Wuthering Heights began in 1801 at the traditional home of the Earnshaw family, Wuthering Heights. A new tenant, Lockwood, was visiting Wuthering Heights to meet his landlord, Heathcliff. Heathcliff was a very cold, inhospitable man who appeared to care for no one in his house. Lockwood was surprised by his landlord’s personality and received another unwanted surprise when he found himself in an old barn with a pack of unfriendly dogs and a servant, Joseph, who was a religious fanatic. Unfortunately, a heavy snowstorm delayed Lockwood’s departure from Wuthering Heights. Despite a rather rough initial visit, Lockwood decided to return to Wuthering Heights. During this second visit, Lockwood met Heathcliff’s widowed daughter-in-law and Hareton Earnshaw. Lockwood decided to leave later in the night and requested a guide. His request was refused. Lockwood went to get a lantern to help him get home. Unfortunately, Joseph thought Lockwood was stealing a lantern, so he told the dogs to attack him. Lockwood became so infuriated that his nose began bleeding. He returned to Wuthering Heights and was led to a room by another servant, Zillah. Lockwood found a collection of books with the names of Catherine Linton, Catherine Earnshaw, and Catherine Heathcliff on the covers. He skimmed the books and learned that this Catherine was a childhood friend of Heathcliff. Soon after reading the books, Lockwood fell asleep and had nightmares. When he woke after a nightmare, he opened his window to move a branch and felt a cold hand grab his own hand. He freed himself from the hand and screamed when some books fell. Heathcliff came upstairs and, when Lockwood told him what happened, Heathcliff begged for the spirit to return. Heathcliff’s desire for the return of the spirit showed that this otherwise cold individual did care for at least someone else. When dawn arrived, Heathcliff led Lockwood back to his home, Thrushcross Grange. When he arrived home, Lockwood asked his servant, Nelly Dean, about Wuthering Heights. First, she told him that Hareton Earnshaw was Heathcliff’s nephew and the cousin of Heathcliff’s daughter in law, Catherine. Nelly grew up with Catherine’s mother, also named Catherine, and Hindley Earnshaw. One day, Mr. Earnshaw brought home an orphan he found while he was in Liverpool. That orphan was Heathcliff. Catherine and Hindley disliked Heathcliff, but Catherine grew to like him. Hindley eventually became separated from the rest of his family because of his hate for Heathcliff. So far, Wuthering Heights has a lot of unanswered questions that will probably take several sections to answer, but I think that Lockwood will be drawn into the conflict somewhere in the storyline.
In this section, Mr. Earnshaw’s health began to decline and he sent Hindley away to school because he could not tolerate Hindley’s complaints about Heathcliff. Mr. Earnshaw died soon thereafter and Catherine and Heathcliff consoled each other by talking about heaven. Hindley returned for his father’s funeral and he brought his new wife, Frances, with him. Hindley then took control of Wuthering Heights and made several major changes. Nelly and Joseph were forced to move the back-kitchen and Heathcliff was forced to work in the fields and discontinue his education. Heathcliff and Catherine became closer friends in doing mischief and were regarded lowly by Hindley. One night, Heathcliff and Catherine did not come home from playing and Hindley ordered the doors to be locked to teach them a lesson. Nelly kept watching for them and Heathcliff came back to tell Nelly what had happened. Apparently, Heathcliff and Catherine had gone to Thrushcross Grange to make fun of its current inhabitants, Edgar and Isabella Linton. The Linton children were the opposites of the wild Earnshaws and they thought the Lintons were funny in their behavior. The Lintons heard the Earnshaws laughing and sent their bulldog after them. Catherine was bitten in the ankle and could not escape. Heathcliff hid and watched Catherine as she was taken into the house and treated like a queen! Catherine did not return from the Lintons until Christmas and when she returned, she was completely transformed into from a wild girl to an upper class young woman. When Catherine greeted Heathcliff, she accidentally insulted his appearance and he stayed away from her the rest of the day. The Lintons were invited to dinner and they accepted on the condition that they did not have to see Heathcliff. Unfortunately, Nelly let Heathcliff make a short apppearence, but Edgar Linton made Heathcliff angry and Heathcliff poured hot applesauce on Edgar. Heathcliff was locked in the attic the rest of the night until Catherine visited him and convinced Nelly to let him eat. While he was eating, Heathcliff revealed that he was planning revenge against Hindley. Hareton was born the following summer and Frances died of complications from consumption. Hindley put Hareton in the care of Nelly and becomes