Hindley, since his introduction in the beginning of the novel has been portrayed as an aggressive character. His presence with other characters can become a threat, and since his first meeting with Heathcliff, he demonstrated the lengths of his aggressiveness. "[Heathcliff] seemed a sullen, patient child, hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment; he would stand Hindley's blows without winking or shedding a tear" (page 42). While Hindley starts out in the novel as a sort of bully, his actions become heightened with the death of his father, and with the passing of his wife after bearing their child, Hareton. After the death of his wife, Hindley becomes an ever more abusive and sinister character when he falls deeper into depression and relies heavily on the use of alcohol to cope with his loss. The reader gets to see "[Hindley] [grow] desperate: his sorrow was of that kind that will not lament. He neither wept nor prayed; he cursed and defied, execrated God and man, and gave himself up to reckless dissipation" (page 68). Hindley becomes excessively abusive toward the servants of Wuthering Heights (particularly Heathcliff), and falls deeper into his pit of despair. One of the final moments of the reading thus far reveals yet another evil side of Hindley: an abusive father. After returning home in a drunken rage, Nelly, a servant of Wuthering Heights and the prominent caretaker for Hareton, attempts to hide him from Hindley in an effort to save the child from the wrath of his father. "[Nelly] had hit upon the plan of removing [the gun], that [Hindley] might do less mischief if he did go the length of firing the gun." (page 75). Over the course of the first nine chapters, we see Hindley take a turn for the worse as he falls deeper into the clutches of abuse and alcoholism, hiding from the real issues at hand: his jealousy of his father's preference for Heathcliff, and his insecurity as a father.