english quarter test
"I remember the master, before he fell into a doze, stroking her bonny hair - it pleased him rarely to see her gentle - and saying, 'Why canst thou not always be a good lass, Cathy?' And she turned her face up to his, and laughed, and answered, 'Why cannot you always be a good man, father?'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: C1 spends a moment with her ill father several moments before his death. S: The irony here goes as follows- a. this idea of C1 being "rarely gentle" for once is almost funny, and b. C1's cheeky response to her father's (rhetorical) statement points to the question of whether or not she does know something about her father having had an affair? And as she spoke these words, Mr. Earnshaw passed away.
"I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation; but Catherine angrily insisted on silence, and threatened to order me out of the kitchen, if I dared to be so presumptuous as to put in my insolent tongue. 'To hear you, people might think you were the mistress!' she cried. 'You want setting down in your right place! Heathcliff, what are you about, raising this stir? I said you must let Isabella alone! - I beg you will, unless you are tired of being received here, and wish Linton to draw the bolts against you!'"
emily bronte- wuthering heights C: In this situation, Nelly is assisting C1 and make a suggestion that oversteps her boundaries, thus upsetting C1. S: C1 tries to bring Nelly back down to reality and remind her of her place. However, C1 isn't entirely aware of how much power Nelly actually has, both as Hindley's mistress and in terms of the stealth she operates with because of her position as a servant
"The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts than I could have hit on: no parson in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did, in their innocent talk; and, while I sobbed and listened, I could not help wishing we were all there safe together."
wuhteing heights- emily bronte C: Following Mr. Earnshaw's death, Nelly is sent to Gimmerton, a nearby town, to notify the doctor and the parson, and therefore misses out on the joint grieving of the three Earnshaw children. S: To understand this quote's significance, one must remember that Nelly is raised as a child of the house until she may work for the residents just as her parents did- up until this particular point, she is a member of the family, and, similar to Heathcliff, Mr. Earnshaw is as close to a father as she has. Her transition from sibling to servitude upon the patriarch's death is a painful one- it explains some of Nelly's deep-seated resentments towards her former peers, for they were once equals. In her short absence she became an outsider, and now is forced to watch things from afar- she is a stranger, just as Heathcliff is or was, and this is why Nelly identifies with his struggles, and is irked by his obsession with C1 because of her own love for him.
"We crowded round, and over Miss Cathy's head I had a peep at a dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk: indeed, its face looked older than Catherine's; yet when it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish that nobody could understand. I was frightened, and Mrs. Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors: she did fly up, asking how he could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house, when they had their own bairns to feed and fend for? What he meant to do with it, and whether he were mad? The master tried to explain the matter; but he was really half dead with fatigue, and all that I could make out, amongst her scolding, was a tale of his seeing it starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb, in the streets of Liverpool, where he picked it up and inquired for its owner. Not a soul knew to whom it belonged, he said; and his money and time being both limited, he thought it better to take it home with him at once, than run into vain expenses there: because he was determined he would not leave it as he found it. Well, the conclusion was, that my mistress grumbled herself calm; and Mr. Earnshaw told me to wash it, and give it clean things, and let it sleep with the children."
wuthering heights - emily bronte C: Nelly's story begins on Pg. 25 with Heathcliff's arrival at Wuthering Heights. She begins her tale by explaining that the Earnshaw patriarch had gone away on a business trip and had, much to the chagrin of Hindley and C1, misplaced and broken the presents he promised his two children when he came to the rescue of Heathcliff, a dark and gypsy-like child who was apparently living on the streets, starving and homeless. S: Heathcliff is referred to as an "it," paralleling how one might describe a dog. He looks different, speaks differently, and generally confuses the family. At first, the children, who during this period include Nelly herself, don't care about this intrusion, until discovering that the destruction of their gifts was as a result of Heathcliff. They thereby proceed to despise him because of it. This episode is illustrated in the following quotation: "Cathy, when she learned the master had lost her whip in attending on the stranger, showed her humor by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing; earning for her pains a sound blow from her father, to teach her cleaner manners. They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room; and I had no more sense, so I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might he gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. This was Heathcliff's first introduction to the family." Mr. Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home with him for his wife and servants to take care of, but although his children poke, prod and make fun of Heathcliff behind his back, and yet he continues to express this fatherly love for the boy, to the point where C1 is punished for her nastiness towards him. This substantiates the suggestion of an alternate reading, which says that Heathcliff is actually his father's love child, whom he had with some lower class woman. This rationalizes the randomness of Heathcliff's arrival to the Moors, but also makes the later relationship between C1 and Heathcliff even more incestuous than before. Recognize that Mr. Earnshaw seems like the only nice character so far, and thus he dies 30 pages into the novel for he is not meant to survive in the harsh world Brönte has created. We also see this with Francis, Hindley's idiotic future wife. She, too, dies early. Either way, none of these un-pleasantries provides much of a nice homecoming for Heathcliff.
"I don't know if it be a peculiarity in me, but I am seldom otherwise than happy while watching in the chamber of death, should no frenzied or despairing mourner share the duty with me. I see a repose that neither earth nor hell can break, and I feel an assurance of the endless and shadow-less hereafter - the Eternity they have entered - where life is boundless in its duration, and love in its sympathy, and joy in its fullness. I noticed on that occasion how much selfishness there is even in a love like Mr. Linton's, when he so regretted Catherine's blessed release! To be sure, one might have doubted, after the wayward and impatient existence she had led, whether she merited a haven of peace at last. One might doubt in seasons of cold reflection; but not then, in the presence of her corpse. It asserted its own tranquility, which seemed a pledge of equal quiet to its former inhabitant."
wuthering heights - emily bronte C: C1 dies, and Nelly speaks about how it felt for her mistress to be dead, and reveals some of her thoughts on the nature of death. S: Nelly feels weirdly happy when she sees a corpse because dead people, to her, exude serenity and peacefulness. She believes that it is almost better to be dead, free of the restlessness of life, and lucky to be done with the difficulties of reality. Even with C1's complicated history, Nelly observes that she is now calm and restful. And so it is almost selfish for one to be sad or to wish one's loved one had not died, because if you really love someone, you must let them go. Nelly is commenting on Edgar Linton's reaction of deep sadness upon C1's passing. She even wonders out loud whether C1's bitchiness in real life makes her undeserving of her present state of peace, but stops herself before full on voicing these views to Lockwood.
