Today in class we were talking about Edgar and what he brings to Catherine ... for some odd reason the only thing I kept thinking about was ... Edgar must have been in modern terms, a Sugar Daddy. LOL!!
Well I mean, he gives her comfort and companionship unlike everyone else. He gives her a home and a sense of being protected from society. He is able to love her because he gets jealous when Heathcliff gets into the picture of what they 'must' have. Or when he punched Heathcliff in the throat-violent act, yes, but he must have been jealous. I am sure he was jealous that Heathcliff and Catherine still have something going on when Edgar has been trying to claim Catherine for his own. All his hard work and she goes back to Heathcliff, it is obvious what is present. A sugar daddy provides all of that, right? (not that i know of that lol)
It's a love triangle because of society and how everything was put.
Catherine cannot be with Heathcliff because she does not see herself as being fully supported so she decides to marry Edgar for the better. In the end, she must have regret that decision for when Heathcliff comes back, she wants him but cannot have him. It is rather sad that Edgar does all this for her but she does not love him conditionally and fully in the end.
The other point I wanted to briefly mention was Alpha males. It seems that Heathcliff is an Alpha male, except for his roughness and violent acts. He seems to be very confident and manly which may be why Catherine likes him? I like that I like and don't like Heathcliff. It is like a love hate kind of thing; he wants to be isolated from the way everyone lives their lives and yet he gets sucked into the drama. I believe Heathcliff may just have some 'trust' issues, but he is seen as a 'warm' soul in the book (maybe that is to me only).
I never thought about Edgar that way until now. And, I kind of agree with you. He does support her financially and emotionally, although that's not really saying anything, because women couldn't support themselves in this era. However, it is evident that Edgar does love Catherine by his show of affection when she was ill.
ReplyDeleteAs for alpha males, Heathcliff does show characteristics of being one because of his violence. I think that shows he's willing to do anything to have his way.