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Julianna Navarro
Ms. Young
ENG3U
17 June 2024
Conflict Within Heathcliff and Victor
As Lady Caroline Lamb once said to describe Lord Byron, her paramour, “Mad, bad, and
dangerous to know”, which is now used to describe Byronic and Romantic heroes as well.
Though, this essay will be focusing on two Byronic heroes in particular, Heathcliff from
Wuthering Heights and Victor Frankenstein from Frankenstein. When diving deeper into both
stories and their characters, the evident similarities between Heathcliff and Victor begin to show.
Heathcliff is intelligent, resilient, vengeful, ruthless, and obsessive, especially towards Catherine,
which makes him quite the Romantic as well. He was once a young orphan with a life in England
ahead of him, until the abuse he faced changed him into a cruel monster. Victor, on the other
hand, is described as a brilliant and ambitious young scientist whose obsession with building his
creation turned him into an arrogant, remorseful, and vengeful man. Their descriptions sound
somewhat similar to one another, but the one thing these two characters share is the conflict
within themselves. This essay will look at how Victor and Heathcliff can be described as a
Byronic hero, and how the two men have a creeping obsession that leads to their downfall.
Gothic novels tend to include characters called Byronic heroes who were created in the
name of the poet Lord Byron. Byronic heroes are often characterized as arrogant and intelligent
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outcasts who have self-destructive tendencies and a mysterious attraction, who are also almost
always struggling within. The description of a Byronic hero seems to be very fitting for Victor
Frankenstein. Victor is seen to be a very dedicated man; he leaves his family at a young age to
study far away, yet does not seem to be affected by this fact as he does not contact them over the
years. He becomes hyper-focused on his studies and instead of making new friends, he dedicates
himself to his creation. He locks himself in his room and isolates himself from those around him.
As Carina Brannstrom stated in their article of An Analysis of the Theme of Alienation in Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein, “The reader can understand from the novel that Victor has himself
chosen this isolation from people. No one has forced him to a life in solitude” (Brannstrom,
2006). As he expands his scientific knowledge, he becomes interested in creating new life from a
dead body. This happens to be the turning point for Victor and the reason he has been
characterized as a tragic, as well as Byronic hero. Victor is seen to be passionate about his
scientific discoveries and shows this through his ambition to produce this creature. In chapter 4
of Frankenstein, Victor’s hard work is coming to an end. As the chapter progresses, Victor’s
ambition and obsession slowly fades to anxiety, making him ill. This can be seen on page 65,
“Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree,
the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime”
(Shelley, 65). The pressure he has put on himself has taken a toll on his mental state. Even
though Victor has always isolated himself, he is intentionally doing it to protect himself and
society from his creature. The alienation he has created is an aspect of why he is a tragic hero.
Once his creature has been created, he begins to fear it. Because of his fear, he abandons it. He
received a letter from his father. The letter revealed that Victor’s little brother, William, has been
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murdered. Victor returns to Geneva and walks near the area his brother was found, witnessing
the creature he created lurking around.This made Victor believe that the monster had taken the
life of his brother. This appeared to be factual as the monster continued to take the lives of
Victor’s family. Even though the monster was slowly ruining Victor’s life, he could not admit
that he had made a mistake, “My tale was not one to announce publicly; it’s astounding horror
would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar '' (Shelley, 99). Even when Justine had to die
because she was falsely accused, Victor did not take responsibility for the creation of his monster
and how it has created many tragedies. With the ambition that fueled his obsession to create new
life, his arrogance and single-mindedness, Victor continues to prove how he is a Byronic hero.
Within the story of Wuthering Heights, a character named Heathcliff is introduced, a
character of a visible minority. During the 1800’s in England, they were not very accepting of
people of different races. Since Heathcliff was an orphan who was brought to the Earnshaw
family household, Mr. Earnshaw’s children, Catherine and Hindley, had trouble accepting
Heathcliff into their family, although it was mostly Hindley. This left Mr. Earnshaw to be one of
his only companions. With Mr. Earnshaw giving Heathcliff all of his attention, Hindley began to
resent Heathcliff. Regrettably, Mr. Earnshaw fell ill and passed later on, leaving Heathcliff and
Catherine to Hindley’s care. Because of Hindley’s jealousy, he began to physically and
emotionally abuse Heathcliff and banished him from living inside the household and making him
sleep in the barn. Here we see Heathcliff being isolated against his will, contrastingly from
Victor who isolated himself on his own. As Heathcliff and Catherine grew older, the two became
close and eventually developed an intimate relationship. Heathcliff’s love for Catherine slowly
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developed into an obsession as he leaves for three years after her relationship with their
neighbor, Edgar Linton, and comes back a wealthy man to impress her. When Catherine falls ill,
after isolating herself from the entire household and restricting her food intake, she physically
isolates herself and passes from her condition. Heathcliff and Catherine are one soul; they were
soulmates. Catherine and Mr. Earnshaw were the only people who treated him with compassion.
After their deaths, Heathcliff begins to emotionally isolate himself. The death of Catherine
Earnshaw took a major toll on Heathcliff, essentially turning him into a monster. Heathcliff seeks
revenge against Hindley Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, Cathy Linton, and his own son, Linton. Once
reality sets on Heathcliff, he realizes he does not want revenge, but he wants to be with Catherine
again. Heathcliff begins to physically isolate himself at this point, “He had an aversion to
yielding so completely of his feelings, choosing, rather, to absent himself – And eating once in
twenty-four hours seems sufficient for him” (Brontё, 326). The reason for his isolation is
Catherine’s presence around him at all times. He felt her ghost haunting him, so he decided to
seclude himself until death. These were not the only characteristics that displayed how he is a
Byronic hero. Heathcliff had continuously shown his arrogance and disregard from others. In his
plan for revenge against Edgar and Catherine, he decided to elope with Isabella, Edgar’s sister.