"'Papa wants us to be married,' he continued, after sipping some of the liquid. 'And he knows your papa wouldn't let us marry now; and he's afraid of my dying if we wait; so we are to be married in the morning, and you are to stay here all night; and, if you do as he wishes, you shall return home next day, and take me with you.' 'Take you with her, pitiful changeling!' I exclaimed. 'YOU marry? Why, the man is mad! or he thinks us fools, every one. And do you imagine that beautiful young lady, that healthy, hearty girl, will tie herself to a little perishing monkey like you? Are you cherishing the notion that anybody, let alone Miss Catherine Linton, would have you for a husband? You want whipping for bringing us in here at all, with your dastardly puling tricks: and - don't look so silly, now! I've a very good mind to shake you severely, for your contemptible treachery, and your imbecile conceit.' I did give him a slight shaking; but it brought on the cough, and he took to his ordinary resource of moaning and weeping, and Catherine rebuked me."
wuthering heights - emily bronte C: Heathcliff comes up with a plan to gain control of Thrushcross Grange (in addition to Wuthering Heights, which he already has). He wants Linton Heathcliff and C2 to marry, and goes about this by keeping Nelly and C2 as hostages at Wuthering Heights until C2 agrees to the marriage. S: In this passage Linton explains what is going on, and Nelly butts in, disgusted with the whole idea. This will not be in her favor in the long run, because C2 eventually decides to just marry Linton because he will not be alive for that long anyway, and more importantly, she needs to return home to take care of her ailing father. After first returning home, C2 then comes to live at Wuthering Heights with Linton, who dies shortly thereafter. Her father also dies, and so through his son's marriage, Heathcliff owns both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, bringing us back to the book's frame tale, when Lockwood comes to rent Thrushcross Grange. Nelly is forced to stay at the Grange, separated from C2 as punishment for her troublemaking, and so, eager for company, she tells Lockwood the whole story of how all this came to be.
"'What new phase of his character is this?' exclaimed Mrs. Linton, in amazement. 'I've treated you infernally - and you'll take your revenge! How will you take it, ungrateful brute? How have I treated you infernally?' 'I seek no revenge on you,' replied Heathcliff, less vehemently. 'That's not the plan. The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don't turn against him; they crush those beneath them. You are welcome to torture me to death for your amusement, only allow me to amuse myself a little in the same style, and refrain from insult as much as you are able. Having leveled my palace, don't erect a hovel and complacently admire your own charity in giving me that for a home. If I imagined you really wished me to marry Isabel, I'd cut my throat!'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: C1 asks Heathcliff why he isn't mad at her or avenging her for her attempts to torture him, to which he responds (see below)... S: It is a trend throughout history for a victim not to act out against his victimizer, but to victimize those lower than them on the totem pole. Its application here is that Heathcliff isn't attacking C1 outright, he's simply torturing Isabella to make himself feel bigger and to have fun in the process. This illustrates why there is such misery throughout the book- the pain goes on for generations because abuse is vicarious, and this creates a vicious cycle.
"'Cathy, are you busy this afternoon?' asked Heathcliff. 'Are you going anywhere?' 'No, it is raining,' she answered. 'Why have you that silk frock on, then?' he said. 'Nobody coming here, I hope?' 'Not that I know of,' stammered Miss: 'but you should be in the field now, Heathcliff. It is an hour past dinnertime: I thought you were gone.' Hindley does not often free us from his accursed presence,' observed the boy. 'I'll not work any more to-day: I'll stay with you.' 'Oh, but Joseph will tell,' she suggested; 'you'd better go!' 'Joseph is loading lime on the further side of Penistone Crags; it will take him till dark, and he'll never know.' So, saying, he lounged to the fire, and sat down. Catherine reflected an instant, with knitted brows - she found it needful to smooth the way for an intrusion. 'Isabella and Edgar Linton talked of calling this afternoon,' she said, at the conclusion of a minute's silence. 'As it rains, I hardly expect them; but they may come, and if they do, you run the risk of being scolded for no good.' 'Order Ellen to say you are engaged, Cathy,' he persisted; 'don't turn me out for those pitiful, silly friends of yours! I'm on the point, sometimes, of complaining that they - but I'll not - ' 'That they what?' cried Catherine, gazing at him with a troubled countenance. 'Oh, Nelly!' she added petulantly, jerking her head away from my hands, 'you've combed my hair quite out of curl! That's enough; let me alone. What are you on the point of complaining about, Heathcliff?'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: C1, who has returned home, secretly invites Edgar and Isabella Linton over to Wuthering Heights, thinking Heathcliff won't be there, but when she realizes that he will be, she feigns innocence and pretends that these plans have only just come to light. S: Nelly knows C1 is lying to Heathcliff about her planned tryst with Edgar, and feeling bad for Heathcliff, combs her mistress' hair harshly. Up until we hear C1's screams of pain, we as readers forget Nelly is even in the room just as Cathy and Heathcliff do, as well. But of course, as we realize, Nelly and her fellow servants are always in the room because they have to do their jobs. They blend into the scenery, and it is only when they express emotions (such as Nelly's resentment towards C1) that we become aware of their presence. These emotions infiltrate situations in weird ways- Nelly's only power is the way she can react to something, and so she exercises this power to its fullest capacity.
'Her senses never returned: she recognized nobody from the time you left her,' I said. 'She lies with a sweet smile on her face; and her latest ideas wandered back to pleasant early days. Her life closed in a gentle dream - may she wake as kindly in the other world!' 'May she wake in torment!' he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. 'Why, she's a liar to the end! Where is she? Not THERE - not in heaven - not perished - where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer - I repeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul!'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Heathcliff laments C1's death in a boisterous fashion- he yells that he hopes for her to never Rest-In-Peace because he loves her too much that he needs her to haunt him for eternity, to return to him in some form. She accused him before of murdering her, and he begs her that if so, she should come back to punish him, for her cannot live without her. S: Heathcliff's love is the definition of selfishness, purely to satisfy his own needs does he desire her back. This is the classic, possessive 19 year old girl love here- this weirdly perverse idea that true love requires hate. We are now at a place in the book where we need a recap of character locations. At Thrushcross Grange we now have C2, daughter of C1, her father Edgar, and Nelly. At Wuthering Heights lives Heathcliff's son Linton Heathcliff, Hindley, who dies indebted to Heathcliff and thus the property's ownership falls to Heathcliff, and Hareton and Joseph.
