Pirate ,pagan and the people who are exiled are the typical representatives of Byronic hero. All of them reflects the author's melancholy, loneliness, and the loss of anguish.
　　“Byronic hero” is a product of the opposition of man and society as the artistic reflection of author's thought and weakness. The essence of romantic belongs to Byronic heroism ,which can be concluded into individual perception and freedom of life. In literature and art, they are the symbol of anguish, and symbol of freedom. As tragic rebels , they all have special talent and power, but in a corruptive society it can't be put to good use. Then they feel the pain for his inaction ,and they feel despaired because of the waste of their talent and feelings .With a challenging and demonstrating attitude, they show a kind of exceptional bravery and passion followed by uncompromising spirit , indomitable will to be against or revenge the tyranny and oppression of society . This kind of image , appeared in the history of English literature at that time ,is a violent criticism for the British noble time ,and maybe, it has a progressive significance. But their individualism, anarchistic and pessimistic mood usually have negative effect on the readers. Russian art literature critic and poet Pushkin once pointed out that the weakness and harmfulness of the thoughts of “Byronic hero”. 
　　3   The Byronic Hero of Wuthering Heights
　　Heathcliff is a gypsy orphan. When the kind Mr.Earnshaw finds him on the way to Liverpool , he is a dirty, ragged, black-haired child. At that time, he is extremely hungry, has no home to live, also he cannot speak. So Mr.Earnshaw takes him to home and gives him the name “Heathcliff”’. Though all of the people in the home do not like him, Mr.Earnshaw treats him as his own son. Hindley Earnshaw hates him very much and often tortures him. After Mr.Earnshaw’s death ,he is bullied and insulted by the young master ,Hindley .Living with Hindely ,Heathcliff is treated as a servant, and become more and more lonely .However ,he has a good relation with Catherine and they have something in common ,and more importantly ,they love each other very much .Catherine become his only spiritual support .While ,when Heathcliff hears that Catherine won't marry him because that will reduce her status ,and she had better accept Linton’s marriage proposal .It really ruins him down .He cannot stand her betrayal so he leaves Wuthering Heights. The betrayal of Catherine roses his  struggle and revenge to the people around him .The environment he lives and character he forms makes him admire individual freedom and lays the basis for his rebel and vengeance to Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
　　3.1  Heathcliff's Low Social Status
　　According to the social background which Heathcliff lives in ,it is not difficult for us to  know that he is just a gypsy orphan who has the lowest position in a capital society .For his homelessness and has no social place, he has no glorious family background and close friends . He is just a dirty gypsy founding. At that time, he is just a servant who could be bought and sold between people in upper class. To Heathcliff, his identity of adopted son and Gypsy makes him suffer lots of attack from his living environment during his growth. Heathcliff has no social status, has no relative, so all the people in the Heights look down upon him except Mr.Earnshaw and Catherine. When he is taken to the Heights, Mrs.Earnshaw wants to kick him out of the Heights. She realized her son torment him, but she never stops him . After the death of old Earnshaw, he lost shelter forever. The eldest son of old Earnshaw , Hindly ,treats him cruelly and hatred every second .He is not allowed to go to church, and if it is possible ,Hindly will catch every chance to hit and abuse him . And Joseph ,the old butler in the heights ,learns from his young master to abuses Heathcliff usually. What's more, as his exclusive feeling depositor ,Catherine said because of his none education, rude manners and low status to live with him will lower her position. None of these reasons do not reflects his low status.
　　3.2  Heathcliff ’s Byronic Personalities
　　3.2.1 The Pursuit of Happiness
　　As an orphan, Heathcliff knows his situation very well .He has no status, no bystander, while, he loves Catherine, the  Plantation owner's be loved daughter ,more than his own poor life. That is to say, except himself and the love for her, he has nothing. And, obviously, they belong to different classes, even she also has a deep love for him. When he is young ,he has a good relationship with Catherine and they have something in common, and both of them are the children of heavy storm: they like to run on the barren wildness with their bare feet in the heavy storm. They are the children of the storm and they love each other through whole body and soul. Only the same character can make their love deeper. At that moment, it’s unnecessary for them to think more about their essentially differences in social status. In their eyes ,except for love and the feeling between them, none objects in the world are important in their lives. So, they describe the heaven as beautiful as they can. Before Catherine's betrayal, playing in the wasteland is a wonderful thing, though there is no Thrushcross Grange's civilization and nobility , only a horse and fine weather are enough . The love is so pure and the happiness is so simple ,there is no need for them to concern about Hindely, the upper class ,his low place and so on. When staying with Catherine, he is so brave that he even forgets his fortune and takes everything regardless to pursue love and happiness . For their love, he is so confident that though old Earnshaw dies later , and he has lost shelter forever, he does not suspect the stability of their love . Heathcliff’s love is so natural, pure and strong that he loves Catherine more than himself .He is faithful to Catherine and he believes that their love is long-lasting, deep and crazy, so that he thinks “If Linton loved with all the power of his puny being ,he could not love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.” [1] 125When Mr.Earnshaw passes away, they are oppressed by Hindley and live in a cruel world ,there is not sympathy, no human nature . In such circumstance the two hearts get together more closer.
