WUTHERING HEIGHTS
EMILY BRONTE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Brontë was born on July 30, 1818, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë is best remembered for her 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights. She was not the only creative talent in her family—her sisters Charlotte and Anne enjoyed some literary success as well. Her father had published several works during his lifetime, too.
Emily was the fifth child of Reverend Patrick Brontë and his wife, Maria Branwell Brontë. The family moved to Haworth in April 1821. Only a few months later, Brontë’s mother died of cancer; her death came nearly nine months after the birth of her sister, Anne. Her mother’s sister, Elizabeth Branwell, came to live with the family to help care for the children.
At the age of 6, Emily was sent to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge with Charlotte and her two oldest sisters, Elizabeth and Maria. Both Elizabeth and Maria became seriously ill at school and returned home, where they died of tuberculosis in 1825. Brontë’s father removed both Emily and Charlotte from the school as well.
Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis on December 19, 1848, nearly two months after her brother, Branwell, succumbed to the same disease.
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| Emily Brontë |
BACKGROUND TO THE NOVEL
Romance, Realism and the Gothic
Brontë’s Wuthering Heights manages to combine two great literary traditions: Romanticism and Realism. It has elements of a Gothic novel, with its wild, remote setting, the appearance of Catherine’s ghost and Heathcliff displaying characteristics of a vampire. Heathcliff’s character also reminds the reader of Mary Shelley’s monster in Frankenstein, who kills out of unrequited love – a theme picked up in Heathcliff’s passionate but love for Catherine. However, these extremes of character, actions and atmosphere are set within the mundanity of everyday life, as represented for example in Joseph’s dialect, Nelly’s down-to-earth narrative and the confines of family life in which the story unfolds.
Despite the fact that there are no references that allow the reader to place the novel within a particular historical time period, the novel reflects its time in the healthy dose of social criticism that it includes – whether that’s patriarchal power structures, the injustice of inheritance law or institutionalized religion. In this respect, it foreshadows the changes that were to shake Victorian society towards the end of the nineteenth century, including the emancipation of women, education, economic deprivation and so on, which in Brontë’s time were still in their infancy.
PLOT SUMMARY OF WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Mr Lockwood, an out-of-towner renting an estate called Thrushcross Grange, twice visits his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, who lives at a nearby manor called Wuthering Heights. During the first visit, Heathcliff is gruff but compelling. During the second, Lockwood meets other mysterious residents of Wuthering Heights, is attacked by dogs when he tries to leave, and endures a ghostly visitation overnight. Lockwood asks the housekeeper at the Grange, Ellen Dean (a.k.a. "Nelly"), to tell him about Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights. She recounts a complicated story of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons.
Mr. Earnshaw, a gentleman, owns Wuthering Heights. He has two children, Hindley and Catherine, and adopts a third, Heathcliff. Hindley is jealous of Heathcliff because both his father and his sister are very fond of the youngster. To avoid strife, Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, during which time Catherine and Heathcliff become extremely close. Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley, with a new wife, returns to claim Wuthering Heights. Still bitter, Hindley forces Heathcliff to give up his education and treats him like a servant. Hindley's wife dies soon after giving birth to a baby boy, Hareton, however. Hindley descends into alcoholism, though he continues to abuse and mistreat Heathcliff.
the Meanwhile, Heathcliff and Catherine grow interested in the Lintons, a well-to-do family who live at Thrushcross Grange. The Lintons have two children, Edgar and Isabella, who seem very cultured and refined to the somewhat wild inhabitants of Wuthering Heights. After suffering an injury while spying on the Lintons, Catherine Earnshaw spends five weeks with the Lintons, becoming close to Edgar. She finds Edgar's wealth and blonde beauty enticing, yet her feelings for Heathcliff are far more passionate. Even so, Catherine tells Nelly that she can't marry Heathcliff because of how Hindley has degraded him. Heathcliff overhears Catherine, and flees Wuthering Heights that night.