"The guest was now the master of Wuthering Heights: he held firm possession, and proved to the attorney - who, in his turn, proved it to Mr. Linton - that Earnshaw had mortgaged every yard of land he owned for cash to supply his mania for gaming; and he, Heathcliff, was the mortgagee. In that manner Hareton, who should now be the first gentleman in the neighborhood, was reduced to a state of complete dependence on his father's inveterate enemy; and lives in his own house as a servant, deprived of the advantage of wages: quite unable to right himself, because of his friendlessness, and his ignorance that he has been wronged."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: This passage informs the reader of the transfer of ownership of Wuthering Heights from Hindley to Heathcliff, thus undermining the rights to possession of the man who is the manor's legitimate heir, Hareton Earnshaw. S: This was Heathcliff's plan all along- he forces the offspring of an insider/a master to become an outsider/servant, just as he himself was in his early years. His revenge on Hindley is vicarious, i.e. through Hareton.
Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of our separation again: it is impracticable; and - ' She paused, and hid her face in the folds of my gown; but I jerked it forcibly away. I was out of patience with her folly! 'If I can make any sense of your nonsense, Miss,' I said, 'it only goes to convince me that you are ignorant of the duties you undertake in marrying; or else that you are a wicked, unprincipled girl. But trouble me with no more secrets: I'll not promise to keep them.' 'You'll keep that?' she asked, eagerly. 'No, I'll not promise,' I repeated. She was about to insist, when the entrance of Joseph finished our conversation; and Catherine removed her seat to a corner, and nursed Hareton, while I made the supper."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C/S: Nelly tells C1 that there will be no more secrets, that she is not on her side anymore, and that she thinks of C1 as a spoiled brat who she refuses to be loyal to.
"Don't cant, Nelly,' he said: 'nonsense! We ran from the top of the Heights to the park, without stopping - Catherine completely beaten in the race, because she was barefoot. You'll have to seek for her shoes in the bog to-morrow. We crept through a broken hedge, groped our way up the path, and planted ourselves on a flower-plot under the drawing-room window. The light came from thence; they had not put up the shutters, and the curtains were only half closed. Both of us were able to look in by standing on the basement, and clinging to the ledge, and we saw - ah! it was beautiful - a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and crimson-covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower of glass-drops hanging in silver chains from the center, and shimmering with little soft tapers. Old Mr. and Mrs. Linton were not there; Edgar and his sisters had it entirely to themselves. Shouldn't they have been happy? We should have thought ourselves in heaven! And now, guess what your good children were doing? Isabella - I believe she is eleven, a year younger than Cathy - lay screaming at the farther end of the room, shrieking as if witches were running red-hot needles into her. Edgar stood on the hearth weeping silently, and in the middle of the table sat a little dog, shaking its paw and yelping; which, from their mutual accusations, we understood they had nearly pulled in two between them. The idiots! That was their pleasure! to quarrel who should hold a heap of warm hair, and each begin to cry because both, after struggling to get it, refused to take it. We laughed outright at the petted things; we did despise them!"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Heathcliff tells Nelly of his visit with C1 to Thrushcross Grange, and what transpired there. The critical thing to remember is that this whole story is narrated by Nelly, who is re-stating Heathcliff's account of the events, and thus we are provided here with many layers of storytelling that we should keep in mind: first we have Heathcliff, who tells Nelly, who tells Lockwood, who essentially tells Brönte, and that is how this story reaches us readers. S: The adventurous duo of Heathcliff and C1 spy on the Lintons, the residents of Thrushcross Grange, by looking into the windows of their home. They call the place heaven, though anything may be better than Wuthering Heights, and Heathcliff conveys all these kind of carefree and lighthearted details to Nelly, who, after all, will have to clean up after their mess and go look for C1's shoes the next day which fell into a bog. As C1 and Heathcliff press their faces up against the glass, they describe the Linton as gorgeous, and they hate them for it, and also because the kids that are their age-Isabella and Edgar, whose parents are not home-cry and fight about such trivial matters, including who loves the dog they have more. Heathcliff personifies this dog- he is viewed as an animal and abused at home by Hindley. This dog, something which is not a human being, is treated better than him, and is part of the reason why Heathcliff resents the Lintons so much. When they are discovered, the Lintons go into a state of shock, accidentally sending a dog to attack them, leaving C1 injured. While she is welcomed into the house and cared for, Heathcliff is left outside, peering through the window once more, for he is looked down upon by the Lintons-they think he is a dirty little creature. Heathcliff sees the Lintons fussing over C1, and remarks, "I saw they were full of stupid admiration; she is so immeasurably superior to them, to everybody on earth, is she not, Nelly?" His words shatter Nelly's desires for her to be 'Heathcliff's girl,' and they explain why Nelly is often spiteful towards C1- it's out of jealousy. As I mentioned previously, Wuthering Heights is considered the basis for modern romantic tropes, patterns, and conventions- we find that the concept of the girl who is forced to choose between two boys originated here. Not only is there a cliché of a girl having to decide between two suitors, but two very different suitors- the rich boy (Edgar) and the poor boy (Heathcliff, in a sense); the good boy (Edgar) and the bad boy (Heathcliff). Both have their advantages and disadvantages- Heathcliff is exciting and dangerous, and Edgar is boring but secure. The media tends to root for the bad boy, the underdog, the figure on the outside, whereas the good boy is on the inside. This same idea is true here, too. The bad boy is the one that captivates our attention and that we consider most attractive (a contrast with Victorian literature). But let's remember that while C1 has a choice to make, Nelly, our narrator, has none. She comes to Heathcliff's comfort and aid, although she knows he feels no sexual affection for her.
"Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. 'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Lockwood describes his surroundings. S: Wuthering refers to the constant and inhospitably harsh winds that are characteristic to the Moors. A sense of darkness, chaos, and general misanthropy is embedded in the landscape itself, evoked by Lockwood's descriptions of the narrow windows, trees grown at angles and jutting stones.