tyrannical in his sorrow, sending away almost all of the servants and treating Heathcliff even worse. Catherine was changing from her old self by acting differently with the Lintons than with others. Heathcliff tried to show her a chart he made that showed the time she spent with the Lintons compared to her own family, but she angrily ignored him. Edgar entered the room at the end of their argument and Nelly stayed the room to clean. Catherine could not get her to leave, so she pinched Nelly and then lied about it. Edgar left after seeing this exchange, but came back he saw Catherine through the window. Nelly came in the room while Edgar was talking to Catherine to tell them that Hindley had returned and that he was drunk so that Edgar could leave. In his drunken state, Hindley dropped Hareton over the balcony, but Heathcliff was luckily there to catch him. Catherine later told Nelly that she accepted Edgar’s proposal for marriage, but that Heathcliff was more compatible with her. Unfortunately, Heathcliff only heard Catherine say that it would degrade her to marry him and he ran away from Wuthering Heights for three years. Catherine stood in the cold rain that whole night to watch for Heathcliff and she caught a fever that she almost caused her to die. She went to Thrushcross Grange to recover, but the Linton parents caught the fever and they both died. Edgar marries Catherine three years later and Nelly is forced to move to Thrushcross Grange. This section explains a part of why Heathcliff is so unfriendly, but I think that several more things will occur that will round out the explanation. All of the characters that were introduced in the first chapter were at least partially explained and sketched in this section. I also think that Catherine will end up marrying Heathcliff after she gets bored of being with Edgar.
Several months after Catherine and Edgar were married, Heathcliff showed up at Thrushcross Grange and asked to see Catherine. Catherine was ecstatic to see Heathcliff and insisted on entertaining him in the parlor. Heathcliff was pleasantly surprised with Catherine’s excitement. When he left Thrushcross Grange later that night, Heathcliff announced that he was staying at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine visited each other frequently and Isabella fell in love with Heathcliff during his visits to Thrushcross Grange. Nelly went to visit Heathcliff alone one day and she was greeted by stones thrown by Hareton, who did not remember Nelly and was taught by Heathcliff to be unfriendly towards visitors. When Heathcliff visited Thrushcross Grange, Nelly caught him embracing Isabella. When Catherine learned of this, she asks Heathcliff why he embraced her and he said that he was getting revenge on Catherine for not marrying him. Catherine was then confronted by Edgar about her affection for Heathcliff and she locked herself in a room. She tried to get Heathcliff and Edgar to fight over her and Edgar punched Heathcliff in the throat and went to get help. Heathcliff went back to Wuthering Heights. Edgar asked Catherine to decide between him and Heathcliff and Catherine locked herself in her room and refused to eat. Edgar angrily told Isabella that if she continued her relationship with Heathcliff, she would no longer be considered his sister. Catherine agreed to eat after three days and she was upset that no one had come to beg forgiveness from her. She was also upset that she was dying and she talked about her happiness as a child. She then talked about not being at rest until she was with Heathcliff and then Edgar walked into the room. He scolded Nelly for not calling him sooner after seeing Catherine’s weakness and Nelly left to get a doctor. The doctor predicted that Catherine would not survive and Isabella ran away with Heathcliff the same night, doubling Edgar’s anguish. Edgar nursed Catherine for two months and she learned that she was pregnant. Edgar might have been nursing Catherine so devotedly because he was hoping that he would get a male heir with the child. Heathcliff would have gotten his estate if the child was not a male because of his marriage to Isabella. Heathcliff married Isabella for revenge against Edgar and Heathcliff told Isabella that he was planning to make her suffer in place of Edgar. In one of Nelly’s visits, Heathcliff demanded a meeting between him and Catherine and Nelly agreed to carry a request with her because she feared that conflict would result from her refusal. This section highlighted the use of love as a major theme. Catherine and Heathcliff share a love that seems to be beond normal boundaries. Edgar and Catherine care for each other, but do not seem in love. Heathcliff uses the facade of love for Isabella to hurt Edgar. Edgar loves his sister, Isabella, but only on the condition that she does not dishonor him or the family. I think this weird tangle of misdirected love will lead to the climax as Heathcliff tries to destroy Edgar.
