Chapter 23

Synopsis

Yorkshire moorland, image available through Creative CommonsNarrator: Nelly. 

Nelly and Cathy make their way through the mist next morning. Cathy is overjoyed to see Linton, but he greets her half-heartedly. The two have a quarrel, causing Linton to have a coughing fit. Getting wet causes Nelly to be ill, so she is incapacitated for three weeks. During this time, she does not realise that Cathy has been riding to Wuthering Heights in the evenings.

Commentary

Cathy’s kindness continues, as does Linton’s ‘peevishness’. He is especially annoying in this chapter.

Elysium: a state of ideal happiness, Elysium being the name of paradise in Greek mythology.

My Papa scorns yours: Linton seems to have been infected by the aggression which pervades Wuthering Heights. After the argument, it is the character from Thrushcross Grange who offers apologies.

Gadding: wandering idly.

The Grange is not a prison, Ellen, and you are not my gaoler.: Cathy wants to assert her independence just as Catherine did – and will end up imprisoned at the Heights, as her mother was at the Grange

Investigating Chapter 23

  • Nelly describes Linton as ‘the worst-tempered bit of sickly slip that ever struggled into its teens’.
    • Is this a fair assessment of him, or is there more to him, do you think?
  • Much of this chapter is told through dialogue (as noted in previous chapters).
    • Make a list of the adverbs and other phrases which describe how characters are speaking. What do you notice?
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