In Heathcliff's absence, a devastated Catherine marries Edgar Linton and moves to Thrushcross Grange. All is well—until Heathcliff returns, now rich and dignified, but just as wild and ferocious. Catherine is thrilled to see Heathcliff again. Edgar doesn't share her excitement. He tries to keep them apart, but Catherine continues to see Heathcliff despite her husband's disapproval. Heathcliff, meanwhile, moves into Wuthering Heights. Hindley, who has become a gambler, welcomes Heathcliff into his home because he lusts after Heathcliff's money.
Soon after, Catherine reveals to Heathcliff that Isabella has a crush on him. Not long after that, she observes the two of them embracing. The developing romance leads to a conflict between Edgar and Heathcliff, after which Edgar demands that Catherine choose between the two of them. Catherine responds by locking herself into her room and refusing to eat for three days. On the third day, she is frenzied and delusional and believes herself near death. That same night, Heathcliff elopes with Isabella.
Edgar nurses Catherine for two months. Her health improves somewhat, though not completely. She also discovers that she is pregnant. At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff treats Isabella terribly from the moment after their wedding. Edgar, however, refuses to have any contact with Isabella, and fears that Heathcliff wed Isabella solely as a way to try to take Thrushcross Grange from the Lintons. Two months after the wedding, Heathcliff, concerned about Catherine's health, pays a surprise visit to Thrushcross Grange while Edgar is away. In a tearful reunion, Heathcliff and Catherine profess their continuing and eternal love for each other, but Edgar soon returns and Catherine collapses. That night, Catherine gives birth to a girl, Cathy, and dies a few hours later. Catherine is buried in a spot overlooking the moors where she used to play with Heathcliff as a child.
Two days later, Isabella escapes from Wuthering Heights and goes to town outside London, where she gives birth to Heathcliff's son, Linton. Hindley dies six months later, so deeply in debt to Heathcliff that Heathcliff becomes the owner of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff then places Hareton into the same kind of servitude into which Hindley once placed him.
Twelve years pass. Cathy grows into a beautiful young woman, while Hareton grows into a rough youth. Isabella dies, and Edgar brings Linton back to Thrushcross Grange, but Heathcliff insists that Linton come to live with him at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff then carefully and deliberately cultivates a friendship between the weak and spineless Linton and the strong-willed Cathy. Though Edgar at first forbids Cathy from seeing Linton at all, as his own health fails he relents and allows her to meet with Linton at Thrushcross Grange or on the moors. One day, while meeting with Linton on the moors, Heathcliff forces Cathy and Nelly to return with him and Linton to Wuthering Heights. He confines Cathy and Nelly in the house until Cathy marries Linton, which she ultimately does. Cathy escapes from Wuthering Heights long enough to be with her father as he dies, but is soon taken back to Wuthering Heights by Heathcliff. Edgar is buried next to Catherine. Linton dies soon after that, and Heathcliff, because of careful legal maneuverings, now owns both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Cathy reluctantly lives with Heathcliff and Hareton (whom she constantly mocks for his illiteracy) at Wuthering Heights. This brings the story up to the present, when Lockwood has rented Thrushcross Grange.
Lockwood goes back to London, but passes through the region six months later. Much to everyone's surprise, Cathy and Hareton have fallen in love. Cathy has realized Hareton's nobility and kindness beneath his lack of education. Heathcliff, who sees strong a resemblance in both Hareton and Cathy to Catherine, no longer feels the need for revenge. He dies and is buried beside Catherine (on the side opposite where Edgar is buried). Cathy and Hareton, at last free of interfering adults, plan to marry and move to Thrushcross Grange.
