Analysis of Major Characters

Heathcliff - An orphan brought to live at Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw,

Heathcliff falls into an intense, unbreakable love with Mr. Earnshaws daughter
Catherine. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, his resentful son Hindley abuses Heathcliff and
treats him as a servant. Because of her desire for social prominence, Catherine marries
Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff. Heathcliffs humiliation and misery prompt him to
spend most of the rest of his life seeking revenge on Hindley, his beloved Catherine,
and their respective children (Hareton and young Catherine). A powerful, fierce, and
often cruel man, Heathcliff acquires a fortune and uses his extraordinary powers of will
to acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the estate of Edgar Linton.
Read an in-depth analysis of Heathcliff.
Wuthering Heights centers around the story of Heathcliff. The first paragraph of the
novel provides a vivid physical picture of him, as Lockwood describes how his black
eyes withdraw suspiciously under his brows at Lockwoods approach. Nellys story
begins with his introduction into the Earnshaw family, his vengeful machinations drive
the entire plot, and his death ends the book. The desire to understand him and his
motivations has kept countless readers engaged in the novel.
Heathcliff, however, defies being understood, and it is difficult for readers to resist seeing
what they want or expect to see in him. The novel teases the reader with the possibility that
Heathcliff is something other than what he seemsthat his cruelty is merely an expression of
his frustrated love for Catherine, or that his sinister behaviors serve to conceal the heart of a
romantic hero. We expect Heathcliffs character to contain such a hidden virtue because he
resembles a hero in a romance novel. Traditionally, romance novel heroes appear dangerous,
brooding, and cold at first, only later to emerge as fiercely devoted and loving. One hundred
years before Emily Bront wrote Wuthering Heights, the notion that a reformed rake makes
the best husband was already a clich of romantic literature, and romance novels center
around the same clich to this day.
However, Heathcliff does not reform, and his malevolence proves so great and long-
lasting that it cannot be adequately explained even as a desire for revenge against
Hindley, Catherine, Edgar, etc. As he himself points out, his abuse of Isabella is purely
sadistic, as he amuses himself by seeing how much abuse she can take and still come
cringing back for more. Critic Joyce Carol Oates argues that Emily Bront does the
same thing to the reader that Heathcliff does to Isabella, testing to see how many times
the reader can be shocked by Heathcliffs gratuitous violence and still, masochistically,
insist on seeing him as a romantic hero.
It is significant that Heathcliff begins his life as a homeless orphan on the streets of
Liverpool. When Bront composed her book, in the 1840s, the English economy was
severely depressed, and the conditions of the factory workers in industrial areas like
Liverpool were so appalling that the upper and middle classes feared violent revolt.
Thus, many of the more affluent members of society beheld these workers with a
mixture of sympathy and fear. In literature, the smoky, threatening, miserable factory-
towns were often represented in religious terms, and compared to hell. The poet
William Blake, writing near the turn of the nineteenth century, speaks of Englands
dark Satanic Mills.Heathcliff, of course, is frequently compared to a demon by the
other characters in the book.
Considering this historical context, Heathcliff seems to embody the anxieties that the books
upper- and middle-class audience had about the working classes. The reader may easily
sympathize with him when he is powerless, as a child tyrannized by Hindley Earnshaw, but he
becomes a villain when he acquires power and returns to Wuthering Heights with money and
the trappings of a gentleman. This corresponds with the ambivalence the upper classes felt
toward the lower classesthe upper classes had charitable impulses toward lower-class
citizens when they were miserable, but feared the prospect of the lower classes trying to
escape their miserable circumstances by acquiring political, social, cultural, or economic
power.
Catherine - The daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and his wife, Catherine falls powerfully in
love with Heathcliff, the orphan Mr. Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool. Catherine
loves Heathcliff so intensely that she claims they are the same person. However, her
desire for social advancement motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead. Catherine is
free-spirited, beautiful, spoiled, and often arrogant. She is given to fits of temper, and
she is torn between her wild passion for Heathcliff and her social ambition. She brings
misery to both of the men who love her.
Read an in-depth analysis of Catherine.
The location of Catherines coffin symbolizes the conflict that tears apart her short life.
She is not buried in the chapel with the Lintons. Nor is her coffin placed among the
tombs of the Earnshaws. Instead, as Nelly describes in Chapter XVI, Catherine is buried
in a corner of the kirkyard, where the wall is so low that heath and bilberry plants have
climbed over it from the moor.Moreover, she is buried with Edgar on one side and
Heathcliff on the other, suggesting her conflicted loyalties. Her actions are driven in
part by her social ambitions, which initially are awakened during her first stay at the
Lintons, and which eventually compel her to marry Edgar. However, she is also
motivated by impulses that prompt her to violate social conventionsto love
Heathcliff, throw temper tantrums, and run around on the moor.
Isabella LintonCatherines sister-in-law and Heathcliffs wife, who was born in the
same year that Catherine wasserves as Catherines foil. The two womens parallel
positions allow us to see their differences with greater clarity. Catherine represents wild
nature, in both her high, lively spirits and her occasional cruelty, whereas Isabella
represents culture and civilization, both in her refinement and in her weakness.

