Wuthering Heights - Episode 2 - Tantrums, Crazy Relationships, Rejection, Revenge!

Hi, I’m Christy Shriver.  We’re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.

I’m Garry Shriver and this is the How to the Love Lit Podcast.  Thank you joining us with this educational adventure- we love being here every week with you;  Also, as We ask every week, please tell a friend about us or text them an episode- word of mouth pretty is much how we grow.   And if you remember, while you’re listening, scroll down to the bottom of your app and hit the five stars or give us a review or both.  This week is our second episode in our Wuthering Heights series.

Wuthering meaning strong winds not withering meaning humiliating.- so confusing- although there is a sense where both apply for this book

Yes- I think everyone who first hears that title makes that mistake- I doubt if anyone except Emily Bronte even uses the word Wuthering- I’ve not heard it before.  So, blowing through the intro-

Is that a pun

Yes- I thought I’d breeze that one by if I could

Another one gusted right through

 Oh my-plowing ahead- by way of review, last week, we introduced, as we always do, the author’s life, and in Bronte’s case a little bit about her incredible family.  We also analyzed to some degree chapters 1-3 of the book.  We introduced the concept of the frame narrative, if you were unfamiliar with that, and we introduced our first unreliable narrator, Lockwood, a genteel fashionable Englishman who has rented a house from a man who he calls “a capital fellow”, Heathcliff who lives just a little bit up the road in a neighboring estate.  As any lodger might be expected to do, he chooses to visit his landlord and ends up spending the night at Wuthering Heights.  It’s less than a perfectly hospitable stay; he’s basically run off by his dreams or a ghost (we’re really not sure which), but at the end of chapter three he’s bumbling back across the moor through pits, mounds, swamps through clouds and snow back to his own rental lodging called Thrushcrash grange.

Yes- and in chapter four, he stumbles inside where he is met with his housekeeper, Nelly Dean- who will become our second narrator, and I’ll suggest more unreliable than Lockwood.  He asks her how long she’d lived in the house- basically he wants the down low, the 411, the dish, he wants the tea.

And apparently, she’s more than willing to share, and so we all settle in for Nelly’s story. Which today we’ll try to get through chapter 9, maybe a bit into chapter 10.

Charting this book and keeping up with all the back and forth in time is so confusing because the first part of the book is a flashback- but even it jumps around sometimes years at a time.  Nelly’s going to tell the story of who is ultimately going to be the main character of the story, a man named Heathcliff.  She starts from the time he shows up at Wuthering Heights until the present day or the day Lockwood originally shows up at that house on that day in chapter one- so dates and times, ages and names are all extremely confusing the whole way through the book.  In fact, the first time I read this book, I have to be honest, I was so lost, I printed out a family tree and a time chart and kind of kept it next to me while I read with the names and dates on it.  But hopefully, we can walk you through that madness and save you the hours of research- if it’s just as confusing for you.  We’ve also included a link on our website to a very helpful website  wuthering-heights.co.uk- it has a fabulous timeline that I would recommend everyone taking a look at. 

Christy, if I may ask, why do so many authors do things like strange narrative styles?  Are these things trends or something of the time?  Is there a thematic purpose?

Well, of course, yes and yes- they are trends- and they do come and go- but I will say for a book that is this popular for so long, there’s got to be something to it, and I think there is.  And we can see this right here at the beginning of chapter 4, but it’s something we can follow through throughout the entire.  What Bronte is doing is creating something a a double narration technique- now let me say- doubles is the name of the game in this book- besides two narrators, there are two houses, two love interests, two children, two Cathy’s- there’s basically two of everything the whole way through.  But in the case of the narrators, what is does is give you this double perspective- on the one hand you have the guy, Lockwood who comes in from the outside, he’s a stranger and he’s so fascinated with everything he sees.  Then on the other hand you have this narrator who we are going to see is extremely intimate with everything that goes on- she’s also invested and has strong opinions about how thing SHOULD be with this family she’s lived with her entire life, and really feels a part of.  In some sense she’s an outside observer because she’s not family- she’s a servant, but we’re going to find that nelly is very meddlesome and she alters events when she wants to- she keeps secrets, she tattles, she scolds, she provokes, she intercepts letters, she watches pots, some say she alters events so radically that some of the greatest problems in the whole book are her fault, but of course, that’s all arguable.  Some say she’s motivated by her genuine love for the characters in the story- I’ve read some critics who genuinely think she’s trying to move in and be the mistress instead of the servant by way of usurping the mother-role of little Catherine.  Wondering what in the world Nelly is all about is another thought to have in your mind as you navigate this wuthering world. 

