Bronte, the author of Wuthering Heights, expresses many themes and morals in his book. The most important theme of Wuthering Heights is the theme of love and cruelty. The main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff, show these actions over and over again. They arise because of each other, much like yin and yang. Love leads to cruelty and cruelty leads to love. In Wuthering Heights, there are two different types of love: platonic and passionate. Both types of love lead to cruelty towards other characters. As Heathcliff boldly states in the novel's opening chapters, the cruelty of love survives even beyond death. “Cathy, come on. Oh yes – again! Oh! My heart is cherished; This time, listen to me, Catherine, finally! (28) Platonic love, as it appears between Edgar and Isabella, leads in itself to sufficient cruelty. However, we first see this kind of cruel love between Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley, Catherine and Heathcliff in the Earnshaw household. To better understand the intense rivalry between members of the Earnshaw family, it is best to know that Mr. Earnshaw took Heathcliff in after finding him lost while returning home from a trip. Nelly, the housekeeper at the time, described her discovery as follows: “…it was the story of her vision of the starving and homeless, and almost stupid man in the streets of Liverpool.” (36) Mr. Earnshaw then recognizes, over time, that there is much more promise for Heathcliff than for his son, Hindley. Afterwards, he begins to treat Heathcliff with more love and attention than his own two children. “He took Heathcliff strangely, believing everything he said…and caressing him high above Cathy.” (37-38). This favoritism leads Hindley and Catherine to be physically violent towards Heathcliff, even more... middle of paper ... Heathcliff knew this would be the case. Even on Catherine's deathbed, there is a constant back and forth (in an almost literal sense) of cruelty taking place between the two of them. Between the crying, the frustration, and the constant apologies, comes the brutal cruelty of Catherine's words to Heathcliff. "I won't pity you, not me. You killed me – and you prospered because of it, I think." (164) It is only towards the end of the book that Catherine's curse of cruelty truly ends. Cathy Linton-Heathcliff marries Hareton Earnshaw to end a long chain of tragedies spanning three generations. There are many events in Wuthering Heights that cause love to lead to cruelty and vice versa. There is a platonic love between Edgar and Isabelle; while there is a more passionate hateful love between Catherine and Heathcliff. These four characters die in tragic ways – the only true way to end the circle.