Heathcliff is a character of mystery in the beginning of the novel; his youth seemed to be spent on the streets of Liverpool before Catherine's father took him home and looked after him. As a young boy, he was quiet and the reader didn't get to read many long speeches by him to help us understand his character better, like we did for all the others; he always seemed to be in the background of a main scene because he didn't verbally communicate with anyone. As the novel progresses into Chapter 6, we get to hear a tale of his excursion with Catherine to Thrushcross Grange told by Heathcliff himself: in this tale, he unintentionally included aspects of his character in the account that we had previously not known, for example, when he says "...they had not the manners to ask me to stay" ["Wuthering Heights"; page 49 (1)], it shows that he is able to retain a sense of humorous irony in the face of a serious event- something that we did not know about him formerly.
English: Ponden Hall, Stanbury A view of Ponden Ha...
Linton Fireworks 2013
Linton Fireworks 2013When he first appears to Nelly to tell her what had happened to Catherine, he almost seems to enjoy making Nelly wait for the news; he tells her to wait while he changes his clothes- Heathcliff creates suspense to both Nelly and the reader to make them wait. The character of Heathcliff is shown in his first words of the tale; "Cathy and I escaped from the wash-house to have a ramble at liberty" [Wuthering Heights; page 47 (1)] - he would rather shirk his responsibilities of the household to go and take a walk with Catherine. He breaks the rules, yet he does not care:
"Being able to roam free across the moors best illustrates the wildness of...