Oh my- did you alliterate there- wuthering world. 

Indeed I did, and although I think I’ve said all I want to say about narrators, I think we got the idea, there’s one more very interesting function in this narrative style- besides kind of going into the story intimately with Nelly then pulling out of the story with Lockwood- kind of taking a break from the intensity.  But another really interesting thing to think about as you go through this story is since there isn’t an ommiscient narrator, we never know what’s going on in anyone’s mind.  We just make judgements solely on what these people DO- never on why they do anything of what they were thinking.  We have to guess why? By doing this Bronte really does a number on ours heart making us change who we feel sympathy for- we feel pity for a character, then we watch what they do, and we find ourselves backing off.  For a book that is so obviously psychological- probably literally about people with mental disorders- we know nothing about what anyone is thinking- EVER!

Well, I have my favorite characters, which I’m sure are the ones Emily wanted me to like- but even my favorite characters are not awesome people (especially in the first part of the book). 

Who has a favorite character out of the first part of the book?

True- but still in most movies or books we DO sympathize with the protagonist.  In Of Mice and Men, we identify with George.  In F451, we identify with Guy Montag, in Lord of the Flies, it’s Ralph- but in this book, I find find myself identifying with one character and then he or she go too far and I say= woo=now- I don’t like you anymore- or worse- YOU’RE out of your flipping mind!. 

Very true, and I wonder if that ultimately is what got on the original critics nerves if they reflected on it for any length of time.  There is no doubt, and I think it is important to really establish that Heathcliff is Bronte’s essential hero and the central power of the book- not Cathy or any of the other characters.  This book is all about Heathcliff, what happened to Heathcliff and what he did with those things that happened to him(and here’s your real literary moment- Heathcliff is what we call a Byronic hero. 

What is a Byronic Hero- I assume that comes from Lord Byron. 

Yes- he created it, and some people say he WAS the Byronic hero- but it was super-popular at the time, and to be honest, it’s super popular now.  A Byronic hero is the guy no mother ever wants dating her daughter.  He has a distaste for social institutions and social norms;  although often really rich, he’s moody, although physically attractive, has a troubled past, is prone to self-criticism, a loner, often self-centered, rejected from society, has self-destructive tendencies…and yet all the while, our hero.. How sexy does that sound?

Well, not at all to me- it sounds like Batman- but it does somewhat feed into that stereotypical female fantasy (sorry Christy, but you know it’s a thing)- the bad boy with something noble inside that the girl is going to mine out.  And only her love can rescue the beautiful brute.

No- You’re right- it’s a real thing the troubled hero-like I said, no mother likes them, but the daughters often do-  and yes- Batman is a Byronic hero!!!  Perfect example there.

So- let’s go back- and although, we won’t plot summarize the entire book- not possible, we do need to hit on a few things because Emily has just not made understanding who’s who easy on us. 

It starts with the Earnshaw family- a seemly not-super wealthy but wealthy enough gentleman farmer and his wife.  They have two children- Catherine and Hindley- they are six years apart in age and Hindley is the oldest.  Nelly’s mother has been their nurse; Nelly herself is Hindlye’s age and because she’s the daughter of the family- she’s around all the time and helps out.  One day Mr. Earnshaw goes on a business trip and asks his kids what gift they want him to bring them back.  Hindley asks for a fiddle.  Catherine wants a whip.  When Mr. Earnshaw gets back three days later- he brings home a surprise- he brings a dirty, black-haired orphan child that he’d found on the street, one year older than Cathy.  Cathy is 8, btw.  Earnshaw is 14, and Heathcliff is 9 years old.  Nobody is happy about this. The mom isn’t happy and neither ae the two kids, especially when Cathy finds out that when he went to get Heathcliff he’d lost her whip.

