Heathcliff... A horrible man??

The first time we meet Heathcliff he is a cruel man, he treats others with disrespect and annoyance. Yet as we look into his past we get a chance to see that maybe he is not such a horrible man underneath his rough exterior. He was orphaned as a child and the family that he lived with treated him like a servant. He never had any real family until Catherine, and even then she rejected him for a life of luxury and money. I think Heathcliff is only reacting to his upbringing, he wasn't treated well as a child so he knows no other way.