EVENT BY EVENT SUMMARY
First Visit to Wuthering Heights
The year is 1801. Mr. Lockwood is the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, a house in a remote part of North Yorkshire. He decides to visit his landlord, Heathcliff, who lives on the nearby farm, Wuthering Heights. Neither its outward appearance nor the attitude and behavior of its inhabitants are particularly inviting: The house and its outbuildings look dilapidated and neglected. Heathcliff would clearly prefer it if Lockwood left and only begrudgingly invites him in. A servant, Joseph, who is called to take Lockwood’s horse to the stable, looks equally displeased. The animosity comes to a head when Heathcliff’s dog attacks Lockwood. Despite the frosty reception, Lockwood decides to visit again the next day. As he arrives, it begins to snow. A young and rough-looking man, Hareton Earnshaw, wanders across the court and signals Lockwood to follow him. He takes him into the house, where Lockwood meets the beautiful Cathy Heathcliff, whom he takes to be Heathcliff’s wife. She is as disagreeable as the rest of the people at Wuthering Heights. When Heathcliff arrives, he isn’t happy to see Lockwood – even less so when it becomes clear that Lockwood will have to stay the night because a snowstorm has set in. Lockwood is surprised and shocked when he sees the way Heathcliff orders Cathy around and by the defiance and hate she shows. He also soon learns that she isn’t Heathcliff’s wife, but his daughter-in-law. When he stumbles into his next assumption that Earnshaw is Heathcliff’s son, Earnshaw quickly and decisively puts him right. What ensues is a very uncomfortable evening meal. That evening, Zillah, the maid, shows Lockwood to an unused room where he can sleep for the night. It is full of books, and on the windowsill Lockwood finds engravings of three names: Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton and Catherine Heathcliff.
Too agitated to sleep, Lockwood starts looking through the books, most of which seem to have belonged to Catherine Earnshaw. The margins are scribbled full of journal entries, which the intrigued Lockwood begins to read. When he finally falls asleep, nightmares plague him. A noise at the window wakes him. He thinks it is a branch of the tree knocking against it, but when he reaches outside to remove the branch, he touches a cold child’s hand, which grabs on to his. The child begs him to let her in, claiming she is Catherine Linton and is lost on the moors. Terrified, he finally manages to pull back his arm and close the window. Lockwood’s scream wakes Heathcliff, who then bursts into the room and rages at him. Lockwood then decides to spend the rest of the night in the main chamber and leaves as soon as possible in the morning. Back at Thrushcross Grange, Lockwood asks his housekeeper Mrs. Ellen Dean – known asNelly – to tell him about Heathcliff and the strange assortment of people surrounding him. Nelly grew up at Wuthering Heights and used to work as a servant there.
Nelly’s Tale
Nelly tells Lockwood her story. The previous owner of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw, returns from a business trip to Liverpool with a foundling – a dirty, black-haired boy who speaks only unintelligible gibberish. Mr. Earnshaw’s children, Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw, don’t take to the boy as they blame him for the loss and breakage of the highly anticipated gifts that their father was supposed to bring back for them. Earnshaw names the boy Heathcliff and brings him up as one of his own. The hot-tempered and spoiled Catherine and the brooding, sullen Heathcliff soon become friends, but Hindley hates the new boy and takes every opportunity to harm him.
When Earnshaw finds out, he makes the situation worse by turning against his own son and favoring Heathcliff over Hindley. One day, Earnshaw gives the two boys a horse each as presents. When Heathcliff’s horse goes lame, he asks Hindley to swap with him, threatening that he will tell Earnshaw that Hindley has harmed him. Hindley angrily gives in but knocks Heathcliff over as he runs out of the stable.
As Mr. Earnshaw ages, the relationship with his son becomes increasingly worse. He now sees him as a failure and dares him to say a bad word against Heathcliff. The curate suggests sending Hindley off to college, and so Hindley leaves Wuthering Heights. He returns three years later for his father’s funeral, brings back a wife, Frances, and takes ownership of Wuthering Heights. He is devoted to Frances, and whatever she says and wishes, he does. Nelly and Joseph have to move into the servants’ quarter, and Heathcliff has no choice but to join the servants and work as a farmhand. This move only leads to Heathcliff and Catherine becoming closer, and they spend days exploring the moors and making mischief together.
Meeting the Lintons
On one of their adventures, Heathcliff and Catherine come across Thrushcross Grange, where the Lintons live. Looking in through the lit windows, they see Edgar and Isabella Linton, the family’s children, who are in the house on their own. Their affluent and comfortable world is completely alien to Catherine and Heathcliff. The two spies are caught by the returning parents. They try to flee, but one of the guard dogs bites Catherine. When they realize that she is their neighbor’s daughter, the Lintons take her back into the house to look after her, but they chase away Heathcliff when he tries to “save” Catherine. Catherine stays at the Lintons for five weeks while she recovers, and Mrs. Linton takes it upon herself to turn her into a lady. Catherine responds well to these attempts and returns to Wuthering Heights well-dressed and sophisticated. The contrast to the grubby and frowning Heathcliff is now even more pronounced. He runs out of the room as he feels that she is making fun of him. Catherine is upset and doesn’t understand his outburst, but the gulf between the two friends grows as Catherine starts to spend more time with Isabella and Edgar.
