Symbolism in Wuthering Heights

Understanding Wuthering Heights symbolism provides depth to Emily Bronte's classic. The Moors - Moors play an important part in establishing the mood of the novel. Moors are open areas, wet, wild, and infertile. As the novel opens Lockwood fears walking through the moors at night. Catherine and Heathcliff spend much of their childhood rambling on the moors, symbolizing their wild inclinations. Both Catherine and Heathcliff are buried on the moors, because of their fondness for them and their fondness for the wildness they represent. The Moors also represent danger. Nelly and Catherine Linton are feared to have drowned in the moors. In addition, they are very difficult to navigate and easy to lose oneself. Just as the moors represent danger and are difficult to navigate, the love between Catherine and Heathcliff endangers everyone associated with them through their recklessness and becomes difficult to figure out.

More Symbolism in Wuthering Heights

Understanding Wuthering Heights symbolism provides depth to Emily Bronte's classic. Ghosts - The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are haunted by past events. Heathcliff craves the past and longs for the ghost of Catherine to haunt him. Lockwood, during the first few days of his residence, is awakened by Catherine's ghost as he slumbers at Wuthering Heights. It is apparent that Lockwood will be imposed upon by the abnormal goings on of the Heights and Thrushcross Grange. At the end of the novel, rumors persist that both Heathcliff and Catherine's ghosts roam the moors at night. Although the veracity of such events remain ambiguous, there is no doubt Heathcliff's life has made an impact on the still living. Weather - The extreme winds prevelant at the Heights symbolize the hardness of the inhabitants. At Thrushcross Grange, things are much more delicate and mild, like its initial inhabitants, the Lintons. Wind and rain are present when Mr. Earnshaw dies, when Heathcliff departs from Wuthering Heights, and when Heathcliff dies.

Even More Symbolism in Wuthering Heights

Understanding Wuthering Heights symbolism provides depth to Emily Bronte's classic. Catherine's Locket - Catherine has on her neck a locket containing a lock of Edgar's hair. After seeing the dead Catherine, Heathcliff removes it, throws it on the ground, and replaces it with his own hair. His act symbolizes his desire to supplant Edgar and his belief that Catherine is rightfully his. Nelly takes Edgar's lock of hair, intertwines it with Heathcliff's lock of hair, and puts it into the locket, symbolizing how the two nemesis' lives intertwine.

Windows and Doors - Wuthering Heights' characters are often impeded by locked doors and windows, symbolizing the damaging effects of revenge. Lockwood (I don't think his name is coincidental) finds Wuthering Heights locked as he arrives. Nelly and Catherine are locked in rooms to assist Heathcliff's thirst for revenge. At other times doors and windows are intentionally left open--Heathcliff opens the window to let Catherine's ghost in; Nelly leaves the window open to let Heathcliff enter Catherine's room; the sexton opens the side of Catherine's and Heathcliff's coffin to let them mingle in death. Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/homeworktips/articles/46491.aspx#ixzz1Lm2lRMzv

Wuthering Heights Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Sometimes, theres more to Lit than meets the eye.

The Oak-Paneled Bed

This piece of furniture is the symbolic center of Wuthering Heights both the novel and the house and provides the setting for two of the novel's most dramatic events. Residing in Catherine's childhood bedroom, the bed is described by Lockwood in the following terms: a large oak case, with squares cut out near the top, resembling coach windows. . . . In fact, it formed a little closet, and the ledge of the window, which it enclosed, served as a table. (3.5) The "ghost story" is set into action the tormented night Lockwood spends in the oakpaneled bed. Before his nightmares, Lockwood sees it as a place where he can feel "secure against the vigilance of Heathcliff and everyone else" (3.6). In this sense, it symbolizes a place of protection, security, and retreat. As Lockwood soon finds out, though, the oak-paneled bed was also a retreat for young Catherine, whose books became impromptu journals as she hid from Hindley some twenty-five years before. Lockwood experiences a haunting series of nightmares in the bed, suggesting that he has violated a hallowed place. Because the space was Catherine's, it is sacred to Heathcliff, who is furious when he finds Lockwood sleeping in his "sanctum." The supernatural powers that surround the bed become more intense when Heathcliff dies there, transforming the bed into a kind of symbol of a coffin where Heathcliff is finally "reunited" with his love. Where Lockwood tried to keep the bed's window closed, Heathcliff is found dead with the window wide open, almost as though his spirit has escaped. So for both Lockwood and Heathcliff, in very different ways, the bed is a protective boundary and haunted space.

