Even though Nelly and Edgar have different perceptions of Catherine’s ways, there may be some truth and valid points to each character’s opinions. Catherine, a defiant woman, has shown dominance for most part of the plot and gets her own way by displaying means of aggression and emotional breakdown. However, there comes a time when Catherine seizes her dominating ways and her mannerism changes and appears docile; which establishes her double standard nature.
By all means, the character of Edgar’s opinion can be justly supported by the writer of this paper. Edgar in his own rights may feel that Catherine uses her emotions to prove her point because he is her husband and he loves her. It is evident from the plot that he fears her, and readily
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accommodates her demands; however, his love for her surpasses any negative connotation that would shine her in a negative light. As evident by Catherine’s barbaric behavior to Nelly, Edgar’s own words to her, “You’ve made me afraid and ashamed of you; I’ll not come here again!” To get her own way and have Edgar stays with her, Catherine drops down on her knees and weeps. In "his naïve eyes", Catherine was a good person. Her intellect and emotion, (not her dominating ways) have led to her achieve what she wants. While on the contrary, the character of Nelly’s opinions can also be supported by the writer of this paper.
Nelly opinions come from that of an outsider, whose strong personality did not fear Catherine, but easily called her out for her miserable nature. Nelly sees Catherine as a vindictive person who readily gets what she wants and does evil things to overpower people. Nelly has come to face Catherine’s wrath first hand; as evident by her pinches and the stinging blow she delivers to Nelly when she refuses to leave the room as Edgar visits, and Catherine wants to be alone with Edgar as he visits the Heights. In Nelly’s eyes, Catherine is spoiled, and she does not matter who gets hurt or betray in the process to accomplish her goals.
To further contrast Edgar’s and Nelly’s opinion s of Catherine ways, Edgar sees Catherine as docile, calm, and loving. This side to Catherine can be attributed to when she stays at the Linton’s home. Catherine spends five with the Linton’s and while she is there she does not show her rough rude side in their company. As describe by the narrator, she took care not to act like a young ruffian and worse than a brute; comparing her to Heathcliff (her lover). While on the other hand, Nelly recognizes this calm behavior displays by Catherine as one of double standard; she being deceitful to get her own
way, In conclusion, as the proverbs goes, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” Edgar and Nelly portray Catherine differently. Although Edgar is aware of some of Catherine’s wrongdoings, love conquers all. He is blinded by love; therefore, he accepts Catherine dramatic ways. While on the other hand, Nelly does not share the same sentiments for Catherine as Edgar, and sees her as the conniving overly dramatic person who uses emotional response to get her own way.
Catherine first becomes exposed to the opposing forces as she experiments with her desires for love and a better quality of life. *6* Because she constantly shifts priorities from one man to the other, her love for Heathcliff and Edgar results in a destructive disequilibrium. *1*In the novel, Cathy is portrayed as a lady with untamable emotions. *7* In her childhood she learns to l...
The complicated nature surrounding Heathcliff’s motives again adds an additional degree of ambiguity to his character. This motivation is primarily driven by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar and past rejection of Heathcliff, since he was a servant whom Hindley disapproved of. Prior to storming out of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff overhears Catherine say, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now…” (Brontë 87). The obstacles that ultimately prevent Heathcliff from marrying Catherine provide insight into Heathcliff’s desire to bring harm to Edgar and Hindley. The two men play prominent roles in the debacle, Edgar as the new husband and Hindley as the head figure who refused Heathcliff access to Catherine. Following this incident, Catherine says, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same…” (Brontë 87). Catherine’s sentiment indicates she truly would rather be with Heathcliff, but the actions of others have influenced her monumental decision to marry Edgar. Furthermore, Heathcliff is motivated to not only ruin Edgar’s livelihood, but also gain ownership of his estate, Thrushcross Grange. This becomes clear when Heathcliff attempts to use Isabella
...other, or a matchmaker; she is all four at the same time. This multiplicity in roles, as well as her exertions to manipulate her fellow characters, implicates Nelly in the role of the author, who both occupies the role of all of her characters and manipulates those characters to act as she wishes them to. As a reader, it is easy to dismiss Nelly as merely being a means to an end. It is because of Nelly that we are allowed the opportunity to hear the story of Wuthering Heights, but the narrative certainly does not revolve around her, and nor should it. The author herself should never occupy more space than her story. Yet by performing a meta-analysis on Nelly’s role, we can see the importance of not simply dismissing such a character, because her presence says just as much about the turbulences of passion for love as it does about the passion for a writer’s art.
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 Heathcliff “resembles the eternal rocks beneath”. She loves Heathcliff and yet she gives him up and marries Linton instead, Catherine believes that if she marries Heathcliff it would degrade and humiliate her socially.
