Hindley Earnshaw
Encyclopedia
Hindley Earnshaw is a fictional character in Emily Bronte
's novel Wuthering Heights. The brother of Catherine Earnshaw
, father of Hareton Earnshaw
, and sworn enemy of Heathcliff
, he descends into a life of drunkenness, degradation, and misery after his wife Frances dies in childbirth, enabling Heathcliff to seek revenge on him for his cruelty towards him in his childhood years.
suggests that Frances is most likely a woman with "neither money nor name to recommend her, or he would scarcely have kept the union from his father." When she begins to dislike Heathcliff, Hindley sees it as his chance to bring him low after all the anger and jealousy he created in him, and thus punishes him by making him a servant at Wuthering Heights, forcing him to work relentlessly.
This cruelty causes Heathcliff to entertain thoughts of bringing Hindley down, as he tells Nelly Dean that he would love to "paint the housefront with Hindley's blood!" When Frances dies after giving birth to baby Hareton, Hindley grows "tyrannical and evil," and starts to drink heavily. He rapidly begins to curse, gamble, and offer mad, coarse ravings of complete insanity. He even comes close to killing his own son, Hareton, although Heathcliff accidentally saves the infant child. After Heathcliff mysteriously disappears for three years, he returns to see Hindley worse than ever, and sees it as a chance to take revenge on his life-long enemy. It becomes apparent that Hindley gambles away every bit of money has to Heathcliff, and that the mortgage of Wuthering Heights goes entirely to Heathcliff, thus enabling him to become the owner of the house that had always belonged to the Earnshaw family, dating back to the year 1500 as stated in the beginning of the novel.
Although Hindley descends into a life of alcoholic madness, Catherine dies before him. He attempts to keep himself sober for the funeral, but, unable to contain himself, ends up trying to murder Heathcliff, which Heathcliff's wife Isabella
keeps from happening. Eventually however, the two get into a brawl once again the following morning, and after Isabella escapes Wuthering Heights, Hindley shuts himself in a room, and drinks himself to death.
, and Hareton. When he comes home from college, he is apparently a greatly altered man in dress and aspect. He had grown "sparer, and had lost his colour, and spoke and dressed quite differently." At Frances's death, however, he descends into a life of misery and insanity:
Emily Brontë
Emily Jane Brontë 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848) was an English novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother...
's novel Wuthering Heights. The brother of Catherine Earnshaw
Catherine Earnshaw
Catherine Earnshaw, known as Catherine Linton after her marriage, is the main female protagonist of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights....
, father of Hareton Earnshaw
Hareton Earnshaw
Hareton Earnshaw is a character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. He is the son of Hindley Earnshaw and Hindley's wife Frances. At the end of the novel, he makes plans to wed Catherine Linton, with whom he falls in love.- Story :...
, and sworn enemy of Heathcliff
Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
Heathcliff is a fictional character in the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Owing to the novel's enduring fame and popularity, he is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured Romantic hero whose all-consuming passions destroy both himself and those around him.Legend has stereotyped...
, he descends into a life of drunkenness, degradation, and misery after his wife Frances dies in childbirth, enabling Heathcliff to seek revenge on him for his cruelty towards him in his childhood years.
Story
Hindley sees Heathcliff as a rival when Mr. Earnshaw, his father, brings him home (an orphan) and instantly treats him with animosity. Eventually, this gives way to Mr. Earnshaw's favoring Heathcliff as his favorite child, above son Hindley and daughter Catherine, and thus leaving Hindley in hatred of his "foster-brother." His father then, with the advice of others, sets him to go off to college. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley returns home to the funeral with a wife, Frances. Nelly DeanNelly Dean
Ellen "Nelly" Dean is a female character in Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights. She is the main narrator for the story, and gives key eyewitness accounts as to what happens between the characters...
suggests that Frances is most likely a woman with "neither money nor name to recommend her, or he would scarcely have kept the union from his father." When she begins to dislike Heathcliff, Hindley sees it as his chance to bring him low after all the anger and jealousy he created in him, and thus punishes him by making him a servant at Wuthering Heights, forcing him to work relentlessly.
This cruelty causes Heathcliff to entertain thoughts of bringing Hindley down, as he tells Nelly Dean that he would love to "paint the housefront with Hindley's blood!" When Frances dies after giving birth to baby Hareton, Hindley grows "tyrannical and evil," and starts to drink heavily. He rapidly begins to curse, gamble, and offer mad, coarse ravings of complete insanity. He even comes close to killing his own son, Hareton, although Heathcliff accidentally saves the infant child. After Heathcliff mysteriously disappears for three years, he returns to see Hindley worse than ever, and sees it as a chance to take revenge on his life-long enemy. It becomes apparent that Hindley gambles away every bit of money has to Heathcliff, and that the mortgage of Wuthering Heights goes entirely to Heathcliff, thus enabling him to become the owner of the house that had always belonged to the Earnshaw family, dating back to the year 1500 as stated in the beginning of the novel.
Although Hindley descends into a life of alcoholic madness, Catherine dies before him. He attempts to keep himself sober for the funeral, but, unable to contain himself, ends up trying to murder Heathcliff, which Heathcliff's wife Isabella
Isabella Linton
Isabella Linton is a female character in Emily Brontë's only novel Wuthering Heights. She is the sister of Edgar Linton and the wife of Heathcliff.- Story :...
keeps from happening. Eventually however, the two get into a brawl once again the following morning, and after Isabella escapes Wuthering Heights, Hindley shuts himself in a room, and drinks himself to death.
Description
Hindley has long, brown hair, and the dark, famous "Earnshaw eyes," which also belong to Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine LintonCatherine Linton
Catherine Linton is a character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights...
, and Hareton. When he comes home from college, he is apparently a greatly altered man in dress and aspect. He had grown "sparer, and had lost his colour, and spoke and dressed quite differently." At Frances's death, however, he descends into a life of misery and insanity:
- Nelly Dean's description of Hindley, after the death of Frances Earnshaw
For himself, he grew desperate: his sorrow was of that kind that will not lament. He neither wept, nor prayed; he cursed and defied; execrated God and man, and gave himself up to reckless dissipation. The servants could not bear his tyrannical and evil conduct long. Joseph and I were the only two that would stay.