"But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark- skinned gipsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman: that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire: rather slovenly, perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence, because he has an erect and handsome figure; and rather morose. Possibly, some people might suspect him of a degree of under-bred pride; I have a sympathetic chord within that tells me it is nothing of the sort: I know, by instinct, his reserve springs from an aversion to showy displays of feeling- to manifestations of mutual kindliness. He'll love and hate equally under cover, and esteem it a species of impertinence to be loved or hated again. No, I'm running on too fast: I bestow my own attributes over-liberally on him. Mr. Heathcliff may have entirely dissimilar reasons for keeping his hand out of the way when he meets a would-be acquaintance, to those which actuate me. Let me hope my constitution is almost peculiar: my dear mother used to say I should never have a comfortable home; and only last summer I proved myself perfectly unworthy of one."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Lockwood gives details regarding H's visage and personality, but soon after recognizes that perhaps he himself is projecting his own traits on a man he barely knows. S: Lockwood's descriptions of Heathcliff's characteristics such as his dark, gypsy demeanor and aversion to showy displays of affection seem appropriate enough for our greater understanding of the book, but Lockwood actually takes a step back and says that the qualities he has just explained are actually his own, and he shouldn't be linking them to Heathcliff because in fact, for example, Heathcliff might have entirely different reasons than Lockwood for not shaking someone's hand besides being anti-social and disgusted with people. This idea that one cannot really trust oneself to distinguish between our own emotional states and the superficially similar states of others parallels Tim O'Brien's idea that you can't trust stories, because they could be composed entirely of projections. This too applies to Nelly's narration in the flashback scenes that will come up- you can't necessarily completely trust her commentary.
"The ledge, where I placed my candle, had a few mildewed books piled up in one corner; and it was covered with writing scratched on the paint. This writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small - CATHERINE EARNSHAW, here and there varied to CATHERINE HEATHCLIFF, and then again to CATHERINE LINTON."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Lockwood is forced by awful weather to stay over at Wuthering Heights for the night, and he is led to a room, formerly belonging to Heathcliff's great love C1, and upon the room's walls he finds her name with different surnames written over and over again, as if she was trying to pick between the two. S: The repetition of these names represents C1's imagining of her potential marriages, and foreshadows the (slightly incestuous) love triangle between her, Edgar Linton, and the young Heathcliff that will be detailed in the chapters to come.
"I took a seat at the end of the hearthstone opposite that towards which my landlord advanced, and filled up an interval of silence by attempting to caress the canine mother, who had left her nursery, and was sneaking wolfishly to the back of my legs, her lip curled up, and her white teeth watering for a snatch. My caress provoked a long, guttural gnarl.' You'd better let the dog alone,' growled Mr. Heathcliff in unison, checking fiercer demonstrations with a punch of his foot. 'She's not accustomed to be spoiled - not kept for a pet.' Then, striding to a side door, he shouted again, 'Joseph!'...What the devil is the matter?' he asked, eyeing me in a manner that I could ill endure, after this inhospitable treatment. 'What the devil, indeed!' I muttered. 'The herd of possessed swine could have had no worse spirits in them than those animals of yours, sir. You might as well leave a stranger with a brood of tigers!' 'They won't meddle with persons who touch nothing,' he remarked, putting the bottle before me, and restoring the displaced table. 'The dogs do right to be vigilant...Guests are so exceedingly rare in this house that I and my dogs, I am willing to own, hardly know how to receive them.'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Lockwood is left alone in the room with several of Heathcliff's dogs, making faces at them and insulting them for no reason. Lockwood appears to be the victim here, but in reality he's the terrible one- the dogs attack him because of his actions. We nevertheless treat him as this victimized soul because although the characters in the book are so disdainful, we like them despite of it. S: When Heathcliff returns and finds Lockwood angered at the dog's response to his mocking, instead of fully apologizing, he accuses Lockwood of doing something to provoke them and then says that there are so few guests on his land that both him and his dog are unsure of how to deal with Lockwood's presence. Moreover, in Heathcliff's opinion, the dogs are in the right, not Lockwood, and one explanation for this is that Heathcliff himself is a dog. This important comparison of Heathcliff to a savage animal is present throughout the book. He is almost warning Lockwood here that if you are going to be around us dogs, you better get used to it.
I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Lockwood, the new renter of Thrushcross Grange, describes his first interaction with Heathcliff and how he feels akin to him. S: For the likes of Lockwood and Heathcliff, the Moor estates are a perfect misanthrope's haven- Lockwood sees himself sharing with Heathcliff a sense of desolation and a mutual dislike of people. While Lockwood views H as being suspicious, he also feels a connection with him, likely because they are the only two people (as far as Lockwood knows now) around. This interaction sets a tone for the sense of hatred and spite towards people that pervades the book.
"He raised his missile to hurl it; I commenced a soothing speech, but could not stay his hand: the stone struck my bonnet; and then ensued, from the stammering lips of the little fellow, a string of curses, which, whether he comprehended them or not, were delivered with practiced emphasis, and distorted his baby features into a shocking expression of malignity. You may be certain this grieved more than angered me. Fit to cry, I took an orange from my pocket, and offered it to propitiate him. He hesitated, and then snatched it from my hold; as if he fancied I only intended to tempt and disappoint him. I showed another, keeping it out of his reach. 'Who has taught you those fine words, my bairn?' I inquired. 'The curate?' 'Damn the curate, and thee! Give me that,' he replied. 'Tell us where you got your lessons, and you shall have it,' said I. 'Who's your master?' 'Devil daddy,' was his answer. 'And what do you learn from daddy?' I continued. He jumped at the fruit; I raised it higher. 'What does he teach you?' I asked. 'Naught,' said he, 'but to keep out of his gait. Daddy cannot bide me, because I swear at him.' 'Ah! and the devil teaches you to swear at daddy?' I observed. 'Ay - nay,' he drawled. 'Who, then?' 'Heathcliff.' 'I asked if he liked Mr. Heathcliff.' 'Ay!' he answered again. Desiring to have his reasons for liking him, I could only gather the sentences - 'I known't: he pays dad back what he goes to me - he curses daddy for cursing me. He says I mun do as I will.'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Nelly has gone to visit Hareton, her former charge (she used to take care of him), at Wuthering Heights. She is greeted by Hareton hurling stones at her head like an animal, cursing as he throws. S: Hareton is a little savage creature not because of who he may really be, but because of how he has been raised. Nelly, acknowledging this, treats him like an animal, offering him food in order to soothe him, which he rejects. Hareton refers to Heathcliff his "daddy," the one who taught him to curse at his biological father, Hindley, and anyone else who may upset him. And Heathcliff may just be the devil, for when Nelly asks him if he thinks Heathcliff is, Hareton responds confusedly. Hareton likes Heathcliff primarily because Heathcliff tortures Hindley, and so the two bond because the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend. Note that any blank spaces in this passage are curses crossed out by Brönte.
