What’s in it for me? Love and hate on the Yorkshire moors.
Heathcliff and Catherine – they’re up there with Romeo and Juliet as one of the most famous fictional couples of all time. Their story is the heart of Wuthering Heights.
It’s a romance as rough and wild as the novel’s setting – the windswept Yorkshire moors. In fact, you may be surprised by the intensity, and even savagery of the storyline. It’s not just a love affair but also a dramatic family saga involving revenge, violence, and madness.
When Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 – under a male pseudonym, rather than Emily Brontë’s name – readers didn’t quite know what to make of it. The novel was criticized for the selfishness and wildness of the characters. One review described Wuthering Heights as “a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors.”
But even then, readers had to admit that the novel had an unusual imaginative power. In the words of another reviewer: “We are spellbound.”
Ever since, Emily Brontë’s masterpiece has spellbound generations of readers, inspiring film adaptations and music alike.
Whatever you think of the characters,certain scenes will stay with you – whether it be Catherine’s ghost at the window, or Heathcliff howling in the garden.
But before we meet the lovers, we need to meet Lockwood – the narrator of Wuthering Heights. Just like us, he’s an outsider to this strange world. And he can hardly believe the story he hears.
Early years: Heathcliff and Catherine
The year is 1801.
The narrator, Lockwood, is staying in Yorkshire, in a house named Thrushcross Grange. One day he decides to visit his landlord, who lives in a farmhouse on the moors. It’s known as Wuthering Heights.
The atmosphere at the house is tense, and the landlord, Heathcliff, comes across as rude and misanthropic.
On another visit to Wuthering Heights, a snowstorm forces Lockwood to stay overnight. He has a vivid, disturbing nightmare – a little girl appears at his bedroom window, begging him to let her in. She says her name is Catherine.
Lockwood’s screams of terror wake up his host. After hearing about Lockwood’s nightmare, Heathcliff rushes to the bedroom window, tearfully begging Catherine to return.
Lockwood is disturbed but intrigued. He wants to know more about Heathcliff and Catherine. Apparently, she used to live at Wuthering Heights, but she died years ago.
Lockwood returns home to Thrushcross Grange, and talks to the housekeeper, Nelly Dean. She knew both Heathcliff and Catherine very well, so she can tell Lockwood the whole story.
Nelly begins her tale, starting with events from 30 years ago.
…
The Earnshaw family lives at Wuthering Heights. There are two children – Hindley and Catherine.
One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns home from a trip with a new addition to the family – an orphaned child. His name is Heathcliff.
Heathcliff’s arrival creates tension in the family, and Hindley hates him from the beginning. He bullies and beats his adoptive brother.
But Catherine and Heathcliff become close, then inseparable. And as they grow up, their bond only develops into intense love.
However, at the age of 15, Catherine decides that even though she loves Heathcliff deeply, she won’t marry him. She plans to marry her neighbor, the more respectable Edgar Linton.
Catherine expresses her thoughts and feelings in a conversation with the housekeeper, Nelly, unaware that Heathcliff is eavesdropping. When Heathcliff hears Catherine say that it would degrade her to marry him, he slips out of the room and vanishes.
Later that evening, when Catherine realizes that Heathcliff is nowhere to be found, she’s extremely agitated. She goes outside during a thunderstorm, gets drenched, and becomes feverish. Her illness lasts for days.
And still, there’s no sign of Heathcliff.
Three years pass before the young lovers see each other again.
ANALYSIS
Heathcliff and Catherine’s intense relationship is the beating heart of Wuthering Heights. The sheer elemental force of their bond drives the plot, acting as a catalyst for subsequent events.
Although Wuthering Heights could be described as a love story, it’s not romantic in the conventional sense. It’s about a dark, destructive kind of love. You might even call it toxic.
Heathcliff and Catherine become so close to one another that they lose their sense of self. Catherine even states, “I am Heathcliff.”
But that all changes when Heathcliff discovers that Catherine plans to marry Edgar Linton. To say that Heathcliff feels rejected is an understatement. His sense of hurt and anger is an important motivator from this point on.
But to truly understand Heathcliff, we also need to pay attention to his relationship with his other adoptive sibling, Hindley. Growing up, Heathcliff is abused by Hindley both physically and emotionally. And because they live together, there’s no escape.
So gradually, Heathcliff starts to plot his revenge.
“I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back,” he tells Nelly. “I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last.”
As we’ll soon see, Heathcliff isn’t a character who forgives and forgets. He’s motivated by love but also by another equally powerful force – hatred.
Adulthood: turbulent relationships
Three years pass. Catherine marries Edgar Linton and lives with him at Thrushcross Grange – a house not too far from Wuthering Heights.
One day, a visitor arrives – a tall, dignified-looking man. Heathcliff has returned.
Catherine is overjoyed. But her husband, Edgar, isn’t happy when he discovers that his rival is now living at Wuthering Heights once again.
