Heathcliff is a fictional character in Emily Brontë's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. Because the novel is widely known and admired, Heathcliff is often seen as an example of a Byronic hero, or a troubled antihero, whose intense anger, jealousy, and rage harm both himself and others around him.

He is most famous for being a romantic hero because of his deep love for Catherine Earnshaw. However, in the second part of the novel, he becomes a bitter and troubled man, driven by revenge. Earlier in his life, he showed signs of being unhappy and sometimes cruel. His complex, fascinating, 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 television include Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Timothy Dalton, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hardy, Mike Vogel, and Jacob Elordi.

Character

Heathcliff was a child found on the streets of Liverpool and raised by the Earnshaw family at Wuthering Heights in Yorkshire. Emily Brontë only gives hints about his early life and the mysterious way he was adopted. The novel includes supernatural themes, and some people think Heathcliff might be a demon or a soul from hell. He is first described as having dark skin, black eyes, and later as pale with a look of deep anger. Mr. Linton, a neighbor, guesses Heathcliff might be a foreigner, such as a Lascar, an American, or a Spanish castaway. His long, dark hair is compared to a horse’s mane covering his eyes.

At first, Heathcliff was a quiet and lonely child. He was disliked by Catherine Earnshaw and her brother, Hindley. Catherine later became close to Heathcliff, but Hindley continued to hate him, believing Heathcliff had taken his father’s attention. After Mr. Earnshaw died, Hindley treated Heathcliff poorly, making him work in the fields. This made Heathcliff angry and resentful. Catherine remained close to Heathcliff during her childhood.

As Catherine grew older, she became friends with Edgar Linton, a kind and well-mannered young man from a nearby estate called Thrushcross Grange. She agreed to marry Edgar but said her true love was Heathcliff. She refused to marry Heathcliff because she believed it would lower her social standing. She once said, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” and famously declared, “I am Heathcliff.” When Heathcliff heard Catherine say she would not marry him, he left Wuthering Heights and disappeared for three years, during which he earned a fortune.

When Heathcliff returned, Nelly Dean, a servant, described him as lazy but with a confident posture, suggesting he might have been in the army. No details are given about where he went or how he made his money. He returned with a strong desire for revenge against those who had wronged him, making him an anti-hero rather than a hero. He tricked Hindley, who had become an alcoholic and gambler, into losing his family’s estate. He also married Edgar’s sister, Isabella, and treated her cruelly. He promised that any son from his marriage to Isabella would inherit Thrushcross Grange after Edgar’s death.

After Catherine died, Heathcliff’s cruelty grew. He forced her sickly son, Linton, to marry Catherine Linton, Edgar’s daughter, to take control of her inheritance. Linton died shortly after the marriage, leaving Heathcliff in control of Catherine’s property. Heathcliff treated Catherine Linton kindly but made her distant and cold. Over time, Hareton, Hindley’s son, and Catherine Linton fell in love, breaking the cycle of hatred at Wuthering Heights. Hareton, who looked like Catherine Earnshaw, made Heathcliff uneasy, and Brontë suggests Heathcliff secretly cared for him.

Heathcliff died as a broken, tormented man, wanting to be buried next to Catherine’s ghost. Nelly Dean found his body and said he had stopped eating, possibly due to illness rather than suicide. He wanted to be with Catherine forever. It is implied that Catherine’s ghost visited Heathcliff, taking him to the afterlife, which was his lifelong wish.

In his final days, Heathcliff tried to write a will to ensure his revenge, but he was interrupted by visions of Catherine. He died without a will, leaving Hareton and Catherine Linton to inherit the estates. At the end of the novel, a servant boy says he saw Heathcliff and Catherine’s ghosts walking together on the moors, but Nelly and Lockwood believe their souls are at peace. The novel ends with Lockwood wondering how anyone could imagine unrest for those buried in the quiet earth.

Charlotte Brontë, Emily’s older sister, wrote that Heathcliff never changed his path toward destruction. However, a book called A Companion to the Brontës suggests Charlotte may have misunderstood Emily’s story to make it more acceptable to society. The novel’s ending, with Heathcliff’s uncertain fate and the mystery of his soul, leaves readers with a haunting, unforgettable image of an iconic anti-hero.

Ethnicity

Heathcliff's ethnicity is not clearly stated in the novel. His origins are unclear, but scholars have studied his identity over time. In Wuthering Heights and the Liverpool Slave Trade, Maja-Lisa von Sneidern says that Heathcliff's "racial otherness cannot be a matter of dispute." Characters in the story often guess about his background. When Lockwood first meets Heathcliff, he describes him 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 expresses a wish to have "light hair and a fair skin" and "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 terms and ideas connected to Romani people. This term is used by many characters (Lockwood, Nelly Dean, Hindley Earnshaw, Mrs. Linton, Joseph, and Edgar Linton), making it the most common way to describe his background in the novel. In Chapter VI, when young Isabella Linton sees him for the first time, 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 may be of African descent. In 1769, the year Mr. Earnshaw found Heathcliff in Liverpool, the city was England’s largest slave-trading port, handling about 70 to 85 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 for its slave trade, not as a place where a gentleman farmer like Mr. Earnshaw would have business. Heathcliff's having only one name has also been linked to slavery.

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

Some also suggest that Mr. Earnshaw did not go to Liverpool but instead picked up Heathcliff from a Romani camp near Wuthering Heights. This theory is based on the impracticality of walking to Liverpool, the possibility that a fiddle and a whip could be found in a Romani camp, and the chance that Earnshaw had professional or personal ties to 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 symbolically as a representation of Irish people.

Depictions

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

Indian actor Dilip Kumar portrayed Heathcliff in three films based on the novel Arzoo (1950), Hulchul (1951), and Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966).

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

In 1992, Ralph Fiennes portrayed Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. This was the second film adaptation to include Hareton and Cathy in the story. The first attempt was in a 1920 silent film, which is now believed to be lost. ITV’s 1998 TV drama, which featured 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. The music was written by John Farrar, and the lyrics were written by Sir Tim Rice. Cliff Richard also released a movie version of Heathcliff in 1997. The movie was so successful that he later brought it to the Birmingham stage in 1998.

In 2009, Masterpiece Theatre produced a two-part TV series of Wuthering Heights starring Tom Hardy as Heathcliff. In this version, the second-generation 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 featuring James Howson as Heathcliff.

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

In popular culture

" Wuthering Heights ", a song from Kate Bush's 1978 debut album The Kick Inside, is narrated by a ghost named Catherine Earnshaw who visits an older Heathcliff.

In her song " David Duchovny ", Bree Sharp describes David Duchovny as "American Heathcliff, thoughtful and handsome."

In July 2008, the British Prime Minister at the time, Gordon Brown, compared himself to Heathcliff, saying, "Maybe an older Heathcliff, a wiser Heathcliff." This comparison was criticized by some. For example, Andrew McCarthy, who was acting director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, stated that "Heathcliff is a man often involved in domestic violence, kidnapping, possible murder, and digging up his dead lover. He is irritable 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, titled "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 characters players can choose, called "Sinners." His story (Canto VI) and its characters are mostly based on and inspired by the novel.