Hareton Earnshaw

Hareton Earnshaw is a character in Emily Bronte'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, whom he falls in love with.

tory

Hareton is the son of Hindley Earnshaw and his wife, Frances. Frances dies giving birth to Hareton, which results in Hindley descending into a life of drunkenness and anguish. Therefore, Hareton is cared for and nursed by Nelly Dean, the sole narrator of the story. When Nelly leaves to reside at Thrushcross Grange with Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton, Heathcliff seeks revenge on Hindley and gains control of Wuthering Heights. Hindley then dies shortly after the decease of Catherine Earnshaw, and Heathcliff sets out to treat Hareton as cruelly and unjustly as Hindley treated him- he reduces Hareton to a servant-boy status at Wuthering Heights. Because of the dark, savage environment of Wuthering Heights, Hareton grows into an ignorant, dirty, uneducated man, never learning to read or write.

When Cathy Linton comes to Wuthering Heights sixteen years later, Hareton has not changed, yet it becomes apparent that he sees Heathcliff as his own father and loves dearly. Heathcliff has a secret regard for Hareton as well, but he wishes him to feel the same pain that he felt in his childhood. Nevertheless, Hareton forms an attraction to Cathy, which she dismisses with disgust, insisting that he is a mindless, rude beast of a man. This only continues after Cathy's husband, Linton Heathcliff, dies, and Cathy becomes accustomed to the terror of Wuthering Heights. She grows just as rude and cold as its inhabitants, and whenever Hareton expresses any amount of regard or tenderness for her, she refuses it.

Cathy and Hareton's relationship changes eventually, when Cathy decides to help him with his education by teaching him how to read and talk properly. At first, Hareton is uneasy about this, but it soon comes to be that the two fall in love. Heathcliff thus lets his emotions take him over, and between his secret regard for Hareton, who in many ways resembles him, his indifference at his enemies' destruction, and his desire to be with his soulmate, Catherine Earnshaw, he lets the two continue their romance, and dies. Hareton is deeply hurt by this, because he views Heathcliff as his true father, and kisses his corpse relentlessly, digging his grave with tears spilling down his cheeks.

At the close of "Wuthering Heights", Cathy and Hareton plan to reside in Thrushcross Grange and marry on New Year's Day of the following year, adding a sense of light-heartedness to the dark story.

Description

Hareton is a broad-shouldered, strong man, with dark hair and dark skin. Isabella Linton says that he has "a look of Catherine (Earnshaw) in his eyes," and in deed, he and Cathy Linton both have the dark brown "Earnshaw eyes." He seems to carry Heathcliff's spirit, and the two have a strange regard for oneanother, despite the fact that Heathcliff has completely ruined his life. Heathcliff also sees Catherine Earnshaw in him, as if to say that Hareton is a source of pain for him, and his romance with Cathy Linton might describe the reason why Heathcliff decides to end his life without taking revenge on anybody.