It’s not just a question of jealousy, either. Edgar sees Heathcliff as a wild, destabilizing influence. And Catherine isn’t the only one that he’s concerned for. Edgar soon finds out that his own sister, Isabella, is infatuated with Heathcliff.
Everyone warns Isabella to be careful, including Catherine. Pursuing a relationship with Heathcliff would be madness, says Catherine: “He’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man.”
But Isabella is in love, and Heathcliff sees an opportunity for revenge. He knows his relationship with Isabella will upset both Edgar and Catherine, and he still hasn’t forgiven Catherine for rejecting him.
Tensions rise at Thrushcross Grange and eventually reach breaking point. There’s a heated argument between Heathcliff and Edgar, which culminates in a physical confrontation. Heathcliff flees the house, and Catherine becomes emotional to the point of hysteria. She spends the next two months ill in her room.
Meanwhile, Heathcliff and Isabella elope, but their relationship quickly deteriorates. While living at Wuthering Heights, Isabella discovers just how cruel Heathcliff can be. She bitterly regrets her marriage.
….
Back at Thrushcross Grange, Catherine remains in her room. She’s seriously ill, and also seven months pregnant.
When Heathcliff learns that Catherine is dying, he forces his way into the house, demanding to see her. During an intense, highly emotional reunion, the two lovers blame each other for their suffering.
“You and Edgar have broken my heart,” says Catherine. Heathcliff retorts that Catherine deserves her pain, having chosen Edgar over him.
“I have not broken your heart,” he says. “You have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”
That night, Catherine gives birth. She dies two hours afterward.
Heathcliff, who’s been waiting outside, is devastated when he hears the news. How can he live without Catherine? It’s like living without his own soul.
“Haunt me,” he says to Catherine’s spirit. “Be with me always … drive me mad.”
Then he breaks down completely, dashing his head against a tree trunk, and letting out an animalistic howl.
Heathcliff isn’t the only one who’s heartbroken by Catherine’s death. Edgar grieves too, but soon focuses his attention on his newborn daughter, Cathy.
Meanwhile, Isabella leaves Heathcliff, whom she now despises. She moves to the South of England, and a few months later she gives birth to a son, Linton.
In this section of the novel, Catherine isn’t the only character who meets a tragic end.
Hindley – Catherine’s brother and adoptive brother of Heathcliff – has become an alcoholic and a gambling addict. Due to his debts, he’s forced to mortgage Wuthering Heights to Heathcliff.
Hindley proceeds to drink himself to death at the age of just 27. He leaves behind a six-year-old son, Hareton.
Both Wuthering Heights and Hareton now belong to Heathcliff.
ANALYSIS
So, this is how the love story between Heathcliff and Catherine ends … or so we are led to believe.
Both characters are preoccupied with thoughts of death, souls, and the idea of being haunted. While Heathcliff remains alive, in a way, so does Catherine. They see themselves as being two parts of the same, deeply troubled person.
This is the section of the novel where we see more of Heathcliff’s dark side, and start to understand what he’s capable of.
For a start, he takes pleasure in witnessing and even contributing to Hindley’s downfall. That’s understandable perhaps, considering Hindley’s abuse of Heathcliff when they were children.
But it’s hard to justify Heathcliff’s treatment of the others. He marries Isabella out of spite and is then abusive toward her. He torments Catherine while she’s dying. And he treats Edgar with total contempt.
In his grief, Heathcliff remains cruel and vindictive. As we’ll see in the next section, his revenge isn’t over yet.
But before we move on, let’s quickly recap the new characters – the children who will play an important role in the final part of the story.
There’s Cathy, the daughter of Edgar and Catherine.
Then there’s Linton, the son of Heathcliff and Isabella.
Finally, there’s Hareton, the son of Hindley, who’s now in the care of Heathcliff.
So the new generation consists of Cathy, Linton, and Hareton – three cousins.
And soon they’ll be united not just by blood, but by Heathcliff’s influence over their lives.
The next generation: Heathcliff’s influence
Over the next 12 years, Edgar dedicates himself to bringing up Cathy. The father and daughter have a close, loving relationship.
Meanwhile, Isabella has been living in the South with her son, Linton.
When Isabella dies, 12-year-old Linton is sent up to Wuthering Heights to live with his father, Heathcliff, who he’s never met before.
Linton is a weak, sickly child. He’s completely dominated by his father. And he ends up becoming a pawn in Heathcliff’s manipulative games.
Three years later, the teenage Linton begins a romance with his cousin, Cathy. They write each other love letters and meet in secret.
Cathy’s father, Edgar, strongly disapproves of the relationship and tries to forbid the two teenagers from seeing each other.
After all, Linton is Heathcliff’s son. So if Cathy is involved with Linton, she’ll inevitably end up having contact with Heathcliff too. Edgar still distrusts Heathcliff. And with good reason, it soon turns out.
Heathcliff schemes to bring Cathy and Linton together. During one of Cathy’s visits to Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff holds her prisoner. He won’t let her go until she marries Linton.
Cathy’s main concern is getting home so she can see her father, who’s very ill. Feeling she has no choice, she agrees to marry Linton.