"'I'm not come too soon, am I?' he said, casting a look at me: I had begun to wipe the plate, and tidy some drawers at the far end in the dresser. 'No,' answered Catherine. 'What are you doing there, Nelly?' 'My work, Miss,' I replied. (Mr. Hindley had given me directions to make a third party in any private visits Linton chose to pay.) She stepped behind me and whispered crossly, 'Take yourself and your dusters off; when company are in the house, servants don't commence scouring and cleaning in the room where they are!' 'It's a good opportunity, now that master is away,' I answered aloud: 'he hates me to be fidgeting over these things in his presence. I'm sure Mr. Edgar will excuse me.' 'I hate you to be fidgeting in MY presence,' exclaimed the young lady imperiously, not allowing her guest time to speak: she had failed to recover her equanimity since the little dispute with Heathcliff. 'I'm sorry for it, Miss Catherine,' was my response; and I proceeded assiduously with my occupation. She, supposing Edgar could not see her, snatched the cloth from my hand, and pinched me, with a prolonged wrench, very spitefully on the arm. I've said I did not love her, and rather relished mortifying her vanity now and then: besides, she hurt me extremely; so I started up from my knees, and screamed out, 'Oh, Miss, that's a nasty trick! You have no right to nip me, and I'm not going to bear it.' 'I didn't touch you, you lying creature!' cried she, her fingers tingling to repeat the act, and her ears red with rage. She never had power to conceal her passion, it always set her whole complexion in a blaze. 'What's that, then?' I retorted, showing a decided purple witness to refute her. She stamped her foot, wavered a moment, and then, irresistibly impelled by the naughty spirit within her, slapped me on the cheek: a stinging blow that filled both eyes with water. 'Catherine, love! Catherine!' interposed Linton, greatly shocked at the double fault of falsehood and violence which his idol had committed. 'I'm not come too soon, am I?' he said, casting a look at me: I had begun to wipe the plate, and tidy some drawers at the far end in the dresser. 'No,' answered Catherine. 'What are you doing there, Nelly?' 'My work, Miss,' I replied. (Mr. Hindley had given me directions to make a third party in any private visits Linton chose to pay.) She stepped behind me and whispered crossly, 'Take yourself and your dusters off; when company are in the house, servants don't commence scouring and cleaning in the room where they are!' 'It's a good opportunity, now that master is away,' I answered aloud: 'he hates me to be fidgeting over these things in his presence. I'm sure Mr. Edgar will excuse me.' 'I hate you to be fidgeting in MY presence,' exclaimed the young lady imperiously, not allowing her guest time to speak: she had failed to recover her equanimity since the little dispute with Heathcliff. 'I'm sorry for it, Miss Catherine,' was my response; and I proceeded assiduously with my occupation. She, supposing Edgar could not see her, snatched the cloth from my hand, and pinched me, with a prolonged wrench, very spitefully on the arm. I've said I did not love her, and rather relished mortifying her vanity now and then: besides, she hurt me extremely; so I started up from my knees, and screamed out, 'Oh, Miss, that's a nasty trick! You have no right to nip me, and I'm not going to bear it.' 'I didn't touch you, you lying creature!' cried she, her fingers tingling to repeat the act, and her ears red with rage. She never had power to conceal her passion, it always set her whole complexion in a blaze. 'What's that, then?' I retorted, showing a decided purple witness to refute her. She stamped her foot, wavered a moment, and then, irresistibly impelled by the naughty spirit within her, slapped me on the cheek: a stinging blow that filled both eyes with water. 'Catherine, love! Catherine!' interposed Linton, greatly shocked at the double fault of falsehood and violence which his idol had committed."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: When Edgar comes over, C1 wants Nelly out of the room, as evidenced by her behavior. However Nelly remains (paying a price for her behavior), and the following explains why. S: Hindley, too, is aware of how Nelly is subject to things that happen without others being conscious of her there. He uses her for this third party status when he hires her to spy on Edgar and C1. But what he fails to understand is that Nelly merely uses his instructions as justification- she wanted to listen in anyway. When C1 yells at her to get out, she insolently responds something on the lines of "idts." When this continues, Nelly merely responds, "sorry," to C1's shouts, taking hold of her own small role as a character. She has this fascinating ability to shift and shape events and relationships in the book, from the most minute to the most consequential level.
"'I see in you, Nelly,' she continued dreamily, 'an aged woman: you have grey hair and bent shoulders. This bed is the fairy cave under Penistone crags, and you are gathering elf-bolts to hurt our heifers; pretending, while I am near, that they are only locks of wool. '"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C/S: As C1 grows very sick, she starts to float in and out of these fantastic dreams. In one of them, she subconsciously recognizes Nelly's secret power and begins to catch on to her oft weird behavior, even if C1 doesn't realize it fully.
95 "'Ah! Nelly has played traitor,' she exclaimed, passionately. 'Nelly is my hidden enemy. You witch! So you do seek elf-bolts to hurt us! Let me go, and I'll make her rue! I'll make her howl a recantation!'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C/S: While C1 grows more and more ill, Heathcliff runs away with Isabella, and C1, eager to blame someone, calls Nelly a traitor for telling her what happened. She feels that somehow Nelly had something to do with their escape from beneath C1's clutches.
