Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

British Literature - Highland Park High School

At the beginning of the novel (roughly in the 1770s), there are two families: the Earnshaws, who live at Wuthering Heights, and the Lintons, who live on the neighboring estate of Thrushcross Grange. The Lintons have two children: Edgar and Isabella. The Earnshaws also have two children: Hindley and his much younger sister, Catherine. There is also Heathcliff, about the age of Catherine, who was brought home by Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley and Catherine's father, from a trip to Liverpool. After the father dies, Hindley becomes master of the house and guardian of the two children. He also marries Frances, a woman from outside the area. Hindley treats Heathcliff badly, regarding more as a servant than as a son or brother.

As time passes, Hindley and Frances have a child, Hareton Earnshaw. Catherine marries Edgar, since her real soul mate, Heathcliff, has been "degraded" by Hindley; because she wants to provide for herself and Heathcliff by marrying the better-off man; and because she is attracted to Edgar and his love for her. Meanwhile, she and Heathcliff continue to truly love each other. Catherine and Edgar have a daughter, whom they also name Catherine (though, to avoid confusion, she will be called "Cathy" throughout most of this guide). After a trip abroad in which he makes his fortune, Heathcliff returns to the moors and marries Isabella Linton. They have a child, Linton.

Catherine and Edgar then die. Meanwhile, Heathcliff has taken advantage of Hindley's idleness and gambling to take possession of Wuthering Heights, turn Hindley's son, Hareton, into his servant, and force Cathy to marry his son, Linton. (Heathcliff holds strong grudges against Hindley, who had treated him badly during childhood, and Edgar, who married his soul mate, Catherine.) Meanwhile, Hareton maintains a deep attraction to Cathy. Eventually, Isabella and then Linton Heathcliff also die, and so Heathcliff, Cathy, Hareton (as a servant), and the servants Joseph and Zillah, all live together in Wuthering Heights. This is the situation in Chapters 1-4, in the year 1801, when Lockwood comes upon this dysfunctional family.

Once Heathcliff dies, the widowed Cathy marries Hareton, bringing this tale of thwarted love and familial dysfunction to an end.

Taken from SparkNotes.

Position Papers

Resources

Character Study by Cathryn Center
Discussion Questions by Courtney Galassie