Edgar Linton - Well-bred but rather spoiled as a boy, Edgar Linton grows into a
tender, constant, but cowardly man. He is almost the ideal gentleman: Catherine
accurately describes him as handsome, pleasant to be with, cheerful, and rich.
However, this full assortment of gentlemanly characteristics, along with his civilized
virtues, proves useless in Edgars clashes with his foil, Heathcliff, who gains power
over his wife, sister, and daughter.
Nelly Dean - Nelly Dean (known formally as Ellen Dean) serves as the chief narrator
of Wuthering Heights. A sensible, intelligent, and compassionate woman, she grew up
essentially alongside Hindley and Catherine Earnshaw and is deeply involved in the
story she tells. She has strong feelings for the characters in her story, and these feelings
complicate her narration.
Lockwood - Lockwoods narration forms a frame around Nellys; he serves as an
intermediary between Nelly and the reader. A somewhat vain and presumptuous
gentleman, he deals very clumsily with the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights.
Lockwood comes from a more domesticated region of England, and he finds himself at
a loss when he witnesses the strange households disregard for the social conventions
that have always structured his world. As a narrator, his vanity and unfamiliarity with
the story occasionally lead him to misunderstand events.
Young Catherine - For claritys sake, this SparkNote refers to the daughter of Edgar
Linton and the first Catherine as young Catherine. The first Catherine begins her life
as Catherine Earnshaw and ends it as Catherine Linton; her daughter begins as
Catherine Linton and, assuming that she marries Hareton after the end of the story, goes
on to become Catherine Earnshaw. The mother and the daughter share not only a name,
but also a tendency toward headstrong behavior, impetuousness, and occasional
arrogance. However, Edgars influence seems to have tempered young Catherines
character, and she is a gentler and more compassionate creature than her mother.
Hareton Earnshaw - The son of Hindley and Frances Earnshaw, Hareton is
Catherines nephew. After Hindleys death, Heathcliff assumes custody of Hareton, and
raises him as an uneducated field worker, just as Hindley had done to Heathcliff
himself. Thus Heathcliff uses Hareton to seek revenge on Hindley. Illiterate and quick-
tempered, Hareton is easily humiliated, but shows a good heart and a deep desire to
improve himself. At the end of the novel, he marries young Catherine.
Linton Heathcliff - Heathcliffs son by Isabella. Weak, sniveling, demanding, and
constantly ill, Linton is raised in London by his mother and does not meet his father
until he is thirteen years old, when he goes to live with him after his mothers death.
Heathcliff despises Linton, treats him contemptuously, and, by forcing him to marry the
young Catherine, uses him to cement his control over Thrushcross Grange after Edgar
Lintons death. Linton himself dies not long after this marriage.
Hindley Earnshaw - Catherines brother, and Mr. Earnshaws son. Hindley resents it
when Heathcliff is brought to live at Wuthering Heights. After his father dies and he
inherits the estate, Hindley begins to abuse the young Heathcliff, terminating his
education and forcing him to work in the fields. When Hindleys wife Frances dies
shortly after giving birth to their son Hareton, he lapses into alcoholism and dissipation.
Isabella Linton - Edgar Lintons sister, who falls in love with Heathcliff and marries
him. She sees Heathcliff as a romantic figure, like a character in a novel. Ultimately, she
ruins her life by falling in love with him. He never returns her feelings and treats her as
a mere tool in his quest for revenge on the Linton family.
Mr. Earnshaw - Catherine and Hindleys father. Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff and
brings him to live at Wuthering Heights. Mr. Earnshaw prefers Heathcliff to Hindley
but nevertheless bequeaths Wuthering Heights to Hindley when he dies.
Mrs. Earnshaw - Catherine and Hindleys mother, who neither likes nor trusts the
orphan Heathcliff when he is brought to live at her house. She dies shortly after
Heathcliffs arrival at Wuthering Heights.
Joseph - A long-winded, fanatically religious, elderly servant at Wuthering Heights.
Joseph is strange, stubborn, and unkind, and he speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent.
Frances Earnshaw - Hindleys simpering, silly wife, who treats Heathcliff cruelly.
She dies shortly after giving birth to Hareton.
Mr. Linton - Edgar and Isabellas father and the proprietor of Thrushcross Grange
when Heathcliff and Catherine are children. An established member of the gentry, he
raises his son and daughter to be well-mannered young people.
Mrs. Linton - Mr. Lintons somewhat snobbish wife, who does not like Heathcliff to
be allowed near her children, Edgar and Isabella. She teaches Catherine to act like a
gentle-woman, thereby instilling her with social ambitions.
Zillah - The housekeeper at Wuthering Heights during the latter stages of the narrative.
Mr. Green - Edgar Lintons lawyer, who arrives too late to hear Edgars final
instruction to change his will, which would have prevented Heathcliff from obtaining
control over Thrushcross Grange.

Heathcliff
Wuthering Heights centers around the story of Heathcliff. The first paragraph of the
novel provides a vivid physical picture of him, as Lockwood describes how his black
eyes withdraw suspiciously under his brows at Lockwoods approach. Nellys story
begins with his introduction into the Earnshaw family, his vengeful machinations drive
the entire plot, and his death ends the book. The desire to understand him and his
motivations has kept countless readers engaged in the novel.