  It’s unusual to notice that Heathcliff does not have a last name.  He’s just Heathcliff- a nobody- no identity, no roots- all the things that make you somebody in this period of English history.  He also is never adopted into the family.  He is never a Earnshaw. 

Well, of course this is exactly right- exclusion and isolation are motifs that go through this book from beginning to end- but in spite of not being adopted officially into the family- he’s still a threat.   Hindley hate Heathcliff from the beginning but his hatred and bitterness at Heathcliff’s existence grows year by year - who is this guy who is moving in on my house, my inheritance, my place in the world- my sister’s affection, my father’s affection.  And there is a sense we can sympathize with that.  However, Hindley is pretty cruel and abusive from the very beginning- he beats Heathcliff mercilessly and the text says that Heathcliff “would stand Hindley’s blow’s without winking or shedding a tear”.  This abuse make Mr. Earnshaw angry at Hindley and instead of reining Hindley in, he just indulges Heathcliff more- which makes Hindley all the more abusive, bitter and cruel because he believes that his father likes Heathcliff better than himself- which ironically is likely true- what is there to like in the likes of Hindley.  Well, Mrs. Earnshaw dies two years after Heathcliff shows up and now Heathcliff is left only with only Mr. Earnshaw between him and Hindley.

To make Hindley even more jealous, the next year Mr. Earnshaw actually sends Hindley away to school because he’s so cruel- and there is simply no peace in this home so in a sense- Hindley literally gets kicked out of his house over this kid that his dad has moved in. The text establishes early on how hideous of a person Hindley is, but our introduction to Catherine doesn’t leave her looking perfect either. 

No, it definitely does NOT- Catherine is a brat from the get go.  Nelly says she threw fits sometimes fifty times a day.  She wants what she wants and she escalates until you just give in, but on the other side of thing- she could be so much fun.  “Her spirits were always high-water, mark, her tongue always going- signing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same.  A wild, wick slip she was- but, she had the bonniest eyes, the sweetest smile and the lightest foot in the parish…and she made people believe she never did anything out of malice to hurt them.  And of course this is how we identify with this book.  We ALL know this person- the difficult friend that can be so fun to be with, but when the don’t get their way- makes things miserable….high maintenance I think is the word for it. 

For sure, but notice further- I found it very interesting that the text further highlights that Catherine would be cruel enough to make someone cry but then somehow stick with them until  by the end of the conversation they were comforting her for what their crying did to upset her.  In other words, she never did anything wrong.  If she hurt you, before you were done talking about it, you found yourself apologizing for having your feelings hurt, and for hurting her!!  And again, most of us have met this person in real life.  Gaslighting.

Yes- but all this time- Heathcliff and Catherine get closer and closer- they are driven to the moors first by Hindley but with Hindley gone the other cruel person in their lives is Joseph who blungens them with religion all the time- but they seem able to run away and escape him.  So, in spite of personality difficulites- and although I didn’t get into, Heathcliff can give as well as he can get too and he does to Hindley- but at the end of the day- these days of running on the moors escaping trouble becomes the kind of the golden years of their childhood really.  This turbulent but in someways mostly happy childhood goes until until Mr. Earnshaw passes away not too many years after the death of his wife.  The night he dies both Cathy and Heathcliff are with him- it’s described as a that stormy and wild and windy night- of course- everything in this book seems to happen when it’s storming, wild and windy- it’s very symbolic- Mr. Earnshaw dies with both children near him while he is stroking Catherine’s hair, and the two children just cry and cry together.  The death sequences is actually described strangely as and I quote “heaven- the children talking and crying so sweetly together”- whatever is meant by that strange expression.

