Wuthering Heights Character Analysis

Cathy was a good child, but she was very spoiled and overprotected, since Edgar didn’t trust anyone with her. She wasn’t allowed to wander outside the house, unless she was going to the park nearby and was accompanied by either Nelly or Edgar himself. Before Isabella’s death, she wanted Edgar to visit her so that she could give Linton over to him. He goes on a trip to claim Linton for himself, so Nelly is instructed to take care of Cathy. While Edgar is away, Nelly takes Cathy to Wuthering Heights to meet her cousin, Hareton, which was strictly forbidden to her, especially because there was to be no communication between the houses. Edgar returns to the Grange with Linton; Catherine and Linton get along easily and become good friends almost immediately. That same night, Joseph comes to the Grange, demanding that Linton go to Wuthering Heights to be with his dad, Heathcliff. When they arrive at the Heights, Linton is appalled by the ugly outside appearance of his new home and becomes frightened of his father, screaming that he refuses to stay there. Cathy turns sixteen years old, sharing her birthday with the anniversary of her mother’s death. Edgar goes to visit Catherine’s grave, so Nelly takes Cathy out to play. They run into Heathcliff, and he tells Nelly that he wishes Cathy and Linton to marry each other. When Cathy learns that Linton is actually Heathcliff’s son, she returns home and blames Edgar for keeping her and Linton away from each other for so long. Catherine and Linton begin to write love letters to each other behind their parent’s backs. Nelly finds out about this, and threatens to tell Edgar about the letters unless Catherine lets her burn them all.

Autumn approaches and Edgar becomes very sick. Nelly and Catheri...

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...d wraps a book for him as a gift and promises to teach him how to read it if he accepts her apology. Over time, they start to really love each other. However, now that Hareton adores Cathy, she tries to turn him against his father. When Heathcliff finds out about her plan, he almost hits her, but admits that he’s lost all his desire to torment Cathy and Hareton, because they remind him so much of his love for Catherine. Heathcliff starts to become very content with his life and is brought to peace. He refuses to eat any food and takes long walks in the middle of the night. He tells Nelly that he’s already found his own heaven, and soon passes away. Earlier, when Catherine died, Heathcliff asked the sexton to remove one side of Catherine’s coffin. He did this purposefully, so that now the two lifeless bodies were placed by one another, and remained together forever.