Afterward, she rushes back to Thrushcross Grange, just in time to see her beloved father before he dies.
From there, Cathy’s life changes quickly. With Edgar dead, and Linton now legally her husband, Cathy has no choice but to move to Wuthering Heights. And the following year, Linton dies at the age of just 17.
Cathy soon finds out that before Linton died, Heathcliff made him change his will. And because Cathy was Linton’s wife, her money became his … and now it all belongs to Heathcliff.
So in one short year, Cathy finds herself penniless and forced to live at Wuthering Heights with the man who ruined her life.
But she’s not fully alone at Wuthering Heights, as Cathy’s other cousin, Hareton, also lives there. This slightly rough, uneducated young man is a victim of Heathcliff as well, though he doesn’t yet realize it. Hareton is essentially a servant, even though the house should technically belong to him.
So for a while, Heathcliff, Cathy, and Hareton live together at Wuthering Heights – an unhappy family brought together by Heathcliff’s revenge.
(pause in narration)
At this point, the story being told by the housekeeper Nelly Dean is interrupted. The narrator of Wuthering Heights, Lockwood, decides to leave Yorkshire for a while.
When he returns about a year later, he comes back to Thrushcross Grange. Nelly tells Lockwood that there have been some changes at Wuthering Heights.
In the final part of Nelly’s story, she explains the events of the past year.
Although the relationship between Hareton and Cathy was initially tense, the two cousins ended up falling in love.
Meanwhile, Heathcliff’s behavior became increasingly odd. He stopped eating and sleeping and seemed to have given up on life. All his thoughts and energy were focused on one wish – to somehow be reunited with Catherine.
Not long afterward, Heathcliff was found in bed with his eyes open and a smile on his lips. He was dead.
But death isn’t quite the end. Nelly has heard rumors – the ghosts of Heathcliff and Catherine are said to wander the moors.
Nelly finishes her story by explaining that Hareton and Cathy are about to get married. Afterward, they’ll move to Thrushcross Grange, leaving Wuthering Heights empty.
In the final scene of the novel, Lockwood goes for a walk on the moors, where he finds three graves. They belong to Edgar, Catherine, and Heathcliff – together at last.
ANALYSIS
In discussions about Wuthering Heights, the second generation of characters – Cathy, Linton, and Hareton – tends to get overlooked.
Their part of the story might seem less captivating, especially when compared to the whirlwind of Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship.
But to understand Heathcliff, we also need to pay attention to the second generation, and the way he manipulates and abuses these three young cousins.
What motivates Heathcliff’s behavior?
Although he benefits financially from his scheming, money isn’t Heathcliff’s main motivation. Instead, he seems to be driven by a twisted kind of revenge.
Heathcliff loathed Hindley, which explains his treatment of Hindley’s son, Hareton.
Similarly, Heathcliff holds a grudge against both Edgar and Catherine, which may explain his behavior toward their daughter, Cathy.
But there might be more to it, as Heathcliff is a complex character.
He shows sadistic tendencies on a few occasions, so perhaps he enjoys making others suffer.
And fundamentally, he’s unhappy and unfulfilled, having been denied the one thing he wanted in life – Catherine. In his misery, perhaps he wants to drag everyone down with him.
Heathcliff’s death is a happy ending of sorts. Not just for the other characters, who are now free from Heathcliff’s oppressive influence, but also for the antihero himself.
Heathcliff dies with a smile on his face, believing that he’ll finally be reunited with Catherine. Considering that he’s buried next to her and that there are sightings of their ghosts together, it seems that Heathcliff gets his wish.
In Wuthering Heights, death brings a kind of peace, and freedom from suffering. And if you believe in ghosts, death isn’t necessarily the end.
The souls of Heathcliff and Catherine continue to roam the moors, and their story of eternal passion lives on.
Final Summary
Wuthering Heights is set in Yorkshire in the late eighteenth century. The Earnshaw family live at a house named Wuthering Heights. There are two children, Hindley and Catherine. And one day, their father brings home an orphan, Heathcliff.
Hindley bullies Heathcliff relentlessly. But Catherine and Heathcliff form a close bond, which develops into intense love as they get older.
Although Catherine loves Heathcliff, she marries her neighbor Edgar instead.
Heathcliff never forgives her for this. Out of spite, he marries Edgar’s sister, Isabella.
Relationships between the four characters are turbulent. After a fight between Edgar and Heathcliff, Catherine becomes hysterical and falls ill. She dies two months later, after giving birth to a daughter, Cathy.
Over the next two decades, the grief-stricken Heathcliff behaves cruelly and vindictively. He forces the teenage Cathy to marry his own son, Linton, who dies shortly afterward.
As a result of Heathcliff’s scheming, Cathy ends up penniless, a virtual prisoner at Wuthering Heights. But she gradually falls in love with her other cousin, Hareton – the son of Hindley.
Still haunted by his love for Catherine, Heathcliff wastes away and dies. The couple are finally reunited in death and their ghosts are seen wandering the moors.