"'Come in, that's right!' exclaimed the mistress, gaily, pulling a chair to the fire. 'Here are two people sadly in need of a third to thaw the ice between them; and you are the very one we should both of us choose. Heathcliff, I'm proud to show you, at last, somebody that dotes on you more than myself. I expect you to feel flattered. Nay, it's not Nelly; don't look at her! My poor little sister-in-law is breaking her heart by mere contemplation of your physical and moral beauty. It lies in your own power to be Edgar's brother!'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: C1 wants to set up Isabella Linton and Heathcliff, because she is unhappy about her own marriage to Edgar, and wants Heathcliff to be unhappy in love, too. S: She sadistically remarks to Heathcliff during his visit to Thrushcross Grange that there is someone there who is obsessed with him, prompting Heathcliff to turn to Nelly, who has always been known to have a huge crush on him. C1 goes on to say that no, it is not Nelly, but Isabella. Once this happens, Heathcliff begins to flirt with Isabella, but not because he genuinely likes her, but rather, he wants to get back at C1 by making her think he does love her sister-in-law. Forever a duo, C1 and Heathcliff both live vicariously through Isabella in enacting revenge upon each other.
"'Now, Ellen, you have heard all. I can't be prevented from going to Wuthering Heights, except by inflicting misery on two people; whereas, if you'll only not tell papa, my going need disturb the tranquility of none. You'll not tell, will you? It will be very heartless, if you do.' 'I'll make up my mind on that point by to-morrow, Miss Catherine,' I replied. 'It requires some study; and so I'll leave you to your rest, and go think it over.' I thought it over aloud, in my master's presence; walking straight from her room to his, and relating the whole story: with the exception of her conversations with her cousin, and any mention of Hareton."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: C2 has been sneaking out at night to go visit her sickly cousin Linton Heathcliff, who used to live with her until Heathcliff snatched him away and with whom she has a semi-romantic relationship, at Wuthering Heights. Of course Nelly finds out and confronts C2 angrily. C2 begs her caretaker to keep her outings a secret from her father, to which Nelly responds, "I'll think it over," and after C2 leaves, she immediately betrays C2 and tells almost everything to Edgar. S: Nelly's lack of loyalty is twofold. Firstly, she is avenging C1, whom she detests, vicariously through her daughter. Secondly, she is particularly loyal to the male figures in the book for she knows where the influence and the power truly lies. Nelly's manipulations are her way of being part of the family, although she may be a servant.
"'It is a poor conclusion, is it not?' he observed, having brooded awhile on the scene he had just witnessed: 'an absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives: I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don't care for striking: I can't take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been laboring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity. It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing. '"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Heathcliff speaks to Nelly about how he feels now that he has gotten to point where he could easily destroy both houses and their representatives. He tells her that he doesn't even want to, that he's finally exhausted, and does not care anymore. He acknowledges that it's not because he is actually nice, but because he's simply lazy and uninterested in ruining more lives for nothing if he isn't going to get any enjoyment out of it. S: Our reaction to this moment (or at least the reaction we should all have, as D.G. believes) is extremely perverse. We are disappointed that Heathcliff has come so far and has lost interest- we want to say to him "c'mon Heathcliff you can do it!" It is crazy how much we have shifted, and how easily we have developed opinions of characters that are not proportional to their traits but seem normal in context. We readers are also strange in the sense that we immediately deny the possibility that Heathcliff may have just become a good person, which is supported by the following, from the bottom of the same page: "'Five minutes ago Hareton seemed a personification of my youth, not a human being; I felt to him in such a variety of ways, that it would have been impossible to have accosted him rationally. In the first place, his startling likeness to Catherine connected him fearfully with her. That, however, which you may suppose the most potent to arrest my imagination, is actually the least: for what is not connected with her to me? and what does not recall her? I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped in the flags! In every cloud, in every tree - filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day - I am surrounded with her image! The most ordinary faces of men and women - my own features - mock me with a resemblance. The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!'" Heathcliff looks at Hareton and sees himself, and looks at C2 and sees C1, and realizes he cannot destroy a pair of lovers who share a deep bond simply because fate denied himself and his own lover the chance to act on their romantic desires- if you are confused, remember that C2, now a widow after Linton's death, has started flirting with Hareton as they are the only young people around. Here too, he lives vicariously (but now in a positive way) by getting Hareton and C2 together. By the end of the book, it seems like the C2 and Hareton might just have a decent relationship, but there is not hope for Heathcliff and C1. Although she may haunt him, Heathcliff and C1 never have actual, physical contact, and an argument one could make is that the passion they share is so great because they never actually have sex. Romance isn't about being together, but about wanting to be together- human beings want to want, we want "the chase." These are the aspects of love that hold the greatest pleasure- the journey is, in a way, even better that the destination.
"In passing the garden to reach the road, at a place where a bridle hook is driven into the wall, I saw something white moved irregularly, evidently by another agent than the wind. Notwithstanding my hurry, I stayed to examine it, lest ever after I should have the conviction impressed on my imagination that it was a creature of the other world. My surprise and perplexity were great on discovering, by touch more than vision, Miss Isabella's springer, Fanny, suspended by a handkerchief, and nearly at its last gasp."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Nelly leaves the room after C1's accusations, and wanders in passing into the garden, where she keenly observes that someone, most likely Heathcliff, has hung Isabella's dog on a bridal hook in order to kill it. S: One looks at this kind of action as being a sign of mental disability, but maybe Heathcliff was not so delirious, although he may have been cruel, in attacking this dog. Let's recall that our first memory of Isabella was her fighting over who loves the dog the most. If we view Heathcliff as a dog, we could say that because no one is fighting to love him, he kills this dog out of anger towards the injustices of the world. This is just one of many episodes where what appears on the surface to be Heathcliff's unexplainable cruelty is actually more nuanced that we think.
"'Be so good as to turn your lock, and draw your bolt - don't omit it!' 'Well!' I said. 'But why, Mr. Earnshaw?' I did not relish the notion of deliberately fastening myself in with Heathcliff. 'Look here!' he replied, pulling from his waistcoat a curiously- constructed pistol, having a double-edged spring knife attached to the barrel. 'That's a great tempter to a desperate man, is it not? I cannot resist going up with this every night, and trying his door. If once I find it open he's done for!'"
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: Nelly receives a letter from Isabella detailing her traumatizing experiences at Wuthering Heights, where she now lives because of her marriage to Heathcliff. However Heathcliff has practically abandoned Isabella, and so she is shown to her room by Hindley, who warns her to keep her door locked at all times no matter what. S: Hindley says to her that every night he goes up to Heathcliff's room (now Isabella's) with a knife and only because the door is always locked is he prevented from murdering Heathcliff in his sleep. If one night the door isn't locked, Hindley ominously states, he will get in there and passionately kill Heathcliff.