Heathcliff, however, defies being understood, and it is difficult for readers to resist
seeing what they want or expect to see in him. The novel teases the reader with the
possibility that Heathcliff is something other than what he seemsthat his cruelty is
merely an expression of his frustrated love for Catherine, or that his sinister behaviors
serve to conceal the heart of a romantic hero. We expect Heathcliffs character to
contain such a hidden virtue because he resembles a hero in a romance novel.
Traditionally, romance novel heroes appear dangerous, brooding, and cold at first, only
later to emerge as fiercely devoted and loving. One hundred years before Emily Bront
wrote Wuthering Heights, the notion that a reformed rake makes the best husband was
already a clich of romantic literature, and romance novels center around the same
clich to this day.
However, Heathcliff does not reform, and his malevolence proves so great and long-
lasting that it cannot be adequately explained even as a desire for revenge against
Hindley, Catherine, Edgar, etc. As he himself points out, his abuse of Isabella is purely
sadistic, as he amuses himself by seeing how much abuse she can take and still come
cringing back for more. Critic Joyce Carol Oates argues that Emily Bront does the
same thing to the reader that Heathcliff does to Isabella, testing to see how many times
the reader can be shocked by Heathcliffs gratuitous violence and still, masochistically,
insist on seeing him as a romantic hero.
It is significant that Heathcliff begins his life as a homeless orphan on the streets of
Liverpool. When Bront composed her book, in the 1840s, the English economy was
severely depressed, and the conditions of the factory workers in industrial areas like
Liverpool were so appalling that the upper and middle classes feared violent revolt.
Thus, many of the more affluent members of society beheld these workers with a
mixture of sympathy and fear. In literature, the smoky, threatening, miserable factory-
towns were often represented in religious terms, and compared to hell. The poet
William Blake, writing near the turn of the nineteenth century, speaks of Englands
dark Satanic Mills. Heathcliff, of course, is frequently compared to a demon by the
other characters in the book.
Considering this historical context, Heathcliff seems to embody the anxieties that the
books upper- and middle-class audience had about the working classes. The reader may
easily sympathize with him when he is powerless, as a child tyrannized by Hindley
Earnshaw, but he becomes a villain when he acquires power and returns to Wuthering
Heights with money and the trappings of a gentleman. This corresponds with the
ambivalence the upper classes felt toward the lower classesthe upper classes had
charitable impulses toward lower-class citizens when they were miserable, but feared
the prospect of the lower classes trying to escape their miserable circumstances by
acquiring political, social, cultural, or economic power.
Catherine
The location of Catherines coffin symbolizes the conflict that tears apart her short life.
She is not buried in the chapel with the Lintons. Nor is her coffin placed among the
tombs of the Earnshaws. Instead, as Nelly describes in Chapter XVI, Catherine is buried
in a corner of the kirkyard, where the wall is so low that heath and bilberry plants have
climbed over it from the moor. Moreover, she is buried with Edgar on one side and
Heathcliff on the other, suggesting her conflicted loyalties. Her actions are driven in
part by her social ambitions, which initially are awakened during her first stay at the
Lintons, and which eventually compel her to marry Edgar. However, she is also
motivated by impulses that prompt her to violate social conventionsto love
Heathcliff, throw temper tantrums, and run around on the moor.
Isabella LintonCatherines sister-in-law and Heathcliffs wife, who was born in the
same year that Catherine wasserves as Catherines foil. The two womens parallel
positions allow us to see their differences with greater clarity. Catherine represents wild
nature, in both her high, lively spirits and her occasional cruelty, whereas Isabella
represents culture and civilization, both in her refinement and in her weakness.
Edgar
Just as Isabella Linton serves as Catherines foil, Edgar Linton serves as Heathcliffs.
Edgar is born and raised a gentleman. He is graceful, well-mannered, and instilled with
civilized virtues. These qualities cause Catherine to choose Edgar over Heathcliff and
thus to initiate the contention between the men. Nevertheless, Edgars gentlemanly
qualities ultimately prove useless in his ensuing rivalry with Heathcliff. Edgar is
particularly humiliated by his confrontation with Heathcliff in Chapter XI, in which he
openly shows his fear of fighting Heathcliff. Catherine, having witnessed the scene,
taunts him, saying, Heathcliff would as soon lift a finger at you as the king would
march his army against a colony of mice. As the reader can see from the earliest
descriptions of Edgar as a spoiled child, his refinement is tied to his helplessness and
impotence.
Charlotte Bront, in her preface to the 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights, refers to
Edgar as an example of constancy and tenderness, and goes on to suggest that her
sister Emily was using Edgar to point out that such characteristics constitute true virtues
in all human beings, and not just in women, as society tended to believe. However,
Charlottes reading seems influenced by her own feminist agenda. Edgars inability to
counter Heathcliffs vengeance, and his nave belief on his deathbed in his daughters
safety and happiness, make him a weak, if sympathetic, character.