Windows, Doors, Thresholds, and Other Boundaries

From the very first pages of Wuthering Heights, Lockwood is anxious to cross the threshold and enter the house, while Heathcliff seems intent on keeping him out. "Even the gate over which [Heathcliff] leant manifested no sympathizing movement []" (1.6). Lockwood personifies the gate, implying that, like Heathcliff, it does not want to let him in. Even Lockwood's name reflects his failure to gain access. (But since he is not one to pick up on hints, he charges in anyway.) In his first descriptions of the house, Lockwood observes its unwelcoming architecture: "Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, the corners defended with large, jutting stones" (1.12). Constructed in 1500, this home is clearly designed to be impenetrable. The window in the oak-paneled bed is a critical boundary in the novel, symbolizing a space of violation and violence. Even though Catherine's name is scratched on its surface, the window does not provide entry for her wailing ghost thanks in large part to Lockwood's lack of sympathy. The bloodshed from Catherine's wrist "rubbed [. . .] to and fro" on the pane suggests that there is profound violence involved in crossing thresholds. Later in the novel, the young Cathy escapes Heathcliff from the same window: She dare not try the doors, lest the dogs should raise an alarm; she visited the empty chambers, and examined their windows; and luckily, lighting on her mother's, she got easily out of its lattice, and onto the ground by means of the fir tree, close by. (28.66) Remember that same fir-bough scratching on the window as Lockwood emerged from his nightmare? There are numerous incidents in which the two houses are referred to as prisons and their inhabitants as prisoners. When domestic harmony finally returns to Wuthering Heights at the novel's end, Lockwood finds that the whole prison vibe is gone: "I had neither to climb the gate, nor to knock it yielded to my hand [. . . ]. Both doors and lattices were open [. . .] what inmates there were had stationed themselves not far from one of the windows. I could see them and hear them talk before I entered, and looked and listened in consequence, being moved thereto by a mingled sense of curiosity and envy that grew as I lingered. (32.26) Obviously, Lockwood is still a major snoop; the problems caused by his past boundary violations do not hinder him from imposing himself yet again. Throughout the novel, characters gaze and spy through windows, open windows, or break them. Not surprisingly, the large drawing room window of Thrushcross Grange appears ample and cheery compared to windows at Wuthering Heights. Rather than being "narrow" and "deeply set," it provides accessible views out onto the garden and green valley and, conversely, into the home's interior. When Catherine and Heathcliff venture out to spy on Edgar and Isabella, the drawing room window provides a view onto a different world one that eventually welcomes Catherine but rejects Heathcliff. Thrown out of Thrushcross Grange (as he will be many more times), Heathcliff is left to make his observations through the glass partition: "I resumed my station as a spy, because, if Catherine had wished to return, I

intended shattering their great glass panes to a million fragments unless they let her out" (6.39). The many symbolic meanings of windows extend even to Heathcliff's appearance, as Nelly describes his eyes as "a couple of black fiends, so deeply buried, who never open their windows boldly" (7.42). Again, windows prevent rather than provide access.

Doubles and Opposites

What's with all of the doubles and opposites in the novel? Wuthering Heights versus Thrushcross Grange, civilization versus nature, Edgar Linton versus Heathcliff are just some of the oppositions. The family tree is very symmetrical, but the families blend and the opposition between the houses becomes less clearly distinct. Among the novel's many doubles, Catherine and Heathcliff are the most important. Their love is based on being spiritual twins. Recall Catherine's confession to Nelly Dean that she can't marry Heathcliff because, as she explains, "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" (9.92). She concludes with one of the most memorable lines in the novel: "Nelly, I am Heathcliff" (9.101). Heathcliff is not Catherine's only double there's also her daughter, the other Catherine, better known as Cathy. All of these names can get really confusing, leading you to wonder couldn't they come up with any new names?! There are many Lintons and Earnshaws, even several characters with the name Heathcliff, though only one goes exclusively by Heathcliff (like Prince or Madonna). There are two Hareton Earnshaws, though one from way back in 1500. Heathcliff has another double too: Hareton Earnshaw. Both were placed into a servile position and deprived of an education by the ruthless master of the house. Just how vengeful Heathcliff is comes out with Hareton, because rather than feeling compassion that the young man has no sympathetic father figure, Heathcliff repeats the same crummy treatment on Hareton that he received from Hareton's father, Hindley. Among the many examples of repetition in the plot, the scenes with the two Catherines and their respective suitors, Edgar Linton and Linton Heathcliff, reveal that mother and daughter are both feisty and self-indulgent. Let's briefly look at the repetition in two scenes. In the first, Catherine boxes Edgar Linton on the ear. When he tries to leave Wuthering Heights, she becomes a master manipulator, shouting, "No . . . not yet, Edgar Linton sit down; you shall not leave me in that temper. I should be miserable all night, and I won't be miserable for you!"(8.77). Moments later, Edgar proposes marriage and Catherine accepts. Roughly twenty years later, Cathy pushes Linton Heathcliff after a fight about their parents. Though Cathy apologizes, she also blames him, just like her mother blamed Edgar. She does not want to leave Wuthering Heights carrying the blame for the scene: "Don't let me go home thinking I've done you harm!" (23.49). Daughter, like mother, cannot control her temper and yet does not want to bear any of the responsibility.