　　3.2.2 The Strong Rebel
　　There is a famous old saying in China“ A man's characters and achievement can be perceived when he is young.” Heathcliff's resistive and tough personalities can be seen when he first comes into Wuthering Heights. The old woman steward Nally described Heathcliff as this “He seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened , perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindely's blows without winking or shedding a tear ,and my pinches moved him only to draw in a breath and open his eyes ,as if he had hurt himself by accident and nobody was to blame .”[2] 30“When the children feel ill of the measles .Heathcliff was dangerously sick ;and while he lay at the worst he would have me constantly by his pillow: I suppose he felt I did a good deal for him ,and he hadn't the wit to guess that I was compelled to do it . However, I will say this, he was the quietest that ever nurse watched over. The difference between him and the others forced me to be less partial. Cathy and her brother harassed me terribly; he was as a lamp ;though hardness ,not gentleness, made him give little trouble.”[3]30 Although Heathcliff has a stubborn ,tough and tensile character ,he is not such a boy who is bow to ill-treat, the rebel and detest to Hindely was accumulated over a long period and which is showed when he was a little boy .He never complains  ,while he is a man who is eye for an eye. Take the exchange of horses as an example ,Heathcliff had the best one ,however ,when his horse become lame, he requires Hindely give his for him for an exchange. He almost die after Hindely's cruel beat, but he still a hard nut. Comparing to abuse and hardship ,what he really cares is that he will get what he wants. Known there is a big gap between him and Cathy, he still wants to fight against to Hindely's tyranny, nickel and dime with his hot blood and rebel . Finally, he punished all the people related with him ,including he himself. What ruins  him and the things about him down is his strong rebel.
　　3.2.3 The Violent and Twisted Avenger
　　Heathcliff's love is so fierce, and his revenge is so cruel. Heathcliff dare to challenge the secular standard, but at the same time,  the great pain and crime he tortured makes him become a monster. In Wuthering heights he has encountered an extremely painful torment and as for him the most painful torment is Catherine’s betrayal. Heathcliff loses best love and his heart is broken ,finally, he leaves home with a strong hatred. After three years, he comes back to the Height with a lot of properties, and he decides to carry out the plan of revenge.
　　First, he lures Hindley and takes over Wuthering Heights. Hindley gets into despair, and  died for alcohol abuse soon, and what  he  leaves for his son is only debt. After that he tempts Linton’s sister Isabella to marry him in order to revenge Catherine’s betrayal, and which makes “the second unfortunate marriage,” following Catherine’s“ the first unfortunate marriage” .His hate to Catherine is so profound that he put all his revenge out upon Isabella .He abuses his bride and at last the poor young lady writes to ask Nelly “Is Mr.Heathcliff a man? If so ,is he mad? And if not ,is he a devil?” [4]115 Fifteen years has passed, Hindley’s son Harleton, Heathcliff’s son small Linton and Catherine’s daughter Kathy grows up. And Heathcliff begins to revenge the next generation Hareton and Kathy. He educates Harleton to be an aimless and rude boy. He conducts ruthless destruction of his spirit over years. He lures Kathy to go to the Heights , and forces her to marry small Linton who is nearly dying. Heathcliff lives like an evil, the action of reprisal hardly reaches the peak. Though he revenges more crazy, he feels more pain in his heart and he cannot receive the happiness from the reprisal. The reason why he did this is to make Catherine regret for her marriage with Linton. He would revenge Linton, Hindley, revenge Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, revenge their next generation and after generation.
　　3.2.4 The Victim of Evil Force.
　　As an orphan lives in such a ruthless society of capitalism ,Heathcliff has no status, no stand-by, so all the people in the Heights look down upon him. Although Heathcliff is not a great man, his experience is not less than others. In order to survive ,he is forced to be more and more cure and ruthless by the money society. The tragedy of Heathcliff is one tragedy of all lower class people ,he is the typical example .For protecting his human dignity and his love ,he chooses to use money as the thing to fight against the evil society and which makes his tragedy. Since the unfair of the world ,Heathcliff stand up to rebel it, he was spent his lifelong time to revenge so that his spirit fell apart, and finally, the evil world makes him a monster .Heathliff changed, his spirit is turbid. For revenge, his inner world is distorted. Sick mind sustained him to live each day. He is mad and could not see himself clearly at all. So, the mistakes Heathliff has made can not be considered just as his error ,the main criminal is the money society, and Heathliff is just a victim of the evil force.
