What Is Heathcliff's Social Class

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From the 18th to 19th centuries in rural England, social class mainly defined a person, and how they lived. The high class resulted in wealthy, well-mannered people and the lower class resulted in uneducated poor humans who tended to act rude. Just like in the novel Wuthering Heights, author Emily Brontë strongly emphasizes a distinction between the high and low social classes and utilizes it mainly to characterize her characters, especially Heathcliff. In Wuthering Heights, Brontë illustrates Heathcliff's social class and demonstrates how he is a product of his environment to portray that those who are dehumanized at a young age will later hold aggression. In Wuthering Heights, the audience is introduced to Heathcliff- the protagonist who …show more content…
After the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights. When Hindley returns to Wuthering Heights, his hatred for Heathcliff rouses up again and he forces him to become a servant. Hindley deprives Heathcliff of an education and "[drives] him from their company to the servants" and "compel[s] him to do so as hard as any other lad on the farm" (Brontë 46). Additionally, Terry Eagleton, the author of Economics and Politics in Wuthering Heights, argues that for the Earnshaws, a farming family, "work and human relations are roughly coterminous" (Eagleton). He also claims that "work is socialized, [and] personal relations [are] mediated through a context of labour" so that Heathcliff is "set to work meaninglessly as a servant rather than a member of the family" (Eagleton). When Heathcliff becomes a servant, it sparks up a need for revenge against Hindley, which causes destruction and a lasting aggression against him now and further into the novel. Therefore, through the degrading of Heathcliff by Hindley, Brontë foreshadows that further into the novel, Heathcliff will hold a grudge against Hindley and even his son,
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