English Literature books summary

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

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53