Mad with Grief
Frances and Hindley have a son, Hareton, but Frances doesn’t survive the birth. The loss of his wife pushes Hindley over the edge. He turns to alcohol and gambling. Nelly is now responsible for looking after the baby. Hindley’s behavior becomes more difficult, and his behavior towards Heathcliff worsens. Heathcliff, on the other hand, seems to find some evil pleasure in taunting Hindley.
For Catherine, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep her two lives separate as she visits regularly with Isabella and in particular Edgar. Heathcliff despises Edgar, and Edgar is scared of Heathcliff. It soon becomes clear that Edgar has feelings for Catherine, and he begins to court her. Nelly tries to dissuade him, knowing as she does Catherine’s unpredictable temper and willful nature, but Edgar is under Catherine’s spell. He asks her to marry him, and she accepts. In the evening, Catherine seeks Nelly’s counsel on whether she has done the right thing. She confesses that she loves Heathcliff, but that her brother’s treatment of him has brought him so low in status that she could not marry him.
Heathcliff overhears the conversation and disappears. Catherine is inconsolable but three years later marries Edgar. She moves to Thrushcross Grange and takes Nelly with her. The five-year-old Hareton stays behind with his father, much to Nelly’s dismay.
Heathcliff Returns
Catherine and Edgar settle into married life. Edgar is smitten with Catherine and panders to her every whim. Catherine seems to become increasingly fond of him. One evening, Nelly returns from the garden and finds Heathcliff outside the house, demanding to speak to Catherine. Catherine is overjoyed to see him again, and she demands Edgar be friends with him. Edgar isn’t pleased to have Heathcliff back in their lives, but to appease Catherine, he doesn’t object to their renewed acquaintance. Heathcliff settles at Wuthering Heights with Hindley, which surprises everyone. It turns out that Hindley invited Heathcliff to stay when he found out that Heathcliff had come into money – he plans to use him to finance his gaming addiction. In reality, he falls deeper and deeper into debt, with Heathcliff as his creditor. Heathcliff starts to exert his influence over Hareton: When Nelly visits Wuthering Heights to see Hindley and Hareton, she finds that Hareton has turned into an ill-bred, insolent and cruel boy.
A Dangerous Infatuation
Initially, Heathcliff is cautious not to overstay his welcome at Thrushcross Grange, and soon everyone has settled into a false sense of security. But then the eighteen-year-old Isabella starts to fall in love with Heathcliff and, in a jealous fit, confesses her feelings for him to Catherine. Catherine, in a cruel twist, forces her to stay as she tells Heathcliff that Isabella loves him and believes that Catherine is preventing Heathcliff from loving her back. Humiliated, Isabella flees from the room. Left alone with Catherine, Heathcliff makes his antipathy for Isabella clear. No more is said on the topic.
The next time Heathcliff comes to Thrushcross Grange, he tries to kiss Isabella in the garden. Catherine asks him if he wants to marry Isabella, but he explains that he would only marry her if it suited his plan to take revenge on all those who treated him badly as a child. This upsets and angers Catherine. Edgar eventually manages to throw Heathcliff out of the house. However, when Edgar tells Catherine that he doesn’t want her to continue her friendship with Heathcliff, she falls into a fit and then refuses to eat or leave her room. Edgar hides in the library, hoping that Catherine will give in and ask for forgiveness. Nelly doesn’t tell him of Catherine’s hunger strike or the hallucinations that plague her, and Catherine dispairs at Edgar’s apparent disinterest. One evening, he appears in her room and is aghast at her appearance. He reproaches Nelly for not telling him what has been going on and sends her to find a doctor. On the way into the village, Nelly finds Isabella’s dog hung with a handkerchief to a bridle hook and barely alive. She rescues it. The doctor tells her that someone saw Isabella and Heathcliff walking in the park the day before, and overheard Heathcliff trying to persuade her to run away with him. Nelly rushes back to the house, but it is too late: Isabella has gone.