Ghosts
We're not exactly talking about Gryffindor Tower's Nearly Headless Nick here, but there are definitely some haunting figures in Wuthering Heights. It is important to note, though, that Bront's ghosts are ambiguous entities and may have logical, rather than supernatural, explanations. Take Catherine's ghost at the beginning. This paranormal figure with the icy hand who claims to have been "a waif for twenty years," (111.55) could just be a figment of Lockwood's nightmares. Still, when Heathcliff demands an explanation for the commotion in the oak-paneled bed (which he clearly thinks involves Catherine's ghost), Lockwood answers that Wuthering Heights is "swarming with ghosts and goblins!" (3.67). As readers, we accept his interpretation because Lockwood is our narrator, but his characterizations can also be wildly inaccurate, reflecting his own biases and assumptions, as with his description of Catherine's ghost as a "little fiend" who may have been seeking entry into the window in order to strangle him. As he further describes her, "And that minx, Catherine Linton, or Earnshaw, or however she was called she must have been a changeling wicked little soul!" (3.69). In many ways the ghosts in Wuthering Heights symbolize a lack of closure for the lovers. Heathcliff wants to believe in ghosts and the afterlife because that means Catherine will still be around. When Catherine dies, he begs to be haunted: "I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always take any form drive me mad!" (16.25). Bront's ghosts are not your average Gothic novel device, as they seem to have much more to do with romance than evil. The superstitious Joseph may be the only one to see the ghosts as sinister. At the end of the novel, Nelly Dean tells Lockwood that the "country folks would swear on their Bible [the ghost of Heathcliff] walks," and they report having seen him "near the church, and on the moor, and even within this house" (34.99). These reports could go either way. That the villagers see the ghosts too could mean that they are not just figments of Lockwood's imagination. On the other hand, the villagers may just be demonstrating the same kind of superstitious fear as Joseph. Even drama-loving Nelly is skeptical about the existence of ghosts. When a neighborhood boy reports "They's Heathcliff and a woman, yonder, under t' Nab [...] un' Aw darnut pass'em" (34.101), Nelly tells Lockwood that she did not see the ghosts herself and that "He probably raised the phantoms from thinking, as he traversed the moors alone, on the nonsense he had heard his parents and companions repeat []" (34.103). So what's the verdict on the ghosts? Bront leaves it up in the air, but the hauntings and uncanny happenings are part of what make the novel so riveting.

Nature, Weather, and the Moors

The wild and desolate moors are set against the drama unfolding in the two houses. But as much as there is a nature versus culture theme going on here, Wuthering Heights (the house) is very much associated with nature, and so it can't really be put in neat opposition to it. As Lockwood explains at the novel's opening, "Wuthering" is "a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its

