The novel is a good narrative. The plot is not linear. The narration of Ellen Dean frames different flashbacks. As we read the novel, we learn new truths and revelations surprises us about the different people in the story.
II-Heathcliff and Catherine
The whole novel of Wuthering Heights focuses on two main characters. Emily Brontё highlights them as the soul of the whole novel. The Byronic Hero Heathcliff is the main male character of the whole story. He is introduced in the story to be a rude and silent person through Mr. Lockwood's first visit to Wuthering Heights.
Mrs. Dean tells Mr. Lockwood Heathcliff's origins. He was found by Mr. Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights, father of Hindley and Catherine. He is described to be a very sourly and silent child. Obviously, of a gypsy decent, Heathcliff did not appeal to his new found foster family as someone favorable except Mr. Earnshaw who interestingly favors him more than his own children and her foster sister Catherine whom he establishes a strong bond that eventually turned out to be unbreakable bond.
The rest of the household did not approve of Heathcliff. Mrs. Earnshaw does not care for him. Ellen Dean, then a young woman, a servant's daughter, was guilty of not liking the new addition to the family. Joseph the old servant of the Earnshaws, religious but self-righteous was one of the chief characters responsible in bullying Heathcliff. The most antagonistic character for Heathcliff in his earliest years in Wuthering Heights was young Hindley, eldest child of the Earnshaws.
Despite the different maltreatment Hindley inflicts on Heathcliff, he remains silent and sulky. He broods and nurses bitter anger against his foster brother. We can see in the novel that at an early age, Heathcliff already knew how to blackmail Hindley into giving him his pony in exchange of his silence of Hindley's abuses to him. Hindley is a very significant factor in developing Heathcliff's character. It would be safe to assume that half of who Heathcliff is now is attributed to Hindley's efforts.
Heathcliff is shown to have very strong obsessive feelings toward Catherine. The development of the two intensifies as both of them are of the same age bracket and because the two of them are both bullied and usually reprimanded by the same people namely Hindley, his wife Frances and Joseph the obnoxious servant.
Catherine is the central female character of the novel. She is depicted to be a very difficult lady. As a child, we get the impression of her being spoiled and mischievous. Even her own father who is know to be loving and caring tells her that of all his children, it was Catherine who was the most wicked of them all.
However, despite that, Catherine is seen in the story to be a charming and lively character. She is quite favorable to everybody in the area. But it was Heathcliff who loved her the most, to the point of obsession.
After her being rehabilitated to the Lintons after their attempt to run away failed, Catherine developed another identity. Her transition from being a childhood friend into his mistress for Heathcliff is quite intolerable. But Heathcliff being who he is kept it to himself and stayed as vindictive and surly as ever.
It is a very important event when the Lintons entered the lives of the residents of Wuthering Heights. It generated a very powerful impact to the story. The Lintons represented refined lifestyle and civilization, quite opposite to the Earnshaw's wild and uncivilized pretense. Their act of taming the wild Catherine also paved way a friendship between the two families.
It is Heathcliff who did not approve of the arrangement as jealousy starts to burn within him because of Edgar Linton, the eldest of the Linton children, being attracted to Catherine. Here, a great example of binary opposition can be discussed. It is the difference between Heathcliff and Edgar. I could not see any other characters more different than the two of them.
Heathcliff is menacing and uneducated while Edgar is seen to be cowardly but sophisticated. Catherine is in a dilemma when it reached to the point when Edgar asked her to marry him. In this, she resolves to talk to her confidante and nurse Mrs. Dean of her feelings to both men. In this conversation, Catherine struggles. She has said yes when Edgar proposed and she seems to be satisfied with that decision but then she rethinks of her feelings towards Heathcliff. She emphasized that Edgar is the husband she really wants. But she strongly stated that she loved Heathcliff more than Edgar. What justifies her decision is the fact that Heathcliff would not be a practical choice for her. She abhors the idea of living as a beggar with him and she resolves that she and Heathcliff would not be separated even if she were married.
