English Literature books summary

English Literature books summary

to Orsino as a eunuch, and that her true identity as a foreign woman be

concealed. The Captain agrees to help her, and he leads her to Orsino.

Scene 3:

Sir Toby, Olivia's drunken uncle, is approached by Olivia's handmaiden,

Maria, about his late hours and disorderly habits. Maria also objects to

one of Sir Toby's drinking buddies, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a rather foolish

man who Sir Toby has brought as a potential suitor to Olivia. Sir Toby has

great affection for Sir Andrew, but Maria does not; she believes that Sir

Andrew is a drunkard and a fool, and not to be suffered. Sir Toby attempts

to introduce Sir Andrew to Maria; wordplay ensues from a series of

misunderstandings, puns, and differing usages of words. Maria exits, and

Sir Toby and Sir Andrew continue to quibble, with some amusing results; at

last, they decide to start drinking.

Scene 4:

Viola has now disguised herself as a boy, Cesario, and has been taken into

the service of Count Orsino. Valentine remarks that Orsino and Viola, as

Cesario, have become close in the short time that Viola has been employed;

indeed, Orsino has already told Viola of his great love for Olivia. Orsino

asks Viola to go to Olivia and make Orsino's case to the lady; he believes

that Viola/ Cesario, being younger and more eloquent than his other

messengers, will succeed. Viola says she will obey, although she confesses

in an aside that she already feels love for Orsino, and would rather be his

wife than try to woo Olivia for him.

Scene 5:

Feste's first appearance in the play; unlike Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who

make wordplay by mincing each other's meanings, Feste is more perceptive

and quick-witted, and gets into an entertaining argument with the equally

quick-witted Maria. Olivia enters, with her attendants, and is somewhat

displeased and short with Feste; Feste says she is a fool for mourning her

brother, if she knows that her brother is in heaven. Viola/ Cesario arrives

at Olivia's house, and is admitted after much waiting, and being examined

by both Sir Toby and Malvolio. Viola is brought in to meet Olivia, who

finds out Viola is a messenger on Orsino's behalf, and Olivia discourages

Viola from wooing her for the Count. Viola tries to make Orsino's suit,

though Olivia counters this with elusive and witty remarks; Olivia begins

to show interest in Viola as Cesario in this scene, and still insists that

she cannot love Orsino. Viola is sent away at last, and Olivia has Malvolio

go after Viola, with a ring and an invitation to come back tomorrow.

Act II Summary:

Scene 1:

Sebastian, Viola's brother, is shown alive, and in the company of Antonio,

a somewhat ­shady sea-captain who is wanted by Count Orsino for

questionable doings on the seas. Sebastian tells Antonio of his sister,

Viola, who he fears has been drowned; he thanks Antonio for his kindness in

saving him from being drowned, and resolves that he must be off alone.

Antonio asks if he may go with Sebastian, but Sebastian refuses this kind

request, and is gone.

Scene 2:

Malvolio catches up to Viola, with the ring he was instructed to give Viola

by Olivia. Viola is surprised, since she left no ring with Olivia; Malvolio

grows impatient with Viola's claim to know nothing of the ring, and he

throws it down onto the ground, and storms off. Viola realizes that the

ring is proof that Olivia has some affection for her as Cesario; she

regrets that Olivia is in love with her disguise, as that will come to

nothing, and also that she is in love with her master, but that she can do

nothing in her present disguise.

Scene 3:

Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are up late, drinking; Feste joins them, and they

request that he sing a song about love. They proceed to make a great deal

of noise, by singing, drinking, and talking nonsense; Maria tries to get

them to be quiet, but Malvolio is awakened by the noise, and comes down to

berate them for disturbing the household. Once Malvolio leaves, Maria

concocts a plan to make Malvolio look like a complete fool: since Maria's

handwriting is similar to Olivia's, she will write love letters to Malvolio

and make it look like the letters have come from Olivia. The party decides

to try this out and see if it will work; Maria leaves to go to bed, and Sir

Toby and Sir Andrew decide to drink the rest of the night away.

Scene 4:

Orsino calls upon Feste to sing an old song, that pleases him very well;

Orsino then begins to talk to Viola/ Cesario of love, and its

imperfections. Orsino compares women to roses "whose fair flower/ being

once displayed, doth fall that very hour"; Viola does not completely

approve of Orsino's slightly cynical view of women, and will seek to

correct it later in the scene. Feste begins to sing his song, a sad one

about love and death, and when he is done, he is dismissed, and makes a

remark about Orsino's extreme changeability of mood.

Viola attempts to soothe Orsino's melancholy by getting him to accept that

Olivia might not love him, but that perhaps another woman does; Orsino

counters this with the argument that women are very inconstant in their

love, and could not have a feeling as deep as the love he has for Olivia.

Viola knows that this is not true, in light of the great amount of feeling

she has for Orsino; she attempts to persuade him that women are "as true of

heart" as men, by telling him a story she makes up about a sister that

loved only too constantly and too well. Orsino asks Viola to go again to

Olivia, and make his suit; Viola obeys, and sets off to see Olivia again.

Scene 5:

Maria appears, with the love-letter she has written for the purposes of

baiting Malvolio. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and their friend Fabian are

present; they hide behind a tree as Malvolio approaches, and Maria places

the letter somewhere where he is certain to find it. Malvolio approaches,

already muttering nonsense about thinking that Olivia fancies him, and

about how things would be if they were married; this angers Sir Toby and

Sir Andrew, who want to beat Malvolio for his pretension. Malvolio finally

spots the letter, and recognizes the handwriting as Olivia's; he takes the

bait completely, believing it to be proof that Olivia really does love him.

Sir Toby and Sir Andrew marvel at Maria's plan, and how it has worked, and

cannot wait to see Malvolio make an even bigger fool of himself.

Act III Summary:

Scene 1:

Viola enters, on her way to see Olivia; she comes across Feste, who is full

of wit and foolery as usual. Feste expresses his dislike for Viola, which

Viola does not take personally; Viola gives him a few coins for his

wordplay, and mentions the wit that it takes to act the fool as well as

Feste does. Viola runs across Sir Toby and Sir Andrew on her way to visit

Olivia; Olivia then comes to meet Viola, and Viola again attempts to make

Orsino's suit to Viola.

Olivia apologizes for the confusion she brought upon Viola with sending the

ring; then, Olivia confesses her affection for Viola/ Cesario, and begs to

know if Viola does indeed feel the same way. Viola says no, then asks again

if Olivia will have anything to do with Orsino; Olivia is constant in her

lack of response to Orsino, but makes one last attempt to win Cesario over.

Viola warns Olivia as best she can, telling Olivia that "I am not what I

am," though Olivia does not guess at the statement's real meaning

(III.i.139). Of course she is unsuccessful, and Viola leaves‹but not

without an entreaty to return.

Scene 2:

Sir Andrew finally comes to his senses, realizing that Olivia favors

Cesario far more than she favors him. His friend Fabian tries to convince

him that Olivia is only pretending to favor Cesario, in order to make Sir

Andrew jealous; his lie is well-intentioned, but does not soothe Sir

Andrew's anger. Sir Toby then persuades Sir Andrew that he should challenge

Cesario to a duel, and that, if Sir Andrew wins, he will surely gain

Olivia's affections. Sir Toby tells him to write a letter of challenge,

which Sir Toby will deliver; Toby actually has no intent of sponsoring a

duel, but thinks the exercise might cool Sir Andrew off a little. Maria

then enters, and begs them all to come see Malvolio, who is acting like a

complete idiot in front of Olivia.

Scene 3:

Antonio is slow to leave Sebastian's side, as he fears some accident may

happen to Sebastian since he is completely ignorant of the country.

Sebastian wants to go about and see the sights, but Antonio tells him that

he cannot; Antonio confesses that he was involved with some piracy against

Illyria, and that he is wanted by the Count because of it. Antonio proposes

that they meet up at an inn in one hour, and that Sebastian can wander

about until then; they part, hopeful of meeting up again without accident.