Well, heaven is short-lived when we get to chapter 6 Hindley is back from college for the funeral, and he brings back with him a wife, a woman named Francis who is a silly ridiculous person and just thinks Hindley is the most sophisticated gentleman in the world.  Hindley is now the master of Wuthering Heights, and he asserts his dominance over Heathcliff punishing him for everything he perceived Heathcliff stole from him during his childhood.  He deprives Heathcliff of his education and forces him to work with the other servants as a common laborer.  Joseph abuses Heathcliff too who is a teenager at this point, he “thrashes Heathcliff til his arm aches.”  Nothing at Wuthering Heights is not painful for Heathcliff (and I know I used a double-negative there)- but I want to emphasize how cruel this place is for this orphan child.  He is made to feel like an other- Cathy is the only one who loves him.  She’s pretty abandoned too, so their bond perpetuates with all the running away from trouble- which is what they do.  They run to the moors= this wild place in nature which is a sanctuary for them.  And it looks like this is how life is going to be until one day Heathcliff and Catherine stumble into a place that will change the direction of their lives- they look through the window into a place called Thrushcross Grange. 

And here we go seeing Emily Bronte getting  symbolic on us again.  First of all, we need to go back and look at how she uses the Geography to reflect certain ideas.  Wuthering Heights is this place on the hill open to all the winds and violent throws of nature- full of passion.  It’s sturdy and fierce and somewhat primal- and so are the people who live there.  Thrushcross Grange is the opposite.  It’s tame, refined, civilzed.  The gardens are taken care of. It’s in the valley- and so are the people who live there= the Lintons.  The Lintons are this nice very sophisticated and wealthy couple who have two nice and sophisticated children- Edgar and Isabella.  At the time of this first encounter, Cathy is 12, Isabella 11, Heathcliff 13.  And you have to pay attention but notice Cathy and Heathcliff look at their neighbors through a window- and of course- Bronte uses windows a lot as symbols in the book- we had Catherine the ghost coming through a window- now we see these two looking through a window.  Windows provide views of the world that are very different and Heathcliff and Catherine look into a world that is so very different than anything they’ve ever known.  It’s beautiful- red and white (the colors of love and innocence) – there are silver chains and pretty curtains.  Catherine and Heathcliff are mesmerized and they laugh at Edgar and Isabella because they’re fighting.  They can’t possibly understand how anyone in a world so beautiful could fight.  Well, the Lintons hear Catherine and Heathcliff laugh, get scared, run off crying for adults and when this happens- Catherine falls off the wall overlooking their garden into their garden and gets attacked by a dog…as it turns out the parents come, see Catheirne all dirty- they, in all their sophistication, are appalled that this beautiful neighbor girl is allowed to run around like a feral animal so they just keep her- which is a bit strange- but Hindley is not really a great guardian.

I think we’ll see that’s an understatement.

Catherine ends up living with the lintons for 5 weeks before she goes back to WH, and while she’s there, she apparently learns to enjoy the good life.  She learns the benefits of cleaning up, being pretty, having fancy food.

It seems Catherine finds out she likes nice things.

And so she does- it doesn’t seem she gave much thought HC as he is left to wander back by himself and for the next five weeks he’s alone.

That, of course, is one of the primary characteristics of her personality, she never seems to give a thought to anyone outside of herself.  It’s as if she cannot possibly even SEE outside of herself.  It’s just her in the world.

 True and really from this point on Heathcliff’s relationship with Catherine is changed.  When she comes back five weeks later, the first thing that Cathy does is laugh at him for being so dirty.

She makes him feel shame- and that is something we have not seen her do in the beginning chapters of the book.  She has found better people and when she looks at him- she laughs. He has endured rejection from every other relationship, but this seems to crush him.  And I find myself sympathizing with Heathcliff at this point.  There’s this conversation between him and Nelly.  Nelly says, “Make haste, Heathcliff, the kitchen is so comfortable- and Joseph is upstairs.  Make haste and let me dress you smart before Miss Cathy comes out- and then you can sit together, with the whole hearth to yourselves, and have a long chatter til bedtime….He does this and Nelly leaves out cake for them to eat,   but Cathy never comes down to visit him. Edgar and Isabella are coming the next day and she’s obsessed with that.  In the morning he looks at Nelly and says, “Nelly, make me decent. I’m going to be good.”  Brene Brown, The famous psychologist who specializes in vulnerability and shame, has famously said that “Shame is the swampland of the soul”- and of course, that’s a great Bronte metaphor- Heathcliff is in the swampland of his soul.

