When Heathcliff's guardian, Mr. Earnshaw, dies, his son inherits the estate. When his happens, Heathcliff loses the favor he's had at the estate. He is no longer seen as an equal and instead he is treated as a lesser being because Hindey is enacting his jealousy from his childhood. Because of this, when Heathcliff takes over Wuthering Heights, he wishes to enact the same thing on Hareton. He wants him to feel the same pain that Heathcliff felt as a young man when Hindley treated him wrongly.