Scene 4:

Maria warns Olivia of Malvolio's very strange behavior; yet, Olivia still

wishes that Malvolio be brought before her. Malvolio is wearing yellow,

cross-gartered stockings, which Olivia abhors; he is careful to point out

what he thinks is his fashionable taste. Malvolio continues his absurdity,

making remarks of unwarranted familiarity, and completely baffling Olivia

with his misguided attempts to be amorous toward her. Olivia dismisses

Malvolio's odd behavior as being some kind of passing madness, and orders

that Malvolio be looked after while she sees to Cesario, who has supposedly

returned.

Sir Toby, Maria, and Fabian approach Malvolio; they treat Malvolio's case

as an instant of witchcraft or possession, and pretend they know nothing of

the real cause of Malvolio's strange behavior. Then, their plan takes a

more malicious turn; not satisfied with the havoc they have already caused,

they decide to make Malvolio go mad, if they can. Sir Andrew returns, with

his "saucy" letter for Cesario, and Viola as Cesario appears, having

patched up any bad feelings over their last dramatic scene.

Sir Toby conveys Sir Andrew's challenge to Viola, and tries to make Viola

shrink from the confrontation by greatly exaggerating Sir Andrew's meanness

and anger. Sir Andrew and Viola come close to some sort of reluctant

confrontation, when Antonio stumbles on them; Antonio is arrested by

officers of the Count, and asks Viola for his purse, mistaking Viola for

her brother Sebastian. Antonio is taken aback when Viola will not give him

his purse, thinking that she, as Sebastian, is ungrateful for his help; he

speaks of rescuing Sebastian from drowning, which lets Viola know that her

brother might be alive. Antonio is dragged away, and Viola hopes that what

Antonio said is indeed true, and that her brother might have been saved

from the wreck.

Act IV Summary:

Scene 1:

Feste approaches Sebastian, thinking that Sebastian is 'Cesario'; when

Sebastian tells Feste that he does not know him, nor Olivia, whom Feste

tells him to meet, Feste becomes rather upset, and accuses Sebastian of

"strangeness". Then Sir Andrew comes, and strikes Sebastian out of anger,

as if he were Cesario; Sir Toby and Sebastian come close to getting in a

duel of their own, when Olivia finds them, and charges them to stop. Olivia

dismisses Sir Toby, and asks Sebastian "would thou'dst be ruled by me,"

thinking that he is Cesario, due to his great resemblance to his sister.

Sebastian decides to go along with it, struck by Olivia's beauty, thinking

it all a pleasant dream from which he hopes he will not awaken.

Scene 2:

Maria and Feste conspire to present Feste as Sir Topaz, the curate, to

Malvolio, who is hidden from view. Feste tries to convince that Malvolio

that he is crazy, and Malvolio continues to insist that he is not, that he

has been wrongly incarcerated. Feste then confronts Malvolio as himself,

and torments him some more; he fakes a conversation with himself as Feste

and Sir Topaz, and Malvolio begs for paper and ink so that he can send a

message to Olivia. Feste promises to fetch these things, and exits with a

song.

Scene 3:

Sebastian debates with himself whether he is mad, or whether it is the Lady

Olivia; but, he recognizes that is cannot be her, since she is able to

command a large household, and therefore would have to be sane and

coherent. Olivia asks him to come with her to the parson and be married to

her; Sebastian, though he does not know her and cannot figure out exactly

what is going on, says he will marry her, and leaves with her.

Act V Summary:

Scene 1:

Fabian asks Feste for the letter Malvolio has written; Feste refuses this

request, and then Orsino, with Viola, finds them. Feste delays him with a

bit of jesting, and gets some money out of him; Orsino asks him to find

Olivia, and Feste goes to find her, with the promise of money for the task.

Viola points out Antonio, who is being brought to them by officers; Orsino

remembers Antonio from a sea-battle, and Viola tries to defend Antonio from

charges of crime by noting his kindness to her. Antonio claims that he

rescued Viola from drowning, and that they have been in each other's

company ever since; Orsino says that this is nonsense, since Viola has been

serving him the whole time.

Then, Olivia approaches them, still denying Orsino's love, while admitting

her affection for Viola. Orsino becomes angry at Viola, rather than Olivia,

because of these developments; he begins to suspect Viola of double-

dealings, and out of his anger, he admits his love for Viola, still

disguised as a boy. Viola, for the first time, declares her love for

Orsino, much to Olivia's consternation; Olivia counters this declaration by

divulging that she was married, to Viola as Cesario, she thinks. A priest

confirms Olivia's account, and Orsino becomes even more angry at Viola. Sir

Andrew and Sir Toby enter, charging Viola with fighting them and injuring

them; Viola is again shocked, and confused.

Suddenly, Sebastian dashes in, apologizing for injuring Sir Toby; he

expresses his happiness at seeing Antonio again, and acknowledges Olivia as

his wife. Viola and Sebastian see each other again, and there is a joyful

reunion. Sebastian reveals to Olivia that she married him, rather than his

sister in disguise; Orsino swears that he loves Viola, and will marry her.

Then, the action turns to Malvolio's condition; his letter is read, and his

condition explained. Malvolio is upset at his mistreatment, and Olivia

attempts to smooth things over; Fabian explains his, Sir Toby's, and

Maria's part in Malvolio's torment. Then, Feste inflames Malvolio's anger,

and he leaves, in a huff.

Orsino pronounces that happiness will stay with all of them, and that his

marriage to Viola will soon be performed. Feste closes the play with a song

about "the wind and the rain," a reminder that even great happiness is not

safe from life's storms.

Wuthering Heights

Chapter 1, Summary

In Chapter 1 the narrator, Mr. Lockwood, relates how he has just

returned from a visit to his new landlord, Mr. Heathcliff. Lockwood, a self-

described misanthropist, is renting Thrushcross Grange in an effort to get

away from society following a failure at love. He had fallen in love with a

"real goddess," but when she returned his affection he acted so coldly she

"persuaded her mamma to decamp." He finds that relative to Heathcliff,

however, he is extremely sociable. Heathcliff, "a dark skinned gypsy, in

aspect, in dress, and manners a gentleman" treats his visitor with a

minimum of friendliness, and the farm, Wuthering Heights, where he lives,

is just as foreign and unfriendly. "Wuthering" means stormy and windy in

the local dialect. Dangerous-looking dogs inhabit the bare and old-

fashioned rooms, and threaten to attack Lockwood: when he calls for help

Heathcliff implies that Lockwood had tried to steal something. The only

other inhabitants of Wuthering Heights are an old servant named Joseph and

a cook. Despite his rudeness, Lockwood finds himself drawn to Heathcliff:

he describes him as being intelligent, proud and morose, an unlikely

farmer, and declares his intention to visit Wuthering Heights again. The

visit is set in 1801.

Chapter 2, Summary

Annoyed by the housework being done in the Grange, Lockwood pays a

second visit to Wuthering Heights, arriving there just as snow begins to

fall. The weather is cold, the ground is frozen, and his reception matches

the bleak unfriendliness of the moors. After yelling at the old servant

Joseph to open the door, he is finally let in by a peasant-like young man.

The bare kitchen is warm, and Lockwood assumes that the young and beautiful

girl there is Mrs. Heathcliff. He tries to make conversation but she is

consistently scornful and inhospitable, and he only embarrasses himself.

