Galdeen 1

Evan Galdeen

English 503

Dr. Cothran

4/24/2018

Evil is Environmental

A long time ago on a moor far, far away…. No, that’s not right.

Despite differences in the period they were written, the medium they were written for, the

gender of the author and an endless further list, there are some core similarities between the

characters of Charlotte Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and George Lucas’ [and Disney’s] Star Wars

films. Specifically, the element of family legacy has a huge role in both stories, with Ben

Solo/Kylo Ren dealing with the legacy of his grandfather in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and

with Linton Heathcliff dealing with his father’s legacy in Wuthering Heights. In this essay, I will

specifically be looking at the evil deeds of Anakin and Heathcliff and the effect of that legacy on

Ben and Linton. The crux of my argument will be that these men are not inherently evil but are

made so by the influences of their environment.

Both Anakin Skywalker and Heathcliff were brought into a hostile environment at a

young age. In the case of Anakin, we witness his discovery by Qui-Gon Jinn, the race for his

freedom and his audition to the Jedi Council in The Phantom Menace. He is rejected by Mace

Windu and the other Jedi, just as Heathcliff is rejected by his new siblings and Nellie, who refers

to him as “it” (Bronte 29-30). Anakin is only reluctantly accepted by the Jedi because of Qui-

Gon’s dying wish (Lucas, TPM). In the extended Star Wars canon, we see that Anakin is rejected

not only by Jedi Masters such as Mace Windu, but by his fellow students, who refer to him as a

“slave to his emotions” (Soule Issue 1,14). It is implied that they are unaware of Anakin’s
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history, as when he lashes out at their use of this word, they are shocked. The major difference

between Anakin and Heathcliff is that Heathcliff doesn’t have a Palpatine. He’s abused by his

siblings and the staff, but he has no kindly uncle figure to look to for advice. Anakin is

manipulated into turning to the Dark Side by Palpatine, whereas Heathcliff is pushed into his

abusive lifestyle by his abusers. There is also a key difference in that while the Jedi don’t always

treat Anakin well, they do feed and clothe him well, and do not refer to him as “it.” They also

don’t offer him the help he needs due their strict code. There are no parameters for special

education in the Jedi Order, apparently. In an article for Psychiatry Research, Eric Bui poses the

idea that Anakin Skywalker suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. Bui writes:

“A psychodynamically orientated exploration of his [Anakin’s] life history would

emphasize elements associated with borderline personality: the absence of Anakin's

father and his early separation from his mother (Bandelow et al., 2005) and the use of

defense mechanisms such as splitting, projection, and infantile illusions of omnipotence

(Gabbard, 1994). Further elements are to be found in the young Anakin's difficulties in

emotional and impulse regulation, and dysfunctional experiences of self and others.

Reference to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth

edition (DSM-IV), reveals that the character fulfilled six of the nine borderline

personality disorder (BPD) criteria. He presented impulsivity and difficulty controlling

his anger and alternated between idealisation and devaluation (of his Jedi mentors).

Permanently afraid of losing his wife, he made frantic efforts to avoid her abandonment

and went as far as betraying his former Jedi companions. He also experienced two

dissociative episodes secondary to stressful events. One occurred after his mother's death,

when he exterminated a whole tribe of Tusken people, while the other one took place just
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after he turned to the dark side. He slaughtered all the Jedi younglings before voicing

paranoid thoughts concerning his former mentor and his wife. Finally, the films depicted

his quest to find himself, and his uncertainties about who he was. Turning to the dark side

and changing his name could be interpreted as a sign of identity disturbance” (Bui).

At least some of these issues can be applied to Heathcliff as well. He too was separated from his

birth parents, though the circumstances behind this are unknown. He too, has episodes of abuse.

Unlike Anakin, Heathcliff never changes his name, nor does he go back to wherever he came

from to try and discover his heritage. He doesn’t even slaughter large groups of people like

Anakin does.