station is exposed in stormy weather"(1.12). Translation: bring a jacket. But the moors mean different things to different people. To Lockwood, the moors serve as a confusing expanse that's almost impossible to navigate on his own. The moors confuse him, especially when it snows. He sees them as "one billowy white, ocean" (4.101) full of pits, depressions, rises, and deep swamps. The boggy parts of the moors can mean death for some people. When Heathcliff imprisons Nelly and Cathy in Wuthering Heights, he spreads a rumor in Gimmerton that the two had "sunk in the Blackhorse marsh" and that he had rescued them (28.2). But as much as the moors represent threat and menace, they are also full of mystery and mysticism. They are a source of comfort and a respite from the prison-like atmosphere of Wuthering Heights. To Catherine and Heathcliff, the moors exist as a supernatural, liberating, and boundaryless region. For them, the ultimate freedom is associated with wandering on the moors. They often describe their love and their own individual identities through metaphors of nature. Catherine's dying wish to be released on to the moors reinforces Heathcliff's analogy of Catherine as an oak contained by the strictures of Thrushcross Grange: [Catherine:] "I wish I were out of doors I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy [] I'm sure I should be myself were I once among the heather on those hills. Open the window again wide []." (12.46) Both Catherine and Heathcliff have an intense identification with the unruliness and brutality of nature. Catherine justifies her marriage to Edgar Linton using comparisons to the natural world: "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods. Time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath a source of little visible delight, but necessary." (9.101) Heathcliff's appearance draws endless comparisons to nature. It is "bleak, hilly, coal country" to Linton's "fertile valley" (8.53). Bront does not set up a neat opposition between nature and civilization, though. First of all, life at the Heights is not exactly civilized; second, the very name of the house reflects its surroundings. Like her mother, Cathy yearns to escape the confines of the house and play on the moors. Hareton slowly earns her trust by giving her a guided tour of some of the natural features of the surrounding countryside. "He opened the mysteries of the Fairy cave, and twenty other queer places []" (8.85).

Dogs
There are dogs all over this novel, and they actually play a pretty big role in propelling the plot. Like the Lintons and Earnshaws, the dogs are all related. Dogs figure in several major scenes and tend to be symbolically linked to Heathcliff. For example, when Lockwood tries to enter Wuthering Heights at the beginning of the novel, he finds not only several locked gates but also a pack of dogs preventing entry. "[T]wo hairy monsters" (3.101) with the names Gnasher and Wolf attack Lockwood, their lack of hospitality seeming to reflect that of their master. But Lockwood doesn't get the

hint. When Catherine and Heathcliff take their pivotal journey down to Thrushcross Grange, they share a glimpse of the sniveling Linton children fighting over a dog (6.37). When Catherine is bit by Skulker, one of the Lintons' dogs, she is compelled to stay at the Grange to recuperate, which changes her relationship to Heathcliff forever. Finally, let's not forget Heathcliff's treatment of Isabella's springer, Fanny. As they elope from Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff uses a handkerchief to hang the dog by his neck on a bridle hook definitely some foreshadowing of the treatment his new bride will receive.

Houses
Well, we know by the book's title that houses are pretty important here. Heathcliff's entire revenge plot is tied up in gaining ownership of the two houses. Even though Wuthering Heights is a love story, it's the houses that Heathcliff is determined to get possession of; his plan is not to win Catherine back or steal her away from Edgar Linton. Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are in many ways set in opposition to each another. (See "Doubles and Opposites," above) The Heights lacks hospitality and domestic comforts: chairs lurk, meats hang from the ceiling, and the kitchen, like unwelcome guests, is "forced to retreat altogether" (1.14). "Wuthering," as Lockwood tells us, is "descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather" (1.12). Thrushcross Grange, on the other hand, represents refinement, class, cultivation, and propriety. It's the house Catherine aspires to socially, the house that will make her a "lady." The Heights sits exposed on a stormy hilltop, but the Grange is calm and protected down in the valley. With all the crazy intermixing that goes on in the novel, though, these neat thematic oppositions start to get confused. When the novel opens we learn that Heathcliff owns both houses. But when Lockwood notices that the inscription over the doors reads "Hareton Earnshaw," we know that the family has lost the house; the laws of inheritance have been violated. (Remember, even though Heathcliff was taken in by Mr. Earnshaw, he was never named Heathcliff Earnshaw). Figuring out how this happened becomes one of our goals as a reader.

Summary
Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 1-4
This summary of Wuthering Heights has been written with love. Please read it carefully. Use this summary of Wuthering Heights to review for class discussion and further insight. Chapter 1: Mr. Lockwood at Thrushcross Grange visits his landlord, Heathcliff, at Wuthering Heights. He plans to return the next day despite his rude treatment. Chapter 2: Mr. Lockwood returns to Wuthering Heights. He meets Catherine Linton and Hareton Earnshaw, who with Heathcliff, treat him rudely. Because it's snowy and dark, Lockwood asks for a guide home. Heathcliff refuses. Lockwood takes a lamp to guide him home. Joseph the servant suspects thievery and sicks the dogs on Lockwood. He is forced to spend the night. Chapter 3: Zillah, a servant at Wuthering Heights, shows Mr. Lockwood to a "forbidden" room where he is to sleep. He reads a 25-year old diary entry about Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, and her cruel brother Hindley. Lockwood awakes from a nightmare. He is greeted by the ghost of Catherine Linton who clings to Lockwood's arm, who scrapes it with glass to set himself free. Lockwood screams. Heathcliff enters and scolds his guest. There is no physical evidence of a break in.

