Heathcliff: Ambiguity and Ambivalence

We started the lesson with a 3 2 1 exercise (3 statements about Heathcliff, 2 questions, and one analogy.) Here are mine:
3: - Heathcliff is a Byronic hero
- He is linked to Satan, bordering on a personification
- He is represented by the moors

2: - What makes Heathcliff into a hero?
- Why is Heathcliff such a devilish character?

1: -Heathcliff is like a hurricane a hurricane, he leaves destruction where he goes, but there are still those who chase after him.

We then read an article called Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know, by A-level student, Bethany Sims. The article focused on the links between Heathcliff, Victor Frankenstein and Byron. find it here.

The article's main point was that both Frankenstein and Heathcliff are Byronic heroes, and it drew inspiration from Byron's life to reinforce this point. the idea that byronic heroes are 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' is something that Mr Sadgrove advises us to remember. But it seems that this idea has turned Byron into a character type, rather than an individual person with a reputation.

Byronic hero: An anti-hero who is a romanticized but wicked character. Conventionally, the figure is a young and attractive male with a bad reputation. He defies authority and conventional morality, and becomes paradoxically ennobled by his peculiar rejection of virtue. In this sense, Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost may be considered sympathetically as an antihero, as are many of Lord Byron's protagonists (hence the name). From American pop culture, the icon of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause is a good example. Other literary examples are Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights and the demonic Melmoth in Melmoth the Wanderer. Byronic heroes are associated with destructive passions, sometimes selfish brooding or indulgence in personal pains, alienation from their communities, persistent loneliness, intense introspection, and fiery rebellion.

After reading the article, we worked together as a class to find points from the article:
Heathcliff and Byron are:
-Remote, unknowable, and criminally notorious.
-their masculinity makes them seductive, making women to them like 'moths to a flame'
-They are enigmatic, monumental and impressive.
-They both have a promise of 'dangerous pleasure'

We then worked on different critical interpretations of Heathcliff:

-Heathcliff as a social outcast and misfit
-Heathcliff as a fairytale creation
-Heathcliff as a demon, an inhuman monster

After this, we worked as a class to plan an essay:

What contribution does Heathcliff make to our reading of Wuthering Heights as a gothic novel?

We started with a thesis statement. this statement should remain apparent through each paragraph of any essay. for this essay, the thesis statement was:

Ambivalent character- uncertainty and ambiguity surround him like the gothic.

The homework is to plan and write this essay: which, I think is due the monday after half-term.