Heathcliff's Origins

[Amanda R.]

We're reading this book in my AP Literature class, and I just love it! It truly is one of the best books I have ever read. But anyway, now to the point of my post!<br><br>We were discussing Heathcliff's origins, and I brought up that he couldh have been an illegitimate child of the Elder Mr. Earnshaw. This is what I kind of picked up from the chapter that introduced Heathcliff. Does anyone else share this view? I was just curious. I just wanted to know if I was way off, or right on about this hypothesis. Thanks! <br><br> Luv, Amanda

[kev67]

I read a website somewhere that suggested Heathcliff was the illegitimate son of Mr Earnshaw. In a way that makes sense because it seems a strange thing to do to bring a strange child back home. It may explain why Mr Earnshaw seemed to prefer him. OTOH, the trek from Wuthering Heights to Liverpool was a difficult one and I wonder how often Mr Earnshaw could have made it to see a regular mistress. Also, it did not seem as if Mr Earnshaw had intended to bring back a child. He did not get home till very late, cold and hungry, while the presents be bought for his children were crushed and lost through carrying the child.

The book does not say why Mr Earnshaw went to Liverpool, but it was a major port involved with the slave trade, which I think was still going on at the time the book was set in the late 1700's. I don't think Heathcliff could have been Mr Earnshaw's illegitimate son because when he was first brought back he spoke gibberish that no one could understand. That would suggest he was born overseas but does not explain how he landed up on the streets of Liverpool. Liverpool's association with the slave trade would suggest Heathcliff came from Africa. Maybe he was brought back to be a servant boy but then abandoned, but this does not quite measure up with his description. He is described as being very dark, like a gypsy or a Lascar, and as having black hair, but he is not described as black or having curly hair. However, if he was from India or southern Europe, how did he get to Liverpool?

[kev67]

During the 18th century, Liverpool was heavily involved with the slave trade. Goods such as firearms, gunpowder and textiles would be shipped to Africa and traded for slaves. The slaves would be transported to America or the West Indies. Goods such as cotton, tobacco and sugar would be brought back to Liverpool. So most likely, it seems Heathcliff would have been black, and there were some black people living in Liverpool at that time. However, if Heathcliff was the child of someone living in Liverpool, or had come from America or the West Indies, he would speak English. It could be his accent was so strange when he was first brought home that they could not make it out. Heathcliff was portrayed as a black man in the latest film of Wuthering Heights, but I am not sure. Heathcliff is not much of a gentleman, but would he have been accepted by English society as being a member of the gentleman class if he had been black?

As Heathcliff was described as a Lascar, I wondered whether he may have come from India, because the East India Company was also vey active at the time, but I do not think so. The East India Company headquarters were in London, which was also their major port.

Heathcliffe is described as looking like a gypsy, and that may be a possibility. Gypsies were often deported to the colonies during the 17th century. They were still being deported in the first half of the 18th century, but by 1770, about when Heathcliff was found by Mr Earnshaw, the practice of deporting gypsies seems to have been mostly discontinued. Gypsies traditionally spoke their own languages, e.g. Roma. So that would back up the premise that Heathcliff was a gypsy.

[kev67]

I think Heathcliff was probably a Gypsy. It may be the Brontës had a thing about Gypsies because Charlotte Brontë mentions them in Jane Eyre. In one chapter, Rochester dresses up as a Gypsy fortune teller. One of his footmen, not recognising him, says she is as "almost as black as a crock". This puzzled me because the Gypsies I remember seeing over here never seem particularly dark, but perhaps several centuries of persecution and vitamin D deficiency has that effect. Also, I may have confused Gypsies with Irish travellers. According to this and this, Gypsies first started arriving in England during the 16th century, but were deported or forced to give up travelling until the 18th century when some laws against them were repealed. This link says Appleby Fair received its charter from King James II in 1685. Appleby Fair is a Gypsy gathering that takes place in Cumbria, not a million miles from where Wuthering Heights is set. Gypsies originated out of India and travelled west through Europe. They speak their own languages. That would correspond with Heathcliff looking like a Lascar, i.e. an Indian sailor, and speaking "gibberish" when first brought home. Gypsies are hardly regarded as models of moral rectitude now, but back then no doubt, they were mistrusted at least as much. That dubiousness of character might have made its way into Heathcliff, and also his toughness in the face of harsh treatment. In this link, look at the chap on the left.

[kev67]

Although the Merseyside Maritime Museum says between a third and a half of trade from Liverpool ports was to Africa or the West Indies, that still leaves a half to two-thirds to other places. I noticed oranges are mentioned more than once in Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë set her book about sixty years in the past as she wrote it, but presuming oranges were being imported, they probably came from southern Europe. Maybe Heathcliff got to Liverpool that way. What happened to his parents or guardian though? Maybe he stowed away, but he was only seven when Mr Earnshaw found him, very young to be so adventurous.

[kev67]

Heathcliff could have been a Romanichal gypsy perhaps. That may explain how he is dark but his son is so fair. Among Romanichal gypsies, there were fairer skinned people, probably due to intermarriage between other travelling groups and other resident people.

[qimissung]

I always thought Heathcliff was a gypsy. Have you heard about the new "Wuthering Heights" movie? In that Heathcliff is black:


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/mo...ea-arnold.html

[kev67]

I always thought Heathcliff was a gypsy. Have you heard about the new "Wuthering Heights" movie? In that Heathcliff is black:


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/mo...ea-arnold.html

Interesting article, I have not read it all because I am still reading the book. The section about the 1939 Merle Oberon Lawrence Olivier film being reworked as a love story touches upon another book I have read recently, Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. It was a cause of a row between Holly Golightly and the narrator. She loved the movie. The narrator only rates the book.

I am pretty sure Heathcliff was supposed to be a gypsy. Gypsies were associated with magic and superstition if you think about fortune tellers. They were also associated with low-level crime, mostly nicking stuff. Those two attributes together could be described as devilment. Heathcliff has plenty of that.

[cacian]

Heathcliff could have been a Romanichal gypsy perhaps. That may explain how he is dark but his son is so fair. Among Romanichal gypsies, there were fairer skinned people, probably due to intermarriage between other travelling groups and other resident people.

Well actually the clue is in the name.
Heath and cliff.
A place of hills and heath. Corsica might be one origin.

[kev67]

I tended to think the name Heathcliff referred to the geography in which WH was set, i.e. the Yorkshire moors. When I think of a heath, I tend to think of Scotland, but I suppose a Yorkshire moor is close enough. I am not too sure what the difference between a heath and a moor is. A quick internet search suggests it is to do with a type of soil and the vegetation that grows on it, gorse and heather mainly.

[kev67]

In the last chapter, Nelly wonders where Heathcliff originally came from. She does not know his exact age or surname. I suppose that means it's a mystery.