There is "a kind of desperation" in her eyes. She refuses to make him tea

unless Heathcliff said he could have some. The young man and Heathcliff

come in for tea. The young man behaves boorishly and seems to suspect

Lockwood of making advances to the girl. Heathcliff demands tea "savagely,"

and Lockwood decides he doesn't really like him. Trying to make

conversation again, Lockwood gets into trouble first assuming that the girl

is Heathcliff's wife, and then that she is married to the young man, who he

supposes to be Heathcliff's son. He is rudely corrected, and it transpires

that the girl is Heathcliff's daughter-in-law but her husband is dead, as

is Heathcliff's wife. The young man is Hareton Earnshaw. It is snowing hard

and Lockwood requests a guide so he can return home safely, but he is

refused: Heathcliff considers it more important that Hareton take care of

the horses. Joseph, who is evidently a religious fanatic, argues with the

girl, who frightens him by pretending to be a witch. The old servant

doesn't like her reading. Lockwood, left stranded and ignored by all, tries

to take a lantern, but Joseph offensively accuses him of stealing it, and

sets dogs on him. Lockwood is humiliated and Heathcliff and Hareton laugh.

The cook, Zillah, takes him in and says he can spend the night.

Chapter 3, Summary

Zillah quietly shows Lockwood to a chamber which, she says, Heathcliff

does not like to be occupied. She doesn't know why, having only lived there

for a few years. Left alone, Lockwood notices the names "Catherine

Earnshaw," "Catherine Linton," and "Catherine Heathcliff" scrawled over the

window ledge. He leafs through some old books stacked there, and finds that

the margins are covered in handwriting evidently the child Catherine's

diary. He reads some entries which evoke a time in which Catherine and

Heathcliff were playmates living together as brother and sister, and

bullied by Joseph (who made them listen to sermons) and her older brother

Hindley. Apparently Heathcliff was a "vagabond" taken in by Catherine's

father, raised as one of the family, but when the father died Hindley made

him a servant and threatened to throw him out, to Catherine's sorrow.

Lockwood then falls asleep over a religious book, and has a nightmare

about a fanatical preacher leading a violent mob. Lockwood wakes up, hears

that a sound in his dream had really been a branch rubbing against the

window, and falls asleep again. This time he dreams that he wanted to open

the window to get rid of the branch, but when he did, a "little, ice-cold

hand" grabbed his arm, and a voice sobbed "let me in." He asked who it was,

and was answered: "Catherine Linton. I'm come home, I'd lost my way on the

moor." He saw a child's face and, afraid, drew the child's wrist back and

forth on the broken glass of the window so that blood soaked the sheets.

Finally he gets free, and insists that he won't let the creature in, even

if it has been lost for twenty years, which it claims it has. He awakes

screaming.

Heathcliff comes in, evidently disturbed and confused, unaware that

Lockwood is there. Lockwood tells him what happened, mentioning the dream

and Catherine Linton's name, which distresses and angers Heathcliff.

Lockwood goes to the kitchen, but hears on his way Heathcliff at the

window, despairingly begging "Cathy" to come in "at last." Lockwood is

embarrassed by his host's obvious agony.

Morning comes: Lockwood witnesses an argument between Heathcliff and

the girl, who has been reading. He bullies her, and she resists spiritedly.

Heathcliff walks Lockwood most of the way home in the snow.

Chapter 4, Summary

Lockwood is bored and a little weak after his adventures, so he asks

his housekeeper, Ellen Dean, to tell him about the history of Heathcliff

and the old families of the area. She says he is very rich and a miser,

though he has no family, since his son is dead. The girl living at

Wuthering Heights was the daughter of Ellen's former employers, the

Lintons, and her name was Catherine. She is the daughter of the late Mrs.

Catherine Linton, was born an Earnshaw, thus Hareton's aunt. Heathcliff's

wife was Mr. Linton's sister. Ellen is fond of the younger Catherine, and

worries about her unhappy situation.

The narrative switches to Ellen's voice, whose language is much

plainer than Lockwood's. She is a discreet narrator, rarely reminding the

listener of her presence in the story, so that the events she recounts

appear immediate. She says she had grown up at Wuthering Heights, and one

day:

Mr. Earnshaw offered to bring his children Hindley (14 years old) and

Catherine (about 6) a present each from Liverpool, where he was going.

Hindley asked for a fiddle and Catherine for a whip, because she was

already an excelled horsewoman. When Earnshaw returned, however, he brought

with him a "dirty, ragged, black-haired child" found starving on the

streets. The presents had been lost or broken. The boy was named Heathcliff

and taken into the family, though not entirely welcomed by Mrs. Earnshaw,

Ellen, and Hindley. He and Catherine became very close, and Heathcliff was

Earnshaw's favorite. Hindley felt that his place was usurped, and took it

out on Heathcliff, who was hardened and stoical. For example, Earnshaw gave

them each a colt, and Heathcliff chose the finest, which went lame.

Heathcliff then claimed Hindley's, and when Hindley threw a heavy iron at

him, threatened to tell Earnshaw about it if he didn't get the colt.

Chapter 5, Summary

Earnshaw grew old and sick his wife had died some years before and

with his illness he became irritable and somewhat obsessed with the idea

that people disliked his favorite, Heathcliff. Heathcliff was spoiled as a

result, to keep Earnshaw happy, and Hindley, who became more and more

bitter about the situation, was sent away to college. Joseph, already "the

wearisomest, self-righteous pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake

the promises to himself, and fling the curses to his neighbors," used his

religious influence over Earnshaw to distance him from his children.

Earnshaw thought Hindley was worthless, and didn't like Cathy's playfulness

and high spirits, so in his last days he was irritable and discontented.

Cathy was "much too fond" of Heathcliff, and liked to order people around.

Heathcliff would do anything she asked. Her father was harsh to her and she

became hardened to his reproofs.

Finally Earnshaw died one evening when Cathy had been resting her head

against his knee and Heathcliff was lying on the floor with his head in her

lap. When she wanted to kiss her father good night, she discovered he was

dead and the two children began to cry, but that night Ellen saw that they

had managed to comfort each other with "better thoughts than [she] could

have hit on," imagining the old man in heaven

Chapter 6, Summary

Hindley returns home, unexpectedly bringing his wife, a flighty woman

with a strange fear of death and symptoms of consumption (although Ellen

did not at first recognize them as such). Hindley also brought home new

manners and rules, and informed the servants that they would have to live

in inferior quarters. Most importantly, he treated Heathcliff as a servant,

stopping his education and making him work in the fields like any farmboy.

Heathcliff did not mind too much at first because Cathy taught him what she

learned, and worked and played with him in the fields. They stayed away

from Hindley as much as possible and grew up uncivilized and free. "It was

one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and

remain there all day, and after punishment grew a mere thing to laugh at."

One day they ran off after being punished, and at night Heathcliff

returned. He told what had happened. He and Cathy ran to the Grange to see

how people lived there, and they saw the Linton children Edgar and Isabella

in a beautiful room, crying after an argument over who could hold the pet

dog. Amused and scornful, Heathcliff and Cathy laughed; the Lintons head

them and called for their parents. After making frightening noises, the

wilder children tried to escape, but a bulldog bit Cathy's leg and refused

to let go. She told Heathcliff to escape but he would not leave her, and

tried to pry the animal's jaws open. They were captured and brought inside,

taken for thieves. When Edgar recognized Cathy as Miss Earnshaw, the

Lintons expressed their disgust at the children's wild manners and

especially at Heathcliff's being allowed to keep Cathy company. They

coddled Cathy and drove Heathcliff out; he left after assuring himself that

Cathy was all right.

When Hindley found out, he welcomed the chance to separate Cathy and

Heathcliff, so Cathy was to stay for a prolonged visit with the Lintons and

Heathcliff was forbidden to speak to her.

Chapter 7, Summary

Ellen resumes the narrative. Cathy stayed at Thrushcross Grange for

five weeks, until Christmas. When she returned home she had been

transformed into a young lady with that role's attending restrictions: she

could no longer kiss Ellen without worrying about getting flour on her

dress. She hurt Heathcliff's feelings by comparing his darkness and

dirtiness to Edgar and Isabella's fair complexions and clean clothes. The

boy had become more and more neglected in her absence, and was cruelly put

in his place by Hindley and especially by Cathy's new polish. Cathy's

affection for him had not really changed, but he did not know this and ran

out, refusing to come in for supper. Ellen was sorry for him.