This section began with Nelly delivering a letter from Heathcliff letter to Catherine. Almost immediately, Heathcliff entered Catherine’s room. Catherine blamed Heathcliff for causing her to suffer and Heathcliff then turned the blame onto Catherine for murdering both him and her. Edgar rushed upstairs after hearing Nelly cry out in surprise at his return from church. Catherine begged Heathcliff to stay and she fainted in his arms. When Edgar entered her room, Heathcliff put Catherine in his arms and told Edgar to care for her instead of getting angry. Late that night, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Cathy, who was the girl at Wuthering Heights that Lockwood met. Catherine died after childbirth. When Nelly went to tell Heathcliff what had happened, she found that he already knew about Catherine’s death. Heathcliff was upset that Cathy forced him to live with his anguish and that he was not mentioned on her deathbed. Heathcliff had closure with Catherine when he replaced Edgar’s hair with his own in Catherine’s locket. Catherine was buried later that week by the moor. One day, Isabella appeared at Thrushcross Grange and wanted to talk to Nelly. Isabella told Nelly that Hindley had locked Heathcliff out of the house and planned to kill him after he returned from his vigil over Catherine. Isabella moved to London after telling her story to Nelly and she had a baby named Linton. Hindley died six months after Catherine’s death and Isabella died thirteen years after she moved to London. Up to this point in the novel, Heathcliff seemed to have been striving to become worthy of Catherine’s love. In their anger before her death, Catherine and Heathcliff confessed their love and hold on each other. Catherine’s death was a real turning point for Heathcliff. Rather than vying for Catherine’s love, his focus in life was gone. He declared, “Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then! ... I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul.” I think that this declaration begins a new life of sorrow for Heathcliff which will destroy him.
The story advanced to when Cathy was 13. Since she had not been allowed to leave the grounds of Thrushcross Grange, she was very curious about life outside of her home. Isabella wrote to Edgar and told him that she was about to die. She also asked him to come get Linton and take him back to the Grange. Edgar complied and Nelly was left to watch Cathy. One morning, Cathy did not come back from playing and Nelly learned that her pony had run away, so Cathy went to look for it. Nelly found Cathy at Wuthering Heights playing with Hareton, whom Cathy had assumed was a servant. Cathy later learned that Hareton was her cousin, but she did not want to regard him as her cousin. Linton arrived from London and he was a sickly, thin boy. Cathy favored him over Hareton. Soon after Linton arrived, Heathcliff’s servant, Joseph, came and demanded that Linton be brought to Wuthering Heights. Nelly took Linton to Wuthering Heights the next morning and told him about a much more positive Heathcliff than the actual person. When Nelly left him, Heathcliff obviously regarded Linton very lowly, calling him property and calling his mother, “a wicked slut.” Linton cried for Nelly to not leave him as she returned to the Grange. Three years later, Cathy and Nelly were exploring the moors. Cathy met Heathcliff in the woods and he invited Cathy and Nelly to visit Wuthering Heights to see Linton. When Cathy visited Linton, she did not recognize him and he was too sick to show her around Wuthering Heights. When Cathy told Edgar about her visit, he forbade her to see Linton and she was forced to write letters to him secretly. Nelly found out about the letters and destroyed them, but did not tell Edgar about them. Cathy forgot about Linton over the winter while she nursed Edgar because he was very sick. One day, Cathy lost her hat over the wall that enclosed Thrushcross Grange and she retrieved it, but she could not get back in. While Nelly looked for a key, Heathcliff came and told Cathy that she had broken Linton’s heart when she stopped writing to him. He invited Cathy to visit Linton that week while Heathcliff was gone. The next morning, Nelly and Cathy traveled to Wuthering Heights in the rain. Linton complained and whined the whole visit and then he talked about love with Cathy. She was upset and shoved his chair, causing him to cough a lot. Cathy felt guilty and was convinced by Linton that she could nurse him back to health. Cathy went home with Nelly and Cathy had to nurse both her father and Nelly, who became sick from the cold, rainy walk to visit Linton. At night, Cathy rode to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton. When Nelly felt better, she noticed that Cathy was gone instead of being in bed early. Cathy was forced to confess to Nelly about her visits to Linton. During Cathy’s next visit, Hareton tried to impress Cathy with his newfound ability to read the writing above the door, but Cathy asked if he knew numbers and she made fun of him when he did not know numbers. During her visit with Linton, Hareton angrily forced Linton upstairs to end their visit. Linton blamed his abuse on Cathy and Cathy said that she would stop visiting, but Linton apologized and she kept visiting. Nelly listened to Cathy’s descriptions of her visits and she told Edgar about them. Edgar then forbade Cathy from visiting Linton, but said that Linton could visit the Grange. Nelly frustrated me in this section. It is almost as if she is somewhat weak and tries to accommodate everyone’s wishes. She clearly knew Edgar’s wishes and yet enabled Heathcliff’s interference and control to continue. For example, it was clearly a mistake to go to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton without Edgar’s permission. I suspect that Heathcliff will capitalize on Cathy’s visits somehow.
