Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights

With the death of Catherine, the reader is inclined to examine the causes. Cathy herself states that Edgar Linton and Heathcliff are the direct causes, and it is quite the possibility. Finally culminating in one rather brief, yet powerful confrontation, the clashing of Edgar and Heathcliff has been an issue between the two families ever since the day that Cathy and Heathcliff went playing in the moors and got caught at the Linton’s house. Calling him a gypsy and servant, Edgar Linton was disgraced by his presence. Then later, for that scoundrel to be the one that Cathy truly loves? It was just too much for Edgar. The hatred grew and grew. When Heathcliff left, Edgar was at ease. He had Cathy, she had forgotten (or so he thought) about Heathcliff, and all was happy and merry at Thrushcross Grange. Then Heathcliff returned. While his motivations for leaving were good and heartfelt, his return was almost cruel for our ‘princess’ Cathy. She was so used to having everything that she could want, that she thought she could have them both. But Edgar stepped in. He finally stood up for himself and told Heathcliff never to return to Thrushcross Grange.

It’s hard not to choose a side here, but it’s also hard to choose a side. For one, we see this beautiful, happy couple, raised together as children, and soul mates from the very beginning. One is made to be of lower class, and the other is made to be higher class. This difference provides a simple yet strong social barrier. When the two have to split, when Cathy is forced to make a decision (one which, unfortunately for Heathcliff, she has already made) the two split, and I, as a reader, am forced to choose whose side I’m on.

In a novel such as this there is no right and wrong, only the lesser of two evils. Here, I have come to believe that the lesser evil is Edgar. I began to feel sorry for him, having lost both his sister and his wife to Heathcliff, whom he despises and sees as under him on the social ladder. Even though he himself has done things that cannot be right in any sort of way, we know that he truly cares for Catherine. He tolerates her moods and her tantrums, and he provides her with things that she wouldn’t have been able to get at