Palpatine is comparable to Joseph, the old religious zealot. Mace Windu could probably

fit into the same box on the other side of the light/dark barrier as well. In

Wuthering Heights: Character Studies, Melissa Fegan writes the following on Joseph:

“Joseph possesses extraordinary resilience. Already a ’surly old man’ (p. 22) in Catherine

Earnshaw’s childhood, he seems to Lockwood ‘an elderly, nay, an old man, very old,

perhaps, though hale and sinewy’ (p. 4). He exerts a strange power over the masters of

the Heights, escaping the vengeance of those he has worked against. Through ‘his knack

of sermonizing and pious discourse’ he gains influence over Mr. Earnshaw, increasing his

tendency to persecute his children: ‘[Joseph] was relentless in worrying him about his

soul’s concerns, and about ruling his children rigidly’ (p. 42). Despite the fact that he has

widened the divide between father and son by criticizing the ‘reprobate’ Hindley, Joseph

retains his place at the Heights when Hindley becomes master, and when Hindley

becomes tyrannical, stays on not from loyalty but ‘to hector over tenants and labourers;
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and because it was his vocation to be where he had plenty of wickedness to reprove’ (p.

66)” (Fegan 46).

Like Joseph, Palpatine gains influence over Anakin and manipulates him to the point of his

enacting dark deeds.

In the book Character Studies, Fegan dedicates a chapter to Heathcliff and Catherine,

who plays a not entirely dissimilar role to that of Padmé Amidala. Fegan states “…the lovers

cling to each other- for the first and last time- in the hours before Catherine’s death, and the

haunting of Heathcliff through the next 20 years until his own death…” (Fegan 70). This sounds

familiar. In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin and Padmé are reunited on Mustafar shortly before his

immolation and her death. When he awakes, encased in the Vader armor, Anakin’s first thought

is of Padmé, “is she safe, is she alright.” Palpatine replies, “It seems, in your anger, you killed

her” (Lucas, RotS). To Vader, Padmé is dead, she’s taken his child with her and Anakin has

nothing more to live for in the light. He is Vader, now and forever, or at least until Return of the

Jedi. There is even a comparison to be made between Padmé and Catherine, as both die in

childbirth- though in the case of Wuthering Heights, she is not bearing Heathcliff’s child: “About

twelve o’clock that night was born the Catherine you saw at Wuthering Heights, a puny seven

months’ child; and two hours after, the mother died, having never recovered sufficient

consciousness, to miss Heathcliff, or to know Edgar” (Bronte 128).

Even the romances have similarities in their illicit nature- though Padmé isn’t cheating

on anyone by being with Anakin, the Jedi Order does not allow relationships so intimate as

marriage. The nature of Padmé and Catherine’s deaths are also quite different, though this is

based purely on the fact that had Catherine been lying on an asteroid in the galaxy far, far away,
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she may have been able to be saved. In Padmé’s case, she lost her will to live without Anakin,

assuring Obi-Wan that there was good in him before passing on into the void (Lucas, RotS).

In terms of redemptive qualities, Anakin certainly has more than Heathcliff, as he

redeemed himself at the end of his life. For Heathcliff, there was no such act of sacrifice for his

son. In his case there is no Palpatine to throw down the shaft, as most of his tormentors are dead.

Analyzing Kylo Ren is exponentially more difficult than analyzing Anakin. At this point,

we have three movies dedicated to Anakin’s fall, an entire TV show depicting him as a hero, and

three movies of him as a villain coming back to the light. For Ben Solo, we have two movies and

one book in which he features prominently. As a toddler. Everything between age 2 and 23 is a

mystery as far as his life goes. We don’t really know when Snoke comes into his life, when

exactly he leaves for Luke’s Jedi Academy, what his relationship with Luke was during that

time, or even how he felt about his parents as he got older. The aforementioned novel with him

as a toddler, Last Shot, doesn’t feature his point of view, only his father’s.1 That being said, the

insight into Han’s feelings on fatherhood are interesting:

“Two years in and no matter what, nothing he did was right. He brought Ben a play

blaster from Burundang2 and he was encouraging his violent side; took it away and the

boy wouldn’t stop crying. He tried to replace it with a build-a-space-center set and there

were too many small pieces Ben could choke on” (Older 37).

Later in the book, we get this:

“Ben’s little head appeared in the holo, and his eyes went wide.

“Dada!”