Nelly continued her story with Edgar’s reaction to Cathy’s visits. Edgar was surprisingly not angry and eventually gave Cathy permission to see Linton on the moors. By allowing Cathy to continue to see Linton, he was facilitating Heathcliff’s plan of revenge just as Nelly had been doing. In one of the visits, Cathy and Nelly both noticed Linton’s deteriorating health, but decided to keep that information from Edgar until they saw Linton again. In the next meeting, Heathcliff came and asked if Edgar was dying because he was worried that Linton would die before Linton would marry Cathy. Heathcliff’s query revealed some of his plan of revenge against Edgar. Heathcliff wanted Linton to marry Cathy in order to assure that Edgar’s inheritance would go to Heathcliff. Despite Edgar’s rule forbidding Cathy from going to Wuthering Heights, both Cathy and Nelly felt it necessary to accompany the very weak Linton home. The decision turned out to be a bad one as Cathy and Nelly were both imprisoned overnight. Nelly was kept for five days. After Nelly was released, she learned that Cathy was still a prisoner and that she could not free her. Nelly returned to the Grange and assured Edgar that Cathy would be free soon. Edgar called his lawyer to change his will. Nelly thought that she heard the lawyer entering, but instead it was Cathy, who had been freed with the help of Linton. The plot quickened and developed quite a bit in this section and I think that Cathy will marry Linton. I also think Linton will die because Cathy was widowed when Lockwood met her.
Cathy was treated badly at Wuthering Heights by Zillah and Hareton, who were under the orders of Heathcliff. Soon after Cathy arrived, Linton became very ill and Cathy nursed him until he died. Cathy did not allow anyone to show her sympathy after Linton’s death. Lockwood told Nelly that he was leaving the Grange. Before he left the area, Lockwood visited Wuthering Heights with a note from Nelly to Cathy. Cathy read the note and made fun of Hareton because he took the note to try to read it. Hareton angrily threw his books into the fire and ran upstairs. Heathcliff commented that Hareton was liking Cathy more and more every day, which was not in his revenge plan. Several months later, Lockwood visited the Grange only to find that Nelly had gone to Wuthering Heights. Nelly told Lockwood that many things had happened since he left including Zillah leaving, Hareton accidentally shooting himself, and Cathy making a peace offering of a book to Hareton. After looking into Cathy’s eyes and seeing Catherine in them, Heathcliff told Nelly that he did not want to complete his revenge. Heathcliff then went into seclusion and ate sparingly, then never. Heathcliff refused a visit from a doctor and he was found dead later that week. Hareton was the only one who was sad about Heathcliff’s death. Heathcliff was buried and reunited with Catherine. This book contained two main halves separated by generations. The first half was dominated by Catherine and the second half by Cathy. The first generation became twisted in jealousy and selfishness and tried to carry their feuds into the second generation to gain complete revenge. The second generation was drawn into the first generation because they did not understand the preceding generation. The ending of the book also concluded the darkness of the first generation with the death of its last and most revengeful character, Heathcliff. The second generation gravitated toward a new unity, tranquility, and strength when love triumphed over hate as Cathy and Hareton befriended and loved each other.
Didn't the passage of background information say that Antigone was a victim of Creon's hubris? Some of you are suggesting that Antigone is the tragic hero. Thoughts on that.
