Student’s Name
Teacher’s Name
12 AP Literature and Composition
Date
Wuthering Heights
1. Major Characters:
Nelly Dean: Nelly Dean is the housekeeper at the Wuthering Heights and the
Thrushcross Grange residence. She witnesses the issues between the Linton and
Earnshaw families for generations and always provided aid and advice to them. She
always desired happiness for her master’s families and became emotionally involved
specifically with Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton and Hareton Earnshaw when
they were in her care. Nelly provides insight and advice to both generations. In the
novel, Nelly Dean demonstrates her role as a caring guardian and messenger when
Catherine Earnshaw gets ill and distances herself from everyone, confining herself to her
room. Nelly Dean serves as a voice of reason and motherly figure in the novel through
her patience.
Mr. Heathcliff: Heathcliff was not born into a wealthy family, but was an orphan
taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw, (Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw’s parents).
Catherine and Heathcliff fall deeply into an inseparable love as they grow as teenagers.
Heathcliff changes for the worse when his only love Catherine Earnshaw marries Edgar
Linton because of his wealth. He leaves Wuthering Heights to return a wealthy man and
thenceforth plans his life around seeking revenge on Edgar Linton, Hindley and their
respecting families. He is a resentful, wicked and foul-mannered man. His wicked
personality and role as a tormentor is shown throughout the novel by his trying to control
Catherine Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine Linton upon her mother’s death.
Catherine Earnshaw: Catherine Earnshaw was born into the Earnshaw’s
wealthy family alongside her brother Hindley and the adopted orphan Heathcliff.
Catherine becomes fonder of Heathcliff as they grow together but misleads him into
believing that they have a future together when she marries Edgar Linton. Catherine is
torn because of her deep love for Heathcliff, but chooses wealth and material over true
love, trying to assure herself that a life with Edgar Linton would make her happy in shortterm. Catherine is an independent-minded and outspoken individual; however, she can
be very ignorant to those around her by not minding her words. A prime example of her
ignorant behavior and role as the center of attention is demonstrated when she discusses
with Nelly her love for Heathcliff upon accepting Edgar Linton’s proposal. Catherine
says it would degrade her to marry Heathcliff so she would never tell him how much she
loves him. Her logic persuades her to choose money over true love, diminishing
Heathcliff’s importance to her.
Young Catherine: Catherine Linton, the daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and
Edgar Linton, is a jovial, adventurous and lighthearted girl who loves her life. She does
not wish to care about troubles and wants to make life enjoyable by constantly seeking
new relationships and exploring the land around her. Catherine’s role as a jovial girl who
justifies Heathcliff’s revenge is demonstrated in her attempts to see her cousin Linton
against her fathers’ wishes. When Nelly and Edgar tell Catherine that she is no longer
allowed to write letters or communicate with Linton, Catherine starts sneaking away from
the Grange.
Edgar Linton: Edgar, the husband of Catherine Earnshaw and father of Young
Catherine, is a very protective, faithful and affectionate man. He cared for his wife
Catherine very much from the beginning of their marriage to when she became ill and
passed. When she locked herself in her room he worried about her daily. Edgar made
Catherine choose between himself and Heathcliff because he wanted to be happier with
his wife and knew Heathcliff would interfere in their marriage. Edgar’s role in the novel
is to be an object of emotional distress for Catherine, since he is involved in the love
triangle of the novel. His role is also to provide reasons for Heathcliff’s revenge.
2. Theme #1: An obsession with love causes a person to react irrationally.
Scene 1: (Chapter X) After Catherine marries Mr. Edgar Linton, Heathcliff cannot
bear to stay at Wuthering Heights and he leaves for months desperately trying to seek
Catherine’s attention. Heathcliff struggles with his social status from childhood because
although he was taken in by a wealthy man, once Mr. Earnshaw died, Hindley Earnshaw
treats Heathcliff as a servant. He also overhears Catherine’s talk with Nelly about
choosing to marry Edgar because of his wealth and high- status. Heathcliff returns to
Wuthering Heights a handsome and wealthy gentleman. Heathcliff obsessed over his love
for Catherine and would do anything to have her pay attention to him and find him
comparable to Edgar in status.
Scene 2: When Catherine Linton first encounters Heathcliff and explores
Wuthering Heights for the first time, she is upset to know her father was keeping the
location of her cousin Linton and Heathcliff concealed. Although Edgar tries to explain
that Heathcliff is the one who hates him, Catherine does not understand and is banned
from talking to Linton and his family at Wuthering Heights. However, Catherine did not
oblige and used the milk-fetcher to pass letters between Linton and herself. Catherine
could not fully grasp why her father did not want her in any contact with those close to
Mr. Heathcliff.
