Wuthering Heights Contents
- Social / political context
- Educational context
- Religious / philosophical context of Wuthering Heights
- Literary context of Wuthering Heights
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
Catherine Earnshaw
Note: Throughout this text guide, the convention has been used of calling the first Catherine by her full Christian name, and her daughter by the name ‘Cathy’, even though Emily Brontë does not use either version of the name consistently.
The ‘natural’ Catherine
Catherine loves the moors and has a rather uncontrolled upbringing – she is what might be called a ‘tom-boy’. She is not easily scared or dominated and can be naughty. However, she has a charm which rescues her from getting into too much trouble. As Nelly sums her up:
However, this lack of self-restraint means that Catherine can be selfish and impetuous in both words and actions. As the novel progresses, she is seen increasingly to behave in a spoiled way, often resorting to tears or sulking in order to get her way. Whilst such characteristics are overlooked in a child, they become less appealing in an adult.
The constraints of civilisation
When, in her early teens, Catherine experiences the finery of Thrushcross Grange, she begins to be torn between two styles of living. She is attracted to the social prestige of wealth and refinement despite it making little allowance for the expression of natural instincts. When she asks Nelly about marrying Edgar Linton, the clichés she employs to portray her attraction highlight the unreality of her expectations, and, ironically, also ensure the dislocation of her ‘true love’, Heathcliff. She is unable to comprehend that wealth imposes restraint rather than freedom; that she cannot used her husband’s money to ‘raise’ and empower her lover. Despite Nelly’s protestations to this effect, she demands only that Nelly agrees with her.
Catherine never solves this dilemma and in a sense, it is this inability to reconcile her preferences which leads to her death. However, even beyond the grave, her tempestuous nature continues to haunt Heathcliff, and the novel.
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