Heathcliff is a made-up character in Emily Brontë's 1847 book Wuthering Heights. Because the book is well-known and popular, Heathcliff is often seen as an example of a Byronic hero, a type of character known for intense emotions and troubled behavior. His strong feelings of anger and jealousy cause harm to himself and others.

He is most famous for being a romantic hero because of his deep love for Catherine Earnshaw. However, in the second part of the story, he becomes a bitter and troubled man. Earlier in his life, he shows signs of being easily upset and sometimes mean. His complex and unusual personality makes him a unique character, blending traits of both a hero and a villain.

Actors who have played Heathcliff in movies and plays include Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Timothy Dalton, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hardy, Mike Vogel, and Jacob Elordi.

Character

A child found on the streets of Liverpool and raised by the Earnshaw family in Wuthering Heights, Yorkshire, Heathcliff’s early life and how he was adopted remain unclear in the novel. The story includes supernatural ideas, and some people believe Heathcliff might be a demon or a soul from hell. He is first described as having dark skin, black eyes, and later as very pale with a look of deep anger. Mr. Linton, a neighbor, guesses Heathcliff might be a person from a distant land or a traveler from America or Spain. His long, dark hair is compared to a horse’s mane covering his face.

At first, Heathcliff is quiet and alone, and both Catherine Earnshaw and her brother, Hindley, dislike him. Catherine later becomes close to Heathcliff, but Hindley continues to hate him, thinking Heathcliff took his father’s love. After Mr. Earnshaw dies and Hindley inherits the estate, he treats Heathcliff poorly, making him work in the fields. This treatment makes Heathcliff angry and resentful. Catherine, however, stays close to Heathcliff during her childhood.

As Catherine grows older, she becomes friends with Edgar Linton, a kind but shy young man from a nearby estate. She agrees to marry Edgar but says her true love is Heathcliff. She refuses to marry Heathcliff because she believes it would lower her social standing, even though she claims her soul is tied to his. She says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” and famously declares, “I am Heathcliff.” When Heathcliff hears Catherine say she will marry Edgar, he leaves Wuthering Heights and disappears for three years, during which he gains wealth, though the story does not explain how.

When Heathcliff returns, he is determined to harm those who wronged him and prevent him from being with Catherine. He takes advantage of Hindley, who has become an alcoholic and gambler, by forcing him to sell the estate and harm his son’s future. Heathcliff also marries Edgar’s sister, Isabella, and treats her cruelly. He tells Catherine he would rather die than marry Isabella if Catherine wanted him to, but their marriage ensures their son will inherit Thrushcross Grange when Edgar dies.

After Catherine’s death, Heathcliff’s cruelty grows. He forces his weak son, Linton, to marry Catherine Linton, Edgar and Catherine’s daughter, to control her inheritance. Linton dies shortly after, and Heathcliff makes him sign a will leaving everything to Heathcliff. He treats Catherine Linton kindly but makes her cold and distant. Eventually, Hareton, Hindley’s son, and Catherine Linton fall in love, breaking the cycle of hatred. Hareton, who resembles Catherine Earnshaw, makes Heathcliff uneasy, and the story suggests Heathcliff secretly cares for him.

Heathcliff dies a broken man, haunted by Catherine’s ghost. He is found by Nelly Dean, who says he stopped eating and did not intend to commit suicide. He wanted to be with Catherine forever. The story implies Catherine’s ghost visited Heathcliff, taking him to the afterlife. Heathcliff’s revenge is not fully completed, and Hareton and Catherine inherit the estates. At the end, a servant boy sees Heathcliff and Catherine’s ghosts walking together, but Nelly and Lockwood believe their souls are at peace. Lockwood ends the story by wondering how anyone could imagine unrest for those buried in such quiet earth.

Charlotte Brontë, Emily’s older sister, wrote that Heathcliff never changed his path toward destruction, but others argue the story is not straightforward, and Heathcliff’s character is complex. The novel ends with mystery about Heathcliff’s soul and his lasting impact as a powerful anti-hero.

Ethnicity

Heathcliff's ethnicity is not clearly stated in the novel. His origins remain uncertain, but scholars have studied his identity over time. In Wuthering Heights and the Liverpool Slave Trade, Maja-Lisa von Sneidern argues that Heathcliff's "racial otherness cannot be a matter of dispute." Several characters in the story guess about his background. When Lockwood first meets him, he describes Heathcliff as "a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect." Mr. Linton calls him "a strange acquisition […] a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway." In Chapter VII, young Heathcliff says he wishes he had "light hair and a fair skin" as well as "Edgar Linton’s great blue eyes and even forehead." Nelly comforts him, saying that a "good heart" would make him look attractive even if he were "a regular black." She calls him "handsome […] fit for a prince in disguise" and imagines that his "father was Emperor of China, […] mother an Indian queen," and that he had been "kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to England."