The Linton children were invited for a Christmas party the next day.

That morning Heathcliff humbly approached Ellen and asked her to "make him

decent" because he was "going to be good." Ellen applauded his resolution

and reassured him that Cathy still liked him and that she was grieved by

his shyness. When Heathcliff said he wished he could be more like Edgar

fair, rich, and well-behaved Ellen told him that he could be perfectly

handsome without being effeminate if he smiled more and was more trustful.

However, when Heathcliff, now "clean and cheerful" tried to join the

party, Hindley told him to go away because he wasn't not fit to be there.

Edgar unwisely made fun of his long hair and Heathcliff threw hot

applesauce at him, and was taken away and flogged by Hindley. Cathy was

angry at Edgar for mocking Heathcliff and getting him into trouble, but she

didn't want to ruin her party. She kept up a good front, but didn't enjoy

herself, thinking of Heathcliff alone and beaten. At her first chance her

guests gone home she crept into the garret where he was confined.

Later Ellen gave Heathcliff dinner, since he hadn't eaten all day, but

he ate little and when she asked what was wrong, he said he was thinking of

how to avenge himself on Hindley.

At this point Ellen's narrative breaks off and she and Lockwood

briefly discuss the merits of the active and contemplative life, with

Lockwood defending his lazy habits and Ellen saying she should get things

done rather than just telling Lockwood the story. He persuades her to go

on.

Chapter 8, Summary

Hindley's wife Frances gave birth to a child, Hareton, but did not

survive long afterwards: she had consumption. Despite the doctor's

warnings, Hindley persisted in believing that she would recover, and she

seemed to think so too, always saying she felt better, but she died a few

weeks after Hareton's birth. Ellen was happy to take care of the baby.

Hindley "grew desperate; his sorrow was of a kind that will not lament, he

neither wept nor prayed he cursed and defied execrated God and man, and

gave himself up to reckless dissipation. The household more or less

collapsed into violent confusion respectable neighbors ceased to visit,

except for Edgar, entranced by Catherine. Heathcliff's ill treatment and

the bad example posed by Hindley made him "daily more notable for savage

sullenness and ferocity." Catherine disliked having Edgar visit Wuthering

Heights because she had a hard time behaving consistently when Edgar and

Heathcliff met, or when they talked about each other. Edgar's presence made

her feel as though she had to behave like a Linton, which was not natural

for her.

One day when Hindley was away Heathcliff was offended to find

Catherine putting on a "silly frock," getting ready for Edgar's visit. He

asked her to turn Edgar away and spend the time with him instead but she

refused. Edgar was by this time a gentle, sweet young man. He came and

Heathcliff left, but Ellen stayed as a chaperone, much to Catherine's

annoyance. She revealed her bad character by pinching Ellen, who was glad

to have a chance to show Edgar what Catherine was like, and cried out.

Catherine denied having pinched her, blushing with rage, and slapped her,

then slapped Edgar for reproving her. He said he would go; she, recovering

her senses, asked him to stay, and he was too weak and enchanted by her

stronger will to leave. Brought closer by the quarrel, the two "confessed

themselves lovers."

Ellen heard Hindley come home drunk, and out of precaution unloaded

his gun.

Chapter 9, Summary

Hindley came in raging drunk and swearing, and caught Ellen in the act

of trying to hide Hareton in a cupboard for safety. He threatened to make

Nelly swallow a carving knife, and even tried to force it between her

teeth, but she bravely said she'd rather be shot, and spat it out. Then he

took up Hareton and said he would crop his ears like a dog, to make him

look fiercer, then held the toddler over the banister. Hearing Heathcliff

walking below, Hindley accidentally dropped the child, but fortunately

Heathcliff caught him. Looking up to see what had happened, he showed "the

intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his

own revenge." In other words, he hated Hindley so much that he would have

liked to have him to kill his own son by mistake. If it had been dark,

Ellen said, "he would have tried to remedy the mistake by smashing

Hareton's skull on the steps." Hindley was somewhat shaken, and began to

drink more. Heathcliff told Nelly he wished he would drink himself to

death, but he had a strong constitution.

In the kitchen Cathy came to talk to Nelly (neither of them knew

Heathcliff was in the room, sitting behind the settle). Cathy said she was

unhappy, that Edgar had asked her to marry him and she had accepted. She

asked Nelly what she should have answered. Nelly asked her if and why she

loved Edgar; she said she did for a variety of material reasons: "he will

be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman in the neighborhood, and

I shall be proud of such a husband." Nelly disapproved, and Cathy admitted

that she was sure she was wrong: she had had a dream in which she went to

heaven and was unhappy there because she missed Wuthering Heights. She

said:

"I have 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 lightening, or frost from fire."

(Heathcliff left after hearing that it would degrade her to marry

him.)

Nelly told Cathy that Heathcliff would be deserted if she married

Linton, and she indignantly said that she had no intention of deserting

him, but would use her influence to raise him up. Nelly said Edgar wouldn't

like that, to which Cathy replied: "Every Linton on the face of the earth

might melt into nothing, before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff!"

Later that night it turned out that no one knew where Heathcliff was.

Cathy went out in the storm looking for him, unsuccessfully he had run

away. The next morning she was sick. After some time she went to stay with

the Lintons a healthier environment and she got better, while Edgar and

Isabella's parents caught the fever and died. She returned to Wuthering

Heights "saucier, and more passionate, and haughtier than ever." When Nelly

said that Heathcliff's disappearance was her fault, Cathy stopped speaking

to her. She married Edgar three years later, and Ellen unwillingly went to

live with her at the Grange, leaving Hareton to live with his wretched

father.

Chapter 10, Summary

Catherine got along surprisingly well with her husband and Isabella,

mostly because they never opposed her. She had "seasons of gloom and

silence" though. Edgar took these for the results of her serious illness.

When they had been married almost a year, Heathcliff came back. Nelly

was outside that evening and he asked her to tell Catherine someone wanted

to see her. He was quite changed: a tall and athletic man who looked as

though he might have been in the army, with gentlemanly manners and

educated speech though his eyes contained a "half-civilized ferocity."

Catherine was overjoyed and didn't understand why Edgar didn't share her

happiness. Heathcliff stayed for tea, to Edgar's peevish irritation. It

transpired that Heathcliff was staying at Wuthering Heights, paying Hindley

generously, but winning his host's money at cards. Catherine wouldn't let

Heathcliff actually hurt her brother.

In the following weeks, Heathcliff often visited the Grange. Isabella

a "charming young lady of eighteen" became infatuated with him, to her

brother's dismay. Isabella became angry at Catherine for keeping Heathcliff

to herself, and Catherine warned her that Heathcliff was a very bad person

to fall in love with and that Isabella was no match for him:

"I never say to him to let this or that enemy alone, because it would

be ungenerous or cruel to harm them, I say "Let them alone, because I

should hate them to be wronged"; and he'd crush you, like a sparrow's egg,

Isabella, if he found you a troublesome charge."

Catherine teased Isabella by telling Heathcliff in her presence that

she loved him, holding her so she couldn't run away. Isabella scratched

Catherine's arm and managed to escape, and Heathcliff, alone with

Catherine, expressed interest in marrying Isabella for her money and to

enrage Edgar. He said he would beat Isabella if they were married because

of her "mawkish, waxen face."

Chapter 11, Summary

Nelly went to visit Wuthering Heights to see how Hindley and Hareton

were doing. She saw Hareton outside; he didn't recognize his nurse, threw a

rock at her and cursed. She found that his father had taught him how to

curse, and that he liked Heathcliff because he wouldn't let his father

curse him, and let him do what he liked. Nelly was going to go in when she

saw Heathcliff there; frightened, she ran back home.

The next time Heathcliff came to visit Nelly saw him kiss Isabella in

the courtyard. She told Catherine what had happened, and when Heathcliff

came in the two had an argument. Heathcliff said he had a right to do as he

pleased, since Catherine was married to someone else. He said: "You are

welcome to torture me to death for your amusement, only, allow me to amuse

myself a little in the same style."

