Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
"Wuthering Heights," a novel by Emily Brontë, unfolds the tumultuous story of love, revenge, and the complexities of human relationships set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. The narrative begins with Mr. Lockwood, who becomes a tenant at Thrushcross Grange and encounters the enigmatic Heathcliff, the owner of the neighboring Wuthering Heights. The story is narrated in part by Ellen Dean, who recounts the troubled history of the Earnshaw and Linton families, intertwined with that of Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by Mr. Earnshaw.
At the heart of the tale is the passionate but destructive love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, which is complicated by social class and personal ambition. The narrative explores themes of isolation, vengeance, and the haunting nature of unfulfilled desires, as Heathcliff seeks revenge on those who wronged him after Catherine's marriage to Edgar Linton. The novel's dramatic events lead to a cycle of sorrow and retribution that impacts subsequent generations.
Ultimately, "Wuthering Heights" presents a vivid, if bleak, portrayal of love's enduring power and its capacity to transcend even death, as the fates of the characters become inextricably linked to the wild, untamed landscape surrounding them. The story concludes with a glimmer of hope as new generations seek to break free from the past, suggesting that healing and redemption are possible amidst the turmoil.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
First published: 1847
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Love
Time of plot: 1757–1803
Locale: Moors of northern England
Principal Characters
Mr. Earnshaw , the owner of Wuthering HeightsCatherine , his daughterHindley , his sonHeathcliff , an orphanMr. Linton , the proprietor of Thrushcross GrangeMrs. Linton , his wifeIsabella , their daughterEdgar , their sonFrances Earnshaw , Hindley’s wifeHareton Earnshaw , Frances and Hindley’s sonCatherine Linton , Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton’s daughterLinton Heathcliff , Isabella Linton and Heathcliff’s sonEllen “Nelly” Dean , the housekeeper at Thrushcross GrangeMr. Lockwood , a tenant at Thrushcross Grange and narrator of the story
The Story
In 1801, Mr. Lockwood becomes a tenant at Thrushcross Grange, an old farm owned by a Mr. Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights. In the early days of his tenancy, he makes two calls on his landlord. On his first visit, he meets Heathcliff, an abrupt, unsocial man who is surrounded by a pack of snarling, barking dogs. When he goes to Wuthering Heights a second time, he meets the other members of the strange household: a rude, unkempt but handsome young man named Hareton Earnshaw and a pretty young woman who is the widow of Heathcliff’s son.
During his visit, snow begins to fall. It covers the moor paths and makes travel impossible for a stranger in that bleak countryside. Heathcliff refuses to let one of the servants go with him as a guide but says that if he stays the night he can share Hareton’s bed or that of Joseph, a sour, canting old servant. When Mr. Lockwood tries to borrow Joseph’s lantern for the homeward journey, the old fellow sets the dogs on him, to the amusement of Hareton and Heathcliff. The visitor is finally rescued by Zillah, the cook, who hides him in an unused chamber of the house.
That night, Mr. Lockwood has a strange dream. Thinking that a branch is rattling against the window, he breaks the glass in his attempt to unhook the casement. As he reaches out to break off the fir branch outside, his fingers close on a small ice-cold hand, and a weeping voice begs to be let in. The unseen presence says that her name is Catherine Linton, and she tries to force a way through the broken casement; Mr. Lockwood screams.
Heathcliff appears in a state of great excitement and savagely orders Mr. Lockwood out of the room. Then he throws himself upon the bed by the shattered pane and begs the spirit to come in out of the dark and the storm. The voice is, however, heard no more—only the hiss of swirling snow and the wailing of a cold wind that blows out the smoking candle.
The housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange, Ellen Dean, is able to satisfy part of Mr. Lockwood’s curiosity about the happenings of that night and the strange household at Wuthering Heights, for she lived at Wuthering Heights as a child. Her story of the Earnshaws, Lintons, and Heathcliffs begins years before, when old Mr. Earnshaw was living at Wuthering Heights with his wife and two children, Hindley and Catherine.
On a trip to Liverpool, Mr. Earnshaw finds a starving and homeless orphan, a ragged, dirty, urchin, dark as a Gypsy, whom he brings back with him to Wuthering Heights and christens Heathcliff—a name that is to serve the fourteen-year-old boy as both a given name and a surname. Gradually, the orphan begins to usurp the affections of Mr. Earnshaw, whose health is failing. Wuthering Heights becomes riddled with petty jealousies; old Joseph, the servant, augments the bickering, and Catherine is much too fond of Heathcliff. At last, Hindley is sent away to school. A short time later, Mr. Earnshaw dies.
