Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (Characters)

 

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte

(Characters) 

Catherine Earnshaw

Catherine is described in the novel as a wild, wicked slip with the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile and the lightest foot in the parish. She is a lover of life in the wild and open moors. Although she shows some selfishness and vanity she is on the whole loyal though passionate. These opposing qualities are a cause of fierce conflict in her life. She seems to have great insight into her own nature, its similarity with Heathcliff’s and her staunch love for Heathcliff.

Catherine’s history is very much similar to that of Heathcliff. She is a wild and passionate character both as a girl and as a woman. As a child, we are told, she “could ride any horse in the stable.” Arrogant and willful, she is at times capable of real heartlessness. In spite of her affectionate relationship with Heathcliff, she decides to marry Edgar, knowing full well that it is a misalliance.

During her illness with brain fever, she becomes dreamy and melancholy and seems to long to escape life. She has no desire to go to Heaven, for she knows that she would not be at home there. She belongs to the moors and the stormy elements of nature. Before her death she states that she wants Edgar and Heathcliff to suffer as they have caused her to suffer. Edgar has been unable to understand the nature of her affection for Heathcliff. She wants Heathcliff that her spirit will not let him rest until they are reunited in death.

Actually, her death does not mean her disappearance from the novel any more than Heathcliff’s does. Their spirits continue to brood over the scenes which they once knew so well. Catherine’s rebelliousness and passion make her an interesting character.

 

Heathcliff

Heathcliff’s appearance is very striking and quite uncommon. His black hair, dark skin and bushy eyebrows make him look like a gypsy. Even when he later acquires the outward appearance of a gentleman his natural ferocity does not quite leave him. He has something darkly fascinating in his nature. The moving principle of his life is his relationship with Cathy. Injustice and ill-treatment, joined to his own passionate nature make him a cold and crafty revenger.

In the early part of the book, we are led to suspect him of nothing worse than a hot temper, a proud nature and a capacity for implacable hatred. Indeed until he is sixteen the balance of sympathy is with him, since he has been treated too ill. However, when he returns after three years’ absence to find Catherine married to Edgar, it is clear that his character has changed.

The characters set in opposition to him are gentle to the point of weakness. Isabella, the younger Catherine and his own son are powerless to resist him, Hindley seems a frail old man, Edgar is not a man of action, and Nelly herself, who is Heathcliff’s most persistent opponent, often behaves foolishly at vital points in the action. The reader is thus tempted to admire Heathcliff, as the Romantic critics adore Satan, for his energy and decisiveness, even his ruthlessness.

If we discount highly romantic views of the Hero, what is to be found in Wuthering Heights itself which may be supposed to influence the reader in Heathcliff’s favour? It is frequently argued that Heathcliff is redeemed by his passionate love for Catherine Earnshaw.

Edgar Linton

Edgar Linton is presented during most of the novel as a deliberate contrast against Heathcliff. He is unlike Heathcliff in both his qualities and his defects. Whereas Heathcliff is courageous to a superhuman extent. Edgar is effeminate and whines like a child. He is gentle and kind whereas Heathcliff is strong and almost brutal. He is also contrasted with Heathcliff in respect of the latter’s vulgarity. One must not forget that he also loves Catherine deeply though his love is not fierce and demonstrative like that of Heathcliff. A profound change takes place in him after the death of Catherine. One must almost say that he is ennobled by the sufferings through which he passes. Similarly, he has a deep love for his daughter Catherine Linton.

Catherine is impressed by the outward charm and sophistication of Edgar. Although she loves Heathcliff and not Edgar, she marries the latter, because she cannot think of marrying a penniless uncouth man like Heathcliff. Edgar, in his own way, loves Catherine as sincerely as does Heathcliff. He shows remarkable tolerance in satisfying the wishes of his wife during her last days, so far as meeting Heathcliff is concerned. Her death comes as a great shock to him and turns him into a recluse. He bears this loss in a way which contrasts him with both Heathcliff and Hindley.

Edgar knows in marrying Isabella Heathcliff is doing so only as a step in wreaking his vengeance. He forcibly confines Catherine Linton and makes her marry his dying son, Linton Heathcliff. He does his best to see that Catherine does not meet her dying father, but fails in this. Through the marriage of Catherine Linton and Linton Heathcliff he secures all the property of Edgar also. Of all the characters in the novel Edgar Linton perhaps suffers most at the hands of Heathcliff, but for the most part he bears his agonies bravely. The only consolation in his life is that he dies peacefully in the arms of his beloved daughter.