No Mercy
Six weeks after Isabella’s disappearance, Edgar receives a note from her, informing him of her marriage to Heathcliff. Edgar doesn’t reply – he is too busy looking after Catherine, who has only just started to recover from a terrible brain fever. Two weeks later, Nelly receives a letter from Isabella, in which she tells her of what has happened and the hellish life she is now enduring at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff only married her to have a chance to get his hands on Thrushcross Grange, and he treats her abysmally.
Hindley’s temper and alcoholism have reached new heights under Heathcliff’s ministrations, Hareton is still uncouth and foul-mouthed, and Joseph is no help at all. Heathcliff practically keeps Isabella a prisoner, but eventually she manages to escape. She appears at Thrushcross Grange, stops briefly to tell Nelly what has happened and to change her clothes, and then disappears again. She doesn’t return, but she sends letters to Edgar telling him that she now lives close to London and has a son.
Catherine’s Death
Catherine slowly recovers from her illness. She is still
frail and has also fallen pregnant. Heathcliff forces Nelly to help arrange a
meeting between him and Catherine. Their reunion ends in both of them
confessing their passionate love for each other. The same night, Catherine
falls unconscious, and the baby is born prematurely. Catherine dies in
childbirth.
Edgar is devastated but pours all his love into his newborn daughter, whom he names Catherine in memory of her mother. Only six months after Catherine’s death, her brother also dies – he drinks himself to death, and Wuthering Heights goes to his creditor, Heathcliff.
The Next Generation
Young Cathy Linton enjoys a happy childhood with her doting father and Nelly as her nursemaid. She grows into a well-educated and lovely girl, but her world is confined to Thrushcross Grange – Edgar fears that she might meet Heathcliff and that he will think of a plan to use her in his evil scheme of revenge. While Cathy is young, she doesn’t mind this confinement, but once she turns twelve, the world outside of Thrushcross Grange begins to interest her. When her father leaves for three weeks to go and see his dying sister, she takes the first opportunity to escape. Pretending to go for a ride in the park around Thrushcross Grange, she takes off onto the moors. Soon Nelly finds out that Cathy has been secretly visiting Wuthering Heights and spending time with Hareton. While she gets on well enough with him, she is shocked when she finds that this uncouth and uneducated young man is actually her cousin.
The Last Piece of the Puzzle
Isabella’s dying wish is for Edgar to take in her son Linton. Cathy is excited about having a playmate in the house, but somehow, Heathcliff learns of his arrival at Thrushcross Grange, and demands the boy to be handed over to him. Edgar has no legal right to refuse, and Linton is taken to Wuthering Heights the day after his arrival. The blond, good-looking Linton turns out to be a frail and sickly child, and Heathcliff mistreats him terribly, while at the same time instilling in him a false sense of his own importance. Though weak, he turns into a fearful tyrant, and Joseph and Hareton grow to hate him. During a day out on Cathy’s sixteenth birthday, she and Nelly run into Heathcliff and Hareton. Heathcliff invites them in to Wuthering Heights. Cathy agrees despite Nelly’s protestations and is delighted to see her cousin Linton again. Heathcliff reveals his plan to Nelly: He wants Cathy and Linton to marry each other as he intends to get his hands on Thrushcross Grange as well.
Linton is still frail and sickly, and unlikely to live much longer. When Cathy returns home, she tells her father all about the visit. He explains to her why he and Heathcliff don’t get on and makes her promise not to visit again. She promises but is upset as she and Linton had agreed to meet again the next day. What follows is months of secret correspondence and meetings despite several attempts by Nelly and Cathy’s father to put a stop to the budding romance. It is only when her father’s health continues to deteriorate that Cathy stops seeing and writing to Linton. One year after their last meeting, her father reluctantly agrees to let her go and meet her cousin again. Heathcliff uses Linton to lure Nelly and Cathy into the house, and then refuses to let them go until Cathy agrees to marry Linton – which she does the next day. Five days later Nelly is released and returns to Thrushcross Grange, only to find Edgar near death. Cathy manages to come and see her father before he dies, but then Heathcliff forces her to move to Wuthering Heights. Shortly after, Linton dies as well, and Cathy is trapped in the dismal and hate-filled household of Wuthering Heights. This is how Lockwood finds them.
