The Society of Villains in Wuthering Heights: A New Perspective on the Element of Villainy

Abstract

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is so fraught with real-life experiences that the reader is unsure about recognizing any single character as the villain. Since the events in the novel take place in the Victorian era, and the attitude of the Victorian English towards the racial “other” was that of a vindictive better towards their slaves, this paper attempts to examine the role of villainy in the novel. Despite the general viewpoint that considers Heathcliff as the sole source of malice in the novel, this paper looks to build on a social approach in identifying the villain(s) of the novel. Drawing on Bhabha’s (2012) theories, such as “hybridity”, “mimicry” and “third-space”, which will serve as the main source of investigation, we will organize the argument so as to identify the villain(s) in Wuthering Heights. The purpose of such an investigation, therefore, will be to explain why and how a colonial "other", that is Heathcliff, becomes a villain in a society whose practitioners consider themselves righteous.