Does Heathcliff come across as a realistic character or he is merely symbolic in Wuthering Heights ?Pl. ans in detail

You will probably get many opinions on this. I used to
believe that Heathcliff was not a realistic character. I used to believe he was symbolic
of the themes of evil, passion, obsession, revenge, violence and cruelty that are
remarkable in this novel. I did not believe that a person like Heathcliff could exist.
No one could be that twisted and tormented, no matter how dysfunctional one's early life
had been. As I have gotten older, I have changed my mind about Heathcliff because I have
personally encountered such tortured individuals, and I have read about them in
literature and seen accounts of them in the newspapers. Plus, I have personally
witnessed how abandonment in childhood can have such disasterous effects on a person's
adult life.

Heathcliff is a mysterious, wild and
unkempt orphan that Mr. Earnshaw finds wandering on the streets in Liverpool and brings
him home to raise with his own two children, Catherine and Hindley. Mr. Earnshaw favors
Heathcliff over his own son, Hindley, so Hindley tortures Heathcliff -- both when they
are children and as an adult. The fact that Heathcliff has been abandoned by his parents
affects him profoundly in his life. The mistreatment by Hindley affects him profoundly
in his life. His rejection by Catherine, whom he believes is part of him (his soul)
affects him profoundly in his life. Is it any wonder that he grows up to be a vengeful,
tortured man? He never receives Catherine's nurturing, redeeming love, so he is not
changed by love like some other characters in literature. If Heathcliff were living
today, we would be reading about him in the news. He might be an evil spouse abuser that
feels his life is out of control, so he tries to control others. He might be a serial
killer. He might be a rapist. You may think that this is extrapolating a lot from the
story, but I think it is very possible to do so much damage to a person's psyche as a
young person that someone could grow up to be a
Heathcliff.

I will be interested to see what other teachers
say.