Redemption
Lockwood decides to cancel his lease on Thrushcross Grange and leave the area. He returns a year later and decides to visit Wuthering Heights. To his astonishment, he finds Cathy, Hareton and Nelly all living there together in blissful harmony. Hareton has changed: The ill-mannered and rough boy has grown into a good-looking and well-dressed young man. It turns out that, after a few months of living at Wuthering Heights, Cathy finally managed to convince Hareton that she didn’t mean him any harm but would like to be friends. Their friendship helped them to stand up to Heathcliff, who realized that his plans for revenge had not played out the way he had wanted them to. He starts to deteriorate rapidly and, haunted by Catherine’s ghost, eventually dies close to madness and plagued by his past.
THEMES
Supernatural
From beginning to end, Wuthering Heights is a novel full of ghosts and spirits. Dead characters refuse to leave the living alone, and the living accept that the deceased find ways of coming back to haunt them. In a departure from traditional Gothic tales, these hauntings are sometimes welcome. Heathcliff, for instance, repeatedly seeks out visitations from the ghost of his beloved Catherine. He even digs up her grave in order to be closer to her. Brontë uses otherworldly figures to emphasize the ferocity of Heathcliff’s and Catherine’s love; their connection is so powerful that even death can’t stop it.
Nature vs. Civilization
Putting nature against civilization, Emily Brontë promotes the Romantic idea that the sublime—the awe-inspiring, almost frightening, beauty of nature—is superior to man-made culture. She makes this point by correlating many of the characters with one side or the other and then squaring them off against each other. For instance, Heathcliff, whose origins are unknown and who roams the moors, is definitely on the nature side, while his rival, the studious Edgar Linton, is in the civilized camp. Other pairings include HaretonEarnshaw vs. Linton Earnshaw; Catherine vs. Isabella; and Hareton vs. Cathy. In all of these cases, Brontë makes one character a bit wild (perhaps by showing them in tune with animals and/or the outdoors and/or their emotions), while portraying the other as somewhat reserved and often prissy or fussy.
But nothing is black and white in Wuthering Heights. Many of the characters exhibit traits from both sides. While Brontë argues that nature is somehow purer, she also lauds civilization, particularly in terms of education. Hareton Earnshaw personifies this combination of nature and civilization: Brontë associates the young orphan with nature (he is a coarse, awkward farm boy) as well as civilization (inspired by his desire for young Cathy, he learns how to read). This mixture of down-to-earth passion and book-centered education make him, arguably, the most sympathetic character in the book.
Love and passion
Wuthering Heights explores a variety of kinds of love. Loves on display in the novel include Heathcliff and Catherine's all-consuming passion for each other, which while noble in its purity is also terribly destructive. In contract, the love between Catherine and Edgar is proper and civilized rather than passionate. Theirs is a love of peace and comfort, a socially acceptable love, but it can't stand in the way of Heathcliff and Catherine's more profound (and more violent) connection.
The love between Cathy and Linton is a grotesque exaggeration of that between Catherine and Edgar. While Catherine always seems just a bit too strong for Edgar, Cathy and Linton's love is founded on Linton's weakness—Linton gets Cathy to love him by playing on her desire to protect and mother him. Finally, there's the love between Cathy and Hareton, which seems to balance the traits of the other loves on display. They have the passion of Catherine and Heathcliff without the destructiveness, and the gentleness shared by Edgar and Catherine without the dullness or inequality in power.
