Cathy Linton

During his early years Heathcliff didn’t deceive those as much, but towards his teenager years his adopted sister Catherine shows how deceitful she can be. Catherine is attacked by a dog and is required to stay at this family called the Lintons for five weeks. While she is there she meets a young man named Edgar and hides her “wild side” to impress Edgar. “Catherine

   "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff" (81)" These words, uttered by Catherine, in the novel Wuthering Heights are for me the starting point in my investigation into the themes of love and obsession in the novel. Catherine has just told her housekeeper that she has made up her mind to marry Edgar Linton, although she is well aware that her love for him is bound to change as time passes. That she is obsessed by her love for Heathcliff she confirms in the above quotation and by saying that she will never, ever be separated from him. Why does she not marry him then? Well, she has

Heathcliff is abused; his only source of love is his dearest Catherine, yet even that love cannot thrive in Heathcliff’s environment. The problem is not that his love is unrequited, but rather that Catherine believes she would fall to ruin if she were to be with Heathcliff “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him---because he's more

Similarly, both Linton and Cathy despise Heathcliff’s actions towards them. Cathy and Linton despise Heathcliff because he seems to limit their freedom. Heathcliff forces Cathy and Linton to get married because of his obsession with Cathy’s mother Catherine. Despite this, Cathy also has hatred because Linton is dying and Heathcliff is not

At one point in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff locks Catherine and Nelly into a room for several days and even “seized her [Catherine] with the liberated hand, and, pulling her, on his knee, administered, with the other, a shower of terrific slaps on both sides of the head” (271). Heathcliff slaps Cathy after she refuses to say in the room with Nelly for the sole reason that Cathy is Catherine’s daughter, and Heathcliff takes out his anger at Catherine on her daughter, which shows how much fury he still has after all of these years. Heathcliff also tries to marry Cathy to Linton in order to take control of Wuthering Heights when Edgar dies. He says that Wuthering Heights would “go to me; but, to prevent disputes, I desire their union, and am resolved to bring it about” (215). The hope of preserving the memory of Catherine is what drives Heathcliff to force his son to marry Catherine. If Linton were to become heir of the property, it would ensure Heathcliff's ownership of Wuthering Heights, fulfilling his

He’ll undertake to torture any number of cats,” (Brontë 338). Any display of sympathy from Cathy amplifies Linton’s ability to be selfish and petulant. Without Cathy the relationship would be non-existent, since both the relationship and Linton rely on her. More importantly, if Linton were not revealed to be ill, Cathy’s sensitive heart may have not have accepted his cruelty or marriage. Cathy and Linton’s relationship possesses no passion or kindness, since it is essentially Cathy's guilt which motivates her to care, and Linton’s motivation lies in his fear of Heathcliff treating him cruelly. Cathy plays the martyr, displaying the third unhealthy adolescent relationship, ridden with irrational guilt, and motherly instincts to protect and care for the weak. Cathy believes Linton needs her, and associates this with loving her, accepting all his anger and flaws, “I know he has a bad nature...But I’m glad I’ve a better to forgive it; and I know he loves me, and for that reason I love him.” (Brontë 353). She herself states she loves Linton since he loves her, and boasts she is capable of forgiving Linton even though he acts

The culture of set societal rules and conventions urges Catherine to be with Edgar, compelling her to be ‘the greatest woman of the neighbourhood’ due to them being relatively firm in their gentry’s status. This suggests the importance of her social status against the nature of her love for Heathcliff stating, ‘we would be beggars’, through employing the word ‘beggars’ the reader crafts the idea of her belief that she won’t survive without her status. Catherine admits ‘It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him’ Thus implying a swelling sense of her vanity and pride; enough to enjoy the position she gains from being married to Edgar despite her admiration for Heathcliff, being ‘more than (herself) than (she is)’and

Catherine Earnshaw appears to be a woman who is free spirited. However, Catherine is also quite self-centered. She clearly states that her love for Edgar Linton does not match how much she loves Heathcliff. She is saying that she does love both, and she is unwilling to give one up for the other; she wants “Heathcliff for her friend”. Catherine admits that her love for Linton is “like the foliage in the woods”; however, her love for

In Wuthering Heights, the character Heathcliff is quite passionately in love with Catherine Earnshaw/Linton. His love for her overpowers his life, his desire to live comes from her, and his need to get his revenge on her and the those who wronged him. Heathcliff wishes Catherine torment. He wants her to suffer always, but states he cannot live without her, and that she is his soul. Heathcliff’s quote parallels to an earlier chapter in the narrative, when Catherine claimed to Nelly that her and Heathcliff are one in the same.