　　3.3 The Hot Love and Deep-rooted Hatred
　　Heathcliff has strong love, and for love, he can even sacrifice his own life. When he gradually falls in love with Catherine ,he thinks Catherine becomes the only in his life. Their love is like a wasteland blooming Heather, which unaware bold and unrestrained, tough against the world's challenge. When Catherine promised Linton's  proposal ,she said : “I love Heathcliff not because he is pretty, but he is more like myself. His soul just like mine.” [5] 67Her love for Linton is like a leaf, will withering with season changes ; while for Heathcliff her love is like rock which is never changed. “No matter what material our souls are made of , he and I are made by the same material.” [1] 67“I want to be Mrs. Lyndon that I can help Heathcliff rose his status ,and save him from my brother's oppression.” [1]68 She loves Heathcliff so much that she tries her best to help him in her own way.
　　With his feelings of fire, Heathcliff extremely despises Linton's love to Catherine. “If he loved with all the power of his  puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day .” [1]125 In his own mind Catherine is more important than his life and can be owned by himself. Since the crazy love ,he said: “Two words could comprehend my future——death and hell : existence ,after losing her, would be hell.” [1] 125Therefore ,Catherine's betrayal does not reduce Heathcliff's love, on the contrary, he loves unabated. Catherine's death carries Heathcliff great grief, he shouted: “I have life, I can't do without soul!” [2] 145At the end of the novel, a lonely soul which constituted by Heathcliff's and  Catherine's wandering on wasteland and finally their love ends with death, and has a spiritual reunion and regression.
　　However, all hate is the alienation of love . With extreme love, one can produce extreme hate. Be betrayed by Kathy , his hate burning spread to the two generations. Not only does he tricks the property and lives of Hindely and Linton ,but tortures their children badly. He makes Hindely 's son Hareton “grow as crooked as another ,with the same wind to twist it.'” [3] 157And the rich emotional young girl Catherine's pretty daughter Kathy who under Heathcliff’s damage  become cruel and indifferent ,as if she is thrown into the spirit world of desert . The man who is twisted by revenge does not let his only son alone , the distort of his boy make litter Linton a dark twisted monster just like Heathcliff, the father . Extreme love starts crazy hate, which lets he almost ruin his survival wasteland——Wuthering Heights and the Grange, and at the same time, he destroyed himself by his restless revenge
　　3.4  The Byronic Ending
　　As the name suggests, Byronic hero is branded with Byron's thoughts, temperament and the mark of his personality. It reflects author's melancholy, loneliness, and the loss of anguish, and it is the portraiture himself of his spirit world . All these rebels are genius .Because of private reasons they stand up to against the state power, social order and religious morality, but usually they have no clear purposes to struggle. Although they pursue personal freedom, they often insulate themselves into the lonely and proud world. The unfair world disappoints them then they rise up to against it. However, the characteristics of loneliness, full of affection, contradiction, mourning and extreme and rebellious behaviours make them melancholy, lonely and pessimistic. And due to from the masses, persisting their old ways, and always can't finding the right way out, finally , they often ends with failure or death.
　　4  Conclusion
　　First, Heathcliff is an orphan who has no social status and he encounters with misfortune of family life ,which create Heathcliff's tragedy life .Then, the pursuit  of love , the death of love and the oppression of upper class make the character exhausts his lifetime to against, rebel and revenge the evil society and unfair fortune .Finally, hatred of the force world twists human nature ,and produce Byronic heroes one by one.
　　18 century is a time when English people are fond of romanticism literature and love .Wuthering Heights has great influence on the people who pursues romantic love ,and improves the process of againsting religion constraint. The novel reveals the powerful and ruthless natural force, human beings are not the prisoners of nature; they have courage to change it. This is the same to the human society. People dare to resist the unfair phenomenon and unequal ideas in society. However, Heathcliff is a victim of evil forces. Because of his low status, he loses the chance to live with his lover Catherine .He is ill-treated and becomes a monster. On the contrary ,he is a brave resistant, though he revenges in a crazy way. The characteristics of Byronic hero are shown by the round character Heathcliff vividly .The low social position, pursuit of pure love, rebel of the evil society ,violent and twisted avenge to the oppression and finally becomes a victim of the evil force .These are all the personalities of  Heathcliff , a Byronic hero .
　　BIBLIOGRAPHY
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