1
I just started reading this book yesterday and I don’t have the time or the desire to speed-read it, so I don’t know if
we get baby Ben POV later, but I’ve browsed Twitter conversations on the book and it seems like it’s all from Han
and Lando’s perspectives.
2
I’m guessing this is a new planet. Even Wookieepedia doesn’t know for sure.
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Han stepped back, and an unstoppable smile burst across his face.

“Hey Kiddo! You all right?”

Ben nodded then opened a toothy grin of his own. “Unca Wanwo!”

“Hey, little starfighter,” Lando said.

“All right,” Leia said. “I’ll let you guys go. Be safe out there.” She blew Han a kiss and

waved at the other two. “Say bye, Ben.”

“Come back, Dada,” Ben said, articulating each word carefully.”

“Soon, son, I promise,” Han said. “As soon as--…” (Older 205).

This is further evidence that Ben was telling the truth in the Last Jedi when Rey asked

him why he hated Han and he replies that he did not. He didn’t have much of a choice but to kill

Han, at least from his point of view, and we all know how important those are in Star Wars.

Unlike Ben Solo, Linton Heathcliff was not conceived in love, nor did he have any

element of positivity in his upbringing. In Character Studies, Fegan writes the following:

“Linton Heathcliff is an abomination, a child conceived and born in hate. Nelly compares

him to a ‘cockatrice’ (p. 275), a mythic animal with a cock’s head and a serpent’s tail,

highlighting the unnatural splicing of Linton and Heathcliff traits in his creation. His very

name is an oxymoron, a reminder of the utter incompatibility of Linton and Heathcliff

genes (Miller, p. 57). Linton is an embodiment of the worst aspects of his parents. He is

from the outset ‘an ailing, peevish creature’ (p. 183); none of the Lintons are noted for

their physical strength (even Catherine is ‘puny’ when she is an infant), but Linton takes

this to extremes. Even taking his illness into account, he is decadently languorous…”

(Fegan 98).
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In the case of Linton, his evil is less environmental and more genetic, however, had social

services existed in the 19th century, he probably would have been removed from his awful

parents and taken to the Kents in Kansas, or some other kindly couple. Like his father, Linton

was abused, just as Ben Solo was abused, not by his parents or his uncle, but by Snoke. This

abuse is implied in both the Force Awakens and to a much greater extent the Last Jedi. As

mentioned earlier, we don’t know much about the actual temptation of Ben Solo. What we do

know is that Snoke preyed on him for years, as early as the womb, according to Chuck Wendig’s

Aftermath: Empire’s End.

In Character Studies, Fegan notes that “Linton is terrified of his father but wishes to

emulate his power and aggression” (Fegan 100). Again, the details regarding Ben’s relationship

to Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader are hazy, but we know from the Force Awakens that he

definitely wants to emulate Vader’s power and aggression and ignore the fact that he was good at

the end. In the Force Awakens novelization, this is addressed, with Kylo regarding Anakin’s last-

minute turn as “sentiment” (Foster 157). Snoke, too, is a figure that Kylo attempts to emulate, as

seen in his abuse of Rey in the Force Awakens, something that Snoke utilizes to a much greater

degree in the Last Jedi. Eventually, though, Ben Solo turns on his abuser. Snoke’s last words

indicate that, like Palpatine, his overconfidence is his weakness (Kasdan, RotJ): “Yes. I see him

turning the lightsaber to strike true. And now, foolish child, he ignites it, and kills his true

enemy!” (Johnson).

Despite the defeat of his abuser, Ben Solo does not do as Rey pleads. Instead, he takes the

power for himself, as Snoke would likely have groomed him to do. Even in death, the predator

still won, for now, anyway. Kylo Ren ascends to the role of Supreme Leader and the new

rebellion is on the run.

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Turning attention briefly to Rey, the scavenger serves as a Cathy to Ben’s Linton, even if

her circumstances are even further from Cathy’s than Ben’s are from Linton’s. Actually, she

almost has an “Luke, I am Kylo” moment after their Force-skyping sessions, when she sees good

in Kylo and tries to get Luke to see it too. Like Nelly, Luke is skeptical (Bronte Chapter IX,

Johnson, TLJ).

