Nelly And Catherine Essay

This passage illustrates not only the stark difference of demeanor between Nelly and Heathcliff, but the shift in Heathcliff’s conduct and mindset when Catherine was no longer around. The passage begins by Nelly describing how peaceful Catherine’s death was and how she hoped her afterlife would be just as peaceful. Immediately after, Heathcliff proclaims that Catherine should “wake in torment”; a stark difference to Nelly and Heathcliff’s attitude about her death. Nelly wishes her to be peaceful, but Heathcliff is so selfish that he wishes Catherine a tortured afterlife to comfort himself. The juxtaposition of the peaceful tone set by Nelly and the agony expressed by Heathcliff sets the stage for Heathcliff’s deranged manner that continues through the rest of the book.

   "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

Catherine’s crisis starts with her decision to marry Edgar Linton. “Yes, and it worries me, and I must let it out! I want to know what I should do. To-day, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him, and I've given him an answer. Now, before I tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which it ought to have been.”(77) Catherine starts to worry about the decisions she made because she realized she loves Edgar but not nearly as much as she loves Heathcliff. Cathy went on to admit this saying “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” (80) She knows she shouldn't marry Linton because she loves Heathcliff more than anyone else, but she does

When Catherine suddenly has a secret to tell Nelly, she tries to help her make her decision. For instance, the decision she is trying to make is either to marry Edgar

Another aspect which is relevant today and forever it shall remain relevant is selfishness. Catherine's selfish character was depicted when she wanted both Edgar and Heathcliff at the same time. In the beginning, she was introduced as a 'high spirited' character who was wild. However, she drastically changes throughout the book. When she hurts her leg and is forced to stay at Thrushcross Grange, she returns to Wuthering Heights as a well dressed and dignified lady. She was easily swayed to the superior lifestyle of the Lintons and began to look down upon Heathcliff. She even laughs at his rough and dirty appearance and says "I didn't mean to laugh at you. I could not hinder myself Heathcliff. Shake hands at least! What are you sulky for? It was only that you looked odd. If you wash you face and brush your hair, it would be alright. But you are

She would want be someone else because she always thought her life is terrible, and that others have a more luxurious life. She does not understand that she must be herself, otherwise she can never be happy. Catherine has to learn about being herself .When starting to realize that the marriage draws closer, she records; “I who just be caged could no longer leave them in cages. So I set them free—all but the popinjay, who could not survive on his own. I gave him to Perkin, as well as the other half of my pouch of silver so he can buy his way free from his obligations to my father and find a way to become a scholar.”(pg 159) Catherine starts to be herself, her kind, more accepting self. Instead of trying to run away from her fate even more, she, in this part of the book, without thinking starts to make the best out of her situation. She realizes that although she is bonded to Shaggy Beard by spending his silver, she can still give the rest to help her friend. But when Birdy fully becomes aware of herself, she says “I realize that Shaggy Beard has won my body, but no matter whose wife I am, I am still be me.”(pg 162) She finally understands that she can’t run away and be someone else, or she would not be herself. Catherine is now aware that she must be used to her life and profile, and deal with the hardships that come with it. She now fully

Once in the kitchen catherine was telling nelly that she loved Heathcliff and wanted to him but it would degrade her to do so according to her family, but in the same sentence she said that she loved him.” ...it would degrade me to marry heathcliff now; so he shall never know how i love him…”.(bronte.81) Not hearing the last part he left. He still loved her because when he found out she was sick he traveled on foot. When he got there she was happy “oh edgar darling!

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).

The conflict is that Catherine prefers Heathcliff but Edgar is the one who provide her with the needs she wants. Catherine didn't talk to Edgar as much as she talked to Heathcliff. Heathcliff is important to Catherine because they knew each other since they were young. Catherine wants to be with Heathcliff but she doesn't think he’ll ever amount to anything. “I’ve no more business to marry Edgar Linton that I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now.” (Bronte, 81). Their love was so tragic, depressing and controlling hurt them worse. Later in the story, Catherine refuses to answer Edgar question when he tells her to choose between the two

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).

Edgar Linton, normally gentle, also uses physical violence when he fights with Heathcliff over Catherine Earnshaw, now his wife Catherine Linton. Like Hindley, Edgar does not realize that violence cannot produce love. His fight with Heathcliff results in Catherine’s insanity and her eventual death. Catherine, too, is not flawless. When Nelly, under Hindley’s orders, chaperones Edgar’s visit with Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine is furious and strikes Nelly. When her nephew Hareton weeps at this abusive display, Catherine seizes the child and shakes him. She then strikes Edgar when he tries to stop her. The root of Catherine’s violence is not the same as the one that plague Hindley and Edgar: she does not physically hurt her family because she wants to be loved. She feels that she is already loved by everyone, but she

She talks about her daily life which involves the caring of the children and looking after the house, both very domestic features, and most of the story, and her life, are set in and around the house. As the strongest maternal character in the story, her descriptions of the children are often loving but she is not afraid to talk truthfully about their bad aspects. The narrative following the main character’s growth from children to adults, the five marriages that take place in the two households, and the changes of character’s hierarchy in society, all very domestic elements. Though Nelly has this maternal view and love of the younger generations under her care, she is still frightened by them, notably during Heathcliff’s final days with his sudden metamorphosis in mood from his general sullenness to being “uncommonly animated” (Brontë 328). During this time Nelly is quite unnerved by his drastically changed demeanour and one night goes to take him some supper. She is terrified by what she sees in his room, “The light flashed on his features… I cannot express what a terrible view I got, by that momentary view! Those deep black eyes! That smile, and ghastly paleness! It appeared to me, not Mr Heathcliff, but a goblin; and in my terror, I let the candle bend towards the wall, and it left me in darkness” (Brontë 329). After this frightful encounter Nelly is left wondering if he is

Nelly agrees to humor Lockwoods demand and sets upon recounting all history she has witnessed to Mr.Lockwood, in which Lockwood write in his diary from her perspective. (Thus incorporating the true Narrator of this Novel) Nelly starts her story from the time that she became a servant as a young girl at Wuthering Heights for the Earnshaw family. Lockwood records that on day when Mr. Earnshaw returned to his family from a trip to Liverpool, England he came with an orphaned gypsy boy, one that he would name Heathcliff. Catherine, Hindley

Nelly's language, on the other hand, can be vividly descriptive, as when she describes Cathy on the moors musing over "a bit of moss, or a tuft of branched grass, or a fungus spreading its bright orange among the heaps of brown foliage." Sometimes her language is not unlike Lockwood's, as she claims Heathcliff's "naturally reserved disposition was exaggerated into an almost idiotic excess of unsociable moroseness." However, once again the narrator's character interferes

The love of Heathcliff's life. she grows up getting everything she wants, she is impetuous, and arrogant when she was a child. in this story there are two men fall in love with her. Eventually, Catherine's selfishness ends up hurting everyone she loves, including herself. For all her education and love of BOOKS, she is wild, selfish, self-willed and demonstrates both violent fits of temper and cruelty. Only Nelly Dean is able to put up with her.