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Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 1-4)
Wuthering Heights began in 1801 at the traditional home of the Earnshaw family, Wuthering Heights. A new tenant, Lockwood, was visiting Wuthering Heights to meet his landlord, Heathcliff. Heathcliff was a very cold, inhospitable man who appeared to care for no one in his house. Lockwood was surprised by his landlord’s personality and received another unwanted surprise when he found himself in an old barn with a pack of unfriendly dogs and a servant, Joseph, who was a religious fanatic. Unfortunately, a heavy snowstorm delayed Lockwood’s departure from Wuthering Heights.
Despite a rather rough initial visit, Lockwood decided to return to Wuthering Heights. During this second visit, Lockwood met Heathcliff’s widowed daughter-in-law and Hareton Earnshaw. Lockwood decided to leave later in the night and requested a guide. His request was refused. Lockwood went to get a lantern to help him get home. Unfortunately, Joseph thought Lockwood was stealing a lantern, so he told the dogs to attack him. Lockwood became so infuriated that his nose began bleeding. He returned to Wuthering Heights and was led to a room by another servant, Zillah. Lockwood found a collection of books with the names of Catherine Linton, Catherine Earnshaw, and Catherine Heathcliff on the covers. He skimmed the books and learned that this Catherine was a childhood friend of Heathcliff.
Soon after reading the books, Lockwood fell asleep and had nightmares. When
he woke after a nightmare, he opened his window to move a branch and felt a cold hand grab his own hand. He freed himself from the hand and screamed when some books fell. Heathcliff came upstairs and, when Lockwood told him what happened, Heathcliff begged for the spirit to return. Heathcliff’s desire for the return of the spirit showed that this otherwise cold individual did care for at least someone else.
When dawn arrived, Heathcliff led Lockwood back to his home, Thrushcross Grange. When he arrived home, Lockwood asked his servant, Nelly Dean, about Wuthering Heights. First, she told him that Hareton Earnshaw was Heathcliff’s nephew and the cousin of Heathcliff’s daughter in law, Catherine. Nelly grew up with Catherine’s mother, also named Catherine, and Hindley Earnshaw. One day, Mr. Earnshaw brought home an orphan he found while he was in Liverpool. That orphan was Heathcliff. Catherine and Hindley disliked Heathcliff, but Catherine grew to like him. Hindley eventually became separated from the rest of his family because of his hate for Heathcliff.
So far, Wuthering Heights has a lot of unanswered questions that will probably take several sections to answer, but I think that Lockwood will be drawn into the conflict somewhere in the storyline.
Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 5-9)
In this section, Mr. Earnshaw’s health began to decline and he sent Hindley away to school because he could not tolerate Hindley’s complaints about Heathcliff. Mr. Earnshaw died soon thereafter and Catherine and Heathcliff consoled each other by talking about heaven. Hindley returned for his father’s funeral and he brought his new wife, Frances, with him. Hindley then took control of Wuthering Heights and made several major changes. Nelly and Joseph were forced to move the back-kitchen and Heathcliff was forced to work in the fields and discontinue his education. Heathcliff and Catherine became closer friends in doing mischief and were regarded lowly by Hindley. One night, Heathcliff and Catherine did not come home from playing and Hindley ordered the doors to be locked to teach them a lesson. Nelly kept watching for them and Heathcliff came back to tell Nelly what had happened. Apparently, Heathcliff and Catherine had gone to Thrushcross Grange to make fun of its current inhabitants, Edgar and Isabella Linton. The Linton children were the opposites of the wild Earnshaws and they thought the Lintons were funny in their behavior. The Lintons heard the Earnshaws laughing and sent their bulldog after them. Catherine was bitten in the ankle and could not escape. Heathcliff hid and watched Catherine as she was taken into the house and treated like a queen! Catherine did not return from the Lintons until Christmas and when she returned, she was completely transformed into from a wild girl to an upper class young woman. When Catherine greeted Heathcliff, she accidentally insulted his appearance and he stayed away from her the rest of the day. The Lintons were invited to dinner and they accepted on the condition that they did not have to see Heathcliff. Unfortunately, Nelly let Heathcliff make a short apppearence, but Edgar Linton made Heathcliff angry and Heathcliff poured hot applesauce on Edgar. Heathcliff was locked in the attic the rest of the night until Catherine visited him and convinced Nelly to let him eat. While he was eating, Heathcliff revealed that he was planning revenge against Hindley. Hareton was born the following summer and Frances died of complications from