Masculinity and feminism
Written when gender roles were far more rigid and defined than they are now, Wuthering Heights examines stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Emily Brontë constantly contrasts masculinity and femininity, but not all of the comparisons are simple; sometimes boys act like girls and girls act like boys. Edgar Linton and Linton Heathcliff, for instance, are men, but Brontë frequently describes them as having the looks and attributes of women. Likewise, Catherine Earnshaw has many masculine characteristics; even though she is outrageously beautiful, she loves rough, outdoor play and can hold her own in any fight. She is a complex mix of hyper-feminine grace and loveliness and ultra-masculine anger and recklessness. Heathcliff, with his physical and mental toughness, has no such ambiguities—he is exaggeratedly masculine and scorns his wife Isabella for her overblown femininity.
Emily Brontë seems to favor masculinity over femininity, even in her women. In general, she portrays weak, delicate characters with contempt, while she treats strong and rugged characters like Heathcliff, both Catherines, and Hareton, with compassion and admiration, despite their flaws.
Understanding the importance of class in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain is essential to understanding Wuthering Heights. Generally, at the time, people were born into a class and stayed there: if your parents were rich and respected (like Edgar’s), you would be, too; if your parents were servants (like Nelly Dean’s), you probably would be too. Social mobility—the idea that you can change your class status (usually for the better)—was not commonplace.
Class
In Brontë’s novel, however, class distinctions are constantly changing, much to the confusion of the characters. There are two primary examples of this: Heathcliff and Hareton. Because no one knows anything about Heathcliff’s background, they all treat him differently. Mr. Earnshaw adopts him and treats him like a son, but the snobby Lintons refuse to socialize with him. When he disappears for a few years and comes back rich, the characters struggle even more over how to approach him—he now has money and land, but many of them still consider him a farm boy. Likewise, Hareton has a hard time gaining respect. The son of Hindley, Hareton should be the heir to Wuthering Heights. With land and standing, he ought to be a gentleman. However, Heathcliff refuses to educate him, and everyone else mostly ignores him, so his manners (a very important indicator of class status) are rough and gruff. Only when young Cathy helps educate him does he achieve the class standing to which he was born.
Revenge
Nearly all of the action in Wuthering Heights results from one or another character’s desire for revenge. The result are cycles of revenge that seem to endlessly repeat. Hindley takes revenge on Heathcliff for taking his place at Wuthering Heights by denying him an education, and in the process separates Heathcliff and Catherine. Heathcliff then takes revenge upon Hindley by, first, dispossessing Hindley of Wuthering Heights and by denying an education to Hareton, Hindley’s son. Heathcliff also seeks revenge on Edgar for marrying Catherine by marrying Cathy to Linton.
Yet while Heathcliff’s revenge is effective, it seems to bring him little joy. Late in the novel, Cathy sees this, and tells Heathcliff that her revenge on him, no matter how miserable he makes her, is to know that he, Heathcliff, is more miserable. And it is instructive that only when Heathcliff loses his desire for revenge is he able to finally reconnect with Catherine in death, and to allow Cathy and Hareton, who are so similar to Heathcliff and Catherine, to find love and marry.
CHARACTERIZATION
Heathcliff
He is the little boy found by Mr. Earnshaw in the streets of Liverpool. Heathcliff is favored by Mr. Earnshaw but is extremely hated by Hindly. Heathcliff after Mr. Earnshaw’s death is dehumanized by Hindly preventing him from coming up in society, educating himself or marrying the girl he loves.
Heathcliff is passionate and his love, although wild and strong, often comes across as violent. Losing his soulmate makes his heart and soul harden and so he transforms from a Romantic Byronic Hero, into a harsh yet unique Victorian one. Although Heathcliff can be evil, the readers would often sympathize with his character as it is an outcome of mistreatment, injustice and loss.
Hindly Earnshaw
He is the brother of Cathy, and is marginalized upon Heathcliff’s arrival. He begins to abuse and mistreat Heathcliff, as he sees he is inferior to him. Hindley is jealous of his father’s affection towards Heathcliff and so he takes revenge on him when his father dies.
Seizing ownership of Wuthering Heights, he marries Frances, whom he loves dearly, only to lose her upon her giving birth. Hindly loses the will to live and his passion for life, as he drinks and gambles himself to death and loses Wuthering Heights to Heathcliff.
