The Dysfunctional Family in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights...

The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Creating a haven from the cruel outside world, families ideally provide protection and support for each of their members. In Emily Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights, however, bitterness grows between the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Within these two families, siblings rival for power and parents fail to fulfill their roles as caregivers. The intertwining relationships of the Earnshaws and the Lintons are marked by physical abuse, degradation, and emotional negligence. These reduce each of the family members’ life to a lonely and meaningless journey though the cold and misty moors. Unforgiving as the moors that surround them, the Earnshaws and the Lintons often resort to physical†¦show more content†¦Hareton is thus reduced to an inhuman â€Å"it.† It is not surprising, then, that Hareton is afraid of his father, but Hindley is angered because this reminds him of his failure as a father. Declaring that Hareton should be â€Å"cropped† like a fierce dog, Hindley drops his son over the railing of a staircase when the latter shrinks away from him. He is unperturbed when Nelly exclaims: â€Å"He hates you – they all hate you – that’s the truth! A happy family you have, and a pretty state you’re come to!† (77). Hindley does not seem to comprehend that physical abuse leads not to love but to fear and hatred – and ultimately, alienation from his family. Edgar Linton, normally gentle, also uses physical violence when he fights with Heathcliff over Catherine Earnshaw, now his wife Catherine Linton. Like Hindley, Edgar does not realize that violence cannot produce love. His fight with Heathcliff results in Catherine’s insanity and her eventual death. Catherine, too, is not flawless. When Nelly, under Hindley’s orders, chaperones Edgar’s visit with Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine is furious and strikes Nelly. When her nephew Hareton weeps at this abusive display, Catherine seizes the child and shakes him. She then strikes Edgar when he tries to stop her. The root of Catherine’s violence is not the same as the one that plague Hindley and Edgar: she does not physically hurt her family because she wants to be loved. She feels that she is already loved by everyone, but she