Nelly tells Catherine that Heathcliff is “about his work in the stable” (Brontë 69), knowing that Heathcliff is in fact outside the window, thinking, “he did not contradict me, perhaps he had fallen into a doze” (Brontë 69), listening to every painful and horrendous word that Catherine is speaking regarding her potential suitors. “I want to know what I should do. Today, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him… I accepted him, Nelly… It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” (Brontë 70). Nelly did not stop Heathcliff when she saw him leave after this part in Catherine’s speech, nor did she alert Catherine of this knowledge. Nelly knew Catherine was in love with Heathcliff and saw this marriage to Edgar as the best choice for her own wellbeing. Nelly kept her silence and pretended to be ignorant, “I turned my head, and saw him rise from the bench, and teal out, noiselessly” (Brontë 72). This shows Nelly’s knowledge of Heathcliff’s departure, the depth of her hatred for Heathcliff, and her desire for Catherine to have a life of loneliness and misery. By saying nothing and forcing the conversation with Catherine, she got what she wanted: Heathcliff ran away and Catherine married Edgar, which allowed Nelly to leave with Catherine to the Linton
This quote explained Edgars opinion on Catherine because she is over exaggerating with her emotions. She talks about dying and love. She also knows this will get a rise out of Edgar. But she also uses her intelligence because she realizes that Heathcliff will never love or miss her. Catherine puts her thoughts into a reality
As said in the book, Catherine believed that "Edgar was ready to choke in her absence" (113).
As soon as Edgar is introduced into the novel, the two boys are set against each other not only in fighting for Catherine’s love, but also in taking separate sides of the underlying battle between civility and savagery. Throughout the novel, Edgar is presented with civil and reformed characteristics, while Heathcliff is often given the characteristics of savagery━rough, raw. and often animalistic. During times of heightened emotion, he is described as “not like a man, but like a savage beast” (Brontë 163). The night that Catherine gets into a fiery argument with Heathcliff and then becomes engaged to Edgar, there is a distinct moment that captures this stark difference, as Heathcliff is exiting the room, and Edgar is entering. Edgar is described with positive connotations, as a “beautiful fertile valley”, while Heathcliff is a “bleak, hilly, coal country” (Brontë 67). In this way, the narrator characterizes them from her perspective. Heathcliff represents the dark and coarse, while Edgar represents aesthetic
In this narration and as a narrator, Nelly subtle and blatantly gives her perspective and bias on Catherine and Heathcliff, which remains unchanged until adulthood. Despite Nelly’s young age, she shows the audience the understanding of social politics within the Earnshaw family and its effect on Catherine and Heathcliff. Due to this knowledge and Nelly’s position in the family, she demonstrates her negative view on the two said characters when Catherine returns from Thrushcross Grange:
When we first see Catherine enter Nelly’s story she selfishly wanted the gift that her father promised her despite the fact that her father had gone out of his was to help a little boy that was all alone in the world. This is the first view of the selfish little girl emotions that eventually make her seem as if she is a little girl trapped in a woman’s body. But of course in this scene she was a child so it is excused individually but as a whole when put together along with the rest of the proof that she was a childish woman it shows just the beginning of the downward spiral that was Catherine Linton’s life.
Heathcliff and Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. Initially, Catherine scorned the little gypsy boy; she showed her distaste by “spitting” at him (Brontë 27). However, it was not long before Heathcliff and Catherine became “very think” (Brontë 27). They became very close friends; they were practically brother and sister (Mitchell 122). Heathcliff is intent upon pleasing Catherine. He would “do her bidding in anything” (Brontë 30). He is afraid of “grieving” her (Brontë 40). Heathcliff finds solace and comfort in Catherine’s company. When Catherine is compelled to stay at Thrushcross Grange to recover from her injury, she returns as “a very dignified person” (Brontë 37). Her association with the gente...
Catherine’s revenge does not make things better for her. Her revenge on Heathcliff by blaming him for her upcoming death does not meliorate her mind. Just before she dies, she ascribes Heathcliff for her “murder.” “You have killed me, and thriven on it, I think” (Bronte 158). Catherine resembles what Oliver Goldsmith said, “When lovely woman stoops to folly, and finds too late that men betray, what charm can soothe her melancholy?
Catherine's dilemma begins in an overtly conventional yet dismal setting. This is the ordered and understated fashionable New York setting where she is victim to her father's calculated disregard and domineering behaviour and of the perceptions others have of her given their economic and social positions. She is, in Sloper's words, "absolutely unattractive." She is twenty, yet has never before, as Sloper points out, received suitors in the house. Mrs. Almond's protestations that Catherine is not unappealing are little more than a matter of form and she is admonished by Sloper for suggesting he give Catherine "more justice." Mrs. Penniman, for her part, readily perceives that without Catherine's full inheritance, Morris Townsend would have "nothing to enjoy" and proceeds to establish her role in appeasing her brother and giving incoherent counsel to the courtship between Catherine and Townsend. For Townsend himself, Catherine's "inferior characteristics" are a matter of course and a means to a financial end.
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.
In Nelly’s case, she thinks Catherine is more of a tantrum throwing and because of that, she is extremely used to it now. For example, Nelly confessed saying “I own I did not like her, after her infancy was past; and I vexed he frequently by trying to bring down her arrogance; she never took an aversion to me though” (Bronte 58). By Nelly saying this, she is implying that Catherine has always been extremely rude to her but she is used to it. Nelly explains how she has never taken orders from her without an attitude or a problem. For Edgar, he and Catherine have an intimate relationship in the story. Catherine surprisingly dominates the relationship and bosses Edgar around. Their relationship is mostly one sided and based off abuse. Edgar speaks to Catherine saying, “You’ve made me afraid and ashamed of you” (Bronte 53). Edgar saying this shows that he thinks Catherine does the things she does just to hurt him. Thus, making this the reason for him thinking Catherine is up to nothing but to manipulate others. By the way Nelly and Edgar think about Catherine are both different which is why they both hold different relationships with