Unlike Ben Solo, we know how Linton ends up: dead. He didn’t get the girl, and he’s

dead. Until Episode IX, we won’t know exactly how the story of Rey and Ben Solo will end. If I

may indulge some speculation, I would guess that they’ll have a happier ending than pretty much

any of the characters in Wuthering Heights, as most Star Wars characters get a happy ending. Of

course, I could be wrong, and they could all end up dead like nearly everyone in the prequels, but

as Episode IX is toted as a “finale” for the Skywalker saga, I imagine there will be an Endor

Celebration-esque ending for these new characters. In the article Kylo Ren Made an Important

Choice in “The Last Jedi.” Here’s What It Means for the Next Star Wars movie,” Megan

McCluskey points out that

“With Luke (presumably) dead, it’s unclear what Kylo’s main objective will be in Star Wars:

Episode IX. But as the new Supreme Leader, it seems that he will take on the role of the main

villain in the final installment of the sequel trilogy.

Leia, Kylo’s mom will not play a part in the events of Episode IX due to Carrie Fisher’s death.

This means Rey is likely the only one who could bring him back to the Light. But with her Jedi

training still incomplete—and the pull of the Dark Side stronger than ever—that’s no easy feat”

(McCluskey).
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What McCluskey does not consider is the major threat that General Hux poses to

Supreme Leader Solo’s reign. Tarkin Junior is not going to stand idly by and take orders from a

man he has little to no respect for very long.

Anakin and Heathcliff. Ben and Linton. Catherine and Padmé. Cathy and Rey. Though

all of these characters have major differences, they also have major similarities, especially the

men. Each of them was turned from a good path by environmental influences, even Linton, who

could not control the circumstances of his birth. The major difference is, of course, a

manipulative force that influenced both Anakin Skywalker and his grandfather’s change in

addition to bad experiences, whereas Heathcliff and his son were both twisted by their

experiences.
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Works Cited

Abrams, JJ, director. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm, 2015.

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Edited by Richard J. Dunn, W.W. Norton, 2003.

Bui, Eric, et al. "Is Anakin Skywalker Suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder?" Psychiatry

Research, vol. 185, no. 1/2, 30 Jan. 2011, p. 299. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2009.03.031.

Fegan, Melissa. Wuthering Heights: Character Studies, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2008. ProQuest

eBook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/winthrop/detail.action?docID=711038.

Foster, Alan Dean. Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Del Rey, 2016.

Johnson, Rian, director. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Lucasfilm, 2017.

Kasdan, Lawrence, and George Lucas. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Twentieth Century-

Fox Film Corporation, 1983.

Lucas, George, et al. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. 20th Century Fox, 1999.

Lucas, George, et al. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. 20th Century Fox, 2005.

Older, Daniel José. Star Wars Last Shot. Del Rey, 2018.

Soule, Charles, et al. Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin. Marvel Comics, 2016.
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Works Consulted

“Lord Byron Byronic Hero.” UKEssays, 19 July 2017, www.ukessays.com/essays/english-

literature/the-influence-of-lord-byrons-byronic-hero-english-literature-essay.php.

“Timeline.” The Timeline of Wuthering Heights, www.wuthering-heights.co.uk/wh/timeline.php.

Brîndaş, Ecaterina Oana. "The Literary Icon of the Byronic Hero and Its Reincarnation in Emily

Brontë's Wuthering Heights." Journal of Humanistic & Social Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2014,

pp. 25-34. EBSCOhost,

winthropuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&

db=a9h&AN=97254108.

Ladyluno. “Kylo Ren as the Byronic Hero.” Pretty Things, Tumblr.com, 14 Aug. 2016,

ladyluno.tumblr.com/post/148935285290/kylo-ren-as-the-byronic-hero.

Lucas, George, et al. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. 20th Century Fox, 2002.

McCluskey, Megan. "Kylo Ren Made an Important Choice in the Last Jedi. Here's What It Means for

the Next Star Wars Movie." Time.Com, 15 Dec. 2017, p. 50. EBSCOhost,

winthropuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&

db=a9h&AN=126795293.

Wootton, Sarah. "The Changing Faces of the Byronic Hero in Middlemarch and North and

South." Romanticism, vol. 14, no. 1, May 2008, pp. 25-35. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.3366/E1354991X0800007X.