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Wuthering Heights (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

Characters Discussed

Heathcliff, a dark-visaged, violently passionate, black-natured man. A foundling brought to the Earnshaw home at an early age, he is subjected to cruel emotional sufferings during his formative years. His chief tormentor is Hindley Earnshaw, who is jealous of his father’s obvious partiality toward Heathcliff. Heathcliff endures his torment with the sullen patience of a hardened, ill-treated animal, but just as the years add age his suffering adds hatred in Heathcliff’s nature, and he becomes filled with an inhuman, almost demonic, desire for vengeance...

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