Tabitha Adams - English
Odysseus has experienced a moral grounding through the degradation he has suffered on his
journey, becoming a hero of far more depth than a blood thirsty warrior. This is demonstrated
in the moments after he has slain the suitors and he quells the exulting shouts of his maid
servant Eurycleia, “Restrain yourself old woman… I’ll have no cries of triumph here. It is an
impious thing to exult over the slain.” 19 Here Homer displays Odysseus’ humanity, a trait
uncommonly demonstrated by most heroes, which Odysseus has acquired from experiencing
the deepest ignominy, often alone and an outsider. Therefore Homer is using Odysseus to point
out the flaws of the conventional Greek hero, the lack of grounded compassion and humanity in
many of the heroes who longed only for fame and bloody glory.
Brontë through Heathcliff also makes a challenge to her contemporary society and to the
convention of the hero. Heathcliff strongly defies the usual expectations of a hero, especially a
Victorian one, where the reader is clear on the moral and ethical stance of the hero. For
example Charlotte Brontë’s hero Mr. Rochester commits a morally indecent action by his
transgression with Jane, however his blinding in the fire at Thornfield can be seen as the
righteous act of god to punish him. He is redeemed, with his eyesight being partly restored to
him once he has repented and married Jane. Mr. Rochester, although a morally ambiguous
character is punished for his sins and reaches a solid moral grounding, within social
conventions. Heathcliff however goes through no such repentance or moral reconciliation for
his evil deeds and so Brontë questions the Victorian convention that immoral characters must
be punished.
Unlike most immoral characters or ‘villains’ Heathcliff is not vanquished but appears victorious
at the end of Wuthering Heights and in this way too Brontë challenges convention.
Furthermore Heathcliff even appears to be rewarded at the end of the novel: he dies smiling
and is reunited with Cathy, his coffin is placed next to hers instead of Lintons. After Heathcliff’s
death, many villagers report seeing his and Cathy’s ghosts together wandering the moors. By
portraying Heathcliff and Cathy as reunited after death, Brontë seems to vindicate the love of
Heathcliff and Cathy and depict their love as transcendent of the Christian ethics of their
society.
Many early Victorian critics believed that Brontë had been far too humanizing of an evil
character with Heathcliff, who was essentially no more ethical than an animal or a demon.
Edwin P. Whipple in 1848 says of Ellis Bell’s (Brontë’s) creation of Heathcliff that “he aims … to
exhibit the action of sentiment of love on the nature of the being who his morbid imagination
19
Pg. 298, Homer, The Odyssey
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