Catherine (Cathy) Linton

Catherine Linton is her mother’s child in the sense that she has inherited in full measure her charm and fascination. In particular she has the bewitching eyes of the elder Catharine, and it is this fact which saves her from being more brutally treated by Heathcliff, for he cannot stand the sight of her eyes which remind him of his own Catherine. It appears also that she has inherited the best qualities of both the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Where the elder Catherine was somewhat lukewarm or indifferent towards her father, Catherine Linton has obviously great affection for Edgar Linton. She watches over the ever-complaining Linton Heathcliff almost like a mother, though his cowardliness moves her to contempt. Her rough treatment of Hareton at first reminds us of the more unruly aspect of her mother but we see that she soon makes amends.

The fact that Cathy who by marriage first becomes Mr.s. Heathcliff and then Mr.s. Earnshaw, has features of the Earnshaws as well the Lintons is symbolic of the fact that she is fated to bring about a reconciliation between the two antagonistic families. She has genuine affection for the sickly Linton Heathcliff, although he deliberately torments her. She reclaims Hareton and sets at naught. Heathcliff’s plan of bending him to his own evil purposes, as he had done in the case of his father, Hindley. It is possible to view the union of Heathcliff and elder Catharine as prohibited by the fact that they are almost in the relationship of brother and sister to each other. However, there can be no such objection to the marriage of Hareton and younger Catherine because they are only cousins. Inheriting Edgar Linton’s gentleness without his weakness, Cathy’s spirit without her savagery, Cathy is a fuller and more balanced human being than either.

Isabella Linton

Isabella is a typical Linton. She has all the weakness, and colourless goodness of her family. She is clearly spoiled by being pampered. Her fate in life seems to be that of becoming the medium through which Heathcliff can wreak his vengeance on the Lintons. There is a terrible element of inevitability in the way in which she becomes infatuated with Heathcliff.

Heathcliff does not take much time in revealing his true nature to her because the first act that he commits after Isabella has consented to elope with him is that of hanging her pet Spaniel, and saying that he wishes he could have the hanging of everyone connected with the Lintons except one-that is, Catherine Earnshaw who has married her brother Edgar. There is great pathos in the fate, largely undeserved, that engulfs this luckless girl.

However, in spite of being treated most cruelly by him she does not join Hindley in his proposed conspiracy to murder Heathcliff, but rather warns him off so that Heathcliff is able to save himself from being attacked by Hindley. She is able to see through Heathcliff’s nature ultimately, realizing that if she did not show that she was suffering acutely he would not trouble her much.

Hindley Earnshaw

Hindley Earnshaw is the only son of Mr. Earnshaw and as such the heir to his estate of Wuthering Heights. Since Mr. Earnshaw meets with early death, Hindley comes into his property soon enough. He proves to be a very cruel master, especially in his attitude to Heathcliff. He is a perfect representative of the Earnshaw unruliness, which stands in need of being tempered with the Linton gentleness and sweetness, as we witness in the character of the Cathy.

Hindley has mortally hated Heathcliff ever since he was brought by his father. This hatred was of course much increased by the fact that Heathcliff took full advantage of Mr. Earnshaw’s partiality for him and made Hindley yield to him on every point. Hindley was nursing a grudge against Heathcliff and the moment his father dies he gets an unfettered opportunity to wreak his brutal vengeance on Heathcliff. The brutalization of Heathcliff can no doubt be partly ascribed to the cruel treatment of him by Hindley. The only redeeming feature in Hindley’s character is his love for his wife, Frances. He is passionately fond of her and attends to her devotedly when she suffers from tuberculosis. There is something pitiable in his reaction to her death, because for long he does not admit that her condition is growing worse; he in fact believes that she is improving, and the shock of her death is too much for him.

Hareton Earnshaw

Hareton Earnshaw is the son of Hindley and Frances. It is significant that his name is the same as that of the original owner of Wuthering Heights, whose name is written on the building. It is equally significant that his life is saved, though instinctively, by Heathcliff, as he falls out of the hands of his father.

Heathcliff’s revenge on Hindley extends to his son Hareton also. He resolves to keep him brutal, uneducated and uncivilised. To some extent his efforts succeed, because Hareton is found hanging a whole litter of puppies and abusing and stoning the visitors to the Heights. It is astonishing, however, that in spite of Heathcliff’s cruelty the lad has a great attachment for him, of which Heathcliff also is aware. He is the only person who feels the death of Heathcliff. In his last days Heathcliff looked upon him as an incarnation of his own past.

Hareton is jealous of the attentions that Catherine Linton, who becomes Catherine Heathcliff after her enforced first marriage, pays to Linton Heathcliff. His own interest in her, which he evinces after Linton Heathcliff’s death, is rebuffed by her. His efforts to educate himself are scoffed at by Catherine. Later, however, she relents towards him and helps him in educating himself, liberally rewarding him with kisses when he makes progress. It seems as if the unhappy love of the older Catherine and Heathcliff relives in the persons of Hareton and the younger Catherine. The novel closes with the information that Hareton and Catherine are to be married on New Year’s Day and to shift from Wuthering Heights to Thrushcross Grange.