Lockwood goes to the study. Heathcliff goes to the window and cries for Catherine's ghost to return.

Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 4-7

This summary of Wuthering Heights has been written with love. Please read it carefully. Chapter 4: Back home, Lockwood asks his servant, Nelly Dean, about the history of the Wuthering Heights' inhabitants. The Catherine at Wuthering Heights is the daughter of Nelly's first mistress, also named Catherine. Hareton is young Catherine's cousin. Hareton, Hindley, and the first Catherine are the children of Mr. Earnshaw. Mr. Earnshaw on a trip to Liverpool brings back an orphan, Heathcliff, whom he raises and cares for more than the other children. Hindley treats Heathcliff poorly. Catherine and Heathcliff become inseparable. Chapter 5: Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley to college. Mr. Earnshaw dies. Chapter 6: Hindley returns from college with his new wife. He exacts revenge on Heathcliff immediately, denying him an education and forcing him to be a common laborer. Catherine and Heathcliff spend their free time together playing on the moors. Heathcliff returns late one evening, without Catherine, who sustained an injury and stayed at the Linton house at Thrushcross Grange. Catherine and Heathcliff are prohibited from seeing each other. Chapter 7: Catherine spends five weeks at Thrushcross Grange where Mrs. Linton teaches her to be a lady. Hindley turns Heathcliff in to a dirty servant. Catherine insults Heathcliff's appearance. The Lintons come to Wuthering Heights for Christmas. Heathcliff flicks applesauce in Edgar Linton's face. Hindley locks Heathcliff in the attic. Catherine is upset.

Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 8-10

This summary of Wuthering Heights has been written with love. Please read it carefully. Chapter 8: Hindley's wife dies giving birth to Hareton. Nelly takes care of him. Hindley becomes a drunk. Hindley leaves for the day and Heathcliff takes the day off from work to question Catherine about all the time she spends with Edgar Linton. She reports that Edgar is visiting later that day. Edgar witnesses a Catherine temper tantrum, receiving a portion of it himself. He leaves. He returns and the two declare their love for one another. Chapter 9: Hindley arrives home drunk. He drops his son from the bannister. Heathcliff catches him. Catherine tells Nelly that she will marry Edgar because Heathcliff is not worthy. Heathclif overhears and leaves Wuthering Heights. Catherine searches for him, catches cold, is taken to Thruschcross Grange, and infects Mr. and Mrs. Linton. Edgar and Catherine marry three years later.

Chapter 10: Heathcliff returns shortly after Catherine's marriage, looking like a gentleman and having acquired wealth. Hindley, to the surprise of all, allows Heathcliff to stay at Wuthering Heights. Catherine and Isabella visit Heathcliff often. Isabella falls in love with Heathcliff. Heathcliff does not discourage it. Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/homeworktips/articles/46488.aspx#ixzz1Lm4GHOKb

Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 11-15

This Wuthering Heights summary has been written with love. Please read it carefully. Chapter 11: Heathcliff feigns love for Isabella. Heathcliff and Edgar get in a fight, with Edgar being humiliated. In anger, Edgar demands his wife choose him or Heathcliff. Chapter 12: Catherine throws a fit and becomes very ill. She speaks of death and rambling on the moors. Heathcliff and Isabella elope after Heathcliff hangs her puppy. Chapter 13: Nelly and Edgar nurse Catherine, who has become pregnant, but will never fully recover. Isabella sends a letter to Edgar begging for his forgiveness. He refuses. Nelly receives a letter from Isabella recounting her rude treatment and horrible living conditions. Heathcliff has chosen to get his revenge on Edgar by mistreating Isabella. Chapter 14: Nelly visits Isabella at the Heights. Heathcliff forces Nelly to deliver Catherine a letter. Chapter 15: Edgar goes to church. Heathcliff arrives. Catherine declares her love for Heathcliff. Catherine collapses into Heathcliff's arms as Edgar arrives. Nelly hurries him out of the room and promises to send word on Catherine's condition.

Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 16-20

This Wuthering Heights summary has been written with love. Please read it carefully. Chapter 16: Catherine gives birth prematurely and dies two hours later. Heathcliff wishes to be haunted by Catherine in any form possible as long as she stay close to him. Edgar holds a vigil over her dead body and calls for her to be buried overlooking the moors. Chapter 17: Isabella escapes Wuthering Heights and asks Nelly for assistance. Isabella runs off to London and gives birth to a son, Linton Heathcliff. Nelly and Isabella correspond regularly until Isabella's death 12 years later. Hindley dies shortly after Catherine. Heathcliff becomes owner of Wuthering Heights on account of Hindley's gambling debts. Heathcliff decides to raise Hareton on his own, making him a dirty servant just as Hindley did to him.

Chapter 18: Catherine grows up and is forbidden to wander far from home. Edgar is called to London to retrieve Linton. Catherine takes advantage and escapes to Penistone Crags where she meets Hareton. Chapter 19: Edgar brings Linton to Thrushcross Grange. Joseph arrives to inform Edgar that he is to get him. Chapter 20: Nelly takes Linton to his father in the morning, who openly scoffs at his son. Linton begs Nelly to stay. Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/46488.aspx? p=2#ixzz1Lm4VbNLz

Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 21-29

This Wuthering Heights summary has been written with love. Please read it carefully. Chapter 21: Catherine is upset by Linton's disappearance. When she turns 16, Nelly spots Catherine speaking with Hareton and Heathcliff on the moors. Heathcliff invites her to the house to visit his son, who Catherine does not realize is Linton. Linton is too weak and whiny to show Catherine around, so Hareton takes her, who insults him the entire time for his ignorance. Heathcliff forces Linton to go and tells Nelly his desire for Linton and Catherine to marry. Linton and Catherine correspond regularly until forced to stop. Chapter 22: Edgar becomes very ill. Catherine comes across Heathcliff, who chastises Catherine for her poor treatment of Linton, who is dying from a broken heart. Catherine convinces Nelly to take her to Wuthering Heights. Chapter 23: Linton whines. Catherine shoves him. Linton whines more and begs Catherine to visit more often. Nelly becomes ill. Catherine takes care of Nelly and her father during the day and rides to Wuthering Heights to visit Linton in the evening. Chapter 24: Nelly learns of Catherine's visits and tells Edgar. Edgar prohibits further visits. Chapter 25: Edgar nears death. He allows Catherine to visit Linton on the moors, not realizing that Linton is just as sick as he. Chapter 26: Nelly and Catherine meet Linton near Wuthering Heights. Linton appears very ill and fearfully looks over his shoulder frequently. Chapter 27: Catherine and Nelly are duped by Linton and forced by Heathcliff to enter the house, at which time he locks them in and refuses to release them until Linton and Catherine are married. Catherine is permitted to leave. Nelly is locked in a room for five days.

Chapter 28: Nelly is freed. She confronts Linton who claims Catherine is locked up and that he now owns everything on account of their marriage. Nelly returns to Thrushcross Grange, to the delight of the other servants who thought she was dead. Catherine returns shortly before her father's death. Chapter 29: After Edgar's death, Heathcliff arrives to retrieve Catherine. He tells Nelly that he had the sexton remove old Catherine's coffin so he could look at her and that he paid the sexton to remove the side of her coffin not facing Edgar. Heathcliff puts in his will that he wishes to be buried next to Catherine and have the side of his coffin removed so the two can mingle.

Wuthering Heights Chapter Summaries: 30-34

Chapter 30: Nelly has not seen Catherine since her departure. She gets news from Zillah who reports that all inhabitants are ordered to show no kindness to Catherine. Linton dies, having only Catherine to take care of him. Chapter 31: Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights to deliver a letter to Catherine from Nelly and to terminate his lease. They all treat him rudely. Catherine ridicules Hareton for his ignorance. Chapter 32: Six months later, Lockwood returns to Thrushcross Grange and discovers that Nelly has replaced Zillah at Wuthering Heights. He visits her and receives an update: Hareton and Catherine are soon to be married; Heathcliff is dead. Chapter 33: Nelly relates that Catherine and Hareton's resemblance to his Catherine had driven him crazy and that he no longer desired revenge. Chapter 34: Nelly relates Heathcliff's last days. Lockwood leaves as Hareton and Catherine return. Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/46488.aspx? p=3#ixzz1Lm50eX2M