The whole conversation is gut-wrenching, as Heathcliff talks to Nelly- of course Catherine has made all of this heathcliff’s fault and now she is crying for how he’s made her feel.  Nelly tells Heathcliff to go up and kiss Catherine and make peace with her, and she says this to him- and it’s sweet- Garry, let’s read this passage between Nelly and Heathcliff, “Edgar Linton shall look quite a doll beside you: and that he does- you are younger; and yet, I’ll be bound, you are taller and twice as braod across the shoulders- you could knock him down in a twinkling; don’t you feel you could?”….read this through page 55. 

Notice the windows again=Heathcliff looks through to the world of the Lintons and we’re going to see he’s not accepted in this world.  Even though Heathcliff is cleaned up- when the Lintons show up, Hindley shoves him back with a sudden thrust and tells Joseph to haul him off- of course- not before Edgar makes fun of Heathcliff’s long hair, comparing him to an animal.

This is not well-received by Heathcliff, who in some ways has been raised like an animal and struggles with shame over this very issue.  HC picks up a bowl of hot applesauce, of all weapons and throws it in Edgar’s face.  Violent action reacts to violent language- Heathcliff is young and he is injured but this quote of his at the end of night after he’s been locked away really stands out- Heathcliff says this, “I’m trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back, I don’t care how long I wait, if I can only do it, at last.  I hope he will not die before I do!

To which Nelly says, “For shame Heathcliff, It is for God to punish wicked people: we should learn to forgive.”

To which Heathcliff replies, “No, God won’t have the satisfaction that I shall,”  I only wish I knew the best way!  Let me alone, and I’ll plan it out: while I’m thinking of that, I don’t feel pain.”  Wow.  Heathcliff is managing his pain by numbing it through plotting revenge.

Of course Bronte knows little bit at the end of chapter 7 is SO intense.  It’s so intense, she pulls her readers out of the narratives and injects a little Lockwood- reminding us that we’re distant- this isn’t our lives.  She also dates the book here.  She says this, “the summer of 1778, that is nearly 23 years ago).  If you go to wuthering-heights.co.uk, you will see a reader’s guide with a very detailed timeline.  Following the time line in Wuthering Heights is one of the most complicated things and for years, lots of people just discounted that it was accurate.  But it IS accurate, Bronte is extremely careful to make sure all the years and all the ages of all the characters match up all the time, because she goes back and forth so much.  In June of 1778 where the story begins in chapter 8 when Hareton Earnshaw is born, Hindley is 20, Frances, 18, Heathcliff and Catherine are both 13.  Now remember, Isabella is always a year younger than Catherine and Edgar is two years older than Heathcliff, but he looks younger because he’s smaller (for whatever that’s worth). 

From what I can tell, this is the ONLY happy moment up to this point.  But this happy moment s extremely brief – all of a sudden Frances is dead, Nelly is the primary caregiver of Hareton, and then all of a sudden Hareton is two,  Hindley has degraded himself past redemption into a savage sullen angry alcoholic man.  All of the servants have quit because Hindley is so cruel, and Catherine has turned 15- she’s the “queen of the country-side”- the most beautiful girl in the area, and she’s living it up.  When she’s around Heathcliff she talks bad about Edgar; when she’s with Edgar, she talks bad about HC- there’s nothing extremely unusual about that.  I’d say, a girl playing two boys has happened more than once in human history. 

So true, but as these things often go- things go awry.  It turns out, Catherine wants to have her cake and eat it too- and that rarely works. 