"'This is nothing,' cried she: 'I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.' Ere this speech ended I became sensible of Heathcliff's presence. Having noticed a slight movement, I turned my head, and saw him rise from the bench, and steal out noiselessly. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no further. My companion, sitting on the ground, was prevented by the back of the settle from remarking his presence or departure; but I started, and bade her hush!"
wuthering heights-emily bronte C: This is the pivotal moment in which C1 speaks to Nelly regarding her decision about marrying either Edgar, or Heathcliff. C1 says, acknowledging her own monstrosity, that she shouldn't marry Edgar as he is too heavenly, and she does not belong in heaven. She knows that she should marry Heathcliff because they are similar and coherent, but argues that it would be degrading of her to do so, so she will love him silently. S: Nelly recognizes that Heathcliff is there with them, but chooses not to say anything, and he leaves the room after C1 says marrying him would be shameful, deaf to what she says after, which is that their souls will forever be intertwined. This exemplifies the classic, tragic misunderstanding that is intrinsic to great love, and when Heathcliff leaves shortly following this scene, C1 marries Edgar. There is an unbridgeable gap between Heathcliff and C1, with Nelly being in the middle, but she does not bridge this gap but rather leaves it to widen. Whether she does this selfishly, hoping to keep C1 from Heathcliff, or simply because she wants to see how it all plays out, Nelly's lack of action creates a domino effect that propels the rest of the novel forward. She is the actor and the controller, the one who pulls the strings.
"My walk home was lengthened by a diversion in the direction of the kirk. When beneath its walls, I perceived decay had made progress, even in seven months: many a window showed black gaps deprived of glass; and slates jutted off here and there, beyond the right line of the roof, to be gradually worked off in coming autumn storms. I sought, and soon discovered, the three headstones on the slope next the moor: on middle one grey, and half buried in the heath; Edgar Linton's only harmonized by the turf and moss creeping up its foot; Heathcliff's still bare. I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
wuthering heights- emily bronte C: The book concludes with Lockwood standing over the graves of the three lovers- C1, Heathcliff, and Edgar. He mentions in passing that one can easily tell how recently people died by the stuff covering the grave. This soothing ending that speaks of descendance into the "quiet earth," is oddly benign for a novel so rife with turmoil. Now that they've all died the sun finally comes out. S: Perhaps what this represents is that the atmosphere around us, even at a molecular level as with the weather, changes according to the personalities of the world. Lockwood looks at the graves and wonders how anyone could imagine unquiet slumbers for the three, which is a weird thing to say because these three are the one combination that it would be easy to say that their afterlives would be a constant nightmare. An odd conclusion, for an odd, but interesting tale.
"'You teach me now how cruel you've been - cruel and false. WHY did you despise me? WHY did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses and tears: they'll blight you - they'll damn you. You loved me - then what RIGHT had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, YOU, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - YOU have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you - oh, God! would YOU like to live with your soul in the grave?' 'Let me alone. Let me alone,' sobbed Catherine. 'If I've done wrong, I'm dying for it. It is enough! You left me too: but I won't upbraid you! I forgive you. Forgive me!' 'It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands,' he answered. 'Kiss me again; and don't let me see your eyes! I forgive what you have done to me. I love MY murderer - but YOURS! How can I?'"
wuthering heights- emily brotne C: C1 is very obviously about to die, and Heathcliff comes rushing to her side at the last moment, not spewing words of love and lust, but actually attacking Cathy for her illness. S: One would expect that in this moment of life or death they would reconcile, but in departing from tradition, C1 and Heathcliff get into a fight. Heathcliff tells this dying woman that she deserves whatever situation she's in, and that she killed herself- apparently it's her fault for being sick. But we can also understand where he is coming from. He is ripped apart that she's going to die and he's angry because he loves her so much. He proclaims, "I love my murderer," forgiving her for what she's done to him, but he loves her too much to forgive her for hurting herself. This is an insane and beautiful love, a great love that is eons apart from our modern, conventional sort of love. This kind of deranged love is irrational, and that is part of its appeal, although in present times it is rare.
"He entered, vociferating oaths dreadful to hear; and caught me in the act of stowing his son sway in the kitchen cupboard. Hareton was impressed with a wholesome terror of encountering either his wild beast's fondness or his madman's rage; for in one he ran a chance of being squeezed and kissed to death, and in the other of being flung into the fire, or dashed against the wall; and the poor thing remained perfectly quiet wherever I chose to put him. 'There, I've found it out at last!' cried Hindley, pulling me back by the skin of my neck, like a dog. 'By heaven and hell, you've sworn between you to murder that child! I know how it is, now, that he is always out of my way. But, with the help of Satan, I shall make you swallow the carving-knife, Nelly! You needn't laugh; for I've just crammed Kenneth, head-downmost, in the Black- horse marsh; and two is the same as one - and I want to kill some of you: I shall have no rest till I do! ''But I don't like the carving-knife, Mr. Hindley,' I answered; 'it has been cutting red herrings. I'd rather be shot, if you please.' 'You'd rather be damned!' he said; 'and so you shall. No law in England can hinder a man from keeping his house decent, and mine's abominable! Open your mouth.' He held the knife in his hand, and pushed its point between my teeth: but, for my part, I was never much afraid of his vagaries. I spat out, and affirmed it tasted detestably - I would not take it on any account."
wuthering heights-emily bronte C: An inebriated Hindley comes home, eager to act on his personal failures by beating up his son Hareton. Nelly, eager to protect Hareton from his father, attempts to hide him but is discovered by a wrathful Hindley. He wants to teach Nelly a lesson by making her swallow a kitchen "carving knife," but she resists until he forces it down her throat, spitting it out immediately after. S: This scene, read literally, is a very odd one. The only way to really understand it is from a metaphoric perspective. The violence between Hindley and Nelly has this connotation of sexual violence- the knife references a phallus, and so this idea of a knife in her mouth implies something along the lines of a *******. Although this reading is overtly metaphorical, it makes sense; rape and abuse of servant class women was common for this time period. But Nelly is unafraid when it comes to Hindley perhaps because she has been in a consensual relationship with him before, and so when he rapes her she does not take it seriously because she knows him merely as a drunk loser. She challenges his effort to assert his masculine, phallic dominance. When she laughs and says "I don't like the carving knife," she is directly attacking the thing that is most important to every man, and this infuriates him. It is almost empowering for Brönte to create a character like Nelly who spits it right back out. Nelly is tricky because she uses these experiences of victimization to her advantage later on.
