Catherine

Diego Sojo media type="custom" key="12729102" align="left" __ "I AM HEATHCLIFF" __

__ Role of Catherine in Wuthering Heights __

Catherine Earnshaw is one of the main characters in the novel by Emily Bronte. Catherine´s character is introduced as a ghost as Mr. Lockwood describes her. Mr. Lockwood just moved to Trushcross Grange, a farmhouse near Wuthering Heights. When he arrives, he stays the night in the house with Heathcliff where he finds books and graffiti of a former habitant of the place called Catherine. Once he falls asleep he dreams about Catherine´s ghost trying to enter the house through the window. Then, he finds himself unable to sleep and is escorted back to Thrushcross Grange by Heathcliff the next day. He later on asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story about the family in Wuthering Heights. This is where the actual story of the Heights begin, with Nelly Dean narrating detail by detail what happened.

The Earnshaw family, who´s members initially were Catherine and Hindly Earnshaw plus their parents, found themselves in an unusual situation when Mr. Earnshaw decides to bring home from Liverpool, a homeless gypsy. This homeless gypsy who he named Heathcliff starts to develop a close relationship with Catherine. Their relationship gets to a point where they cannot live without each other. After several issues like the death of Mr. Earnshaw and the jealousy of Hindly, Heathcliff is forced to be a servant and not a member of the family.

After a long stay in Thrushcross Grange, Catherine returns home as a changed lady. She is now mature and has a different physical appearance. She mocks Heathcliffs´s looks, so the next day he makes sure to be looking fresh to impress her but his plan fails when he is locked in the attic for his behavior. Catherine then tries to comfort him.

Catherine and Heathcliff starts to become distant. Catherine gets more affectionate with Edgar Linton, and after a while they declare themselves lovers. Later on, Catherine has a conversation with the housekeeper and narrator Nelly Dean, where she tells her that Edgar had asked her to marry him. She says that even though she is really in love with Heathcliff, she accepted because of the different social status they had.

Heathcliff overhears the conversation between Nelly Dean and Catherine and then disappears without a trace. Six months after the marriage of Edgar and Catherine, Heathcliff returns completely changed. He is now rich and a gentleman, and even hasa cocky personality. Catherine enjoys his company again, but Edgar is obviously not so joyful about it. After an argument between the two gentlemen, Catherine locks herself in a room and becomes ill.

Heathcliff marries Edgar´s sister, Isabella, while Catherine is still ill. One day Heathcliff arranges a secret visit to Catherine with the help of Nelly Dean, but the book has a sudden twist when hours before the visit, Catherine gives birth and dies.  The death of Catherine marks the end of the physical relationship of Heathcliff and Catherine. After her death, Heathcliff starts to hallucinate about her, clearly showing how mad in love he was. At some point in the book, Catherine says the famous quote "I am Heathcliff". This single three words can say a lot. Catherine is taking the meaning of love to a whole different level. She feels so involved with the man she loves that she is sure they are the same person. Their feeling for each other are so profound that a single "I love Heathcliff" is not enough to describe their eternal love. It is also important to say that in order for a couple to have this kind of love, their has to be a mutual physical and physicological attraction. A controversial question might be that why would Catherine decide to still marry Edgar if she says she is so in love with Heathcliff? If Catherine says that she is so in love with Heathcliff, she should marry him no matter what his economical condition is. But again, this is what makes this book so interesting. Catherine´s ambition to have an economically sustainable life ends up by bringing misery to both Edgar and Heathcliff. Catherine is shown to have a feminist role in the book. This can be noticed because she has so much influence in the relationships she has. She also has an important role in the family which was not common. Catherine´s love to Heathcliff defines a new way of looking at love. The intangible feeling shows it´s importance in people´s life. Love completely influences people since the first day of mankind. Love is one of the few things in life that will never change with the time period and that makes it not only universal, but infinite. media type="youtube" key="IvBfG0aGjFg?version=3" height="360" width="640" rss url="feed://rss.starpulse.com/rss/topic.news.rss.php?topic_path=Movies/Wuthering_Heights/&topic_name=Wuthering+Heights" number="10"

> > > __ Bibliography: __
 * ** "Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
 * ** "Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
 * ** "Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
 * - Emily Bronte, //Wuthering Heights//, Ch. 9

http://classiclit.about.com/od/wutheringheightsbronte/a/aa_wutheringquo.htm
 * 1) **** 'Wuthering Heights' Quotes **
 * Emily Bronte's Gothic Fiction Nove **

2) Wuthering Heights Summary and Analysis 1999-2012 GradeSaver LLC.http://www.gradesaver.com/wuthering-heights/study-guide/section2/