Marrying her would’ve been enough for Edgar, but Heathcliff shows his cruelty by emotionally
abusing Heathcliff, “ ‘He is not a human being’, she retorted; ‘and he had no claim on my charity
– I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back at me’ '' (Brontё,
174). With the abuse Heathcliff made Isabella endure, his arrogance and egocentrism is shown.
The only feelings he cared for were Catherine’s since he wanted her to come back to him. His
obsession with Catherine urged him to retaliate against those that came in between them, yet it
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also showed his narcissistic personality that has classified him as a perfect example of a Byronic
hero.
The inner conflict Victor endures has been briefly touched upon regarding the isolation
and alienation he caused by protecting himself and others from the creation. Although his
self-isolation and resentment to making friends was mentioned, the danger of this was not. Since
Victor had no plans to make friends in Ingolstadt, he had an excuse to continuously study and
plan to create a new life. This leads him down a path of obsession, “As he went on I felt as if my
soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which
formed mechanisms of my being; chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind filled with
one thought, one conception, one purpose” (Shelley, 53). His moral issues have been disturbed as
he has had to steal parts of bodies and torture animals to learn about life. Now, he feels empty
after his creation is complete as he has nothing to look forward to. His obsession has taken over
his life greatly. As previously stated, the creature was abandoned by Victor which left him to
roam the world with no sense of what’s right and what’s wrong. With this, the monster causes
harm and death to those in Victor’s family. Now, Victor declares revenge on the monster, “Hear
him not; call on the names of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth, my father, and the wretched
Victor, and thrust my sword into his heart. I will hover near and direct the steel aright” (Shelley,
284). Victor experiences an obsessive need to exact revenge on the monster for harming his
family. This shows how Victor is suffering internally; members of his family are dead because of
a monster he created and it is now his responsibility to destroy it after all the years of hard work
put into it.
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As many know, Heathcliff loved Catherine very much, maybe a bit too much. Even
though the love between them was mutual, Heathcliff always found a way to exceed past normal.
However, this was not his fault. Because of the abuse he faced as a child, he does not know how
to form proper human relationships and is unable to fully trust people, except for Catherine. His
love for her is so severe that her death sends him deeper into ferocity, “ ‘Be with me always —
take any form — drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!
Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!’ He
dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man but like
a savage beast being goaded to death with knives and spears'' (Brontё, 169). His obsession has
sent him into an emotional collapse with him stating he cannot live without his life and soul. In
an essay by Xiujuan Wang named An Analysis of Love Between Heathcliff and Catherine in
Wuthering Heights from the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism, they state, “In the real
world, the love between Heathcliff and Catherine are doomed to have an unhappy ending
because of the barriers between their ethical identities. However, in the world of love, there are
no orphans, no husbands, no fathers, only lovers. With their death, their ethical identity
disappears, and their love is finally fulfilled” (Wang, 2023). Wang describes how the love
between Heathcliff and Catherine cannot be fulfilled in the real world because of many factors
that contribute to the barriers placed between them. The only way they can fulfill this love is
through death. Though before the death of Heathcliff, the death of Catherine contributes to the
rapid growth is his obsession for her. Heathcliff feels that the one way to resolve his inner
conflict is through revenge towards those who have wronged him. The neglect and
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discrimination becomes too much for him, leading him to hysteria, “ ‘I want you to be aware that
I know you have treated me infernally — infernally! Do you hear me? And, if you flatter
yourself that I don’t perceive it you are a fool — and if you think I can be consoled by sweet
words you are an idiot — and if you fancy I’ll suffer unrevenged, I’ll convince you of the
contrary, in a very little while!’ “ (Brontё, 112). Heathcliff has made it clear that he will be
exacting revenge, showing how revenge plays a part in his inner conflict. He does end up
achieving revenge by marrying Cathy and Linton, however his lonely death shows how
meaningless it all was. Heathcliff continues to display his struggles with his internal conflict
through his obsession for his late lover, and revenge that he felt he needed to execute to feel an
emotion.
In conclusion, the inner conflict displayed in Heathcliff and Victor within the novels
Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein are shown when they are characterized as Byronic heroes,
and when they become obsessive and vengeful beings because of previous events that have led
them towards that fate. Heathcliff and Victor have endured many hardships that have led them
down the path they ended on. This shows how their inner conflict has affected them to the point
of no return;also classifying them as tragic heroes. A Byronic and tragic hero are examples of
what a person’s conflict of self can lead them to. Heathcliff and Victor show this by displaying
characteristics that make people believe they are battling something deeper within.
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Works Cited
Brännström, Carina. An Analysis of the Theme of Alienation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
2006, www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1016264/FULLTEXT01.pdf.
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. Oxford University Press, 1847.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Beverly, Ma Rockport Publishers, 1818.
Wang, Xiujuan, An Analysis of Love Between Heathcliff and Catherine in Wuthering Heights
from the Perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism. 2023, An Analysis of Love Between
Heathcliff and Catherine in ...Atlantis Presshttps://www.atlantis-press.com › article