"This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard, also, the fir bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavored to unhasp the casement. The hook was soldered into the staple: a circumstance observed by me when awake, but forgotten. 'I must stop it, nevertheless!' I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, 'Let me in - let me in!' 'Who are you?' I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. 'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of LINTON? I had read EARNSHAW twenty times for Linton) - 'I'm come home: I'd lost my way on the moor!' As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the window. Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, 'Let me in!' and maintained its tenacious gripe, almost maddening me with fear. 'How can I!' I said at length. 'Let ME go, if you want me to let you in!' The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it, and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened again, there was the doleful cry moaning on! 'Be gone!' I shouted. 'I'll never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.' 'It is twenty years,' mourned the voice: 'twenty years. I've been a waif for twenty years!' Thereat began a feeble scratching outside, and the pile of books moved as if thrust forward. I tried to jump up; but could not stir a limb; and so yelled aloud, in a frenzy of fright. To my confusion, I discovered the yell was not ideal: hasty footsteps approached my chamber door; somebody pushed it open, with a vigorous hand, and a light glimmered through the squares at the top of the bed. I sat shuddering yet, and wiping the perspiration from my forehead: the intruder appeared to hesitate, and muttered to himself. At last, he said, in a half-whisper, plainly not expecting an answer, 'Is any one here?' I considered it best to confess my presence; for I knew Heathcliff's accents, and feared he might search further, if I kept quiet. With this intention, I turned and opened the panels. I shall not soon forget the effect my action produced.
wuthering heights-emily bronte C: In his sleep, Lockwood has a vision of C1 at his bedroom window. Believing that he is awake or has just woken up, although in actuality he is still asleep, he tries to stop the annoying tapping of C1's fingernails upon the glass pane. He feels her little ice-cold hand and instantaneously recognizes this ghostly presence as Catherine Linton. S: What is quite eerie about this scene is that he only knows C1 at this time as Catherine Earnshaw, but his mind is strangely accurate in calling her Catherine Linton, for she died Cathy Linton. Next, in a bout of cruelty, Lockwood tries to slam the window in on C1's hands to cut them off so that she'll go away. However, he fails just as Heathcliff enters the room, alarmed by Lockwood's apparent shrieks, and wakes Lockwood up to question him about what just happened. When Lockwood describes his nightmare, he is asked by Heathcliff to leave the room (pg. 20) but he stays nearby and watches as Heathcliff talks to the ghost. Lockwood observes Heathcliff letting her in and begging her to come back with such seemingly uncharacteristic romantic desperation. Heathcliff loves C1 to the point where he will accept her in any form, and although as a man of intellect he typically strays from belief in the supernatural, with C1 he'll do anything to be with her.
"'A good heart will help you to a bonny face, my lad," I continued, 'if you were a regular black; and a bad one will turn the bonniest into something worse than ugly. And now that we've done washing, and combing, and sulking - tell me whether you don't think yourself rather handsome? I'll tell you, I do. You're fit for a prince in disguise. Who knows but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen, each of them able to buy up, with one week's income, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange together? And you were kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to England. Were I in your place, I would frame high notions of my birth; and the thoughts of what I was should give me courage and dignity to support the oppressions of a little farmer!'"
wuthering heights-emily bronte C: Nelly tries to console Heathcliff, who remains miserable at C1's absence from Wuthering Heights and because of the way, he believes, C1 will look down on him upon her return. S: Nelly explains that if he cleaned himself up for C1- i.e. if he stopped cursing and started to bathe- she would fall right back in love with him. Nelly also invents a fantasy for Heathcliff, putting in his head the possibility that he could one day top Hindley and have some money of his own- he has opportunities that, tragically, Nelly is denied. She wants him to appreciate his potential both for the future, and the gift that the ambiguity of his past has bestowed on him. He could be anyone and anything, and descend from kings and queens- unlike Nelly, he doesn't have to confront the reality that his parents were poor servants, even if that was the case.
"'I know he has a bad nature,' said Catherine: 'he's your son. But I'm glad I've a better, to forgive it; and I know he loves me, and for that reason I love him. Mr. Heathcliff YOU have NOBODY to love you; and, however miserable you make us, we shall still have the revenge of thinking that your cruelty arises from your greater misery. You ARE miserable, are you not? Lonely, like the devil, and envious like him? NOBODY loves you - NOBODY will cry for you when you die! I wouldn't be you!' Catherine spoke with a kind of dreary triumph: she seemed to have made up her mind to enter into the spirit of her future family, and draw pleasure from the griefs of her enemies."
wuthering heigths - emily bronte C: Before Linton dies, C2 speaks to Heathcliff about his very blatant contempt for his son. She addresses Heathcliff's own weaknesses- the fact that no one really loves him and that he has lived a life of sheer torment and angst, driven solely by revenge. S: It is through her attack of Heathcliff that C2 really comes to participate in the same cycle of misery as her parents, and this inspires our respect as readers for her- she, like the rest of her family, tells it like it is in the most intense possible way, and the fact that we enjoy that she is this way is part of what makes the novel so completely sadistic.
"'I'll tell you what I did yesterday! I got the sexton, who was digging Linton's grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there: when I saw her face again - it is hers yet! - he had hard work to stir me; but he said it would change if the air blew on it, and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up: not Linton's side, damn him! I wish he'd been soldered in lead. And I bribed the sexton to pull it away when I'm laid there, and slide mine out too; I'll have it made so: and then by the time Linton gets to us he'll not know which is which!'"
wuthering heigths- emily bronte C: Heathcliff converses with Nelly about the subject of burial. He tells her how he paid off the sexton to take off the side of C1's coffin facing Heathcliff's proposed burial location so that by the time their coffins are worn away (by the time Linton's body is just bones), C1's and Heathcliff's bodies have decayed together, and one cannot distinguish between the two- they will forever be intertwined. S: When Heathcliff looks upon his love's dead body before the sexton does as he requests, he falls right back in love with her- it's the literalization of "love after death." Brönte takes an ideal cliché to the extreme, to the point where the sexton has trouble getting him away from C1.
