In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff enters Wuthering Heights without the possibility of a fulfilling existence. The discrepancy between the rich and the poor negatively colors Hindley's reception of Heathcliff, but does not affect his early relationship with Catherine. Initially Heathcliff and Catherine share an ostensibly secure bond and connection, and their relationship is the best part of Heathcliff's life. As Catherine matures she perceives Heathcliff's status in the Heights as unstable and restricted to a tier lower than her own. Hindley's bereavement and both Catherine's changing attitudes and duality eventually isolate Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff fails to fulfill Catherine's shifting expectations, precipitating his feelings of inferiority which seclude him in Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff becomes enmeshed in a futile love for Catherine from which he can never extricate himself.

Hindley's treatment of Heathcliff lowers him to the status of a servant, setting up the impossibility of...