Nelly found Edgar, who came in while Catherine was scolding

Heathcliff. He scolded her for talking to "that blackguard," which made her

very angry, since she had been defending the Lintons. Edgar ordered

Heathcliff to leave, who scornfully ignored him. Edgar motioned for Nelly

to fetch reinforcements, but Catherine angrily locked the door and threw

the key into the fire when Edgar tried to get it from her. Humiliated and

furious, Edgar was mocked by Catherine and Heathcliff, but he hit

Heathcliff and went out by the back door to get help. Nelly told Heathcliff

that he would be thrown out by the male servants if he stayed, so he chose

to leave.

Left with Nelly, Catherine expressed her anger at her husband and her

friend: " Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend if Edgar will be

mean and jealous, I'll try to break their hearts by breaking my own." Edgar

came in and demanded to know whether she would drop Heathcliff's

acquaintance, and she had a temper tantrum, ending with a faked "fit of

frenzy." When Nelly revealed that the fit was faked, she ran to her room

and refused to come out or to eat for several days.

Chapter 12, Summary

After three days in which Catherine stayed alone in her room, Edgar

sat in the library, and Isabella moped in the garden, Catherine called

Nelly for some food and water because she thought she was dying. She ate

some toast, and was indignant to hear that Edgar wasn't frantic about her;

she said: "How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each

other, they could not avoid loving me and they have all turned to enemies

in a few hours." It became clear to Ellen that she was delirious, and

thought she was back in her room at Wuthering Heights: she was frightened

of her face in the mirror because she thought there was no mirror there.

She opened the window and talked to Heathcliff (who was not there) as

though they were children again. Edgar came in and was much concerned for

Catherine, and angry at Ellen for not having told him what was going on.

Going to fetch a doctor, Ellen notices Isabella's little dog almost

dead, hanging by a handkerchief on the gate. She released it, and found Dr.

Kenneth, who told her that he had seen Isabella walking for hours in the

park with Heathcliff. Ellen found that Isabella had indeed disappeared, and

a little boy told her he had seen the girl riding away with Heathcliff.

Ellen told Edgar, hoping he would rescue his sister from her ill-considered

elopement, but he coldly refused to do so.

Chapter 13, Summary

In the next two months Catherine "encountered and conquered the worst

shock of what was denominated a brain fever," but it was realized that she

would never really recover. She was pregnant. Heathcliff and Isabella

returned to Wuthering Heights and Isabella wrote Edgar an apology and a

plea for forgiveness, to which he gave no reply. She later sent Ellen a

longer letter asking whether Heathcliff were a demon or crazy, and

recounting her experiences. She found Wuthering Heights dirty, uncivilized

and unwelcoming: Joseph was rude to her, Hareton was disobedient, Hindley

was a half-demented mere wreck of a man, and Heathcliff treated her

cruelly. He refused to let her sleep in his room, which meant she had to

stay in a tiny garret. Hindley had a pistol with a blade on it, with which

he dreamed of killing Heathcliff, and Isabella coveted it for the power it

would have given her. She was miserable and regretted her marriage

heartily.

Chapter 14, Summary

Ellen, distressed by Edgar's refusal to console Isabella, went to

visit her. She told Isabella and Heathcliff that Catherine would "never be

what she was" and that Heathcliff should not bother her anymore. Heathcliff

asserted that he would not leave her to Edgar's lukewarm care, and that she

loved him much more than her husband. He said that if he had been in

Edgar's place he would never have interfered with Catherine's friendships,

although he would kill the friend the moment she no longer cared about him.

Nelly told Heathcliff to treat Isabella better, and he expressed his

scorn and hatred for her (in her presence, of course). He said she knew

what he was when she married him: she had seen him hanging her pet dog.

Isabella told Nelly that she hated him, and Heathcliff ordered her upstairs

so he could talk to Nelly.

Alone with her, he told her that if she did not arrange an interview

for him with Catherine, he would force his way in armed, and she agreed to

give Catherine a letter from him.

Chapter 15, Summary

The Sunday after Ellen's visit to Wuthering Heights, while most people

were at church, she gave Catherine Heathcliff's letter. Catherine was

changed by her sickness: she was beautiful in an unearthly way and her eyes

"appeared always to gaze beyond, and far beyond." Ellen had left the door

open, so Heathcliff walked in and Catherine eagerly waited for him to find

the right room. Their reunion was bitter-sweet: though passionately glad to

be reunited, Catherine accused Heathcliff of having killed her, and

Heathcliff warned her not to say such things when he would be tortured by

them after her death besides, she had been at fault by abandoning him. She

asked him to forgive her, since she would not "be at peace" after death,

and he answered: "It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and

feel those wasted hands... I love my murderer but yours! How can I?" They

held each other closely and wept until Ellen warned them that Linton was

returning. Heathcliff wanted to leave, but Catherine insisted that he stay,

since she was dying and would never see him again. He consented to stay,

and "in the midst of the agitation, [Ellen] was sincerely glad to observe

that Catherine's arms had fallen relaxed... ?She's fainted or dead, so much

the better...'" Linton came in, Heathcliff handed him Catherine's body and

told him to take care of her: "Unless you be a fiend, help her first then

you shall speak to me!" He told Nelly he would wait outside for news of

Catherine's welfare, and left.

Chapter 16, Summary

Around midnight Catherine gave birth to a daughter (also named

Catherine, the girl Lockwood saw at Wuthering Heights) and died two hours

later without recovering consciousness. No one cared for the infant at

first, and Ellen wished it had been a boy: as it was, Edgar's heir was

Isabella, Heathcliff's wife. Catherine's corpse looked peaceful and

beautiful, and Ellen decided that she had found heaven at last.

She went outside to tell Heathcliff and found him leaning motionless

against an ash tree. He knew she was dead, and asked Ellen how it had

happened, attempting to conceal his anguish. Ellen was not fooled, and told

him that she had died peacefully, like a girl falling asleep. He cursed

Catherine and begged her to haunt him so he would not be left in "this

abyss, where I cannot find you!... I cannot live without my soul!" He

dashed his head against the tree and howled "like a savage beast getting

goaded to death with knives and spears." Ellen was appalled.

On Tuesday, when Catherine's body was still lying, strewn with

flowers, in the Grange, Heathcliff took advantage of Edgar's short absence

from the chamber of death to see her again, and to replace Edgar's hair in

her locket with some of his own. Ellen noticed the change, and enclosed

both locks of hair together.

Catherine was buried on Friday in a green slope in a corner of the

kirkyard, where, Ellen said, her husband lies now as well.

Chapter 17, Summary

The next day, while Ellen was rocking the baby, Isabella came in

laughing giddily. She was pale and her face was cut; her thin silk dress

was torn by briars. She asked Ellen to call the carriage for the nearest

town, Gimmerton, since she was escaping from her husband, and to have a

maid get some clothes ready. Then she allowed Ellen to give her dry clothes

and bind up the wound. Isabella tried to destroy her wedding-ring, and told

what had happened to her in the last days:

She said that she hated Heathcliff so much that she could feel no

compassion for him even when he was in agony following Catherine's death.

He hadn't eaten for days, and spent his time at Wuthering Heights in his

room, "praying like a methodist; only the deity he implored was senseless

dust and ashes." The evening before, Isabella sat reading while Hindley

drank morosely. When they heard Heathcliff returning from his watch over

Catherine's grave, Hindley told Isabella he would lock Heathcliff out, and

try to kill him with his bladed pistol if he came in. Isabella would have

liked Heathcliff to die, but refused to help in the scheme, so when

Heathcliff knocked she refused to let him in, saying: "If I were you, I'd

go stretch myself over her grave, and die like a faithful dog... The world

is not worth living in now, is it?" Hindley came close to the window to

kill Heathcliff, but the latter grabbed the weapon so the blade shut on

Hindley's wrist; then he forced his way in. He kicked and trampled Hindley,

who had fainted from the loss of blood, then roughly bound up the wound,

and told Joseph and Isabella to clean up the blood.