Heathcliff is often called a "gipsy" and described using language and imagery connected to Romani people. This term is used by multiple characters (Lockwood, Nelly Dean, Hindley Earnshaw, Mrs. Linton, Joseph, and Edgar Linton), making it the most common description of his background in the novel. In Chapter VI, when young Isabella Linton first sees him, she exclaims: "Frightful thing! Put him in the cellar, papa. He's exactly like the son of the fortune-teller that stole my tame pheasant."

Descriptions of Heathcliff having "black hair, […] black, deep-set eyes, thick brows, and dark skin," along with Liverpool's role in the Atlantic slave trade, have led some to suggest he is of African descent. "In 1769, the year Mr. Earnshaw found Heathcliff in the Liverpool streets, the city was England’s largest slave-trading port, conducting seventy to eighty-five percent of the English slave trade." Records show that African slaveholders and runaway slaves lived in 18th-century Yorkshire. Thousands of Black slaves lived in England during the late 18th century. Liverpool was known as a slavetrading port, not a market town where a gentleman farmer like Mr. Earnshaw would likely do business. Heathcliff's name, which is only one word, has also been linked to slavery.

Heathcliff's relationship with Earnshaw—his willingness to travel with him, the support he receives from him, receiving the name of Earnshaw’s deceased son, and being brought into a close-knit family structure—has led some to believe he is the illegitimate child of Mr. Earnshaw and of mixed race.

It has also been suggested that Mr. Earnshaw did not go to Liverpool but instead found Heathcliff in a Romani encampment near Wuthering Heights. This idea comes from the impracticality of walking to Liverpool, the likelihood that a fiddle and a whip could be found in a Romani camp, and the possibility that Earnshaw had connections with Romani people. These items have also been described as "objects emblematic of the cruelty and indolence nurtured by institutionalized slavery."

Terry Eagleton, in Myths of Power: A Marxist Study of the Brontës, describes Heathcliff as having "no defined place within [the Earnshaws'] biological and economic systems." In Heathcliff and the Great Hunger: Studies in Irish Culture, Eagleton presents Heathcliff as a symbolic representation of Irish people.

Depictions

In 1939, Laurence Olivier played Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, directed by William Wyler. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance.

Indian actor Dilip Kumar portrayed different versions of the character in three film adaptations of the novel: Arzoo (1950), Hulchul (1951), and Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966).

In 1958, Richard Burton played Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights," a 90-minute TV episode of the anthology series DuPont Show of the Month. In 1970, Timothy Dalton portrayed Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, directed by Robert Fuest.

Ralph Fiennes’s performance as Heathcliff in the 1992 film Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was the second film adaptation to include Hareton and Cathy in the story. The first attempt was made in a 1920 silent film, which is now believed to be lost. ITV’s 1998 TV drama, starring Robert Cavanah as Heathcliff, also told the full story.

In 1997, Cliff Richard played Heathcliff in a stage musical. The musical focused on Heathcliff’s life, his efforts to win Cathy, and his life after her death. John Farrar composed the music, and Sir Tim Rice wrote the lyrics. Cliff Richard also released a movie version of Heathcliff in 1997. The film was so successful that it was later performed on stage in Birmingham in 1998.

In 2009, Masterpiece Theatre presented a two-part series of Wuthering Heights, starring Tom Hardy as Heathcliff. In this version, the next generation of characters played an important role, and the story began and ended with them.

In 2011, director Andrea Arnold made a film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, starring James Howson as Heathcliff.

Jacob Elordi portrays Heathcliff in the 2026 adaptation directed by Emerald Fennell. Owen Cooper plays the younger version of the character.

In popular culture

"Wuthering Heights," a song from Kate Bush's 1978 first album, The Kick Inside, is told from the viewpoint of a ghost of Catherine Earnshaw visiting an older Heathcliff.

In her song "David Duchovny," Bree Sharp calls David Duchovny "American Heathcliff, brooding and comely."

In July 2008, the then-British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, compared himself to Heathcliff, saying, "Maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff." Some people laughed at this comparison. For example, Andrew McCarthy, acting director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, said, "Heathcliff is a man who often causes harm in his home, might have committed murder, and digs up his dead lover. He is moody and unkind to animals. Is this really a good example for the prime minister?"

The first song on the UK melodic hard rock band Ten's eleventh studio album, Albion, called "Alone in the Dark," is based on Heathcliff's inner conflicts as shown in Wuthering Heights.

The 2023 Korean indie gacha strategy game Limbus Company includes Heathcliff as one of 12 playable characters or "Sinners." His story (Canto VI) and its characters are mostly based on and inspired by the novel.