![]() Nevertheless, stripped of land, money, inheritance and friends, she slowly accepts him and teaches him to read. ![]() At first, appalled by his coarseness, primitive dialect and illiteracy, Cathy abhors Hareton. However, Heathcliff does not anticipate the relationship that slowly develops between Hareton and Cathy which will eventually lead to their marriage. Heathcliff administers the same savage treatment to Cathy as he once experienced himself. His derangement further affects his treatment of his own son, born to Isabella, Linton Heathcliff. Twelve years later, Heathcliff continues his insane revenge on Cathy whom he detests. Forever torn between Heathcliff and Edgar, Catherine dies wailing and delirious giving birth to Edgar Linton’s daughter, Cathy. He becomes even more diabolical and ensnares Isabella into marriage only to degrade and violently abuse her. Heathcliff takes advantage of this on several occasions. Brontë portrays Edgar and Isabella Linton as spoiled, but gentle, weak and naïve. This solidifies her “gentile” social station in life but it maddens and infuriates her soulmate, Heathcliff. It is inevitable that her association with the Lintons will lead to her marriage to Edgar. She is attracted by the light and gaiety at Thrushcross Grange and the children, Isabella and Edgar Linton. Catherine encounters the Lintons through an accident involving their dogs. The Linton family estate, Thrushcross Grange, and the Lintons are in stark contrast to Wuthering Heights and the Earnshaws. Once this is accomplished, he refuses to educate Hareton leaving him a brutal, illiterate, savage. One of Heathcliff’s acts of vengeance is to acquire all property rights to Wuthering Heights and Hareton’s inheritance. His little son, Hareton, is abused and neglected. He falls into alcoholism, gambling and despair. Hindley loses his wife, Frances, to tuberculosis. Taking revenge becomes Heathcliff’s main obsession and his plans take on diabolical proportions. When old Earnshaw dies, Hindley’s physical and mental abuse of Heathcliff drains the poor creature of any compassionate humanity. Heathcliff’s entire existence revolves around his compulsive love for Catherine. Their intimacy binds them together heart and soul. ![]() Catherine befriends him and they grow up together on the windswept moors. He is humiliated and forced to endure Hindley Earnshaw’s jealous sadism. The Earnshaws view Heathcliff as an usurper. He is named Heathcliff after a son who had died in childbirth. Only Nelly Dean is able to put up with her.Ĭatherine’s and Hindley’s father finds a starving orphan on one of his trips to Liverpool. For all her education and love of books, she is wild, selfish, self-willed and demonstrates both violent fits of temper and cruelty. She is far from what is expected of a daughter of landed gentry. Catherine Earnshaw is not your typical Gothic heroine, swooning and in distress. He is dark, mysterious, primitive and rebellious. Heathcliff, the villain-hero, lacks ancestral origins. There is even a hint of necrophilia when Heathcliff opens Catherine’s coffin years later.īrontë develops Heathcliff’s persona around the myths and mysteries surrounding vagabond gypsies, another literary trend at the time. Their passionate love leads them to various forms of physical and mental madness that transcends death. It hinges on the soul consuming and obsessive love between Catherine Earnshaw/Linton and Heathcliff. The story of the Earnshaws and Lintons spans three generations and is full of torture, tyranny and intolerable cruelty. The ghost of Catherine Linton appears in the opening chapters and we are witness to dreams, visions and supernatural incidents. Characters are imprisoned or confined in Wuthering Heights. It is dark, lit with candles, and has hidden rooms, passages, oak paneled beds, stairwells and banisters. Although not a ruined castle, Wuthering Heights has many Gothic characteristics. The story is set in an extreme landscape on the wild moors, weather-beaten by icy winds, storms and rain. The novel spans fifty years, and past and present are juxtaposed throughout. It is told through the voices of the faithful servant Ellen Dean and Heathcliff’s tenant, Mr. Wuthering Heights is a tale of two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons.
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