Catherine Earnshaw/Linton
She is the object of Heathcliff’s affection and the reason for his revenge. She is a wild child just like Heathcliff, though her sweet face and childish behavior can be misleading. Cathy believes her and Heathcliff are one, yet chooses to marry someone she bears little affection for, in order to fulfill her social ambition of becoming a superior lady of the house.
In essence, Catherine seems to be immature, selfish and often times barbaric and she toys with both Edgar and Heathcliff’s emotions.
Edgar Linton
He is Heathcliff’s opposite and competition and Catherine’s rise to social superiority. Edgar lives in Thrushcross Grange and often comes off as arrogant and cowardly. However, he is a slave to his love for Catherine and continues to love her regardless of her behavior. Edgar is simply blinded by his emotions.
Isabella Linton
She is Edgar’s sister and shares his characteristics of arrogance and immaturity. Isabella is also a contrast to Catherine as life and everyone on Thrushcross Grange, is tame and boring. Isabella is infatuated with Heathcliff’s mystery and darkness, which are that of the Byronic hero.
Her marriage to Heathcliff leaves her disowned by her brother and abused and beaten as revenge. She reaches maturity when she decides to leave Thrushcross Grange, pregnant with Heathcliff’s child Linton.
Mr. Lockwood
He is the new tenant at Wuthering Heights and often attempts to seem a mysterious and withdrawn melancholy character. Lockwood is the primary narrator but he is unreliable, as he only communicates what he sees, hears and thinks on the surface.
Nelly Dean
She is the daughter of the servant at Wuthering Heights and grows up alongside Heathcliff, Cathy and Hindley. She constantly has to be the mature one of the generation and helps guide, protect and advise them. Nelly falls victim of the behaviors of the people surrounding her, be it when she serves Heathcliff, Catherine or Hindly.
Brontë uses her character to narrate the story of Heathcliff to Lockwood as she has served the Earnshaws, the Lintons and now Heathcliff. Nelly essentially knows enough to tell the story but is not omniscient as she cannot tell what characters are feeling or thinking beyond the surface.
Hareton Earnshaw
He is the son of Hindly and Frances and upon their death, is treated as an underprivileged servant and deprived of any education, sympathy and respect. Hareton pays for his father’s mistakes in treating Heathcliff the way he did. Hareton breaks the cycle of revenge by retaining empathy and emotion underneath his rough exterior. He then falls in love with Cathy and they make plans to wed at the end of the novel.
Cathy Linton
She is the daughter of Cathy Earnshaw and Edgar Linton. She is very much like her mother yet is kinder and more selfless than she was, due to the influence of her dedicated father Edgar. She is caught in Heathcliff’s web of revenge and is forced into marrying his son Linton. She displays her kind nature by being the only one to offer Linton any help or sympathy, and
Linton Heathcliff
He is the son of Heathcliff and Isabella Linton. He is forced to marry Cathy and rather than enjoy his life, he suffers from a chronic illness which matches that of the description of Tuberculosis. Linton constantly complains, leading the people around him to despise him. Linton is shown no empathy in the entire household except for that of Cathy’s and dies leaving Thrushcross Grange to his father
Joseph
A long-winded, fanatically religious, elderly servant at Wuthering Heights. Joseph is strange, stubborn, and unkind, and he speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent.
Frances Earnshaw
Hindley’s simpering, silly wife, who treats Heathcliff cruelly. She dies shortly after giving birth to Hareton.
Mr. Linton
Edgar and Isabella’s father and the proprietor of Thrushcross Grange when Heathcliff and Catherine are children. An established member of the gentry, he raises his son and daughter to be well-mannered young people.
Mrs. Linton
Mr. Linton’s somewhat snobbish wife, who does not like Heathcliff to be allowed near her children, Edgar and Isabella. She teaches Catherine to act like a gentle-woman, thereby instilling her with social ambitions.
Zillah
The housekeeper at Wuthering Heights during the latter stages of the narrative.
Mr. Green
Edgar Linton’s lawyer, who arrives too late to hear Edgar’s final instruction to change his will, which would have prevented Heathcliff from obtaining control over Thrushcross Grange.
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