He struggled long to keep up an equality with Catherine in her studies and yielded with poignant though silent regret: but, he yielded completely; and there was no prevailing on him to take a step in the way of moving upward, when he found he must necessarily sink beneath his former level. Then personal appearance sympathized with mental deterioration; he acquired a slouching gait, and ignoble look; his naturally reserved disposition was exaggerated into an almost idiotic excess of social moroseness; and he took a grim pleasure, apparently, in exciting the aversion rather than the esteem of his few acquaintances (60).

 What’s the point of view?  What does the comment say about the speaker?  How is Heathcliff interpreted by the speaker?  How does this add to the complexity of the characterization of Heathcliff?  Are there any contradictions or tensions in the passage?  Why is this passage so important?

 Theses  The passage is about Heathcliff.  The passage is from the point of view of Nelly Dean.  The passage comes early in the novel.  The passage is important because it establishes the birth of Heathcliff’s adult consciousness and gives insight into his perverse and brutal nature.

 Topic sentences  Heathcliff begins to slouch.  Heathcliff struggles to maintain a sort of equality with Catherine.  The passage provides an explanation for Heathcliff’s brutal nature. It seems to derive from his sense of inferiority as a young man and is a sort of compensation for what he lacks.  In the passage, Bronte emphasizes the fundamental perversity of the young Heathcliff’s behavior. He takes pride in his very brutishness.

THE world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; 10 So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

 At one point in the poem, nature is represented in a erotic way. The speaker says, …. The image also implies a kind of unity, a bringing together of two different forms of nature into an undifferentiated oneness.  There is a big shift in line …., which reflects the fact that this is a Petrarchan sonnet.