When Hindley returns home for his father’s funeral, he brings a wife with him. As the new master of Wuthering Heights, he revenges himself on Heathcliff by treating him like a servant. Catherine becomes a wild and undisciplined hoyden who continues to be fond of Heathcliff.
One night, Catherine and Heathcliff tramp through the moors to Thrushcross Grange, where they spy on their neighbors, the Lintons. Attacked by a watchdog, Catherine is taken into the house and stays there as a guest for five weeks until she is able to walk again. During that time, she becomes intimate with the pleasant family of Thrushcross Grange, Mr. and Mrs. Linton and their two children, Edgar and Isabella. Afterward, the Lintons visit frequently at Wuthering Heights. As a result of Hindley’s ill-treatment and the arrogance of Edgar and Isabella, Heathcliff becomes jealous and morose. He vows revenge on Hindley, whom he hates with all of his savage nature.
The next summer, Hindley’s consumptive wife, Frances, gives birth to a son, Hareton Earnshaw, and shortly thereafter she dies. In his grief, Hindley becomes desperate, ferocious, and degenerate. In the meantime, Catherine and Edgar become sweethearts. The girl confides to Ellen that she really loves Heathcliff, but she feels it would be degrading for her to marry the penniless orphan. Heathcliff, who overhears this conversation, disappears the same night and does not return for many years. Edgar and Catherine marry and live at Thrushcross Grange with Ellen as their housekeeper. There the pair live happily until the return of Heathcliff, who is greatly improved in manners and in appearance. He accepts Hindley’s invitation to live at Wuthering Heights, an invitation extended because Hindley finds in Heathcliff a companion for card-playing and drinking, and because he hopes to recoup his own dwindling fortune from Heathcliff’s pockets.
Isabella begins to show a strong attraction to Heathcliff, much to the dismay of Edgar and Catherine. One night, Edgar and Heathcliff have a quarrel. Soon afterward, Heathcliff elopes with Isabella, obviously marrying her only to avenge himself and provoke Edgar. Catherine, an expectant mother, undergoes a serious illness. When Isabella and Heathcliff return to Wuthering Heights, Edgar refuses to recognize his sister and forbids Heathcliff to enter his house. Despite this restriction, Heathcliff manages to have a meeting with Catherine. Partly as a result of this meeting, she gives birth to a girl, named Catherine Linton, prematurely; a few hours later, mother Catherine dies.
Isabella finds life with Heathcliff unbearable and she leaves him, going to London, where a few months later her child, Linton, is born. After Hindley’s death, Heathcliff the guest becomes the master of Wuthering Heights; Hindley had mortgaged his estate to him. Hareton, the natural heir, is reduced to dependency on his father’s enemy.
When Isabella dies, twelve years after leaving Heathcliff, her brother takes her sickly child to live at Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff soon hears of the child’s arrival and demands that Linton be sent to Wuthering Heights to live with his father. Young Catherine visits Wuthering Heights and meets her cousin Linton. Her father tries to keep her in ignorance about the tenants of the place, but Heathcliff lets it be known that he wishes the two children to be married. About the time that Edgar Linton becomes seriously ill, Heathcliff persuades Cathy to visit her little cousin, who is also in extremely bad health. Upon her arrival, Cathy is imprisoned for five days at Wuthering Heights and forced to marry her sickly cousin Linton before she is allowed to go home to see her father. Although she is able to return to Thrushcross Grange before her father’s death, there is not enough time for Edgar Linton to alter his will. Thus his land and fortune go indirectly to Heathcliff. Weak, sickly Linton Heathcliff dies soon after, leaving Cathy a widow and dependent on Heathcliff.
Mr. Lockwood goes back to London in the spring without seeing Wuthering Heights or its people again. Traveling in the region the next autumn, he has a fancy to revisit Wuthering Heights. There, he finds Catherine and Hareton in possession of the estate. From Ellen, he hears that Heathcliff died three months earlier, after deliberately starving himself for four days. He was a broken man, still disturbed by memories of the beautiful young Catherine Earnshaw. His death frees Catherine Heathcliff and Hareton from his tyranny, and Catherine is now teaching the ignorant boy to read and to improve his rude manners.
Mr. Lockwood goes to see Heathcliff’s grave. It is next to Catherine Earnshaw’s, on whose other side lies her husband. They lie under their three headstones: Catherine’s in the middle, weather-discolored and half-buried; Edgar’s partly moss-grown; Heathcliff’s still bare. In the surrounding countryside, there is a legend that they sleep unquietly after their stormy, passionate lives. Shepherds and travelers at night claim that they see Catherine and Heathcliff roaming the dark moors as they did so often many years earlier.
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