The next morning when Isabella came down, Hindley "was sitting by the

fire, deadly sick; his evil genius, almost as gaunt and ghastly, leant by

the chimney." After eating breakfast by herself, she told Hindley how he

had been kicked when he was down, and mocked Heathcliff for having so

mistreated his beloved's brother, saying to Hindley: "everyone knows your

sister would have been living now, had it not been for Mr. Heathcliff."

Heathcliff was so miserable that he could hardly retaliate, so Isabella

went on and said that if Catherine had married him, he would have beaten

her the way he beat Hindley. Heathcliff threw a knife at her, and she fled,

knocking down Hareton, "who was hanging a litter of puppies from a

chairback in the doorway." She ran to the Grange.

That morning, she left, never to return to the neighborhood again.

Later, in her new home, in the south, she gave birth to a son, named

Linton, "an ailing, peevish creature," and died when he was about 12 years

old.

Edgar grew resigned to Catherine's death, and loved his daughter, who

he called Cathy, very much. Ellen points out the difference between his

behavior and Hindley's in a similar situation.

Hindley died, "drunk as a lord," about six months after Catherine. He

was just 27, meaning that Catherine had been 19, Heathcliff was 20, and

Edgar was 21. Ellen grieved deeply for him they had been the same age and

were brought up together. She made sure he was decently buried. She wanted

to take Hareton back to the Grange, but Heathcliff said he would keep him,

to degrade him as much as he himself had been degraded. If Edgar insisted

on taking Hareton, Heathcliff said he would claim his own son Linton, so

Ellen gave the idea up.

Chapter 18, Summary

In the next twelve years, Cathy Linton grew up to be "the most winning

thing that ever brought sunshine into a desolate house." She was fair like

a Linton, except for her mother's dark eyes. High spirited but gentle, she

seemed to combine the good qualities of both the Lintons and the Earnshaws,

though she was a little saucy and was used to getting her way. Her father

kept her within the park of the Grange, but she dreamed of going to see

some cliffs, Penistone Crags, not too far away, on the moor.

When Isabella fell ill, she wrote to Edgar to come visit her, so he

was gone for three weeks. One day Cathy asked Ellen to give her some food

for a ramble around the grounds she was pretending to be an Arabian

merchant going across the desert with her caravan of a pony and three dogs.

She left the grounds, however, and later Ellen went after her on the road

to Penistone Crags, which passed Wuthering Heights. She found Cathy safe

and sound there Heathcliff wasn't home, and the housekeeper had taken her

in chattering to Hareton, now 18 years old. She offended Hareton though by

asking whether he was the master's son, and when he said he wasn't, saying

he was a servant. The housekeeper told her he was her cousin, which made

her cry. Hareton offered her a puppy to console her, which she refused.

Ellen told her that her father didn't want her to go to Wuthering Heights,

and asked her not to tell him of her negligence, to which she agreed.

Chapter 19, Summary

Isabella died, and Edgar returned home with his half-orphaned nephew,

Linton, a "pale, delicate, effeminate, boy," with a "sickly peevishness" in

his appearance. Cathy was excited to see her cousin, and took to babying

him when she saw that he was sickly and childish. That very evening, Joseph

came and demanded the child for Heathcliff he was after all his son. Ellen

told him Edgar was asleep, but he went into his room and insisted on being

given Linton. Edgar wished to keep Linton at the Grange, but could not

legally claim him, so he could only put it off till the next morning.

Chapter 20, Summary

The next morning, Ellen woke Linton early and took him over to

Wuthering Heights, promising dishonestly that it was only for a little

while. He was surprised to hear he had a father, since Isabella had never

spoken of Heathcliff. When they arrived there, Heathcliff and Joseph

expressed their contempt for the delicate boy, and Heathcliff told him that

his mother was a "wicked slut" not to tell him about his father. Ellen

asked Heathcliff to be kind to the boy, and he said that he would indeed

have him carefully tended, mostly because Linton was heir to the Grange, so

he wanted him to live at least until Edgar was dead and he inherited. So

when Linton refused to eat the homely oatmeal Joseph offered him,

Heathcliff ordered that he be given some toast or something instead. When

Ellen left, Linton cried for her not to leave him there.

Chapter 21, Summary

Cathy missed her cousin when she woke up that morning, but time made

her forget him. Linton grew up to be a selfish and disagreeable boy,

continually complaining about his health. On Cathy's sixteenth birthday she

and Ellen went out on the moors, and strayed onto Heathcliff's land, where

he found them. He invited them to come to Wuthering Heights, telling Ellen

that he wanted Linton and Cathy to marry so he would be doubly sure of

inheriting the Grange. Cathy was glad to see her cousin, though she was

somewhat taken back by his invalidish behavior. Hareton, at Heathcliff's

request, showed her around the farm, though he was shy of her and she

teased him unkindly. Linton mocked his ignorance also, showing himself to

be mean-spirited.

Later Cathy told her father where she had been, and asked him why he

had not allowed the cousins to see each other (Heathcliff had told her that

Edgar was still angry at him because he thought him too poor to marry

Isabella). Edgar told her of Heathcliff's wickedness, and forbade her to

return to Wuthering Heights. She was unhappy, and began a secret

correspondence with Linton. By the time Ellen discovered it, they were

writing love letters affected ones on Linton's part. Ellen confronted

Cathy and burned the letters, saying she would tell her father if she

continued.

Chapter 22, Summary

That fall Edgar caught a cold which confined him to the house all

winter. Cathy grew sadder after the end of her little romance, and told

Ellen that she was afraid of being alone when her father and Ellen were

dead. Taking a walk, Cathy ended up briefly stranded outside of the wall of

the park, when Heathcliff rode by. He told her that Linton was dying of a

broken heart, and that she would visit him if she were kind. Ellen told her

that Heathcliff was probably lying and couldn't be trusted, but the next

day she was persuaded to accompany Cathy to Wuthering Heights.

Chapter 23, Summary

Cathy and Ellen heard "a peevish voice" calling Joseph for more hot

coals for the fire; they went in to see Linton, who greeted them rather

ungraciously: "No don't kiss me. It takes my breath dear me!" He

complained that writing to her had been very tiring, and that the servants

didn't take care of him as they ought, and that he hated them. He said that

he wished she would marry him, because wives always loved their husbands,

upon which she answered that they did not always do so. Her father had told

her that Isabella had not loved Heathcliff. Linton was angry and answered

that Catherine's mother hadn't loved her father, but Heathcliff. She pushed

his chair and he coughed for a long time, for which she was very sorry. He

took advantage of her regret and bullied her like a true hypochondriac, and

made her promise to return the next day.

When Cathy and Ellen were on their way home, Ellen expressed her

disapproval of Linton and said he would die young "small loss." Cathy

should on no account marry him. Cathy was not so sure he would die, and was

much more friendly toward him.

Ellen caught a cold and was confined to her room. Cathy spent almost

all her time taking care of her and Edgar, but she was free in the

evenings: then, as Ellen later found out, she visited Linton.

Chapter 24, Summary

Three weeks later, Ellen was much better, and discovered Cathy's

evening visits to Wuthering Heights. Cathy told her what had happened:

She had bribed a servant with her books, to take care of saddling her

pony and not telling about her escapades. On her second visit, she and

Linton had had an argument about the best way of spending a summer

afternoon: he wanted to lie in the heather and dream it away, and she

wanted to rock in a treetop among the birds: "He wanted to lie in an

ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle, and dance in a glorious

jubilee." They made up and played ball until Linton was unhappy because he

always lost, but she consoled him for that.