Have your cake and eat it too- there’s an American idiom for you- if you don’t know what that means- it’s one of life’s great cunundrums-

when you make a cake, it’s so pretty you want to hold on to it and admire, if you buy one that’s fancy it’s so expensive- but, by definition, a cake is made to be eaten- so you can’t have your cake and eat it too- instead-

you must choose- one or the other- but not both-  and this means being told no by someone or some circumstance- something things are just mutually exclusive- but the problem is- no one ever tells Catherine no- as this scene clearly  demonstrates- so she doesn’t see that there is a world where she can’t have her cake and eat it too- and in this case- she wants a relationship with Edgar that makes her rich and comfortable, but also wants a relationship with HC.  This little incident in Chapter 8 really brings out the crazy in Catherine. Catherine has this plan, she wants Edgar to come over and basically tell her how awesome she is, but this plan goes bad because HC is supposed to work and doesn’t go, so she tries to run him off.  So, it starts off by her insulting HC.  Then, when Edgar gets there, she wants to be alone with him, except Hindley has told Nelly not to leave the two alone.  Catherine gets mad at Nelly and literally physically pinches her to the point that she leaves a purple mark on her arm.  Nelly, and this is so borderline of Catherine, confronts her with physically hurting her and Catherine just looks her in the face and says she didn’t do it- even though every saw her.  She was going to make it not have happened because she didn’t want to own up to it.  When Nelly won’t say she didn’t do it, Catherine literally slaps Nelly across the face so hard both of her eyes fill with water.  There’s a lot of alternative reality creating going on here.

It’s so mean- and Linton just watching all of this.  He interjects and says, “Catherine, Love, Catherine.”  He’s shocked.  Clearly he’s not seen this side of her yet.  But it gets worse, Little Hareton, remember he’s two had been with Nelly- so Catherine picks the Hareton and shakes him furiously.  Linton instinctively trying to protect the baby, puts his hand on Catherine’s hand trying to get her to stop shaking the baby and she turns around and slaps him. 

- Linton tells Catherine he was leaving and left the room. To which Catherine threatens self harm if he does, she says, “I did nothing deliberately- well, go, if you please- get away!  And now I”ll cry- I’ll cry myself sick.”  Then she drops to the floor and just turns on the tears. 

And I love Nelly’s commentary on this, she says, “he possessed the power to depart, as much as a cat possesses the power to leave a mouse half killed, or a bird half eaten- and I thought, there wil be no saving him- he’s doomed, and flies to his fate!”  He cannot stand up to Catherine.  She knows he can’t.  Catherine has the power in this relationship and it is NOT a reciprocal relationship.  It’s also interesting that it is after this insanity that Edgar and Catherine confess their love to each other.  It is at this moment that he asks to marry Catherine.  He has accepted his role in this relationship, at least for the meantime.  He wants Catherine, and he’s willing to do what it takes to have her…at least for now. The old push/pull method.

I think these days- and we’re talking if you’re keeping track- it’s the 5-6 of August, 1780- narrate some of the most famous passages of the entire book.  Of course, again it’s a dark summer evening- Hindley comes in drunk and abusive.  The first thing he does is threaten to kill Nelly with a carving knife.  Clearly, she has gone down this road so often she isn’t even scared of him.  Remember, she’s the exact same age as Lindley and has lived with him her entire life.  He goes from assaulting Nelly to assaulting his son, and this is where it gets serious.  Push comes to shove, literally but eventually he takes Hareton up the stairs and literally accidentally drops him over the banister possibly to his death on the hard floor.  He likely would have died had not Heathcliff been around.  Heathcliff catches him.  He mumbles that it’s a pity Hindley just won’t kill himself but then walks to the barn.  Nelly settles in the kitchen, Catherine comes in and here is the famous exchange.  It’s too long to read it in full, so I’ll set it up but we have to read the famous part- so Catherine tells nelly that linton has proposed and she asks Nelly that she has already given her reply, but she wants to know what nelly thinks.  Nelly asks Catherine WHY she loves Edgar to which she replies because he is handsome, young, and cheerful and rich and loves her.  Nelly tells her those aren’t very good reasons to which Catherine responds that she only wants to live in the present and in the present- Edgar is a very good choice, but she feels in her heart that she’s wrong to do it.  This of course is Catherine’s second betrayal of Heathcliff.  Her first betrayal of course, is when she ditched him for five weeks the night she fell off the wall and the first time she saw the Linton’s. 

That’s one way of seeing it, but if the things she says are true as she understands them to be, it is also true that she’s making a choice to betray herself- and she now has done it twice. 

