Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte'

Heathcliff as a realistic character or more of a symbolic representation.

Heathcliff is an enigmatic character and over 150 years he has been the centre of much debates and dissertation, however, none has come forward with a complete satisfactory explanation of his representation as a persona. This inadequacy though does not mar his immortality but strengthen his position for many interpretation and perspectives.
Is Heathcliff a character with sinister overtones or a symbolic representation? The answer is both.
Without Heathcliff we cannot think of Wuthering Heights more because he is the life and the centre of all that happen there and in the lives of the characters involved. But given his disposition and deeds he more of a character than a vehicle, unreal and non-human, who on the surface bears a form that is seemingly impossible on the reality scale of everyday life and thus he is more of a symbolic representation of the elements that is essentially evil.
In the words of G.K. Chesterton, ‘Heathcliff fails as a man as catastrophically as he succeeds as a demon.’ So in a way his characterization takes the path of being labelled as a Satanic Hero bearing shades of Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost.
Heathcliff finds being addressed in a variety of ways by the other characters, mostly derogatory attributing him to being uncivilized and socially unacceptable at one hand while censoring him from the point of view of Christian faith on the other.
The very basis of Christian prejudice stems from the mythography of Beast and fiend, of the Devil and Judas. His christening in fact gives a premonition of the character he is destined to be. The name Heathcliff evokes ‘heath’ meaning barren and desolate that has something uncannily sinister about it; and the word ‘heathen’, which means primitive and pagan. It is interesting to note that both his name and surname is Heathcliff, which re-enforces the idea of pagan savagery.
He is dark-coloured, which raises the question of his parentage and nationality. He can well be contrasted to the white supremacy of colonial expansion and oppression; some sort of a rebel who by dint of unrelenting bitterness and mysterious powers is out to wreck the colonialists. He brings s to mind another dark character: Othello who is as obsessive as revengeful only because he thinks he is being deceived; and so is Heathcliff who was really wronged and betrayed.
There are others who portray him as a Byronic hero or a romantic rebel who is endearing, constantly brooding and on the path of self destruction lacking masochism of a typical Byronic hero but full of sadistic overtones.
On a deeper level Heathcliff remains the child Mr. Earnshaw brought in. He is traumatised, neglected, frustrated in love and betrayed on account of being a social pariah, thus his fight reaction takes him on the brink of self destruction as he goes on disrupting the lives of all who were connected to him. The more he succeeds the more perverse he becomes.
Heathcliff is thus a sort of ‘demolition man’ against the Victorian society rife with economic disparity and class conflict.