She looked forward to her next visit, but that day when she arrived

she met Hareton, who showed her how he had learned to read his name. She

mocked him for it. (Here Ellen rebuked Cathy for having been so rude to her

cousin. Cathy was surprised, and went on.) When she was reading to Linton,

Hareton came in angrily and ordered them into the kitchen. Shut out of his

favorite room, Linton staged a frightening temper tantrum, wearing an

expression of "frantic, powerless fury" and shrieking that he would kill

Hareton. Joseph pointed out that he was showing his father's character.

Linton coughed blood and fainted; Cathy fetched Zillah. Hareton carried the

boy upstairs but wouldn't let Cathy follow; she cried and he was sorry for

it. She struck him with her whip and rode home.

On the third day Linton refused to speak to her except to blame her

for the events of the preceding day, and she left resolving not to return.

She did, however, and took Linton to task for being so rude. He

admitted that he was worthless, but said that she was much happier than he

and should make allowances. Heathcliff hated him, and he was very unhappy.

He loved her however.

Cathy was sorry Linton had such a distorted nature, and felt she had

an obligation to be a friend to him. She had noticed that Heathcliff

avoided her, and rebuked Linton when he did not behave well to her.

Ellen told Edgar about the visits, and he forbade Cathy to return to

Wuthering Heights, but wrote to Linton that he could come to the Grange if

he liked.

Chapter 25, Summary

Ellen points out to Lockwood that these events only happened the year

before, and she hints that Lockwood might become interested in Cathy, who

is not happy at Wuthering Heights. Then she went on with the narrative:

Edgar asked Ellen what Linton was like, and she told him that he was

delicate and had little of his father in him Cathy would probably be able

to control him if they married. Edgar admitted that he was worried about

what would happen to Cathy if he were to die. As spring advanced Edgar

resumed his walks, but although Cathy took his flushed cheeks and bright

eyes for health, Ellen was not so sure. He wrote again to Linton, asking to

see him. Linton answered that his father refused to let him visit the

Grange, but that he hoped to meet Edgar outside sometime. He also wrote

that he would like to see Cathy again, and that his health was improved.

Edgar could not consent, because he could not walk very far, but the

two began a correspondence. Linton wrote well, without complaining (since

Heathcliff carefully censured his letters)and eventually Edgar agreed to

Cathy's going to meet Linton on the moors, with Ellen's supervision. Edgar

wished Cathy to marry Linton so she would not have to leave the Grange when

he died but he would not have wished it if he knew that Linton was dying

as fast as he was.

Chapter 26, Summary

When Ellen and Cathy rode to meet Linton they had to go quite close to

Wuthering Heights to find him. He was evidently very ill, though he said he

was better: "his large blue eyes wandered timidly over her; the hollowness

round them, transforming to haggard wildness, the languid expression they

once possessed." Linton had a hard time making conversation with Cathy, and

was clearly not enjoying their talk, so she said she would leave.

Surprisingly Linton then looked frightenedly towards Wuthering Heights and

begged her to stay longer, and to tell her father he was in "tolerable

health." She half-heartedly agreed, and he soon fell into some kind of

slumber. He woke suddenly and seemed to be terrified that his father might

come. Soon later Cathy and Ellen returned home, perplexed by his strange

behavior.

Chapter 27, Summary

A week later they were to visit Linton again. Edgar was much sicker,

and Cathy didn't want to leave him, but he encouraged her relationship with

Linton, thinking to ensure his daughter's welfare thereby. Linton "received

us with greater animation on this occasion; not the animation of high

spirits though, nor yet of joy; it looked more like fear." Cathy was angry

that she had had to leave her father, and she was disgusted by Linton's

abject admissions of terror. Heathcliff came upon them, and asked Ellen how

much longer Edgar had to live: he was worried that Linton would die before

him. He then ordered Linton to get up and take Cathy in the house, which he

did, against Cathy's will: "Linton... implored her to accompany him, with a

frantic importunity that admitted no denial." Heathcliff pushed Ellen into

the house as well and locked the door behind them. When Cathy protested

that she must get home to her father he slapped her brutally, and made it

clear that she wouldn't leave Wuthering Heights until she married Linton.

Linton showed his true character: as Heathcliff said, "He'll undertake to

torture any number of cats if their teeth be drawn, and their claws pared."

Cathy and Heathcliff declared their mutual hatred. Ellen remained

imprisoned for five days with Hareton as her jailer: he gave her food but

refused to speak to her beyond what was necessary. She did not know what

was happening to Cathy.

Chapter 28, Summary

On the fifth afternoon of the captivity, Zillah released Ellen, and

said that Heathcliff said she could go home and that Catherine would follow

in time to attend her father's funeral. He was not dead yet, but soon would

be. Ellen asked Linton where Catherine was, and he answered that she was

shut upstairs, that they were married, and that he was glad she was being

treated harshly. Apparently he was piqued that she hadn't wished to marry

him. He was annoyed by her crying, and was glad when Heathcliff struck her.

Ellen rebuked him for his selfishness and unkindness, and went to the

Grange to get help. Edgar was glad to hear his daughter was safe, and would

be home soon: he was almost dead, at the age of 39. The men sent to

Wuthering Heights to rescue Catherine returned without her, having believed

Heathcliff's tale that she was too sick to travel. Very early the next

morning, however, Catherine came back by herself, joyful to hear that her

father was still alive. She had forced Linton to help her escape. Ellen

asked her to say she would be happy with Linton, for Edgar's sake, to which

she agreed. Edgar died "blissfully." Catherine was stony-eyed with grief.

Heathcliff's lawyer gave all the servants but Ellen notice to quit, and

hurried the funeral.

Chapter 29, Summary

Heathcliff came to the Grange to fetch Catherine to Wuthering Heights

to take care of Linton, who was dying in terror of his father, and because

he wanted to get a tenant for the Grange (Mr. Lockwood, as it turned out).

Catherine agreed to go, because Linton was all she had to love, and left

the room.

Heathcliff, in a strange mood, told Ellen what he had done the night

before. He had bribed the sexton who was digging Edgar's grave to uncover

his Catherine's coffin, so he could see her face again he said it was hers

yet. The sexton told him that the face would change if air blew on it, so

he tore himself away from contemplating it, and struck one side of the

coffin loose and bribed the sexton to put his body in with Catherine's when

he was dead. Ellen was shocked, and scolded him for disturbing the dead, at

which he replied that on the contrary she had haunted him night and day for

eighteen years, and "yesternight, I was tranquil. I dreamt I was sleeping

my last sleep, by that sleeper, with my heart stopped, and my cheek frozen

against hers."

Then Heathcliff told Ellen what he had done the night after

Catherine's burial (the night he beat up Hindley). He had gone to the

kirkyard and dug up the coffin "to have her in his arms again," but while

he was wrenching at the screws he suddenly felt sure of her living

presence. He was consoled, but tortured as well: from that night for 18

years he constantly felt as though he could almost see her, but not quite.

He tried sleeping in her room, but constantly opened his eyes to see if she

were there, he felt so sure she was.

Heathcliff finished his narrative, and Catherine sadly bade farewell to

Ellen.

Chapter 30, Summary

Ellen has now more or less reached the present time in her narrative,

and tells Lockwood what Zillah told her about Catherine's reception at

Wuthering Heights. She spent all her time in Linton's room, and when she

came out she asked Heathcliff to call a doctor, because Linton was very

sick. Heathcliff replied: "We know that! But his life is not worth a

farthing." Catherine was thus left to care for her dying cousin all by

herself (Zillah, Hareton and Joseph would not help her) and became haggard

and bewildered from lack of sleep. Finally Linton died, and when Heathcliff

asked Catherine how she felt, she said: "He's safe and I'm free. I should

feel very well but you have left me so long to struggle against death,

alone, that I feel and see only death! I feel like death!" Hareton was

sorry for her. Catherine was ill for the next two weeks. Heathcliff

informed her that Linton had left all of his and his wife's property to

himself. One day when Heathcliff was out, Catherine came downstairs.

