‘the Main Problem with This Tale Is That It Gives Us No One to Like’ - Explore the Methods Writers Use to Present Characters Whom We May Like or Dislike.

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Throughout Wuthering Heights Brontë portrays a wide range of personalities amongst her characters which may evoke pity, affability or hatred towards them. Due to the fact that Wuthering Heights is a gothic novel, her characters often base their actions around this theme, thus they are often cruel as a result of personal torture. Brontë manages to compel the reader to like her characters through sensibility and common sense, contrasting to the characters she wants us to dislike, who tend to act irrationally. Brontë uses the gothic theme in order to convey discontent towards some of her characters. A prime example of this is shown through Heathcliff’s revenge plan, which pushes forward the plot structure in the second volume of the novel. Hareton, who under the care of his unpredictable father, Hindley, grows wild and uncultivated thus mirroring Heathcliff who goes on to torture Hareton. Although pity is evoked for Heathcliff throughout the novel which makes the reader want to like him, the torture of innocent children under his revenge plan compels us to dislike him. Hareton is confined by Heathcliff, who has denied him his education and his inheritance, and is trapped in the Heights, emphasising both the gothic theme and the prison imagery surrounding the Heights. Heathcliff also treats Cathy badly as he slaps her, traps her in the Heights and calls her an ‘insolent slut’, again this ill treatment towards innocent children supports the gothic theme of the novel and helps portray Heathcliff as an evil man. Throughout the novel Heathcliff is often compared to animals and most often dog imagery to convey a sense of viciousness and monstrosity. This is shown as Catherine says to Isabella that Heathcliff is “not a rough diamond - a pearl containing oyster of a rustic; he’s a fierce, pitiless wolfish man”, supporting Brontë’s desire to portray him as a villain

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