Abstract: Wuthering Heights, the masterpiece of Emily Bronte, has attracted uncountable readers for its profound implication. The love story of Heathcliff and Catherine is the essence of Wuthering Heights, and is regarded as “the riddle of the riddles”. After scrutinizing this novel, the author of this paper tries to interpret the causes that lead to Heathcliff’s psychopathy. It points out that though social environments, class discrimination, miserable experiences, being maltreated and being betrayed by the lover might result in his misfortune, his own weakness and his extreme character are responsible for his ruin. Therefore, Heathcliff’s psychopathy is consequent upon the external and internal causes.
Key words: Wuthering Heights; Heathcliff; psychopathy
摘要：《呼啸山庄》,艾米莉.勃朗特的代表作，因它深刻无悔的爱情故事吸引了无数的读者。希斯克利夫与凯瑟琳的爱情故事是本书的精髓并被誉为是“谜团中的谜团”。经过细读，本文试图分析导致希斯克利夫病态人格的原因。本文指出，尽管社会环境，阶级歧视，悲惨的成长经历和被爱人所背叛可能导致他的不幸，但他人性的毁灭则归咎于其自身性格的缺陷和极端的性格。因此，希斯克利夫病态人格的形成是内因和外因共同作用的结果。
关键词：《呼啸山庄》；希斯克利夫；病态人格
Emily Bronte，by depicting a distorted Heathicliff, shows the readers the sharp conflicts between love and hatred in Wuthering Heights. The causes of Heathcliff’s distorted character are complicated. Being deserted and maltreated, young Heathcliff buries in his heart the seeds of hatred. Though Catherine’s care once brings him temporary happiness, her ultimate betrayal turns him into a monster. However, the above are just external causes. What really destroy him are the weaknesses in his own character. As an orphan, Heathcliff does not know how to love others. His feelings towards Catherine are selfish. He only wants to possess her, not considering what she needs. His selfishness makes him forget the loving-kindness of his surrogate father. He becomes a fury and tries every possible way to take his revenge. His extreme character not only ruins his future, but the happiness of his own child. In a sense, Heathcliff’s tragedy reflects the social reality of the Victorian England --- the inequality of bourgeois society. It is the reality of the unfortunate marital tradition and practice with the class discrimination in such a turbulent society that leads to the distortion of human nature. Therefore, Wuthering Heights is not only the tragedy of Heathicliff, but also the tragedy of the whole society, and the tragedy of that era.