Hareton made shy, friendly advances, which she angrily rejected. He asked

Zillah to ask her to read for them (he was illiterate, but wished to learn)

but she refused on the grounds that she had been forsaken during Linton's

illness, and had no reason to care for Hareton or Zillah. Hareton said that

he had in fact asked Heathcliff to be allowed to relieve her of some of her

duties, but was denied. She was in no mood to forgive, however, and thus

became the unfriendly Catherine Lockwood had seen at Wuthering Heights.

According to Zillah: "She'll snap at the master himself, and as good dares

him to thrash her; and the more hurt she gets, the more venomous she

grows." Ellen wanted to get a cottage and live there with Catherine, but

Heathcliff would not permit it.

Chapter 31, Summary

Lockwood went to Wuthering Heights to see Heathcliff and tell him he

didn't want to stay at the Grange any longer. He noticed that Hareton was

"as handsome a rustic as need be seen." He gave Catherine a note from

Ellen; she thought it was from him at first and when he made it clear that

it wasn't, Hareton snatched it away, saying that Heathcliff should look at

it first (he wasn't home yet). Catherine tried to hide her tears, but

Hareton noticed and let the letter drop beside her seat. She read it and

expressed her longing for freedom, telling Lockwood that she couldn't even

write Ellen back because Heathcliff had destroyed her books. Hareton had

all the other books in the house: he had been trying to read. Catherine

mocked him for his clumsy attempts at self-education: "Those books, both

prose and verse, were consecrated to me by other associations, and I hate

to hear them debased and profaned in his mouth!" Poor Hareton fetched the

books and threw them into her lap, saying he didn't want to think about

them any longer. She persisted in her mockery, reading aloud in "the

drawling tone of a beginner," following which he slapped her and threw the

books into the fire. Lockwood "read in his countenance what anguish it was

to offer that sacrifice to spleen."

Heathcliff came in and Hareton left, "to enjoy his grief and anger in

solitude." Heathcliff moodily confided to Lockwood that Hareton reminded

him much more of Catherine, than of Hindley. He also told Lockwood that he

would still have to pay his full rent even if he left the Grange, to which

Lockwood, insulted, agreed. Heathcliff invited Lockwood to dinner, and

informed Catherine that she could eat with Joseph in the kitchen. Lockwood

ate the cheerless meal and left, contemplating the possibility of his

courting Catherine and going together "into the stirring atmosphere of the

town."

Chapter 32, Summary

In the fall of 1802, later that year, Lockwood returned to the Grange

because he was passing through the area on a hunting trip. He found the

Grange more or less empty: Ellen was at Wuthering Heights, and an old woman

had replaced her. Lockwood visited Wuthering Heights to see what had

changed. He noticed flowers growing around the old farm house, and

overheard a pleasant lesson from indoors. Catherine, sounding "sweet as a

silver bell," was teaching Hareton, now respectably dressed. The lesson was

interspersed with kisses and very kind words. Lockwood was loth to disturb

them, and went around to the kitchen to find Nelly singing and Joseph

complaining as usual. She was glad to see Lockwood and told them that he

would have to settle the rent with her, since she was acting for Catherine.

Heathcliff had been dead for three months. She told him what had happened.

A fortnight after Lockwood left the Grange the previous spring, Nelly

was summoned to Wuthering Heights, where she gladly went her job was to

keep Catherine out of Heathcliff's way. She was pleased to see Catherine,

but sorry at the way she had changed.

One day when they and Hareton were sitting in the kitchen, Catherine

grew tired of the animosity between herself and the young man, and offered

him a book, which he refused. She left it close to him, but he never

touched it. Hareton was injured in a shooting accident in March, and since

Heathcliff didn't like to see him, he spent a lot of time sitting in the

kitchen, where Catherine found many reasons to go. Finally her efforts at

reconciliation succeeded, and they became loving friends, much to Joseph's

indignation.

Chapter 33, Summary

The next morning Ellen found Catherine with Hareton in the garden,

planning a flower garden in the middle of Joseph's cherished currant

bushes. She warned them that they would be punished, but Hareton said he

would take the blame. At tea, Catherine was careful not to talk to Hareton

too much, but she put flowers into his porridge, which made him laugh,

which made Heathcliff angry. He assumed Catherine had laughed, but Hareton

quietly admitted his fault. Joseph came in and incoherently bewailed the

fate of his bushes. Hareton said he was uprooted some, but would plant them

again, and Catherine said it had been at her instigation. Heathcliff called

her an "insolent slut," and she accused him of having stolen her land and

Hareton's. Heathcliff commanded Hareton to throw her out the poor boy was

torn between his two loyalties and tried to persuade Catherine to leave.

Heathcliff seemed "ready to tear Catherine to pieces" when he suddenly

calmed down and told everyone to leave. Later Hareton asked Catherine not

to accuse Heathcliff in front of him, and she understood his position and

refrained from insulting her oppressor from then on. Ellen was glad to see

her two "children" happy together; Hareton quickly shook off his ignorance

and boorishness and Catherine became sweet again.

When Heathcliff saw them together he was struck by their resemblances

to his Catherine, and told Ellen that he had lost his motivation for

destruction. He no longer took any interest in everyday life; Catherine and

Hareton didn't appear to him to be distinct characters of their own, but

sources of past associations to his beloved. He also felt Hareton to be

very much like himself as a youth. But most importantly, his Catherine

haunted him completely: "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!" He

told Nelly that he felt a change coming that he could no longer exist in

the living world when he felt so close to that of the dead, or the

immortal. Nelly wondered whether he was ill, but decided that he was in

fine health and mind, except for his unworldly obsession.

Chapter 34, Summary

In the next few days Heathcliff all but stopped eating, and spent the

nights walking outside. Catherine, happily working on her garden, came

across him and was surprised to see him looking "very much excited, and

wild, and glad." Ellen told him he should eat, and indeed at dinner he took

a heaped plate, but abruptly lost interest in food, seemed to be watching

something by the window, and went outside. Hareton followed to ask him what

was wrong, and Heathcliff told him to go back to Catherine and not bother

him. He came back an hour or two later, with the same "unnatural appearance

of joy," shivering the way a "tight-stretched cord vibrates a strong

thrilling, rather than trembling." Ellen asked him what was going on, and

he answered that he was within sight of his heaven, hardly three feet away.

Later that evening, Ellen found him sitting in the dark with the windows

all open. She was frightened by the pallor of his face and his black eyes.

Ellen half-wondered if he were a vampire, but told herself that she was

foolish, since she had watched him grow up. The next day he was even more

restless and could hardly speak coherently, and stared fascinatedly at

nothing with an "anguished, yet raptured expression." Early the next

morning having spent the night outside or pacing in his room, he declared

he wanted to settle things with his lawyer. Ellen said he should eat, and

get some sleep, but he replied that he could do neither: "My soul's bliss

kills my body, but does not satisfy itself." Ellen told him to repent his

sins, and he thanked her for the reminder and asked her to make sure he was

buried next to Catherine: "I have nearly attained my heaven; and that of

others is altogether unvalued, and uncoveted by me." He behaved more and

more strangely, talking openly of his Catherine. Ellen called the doctor,

but Heathcliff wouldn't see him. The next morning she found him dead in his

room, by the open window, wet from the rain and cut by the broken window-

pane, with his eyes fiercely open and wearing a savage smile. Hareton

mourned deeply for him. The doctor wondered what could have killed him. He

was buried as he had asked. People said that his ghost roamed the moors

with Catherine: Ellen once came across a little boy crying amid his

panicked lambs, and he said that Heathcliff was "yonder" with a woman and

that he didn't dare pass them.

Catherine and Hareton were to be married, and they would move to the

Grange, leaving Wuthering Heights to Joseph and the ghosts. Lockwood

noticed on his walk home that the kirk was falling apart from neglect, and

he found the three headstones, Catherine's, Edgar's, and Heathcliff's,

covered by varying degrees of heather. He "wondered how anyone could ever

imagine unquiet slumbers, for sleepers in that quiet earth."

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