Then she recounts a very unusual dream- in this dream Catherine goes to heaven, but when she gets there she’s miserable.  And we see here all this language about wanting to live in the present- but heaven is timeless- there’s no time in heaven- I would say, one way to see this is that Catherine is betraying her eternal self- for the present- for the convenient luxuries of of the present.   And this is where we should start reading, I’ll read Catherine’s lines- you read Nelly’s.

Read 78- til Heathcliff leaves

And this is one of those times that Nelly interjects into the lives of these people- and there are many critics who think this is one of the cruelest things Nelly could have done.  Nelly doesn’t tell Catherine that Heathcliff was listening and she doesn’t tell her that he left before she confessed how she felt about him.  Let’s read the rest of what happens after Heathcliff leaves

79-80

And of course the weather- this storm is the worst to date- it’s raining and windy- the storm rattles over the moors violently and with thunder- Catherine is outside looking for Heathcliff, but he’s gone. 

Nelly thinks she’s crazy.  Nelly is absolutely incapable of understanding the intensity Catherine is expressing here.  And honestly, I don’t know very many Victorian women or even modern women who would- you’ve got the rich guy, sweetheart- take that deal.  You’re definitely not getting a better one out of the guy who works in the barn. 

Catherine is up the whole night.  She sobs in the morning- she literally makes herself sick- she makes herself so sick, Mrs. Linton, Edgar’s mother decides to take her back to their house to help restore her to health.

Of course, that turned out to be a bad idea.  They both caught whatever disease Catherine seemed to carrying and DIED within a few days of each other.  And let me point out, the total of deaths in these two families now is up to five: Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw, Frances, Hindley’s wife, and now Mr. and Mrs. Linton- this almost feels like one of those Disney movies where they kill off all the parents.

Hahaa- that’s the worst idea ever- Disney does Wuthering Heights- I’d almost like to see it!!  If could make the movie end here, maybe it would be a happily ever after- three years later Catherine and Edgar are married in the little town of Gimmerton. At this point, Edgar wins.  Let me also stop and give everyone an age check- ok- Catherine is now 17, Edgar is 21.  That means Isabella is 16 and Heathcliff is 18.  This is in March.  In August, Cathy- Catherine’s baby is conceived, in September- which is the start of chapter 10, Catherine is 18 going on 19, HC is 19, Isabella is almost 18- and this is when a 19 year old HC comes back to town- our Byronic hero- and I will give you a spoiler for next week, he’s tall, he’s good looking, he’s well-educated, and most importantly….he’s rich.

Of course, what we see from this point onward in the story is this splitting- and it’s evident even in the names.  When Heathcliff comes back, he’s not coming back to Catherine Earnshaw.  He’s coming back to Catherine Linton.  She has a new life and in some ways enjoys it- of course, Edgar and Isabella give her everything she wants- this quote is great, page 89- this is the new world of Catherine Linton- For both Heathcliff and Catherine- their relationship represents a world that is never coming back- the moors, childhood freedom, irresponsibility- they embody this for each other.  There’s a lot going on here on a lot of fronts, and next week we’ll definitely unpact more of this, but for starters- here are two people that must shatter something- demons, dreams- whatever from the past- and Heathcliff in many ways, just can never do this- and we’ll see that all the way until the end of the book. 

Well, of course, obviously Catherine can’t either.  Catherine will not be told- not by any human on earth- and she will defy the very law of nature that you just can’t have your cake and eat it too!!!  You can’t have the eternal and the present- Joseph Campbell the famous mythologist says, myths and fairy tales are similar kinds which concern "the primary laws of our nature."  Bronte has given us a character who has betrayed herself and her best eternal friend- not once but twice- will the universe tell her no?

If it does- the Universe will be the first- Up to this point, I have to admit- I’ve been on Team Heathcliff.  He’s really had a rough row of it; and Catherine seems to make out alright.

True- but let’s see if you feel that way, this time next week.  On that note, let’s leave this world where chaos fights order; storms fight calm; rocks clash with gardens and the present fights the past- passion fights practicality.  Let’s leave these exhausting Wuthering Heights.  We’re tried our best to walk you through one of the more complex stories we’ve ever done- I hope you’ve enjoyed it and it’s given you something to think about this week. 

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Peace out!

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