According to George Simon, a disturbed character is someone who thinks "primarily about themselves and what they want at that moment. They do not bother to think about eventual consequences." Their disturbed mind is usually caused by "emotional and mental problems" often beginning in childhood. Emily Bronte's novel addresses the effects of isolation, abandonment and abuse in leading to violence, sadism and obsession. She also displays an interesting parallel between how the external environment influences the internal mind as shown through the isolated character of Heathcliff. Carter takes this idea further as her characters live in remote locations but are more than just unsettled; they are severely deranged. This essay will explore how the two authors have created and portrayed their disturbed characters.
One of the ways characters are presented as disturbed, is through their violence. In 'Wuthering Heights', Emily Bronte uses repetition, alliteration and onomatopoeia to emphasise the maliciousness of Heathcliff's violent threats to Isabella. He exclaims: "I have no pity! I have no pity! The more the worms writhe the more I yearn to crush out their entrails." The use of repetition allows the reader to envisage Heathcliff as enraged and out of control. The way Heathcliff treats Isabella seems gratuitously cruel to a modern day audience, but in the 1800s, due to the prevalent patriarchal society, it was not uncommon for men to exert their dominance over their wives through beatings. This makes Heathcliff's treatment of Isabella less shocking to a Victorian audience, although, the extent of Heathcliff's viciousness towards Isabella, Hareton and even his own son Linton, is unnecessarily brutal. Heathcliff's love for Catherine is fanatical to the point of insanity as he is even jealous of the worms decaying her corpse. Through the use of alliteration of "worms writhe" and onomatopoeia of the word "crush", the reader pictures Heathcliff aggressively spitting out these hysterical words in disgust.