Heathcliff resents her scorn. He desires to regain her approval. He attempts to be “decent” and “good” for her sake (Brontë 40). However, his attempt to be decent fails miserably. He resents the attentions that Catherine gives to Edgar. Catherine would rather wear a “silly frock” and have dinner with “silly friends” than ramble about the moors with him (Brontë 50). Heathcliff keeps track of the evenings Catherine spends with Edgar and those that she spends with him. He desperately wants to be with Catherine. When Catherine announces to Nelly her engagement to Edgar, Heathcliff eavesdrops, but leaves the room when he “heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him” (Brontë 59). Catherine has spurned his love, choosing Edgar over him. Heathcliff cannot bear this rejection. The love he possesses for her transcends romantic and filial love (Mitchell 124). He feels that he is one with her (Mitchell 123).

Heathcliff is so desperate for acceptance that he is willing to cheat people to gain the property he craves. By doing so he hopes to show Catherine that he is worthy of her, a landowner in his own right. After Catherine accepts Edgar's proposal, she seeks out Nelly and tells here that "[I]t would degrade [her] to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how [she] love[s] him; and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more [herself] than [she] [is]. Whatever [their] souls are made of, his and [hers] are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire." (Page 74, lines 29 - 33).

While at Thrushcross Grange, she grows infatuated with Edgar, despite her love for Heathcliff. Edgar came from an upper class family as well and took care of her when she was in a dog accident. This leads to her acceptance of Edgar Linton’s marriage proposal despite her statements regarding her love for Heathcliff. Heathcliff overhears unfortunate passages of Catherine's discourse and disappears for a period during which he mysteriously makes his fortune and changes irrevocably from the person he was. Vengeance consumes him, and Heathcliff attempts to destroy the lives of those who wronged him, (as well as their children). Ultimately, Heathcliff’s bitterly executed vengeance is effaced by a love between Hareton and Cathy that mirrors Heathcliff’s own love for Catherine. Hareton is Catherine’s nephew and Cathy is Catherine’s daughter, which makes the two first cousins.

It is the opinion of this essay that the character of Heathcliff evolves a lot more than the character of Catherine. When we first meet Heathcliff, he was found on the streets of Liverpool by Catherine’s father who then adopts him into the family as one of his own. This would have been a dramatic change for Heathcliff. Then after experiencing this quality of life until the death of the father he is then cast into the role of a servant/labourer by Catherine’s brother who despises him. Finally, when Heathcliff hears part of the conversation between Catherine and Nelly, he hears Catherine plans to marry Edgar Linton as she could never marry Heathcliff. “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now”. (82) It is here Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and returns three years later, a gentleman of means and of polite demeanour, not what you would expect from him. Here we can bring back the point that one’s environment dramatically affects one’s behaviour. Like Catherine, Heathcliff defies social norms expected of his gender. After he returns back from travelling having acquired great wealth and on the surface seems a changed man, he would be accepted into middle class society as he displays the characteristics expected of him. It is well described in the book to enforce the dramatic change in him for readers to understand how far he has come from

Cathy Linton, speaking above, displays the ability to love someone even when they do not deserve it. She draws her greatest strengths from love and kindles a fire of hatred towards Heathcliff because she has fallen for Linton.

The confinement that characters within the texts experience can be translated into modern values based on equality. In the novel, Catherine Earnshaw is constantly controlled by the circumstances that control her; she’s ruled by her father and Hindley throughout her childhood, restricted by her injury at Thrushcross Grange, and forced to marry Edgar because of her isolation from the rest of the world. Even in her passionate relationship with Heathcliff, which reflects the spontaneous, exciting nature of the Romantic period, Heathcliff