consumption. Hindley put Hareton in the care of Nelly and becomes tyrannical in his sorrow, sending away almost all of the servants and treating Heathcliff even worse. Catherine was changing from her old self by acting differently with the Lintons than with others. Heathcliff tried to show her a chart he made that showed the time she spent with the Lintons compared to her own family, but she angrily ignored him. Edgar entered the room at the end of their argument and Nelly stayed the room to clean. Catherine could not get her to leave, so she pinched Nelly and then lied about it. Edgar left after seeing this exchange, but came back he saw Catherine through the window. Nelly came in the room while Edgar was talking to Catherine to tell them that Hindley had returned and that he was drunk so that Edgar could leave. In his drunken state, Hindley dropped Hareton over the balcony, but Heathcliff was luckily there to catch him. Catherine later told Nelly that she accepted Edgar’s proposal for marriage, but that Heathcliff was more compatible with her. Unfortunately, Heathcliff only heard Catherine say that it would degrade her to marry him and he ran away from Wuthering Heights for three years. Catherine stood in the cold rain that whole night to watch for Heathcliff and she caught a fever that she almost caused her to die. She went to Thrushcross Grange to recover, but the Linton parents caught the fever and they both died. Edgar marries Catherine three years later and Nelly is forced to move to Thrushcross Grange. This section explains a part of why Heathcliff is so unfriendly, but I think that several more things will occur that will round out the explanation. All of the characters that were introduced in the first chapter were at least partially explained and sketched in this section. I also think that Catherine will end up marrying Heathcliff after she gets bored of being with Edgar.
Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 10-14)
Several months after Catherine and Edgar were married, Heathcliff showed up at Thrushcross Grange and asked to see Catherine. Catherine was ecstatic to see Heathcliff and insisted on entertaining him in the parlor. Heathcliff was pleasantly surprised with Catherine’s excitement. When he left Thrushcross Grange later that night, Heathcliff announced that he was staying at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine visited each other frequently and Isabella fell in love with Heathcliff during his visits to Thrushcross Grange. Nelly went to visit Heathcliff alone one day and she was greeted by stones thrown by Hareton, who did not remember Nelly and was taught by Heathcliff to be unfriendly towards visitors. When Heathcliff visited Thrushcross Grange, Nelly caught him embracing Isabella. When Catherine learned of this, she asks Heathcliff why he embraced her and he said that he was getting revenge on Catherine for not marrying him. Catherine was then confronted by Edgar about her affection for Heathcliff and she locked herself in a room. She tried to get Heathcliff and Edgar to fight over her and Edgar punched Heathcliff in the throat and went to get help. Heathcliff went back to Wuthering Heights. Edgar asked Catherine to decide between him and Heathcliff and Catherine locked herself in her room and refused to eat. Edgar angrily told Isabella that if she continued her relationship with Heathcliff, she would no longer be considered his sister. Catherine agreed to eat after three days and she was upset that no one had come to beg forgiveness from her. She was also upset that she was dying and she talked about her happiness as a child. She then talked about not being at rest until she was with Heathcliff and then Edgar walked into the room. He scolded Nelly for not calling him sooner after seeing Catherine’s weakness and Nelly left to get a doctor. The doctor predicted that Catherine would not survive and Isabella ran away with Heathcliff the same night, doubling Edgar’s anguish. Edgar nursed Catherine for two months and she learned that she was pregnant. Edgar might have been nursing Catherine so devotedly because he was hoping that he would get a male heir with the child. Heathcliff would have gotten his estate if the child was not a male because of his marriage to Isabella. Heathcliff married Isabella for revenge against Edgar and Heathcliff told Isabella that he was planning to make her suffer in place of Edgar. In one of Nelly’s visits, Heathcliff demanded a meeting between him and Catherine and Nelly agreed to carry a request with her because she feared that conflict would result from her refusal. This section highlighted the use of love as a major theme. Catherine and Heathcliff share a love that seems to be beond normal boundaries. Edgar and Catherine care for each other, but do not seem in love. Heathcliff uses the facade of love for Isabella to hurt Edgar. Edgar loves his sister, Isabella, but only on the condition that she does not dishonor him or the family. I think this weird tangle of misdirected love will lead to the climax as Heathcliff tries to destroy Edgar.
Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 15-17)
This section began with Nelly delivering a letter from Heathcliff letter to Catherine. Almost immediately, Heathcliff entered Catherine’s room. Catherine blamed Heathcliff for causing her to suffer and Heathcliff then turned the blame onto Catherine for murdering both him and her. Edgar rushed upstairs after hearing Nelly cry out in surprise at his return from church. Catherine begged Heathcliff to stay and she fainted in his arms. When Edgar entered her room, Heathcliff put Catherine in his arms and told Edgar to care for her instead of getting angry. Late that night, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Cathy, who was the girl at Wuthering Heights that Lockwood met. Catherine died after childbirth. When Nelly went to tell Heathcliff what had happened, she found that he already knew about Catherine’s death. Heathcliff was upset that Cathy forced him to live with his anguish and that he was not mentioned on her deathbed. Heathcliff had closure with Catherine when he replaced Edgar’s hair with his own in Catherine’s locket. Catherine was buried later that week by the moor. One day, Isabella appeared at Thrushcross Grange and wanted to talk to Nelly. Isabella told Nelly that Hindley had locked Heathcliff out of the house and planned to kill him after he returned from his vigil over Catherine. Isabella moved to London after telling her story to Nelly and she had a baby named Linton. Hindley died six months after Catherine’s death and Isabella died thirteen years after she moved to London. Up to this point in the novel, Heathcliff seemed to have been striving to become worthy of Catherine’s love. In their anger before her death, Catherine and Heathcliff confessed their love and hold on each other. Catherine’s death was a real turning point for Heathcliff. Rather than vying for Catherine’s love, his focus in life was gone. He declared, “Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then! ... I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul.” I think that this declaration begins a new life of sorrow for Heathcliff which will destroy him.
Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 18-24)
The story advanced to when Cathy was 13. Since she had not been allowed to leave the grounds of Thrushcross Grange, she was very curious about life outside of her home. Isabella wrote to Edgar and told him that she was about to die. She also asked him to come get Linton and take him back to the Grange. Edgar complied and Nelly was left to watch Cathy. One morning, Cathy did not come back from playing and Nelly learned that her pony had run away, so Cathy went to look for it. Nelly found Cathy at Wuthering Heights playing with Hareton, whom Cathy had assumed was a servant. Cathy later learned that Hareton was her cousin, but she did not want to regard him as her cousin. Linton arrived from London and he was a sickly, thin boy. Cathy favored him over Hareton. Soon after Linton arrived, Heathcliff’s servant, Joseph, came and demanded that Linton be brought to Wuthering Heights. Nelly took Linton to Wuthering Heights the next morning and told him about a much more positive Heathcliff than the actual person. When Nelly left him, Heathcliff obviously regarded Linton very lowly, calling him property and calling his mother, “a wicked slut.” Linton cried for Nelly to not leave him as she returned to the Grange. Three years later, Cathy and Nelly were exploring the moors. Cathy met Heathcliff in the woods and he invited Cathy and Nelly to visit Wuthering Heights to see Linton. When Cathy visited Linton, she did not recognize him and he was too sick to show her around Wuthering Heights. When Cathy told Edgar about her visit, he forbade her to see Linton and she was forced to write letters to him secretly. Nelly found out about the letters and destroyed them, but did not tell Edgar about them. Cathy forgot about Linton over the winter while she nursed Edgar because he was very sick. One day, Cathy lost her hat over the wall that enclosed Thrushcross Grange and she retrieved it, but she could not get back in. While Nelly looked for a key, Heathcliff came and told Cathy that she had broken Linton’s heart when she stopped writing to him. He invited Cathy to visit Linton that week while Heathcliff was gone. The next morning, Nelly and Cathy traveled to Wuthering Heights in the rain. Linton complained and whined the whole visit and then he talked about love with Cathy. She was upset and shoved his chair, causing him to cough a lot. Cathy felt guilty and was convinced by Linton that she could nurse him back to health. Cathy went home with Nelly and Cathy had to nurse both her father and Nelly, who became sick from the cold, rainy walk to visit Linton. At night, Cathy rode to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton. When Nelly felt better, she noticed that Cathy was gone instead of being in bed early. Cathy was forced to confess to Nelly about her visits to Linton. During Cathy’s next visit, Hareton tried to impress Cathy with his newfound ability to read the writing above the door, but Cathy asked if he knew numbers and she made fun of him when he did not know numbers. During her visit with Linton, Hareton angrily forced Linton upstairs to end their visit. Linton blamed his abuse on Cathy and Cathy said that she would stop visiting, but Linton apologized and she kept visiting. Nelly listened to Cathy’s descriptions of her visits and she told Edgar about them. Edgar then forbade Cathy from visiting Linton, but said that Linton could visit the Grange. Nelly frustrated me in this section. It is almost as if she is somewhat weak and tries to accommodate everyone’s wishes. She clearly knew Edgar’s wishes and yet enabled Heathcliff’s interference and control to continue. For example, it was clearly a mistake to go to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton without Edgar’s permission. I suspect that Heathcliff will capitalize on Cathy’s visits somehow.
Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 25-29)
Nelly continued her story with Edgar’s reaction to Cathy’s visits. Edgar was surprisingly not angry and eventually gave Cathy permission to see Linton on the moors. By allowing Cathy to continue to see Linton, he was facilitating Heathcliff’s plan of revenge just as Nelly had been doing. In one of the visits, Cathy and Nelly both noticed Linton’s deteriorating health, but decided to keep that information from Edgar until they saw Linton again. In the next meeting, Heathcliff came and asked if Edgar was dying because he was worried that Linton would die before Linton would marry Cathy. Heathcliff’s query revealed some of his plan of revenge against Edgar. Heathcliff wanted Linton to marry Cathy in order to assure that Edgar’s inheritance would go to Heathcliff. Despite Edgar’s rule forbidding Cathy from going to Wuthering Heights, both Cathy and Nelly felt it necessary to accompany the very weak Linton home. The decision turned out to be a bad one as Cathy and Nelly were both imprisoned overnight. Nelly was kept for five days. After Nelly was released, she learned that Cathy was still a prisoner and that she could not free her. Nelly returned to the Grange and assured Edgar that Cathy would be free soon. Edgar called his lawyer to change his will. Nelly thought that she heard the lawyer entering, but instead it was Cathy, who had been freed with the help of Linton. The plot quickened and developed quite a bit in this section and I think that Cathy will marry Linton. I also think Linton will die because Cathy was widowed when Lockwood met her.
Wuthering Heights
(Chapters 30-34)
Cathy was treated badly at Wuthering Heights by Zillah and Hareton, who were under the orders of Heathcliff. Soon after Cathy arrived, Linton became very ill and Cathy nursed him until he died. Cathy did not allow anyone to show her sympathy after Linton’s death. Lockwood told Nelly that he was leaving the Grange. Before he left the area, Lockwood visited Wuthering Heights with a note from Nelly to Cathy. Cathy read the note and made fun of Hareton because he took the note to try to read it. Hareton angrily threw his books into the fire and ran upstairs. Heathcliff commented that Hareton was liking Cathy more and more every day, which was not in his revenge plan. Several months later, Lockwood visited the Grange only to find that Nelly had gone to Wuthering Heights. Nelly told Lockwood that many things had happened since he left including Zillah leaving, Hareton accidentally shooting himself, and Cathy making a peace offering of a book to Hareton. After looking into Cathy’s eyes and seeing Catherine in them, Heathcliff told Nelly that he did not want to complete his revenge. Heathcliff then went into seclusion and ate sparingly, then never. Heathcliff refused a visit from a doctor and he was found dead later that week. Hareton was the only one who was sad about Heathcliff’s death. Heathcliff was buried and reunited with Catherine. This book contained two main halves separated by generations. The first half was dominated by Catherine and the second half by Cathy. The first generation became twisted in jealousy and selfishness and tried to carry their feuds into the second generation to gain complete revenge. The second generation was drawn into the first generation because they did not understand the preceding generation. The ending of the book also concluded the darkness of the first generation with the death of its last and most revengeful character, Heathcliff. The second generation gravitated toward a new unity, tranquility, and strength when love triumphed over hate as Cathy and Hareton befriended and loved each other.
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