Scene 3: Mr. Heathcliff felt personally insulted by young Catherine’s mother,
formerly known as Catherine Earnshaw, because she abandons him. Heathcliff surely felt
that any child of Catherine Earnshaw’s should be his as well, and seeing young Catherine
Linton filled Heathcliff with resentment and mean-spirited goals. Thus begins his
demented plan to ultimately hurt Edgar Linton, the man who took his love away from
him. Heathcliff’s dangerous and desperate kidnapping of Edgar’s only daughter, young
Catherine and forced marriage to his son Linton Heathcliff relays this theme in its purest
form.
Theme #2: Gender oppression results in a loss of one’s identity.
Scene 1: When Edgar Linton passes and Catherine is forced to move in with her
husband and Mr. Heathcliff, Catherine’s father-in-law is relentless in making her feel
uncomfortable and unwanted. Catherine shares with Mr. Lockwood that she would write
back to Nelly, but she has no writing materials or books any longer (343). Heathcliff took
all of her belongings and books from her knowing how often she read them. Because
Heathcliff is a superior figure to Catherine, he abuses the power he has and limits her
intellectual growth to make her feel less human.
Scene 2: Heathcliff again shows his oppressive nature to Catherine Linton when
he physically and mentally diminishes her thoughts and feelings. Catherine increasingly
becomes more lonely and heavy-hearted, but after being separated, Mr. Heathcliff asks
Ms. Dean to leave at Wuthering Heights. Even though the two are reunited, Heathcliff
still asserts his male dominance over the house as master. Heathcliff and Catherine get in
an argument over the inheritance Catherine received after her father passed. Catherine
asserts that the money and land is her belongings but Heathcliff heartlessly darts back
that she is an “insolent slut” and never owned any of her inheritance.
Scene 3: Catherine was forbidden to see Heathcliff because he was interfering in
her marriage with Edgar when he returned to Wuthering Heights as a man with wealth
and class. Although Edgar felt threatened, his demands of Catherine caused her to react
far worse than he expected. Catherine locked herself in her room for weeks and induced
her own sickness. She felt a great loss in being restricted from keeping in contact with
Heathcliff because he was her great friend and her first love.
Theme #3: Choosing wealth over love in marriage leads to a life of misery and
disappointment.
Scene 1: Heathcliff disappears from Wuthering Heights after overhearing
Catherine talk negatively about him but returned more handsome and wealthy. When he
returns, Edgar’s sister Isabella becomes interested in him. He first dismisses her desire
for him because his love is Catherine, but it soon becomes apparent that Catherine is
taken by Edgar and he embraces Isabella. Her attraction to him is based only on his
changed appearance and lifestyle. When Nelly reads Isabella’s letter it displays that just
because a wealthy and rich appearance may be enticing; it may not always lead to a full
happy life.
Scene 2: Although she loved Heathcliff, Catherine was selfish and greedy by not
following her true love because she was only briefly satisfied with Edgar. Throughout her
whole life with Edgar, although she grew to love him, she was constantly intrigued with
Heathcliff’s whereabouts and jealous of those who took interest in him, wishing she
could call him her own.
Scene 3: Catherine should not have chosen Edgar over her true love Heathcliff,
Isabella should not have looked at the physical attraction of Heathcliff as her reasoning to
marry him, and finally Heathcliff should not have changed his lifestyle for Catherine, a
newly married woman. Heathcliff, a newfound gentleman, left Wuthering Heights in the
novel only for hopes of bettering himself to be in standing with Edgar Linton and to take
revenge on him for stealing Catherine.
Part 3: Symbols
Moors: In Wuthering Heights, there is a reoccurring mention of the moors and
unruly weather. The moors are large open grass fields soaked with water. This tallgrassed infertile land symbolizes the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff
throughout the novel. Unforgiving, the moors could easily swallow up any who try to
enter because of its tall grasses and thick mud. Heathcliff and Catherine’s love can be
related to the idea of getting lost in the moors. Their love is so strong that they are “lost”
in the passion they feel and cannot get back to a normal relationship with their spouses.
Thrushcross Grange & Wuthering Heights: Thrushcross Grange represents the
strict sense of order dictated by society, while Wuthering Heights represents the wild,
animal nature of man.
Ghosts: The references to Catherine and Heathcliff’s ghosts in the novel
symbolize the fascination with the past and the ability to keep memory of the deceased
through the present and future. Heathcliff was heard by Mr. Lockwood calling out to
Catherine to return to him at Wuthering Heights once she was already dead. Although
Mr. Lockwood did not understand, Heathcliff’s belief in Catherine’s ghost represented
hope that she was still with him.