Analysis Of Nelly In 'Wuthering Heights'

The culture of set societal rules and conventions urges Catherine to be with Edgar, compelling her to be ‘the greatest woman of the neighbourhood’ due to them being relatively firm in their gentry’s status. This suggests the importance of her social status against the nature of her love for Heathcliff stating, ‘we would be beggars’, through employing the word ‘beggars’ the reader crafts the idea of her belief that she won’t survive without her status. Catherine admits ‘It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him’ Thus implying a swelling sense of her vanity and pride; enough to enjoy the position she gains from being married to Edgar despite her admiration for Heathcliff, being ‘more than (herself) than (she is)’and

Heathcliff resents her scorn. He desires to regain her approval. He attempts to be “decent” and “good” for her sake (Brontë 40). However, his attempt to be decent fails miserably. He resents the attentions that Catherine gives to Edgar. Catherine would rather wear a “silly frock” and have dinner with “silly friends” than ramble about the moors with him (Brontë 50). Heathcliff keeps track of the evenings Catherine spends with Edgar and those that she spends with him. He desperately wants to be with Catherine. When Catherine announces to Nelly her engagement to Edgar, Heathcliff eavesdrops, but leaves the room when he “heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him” (Brontë 59). Catherine has spurned his love, choosing Edgar over him. Heathcliff cannot bear this rejection. The love he possesses for her transcends romantic and filial love (Mitchell 124). He feels that he is one with her (Mitchell 123).

As a consequence of Heathcliff's visit to the Grange, Edgar's sister Isabella falls in love with him, and her feelings seem to be sincere. In this one-sided love affair Heathcliff takes advantage of the innocent girl's infatuation to foster his obsession for revenge. (Isabella is her brother's heir). Catherine's reaction is very hard to interpret. It is natural that she is jealous, if she still feels the same for him as before, and that may be the reason why she dissuades Isabella from marrying Heathcliff. But the words she uses, telling her what an abominable creature Heathcliff is, are not the sort you expect to hear from someone talking of a sweetheart. Later on when her husband and Heathcliff are having a quarrel, she stops Edgar from hurting her friend . There is an excess of emotion, and her explanation to this behaviour is that she wants them both, Edgar and Heathcliff: "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" (109).Her love for Heathcliff has not cooled down, instead it seems to be a stronger obsession than ever considering the torments she goes through, when she becomes seriously ill.The last time Catherine and Heathcliff see each other is a very heart-rending meeting. Their love for each other is as strong as ever, and Heathcliff

Heathcliff cried vehemently, "I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!" Emily Brontë distorts many common elements in Wuthering Heights   to enhance the quality of her book. One of the distortions is Heathcliff's undying love for Catherine Earnshaw. Also, Brontë perverts the vindictive hatred that fills and runs Heathcliff's life after he loses Catherine. Finally, she prolongs death, making it even more distressing and insufferable.

Throughout Wuthering Heights, there are multiple symbols employed to enrich the overall narrative, many of which have a multitude of meanings in order to elevate the text to a higher literary standard. One of the less obvious motifs is books. However, when reviewing their role in both Catherine and Cathy’s lives it is not clear to what degree it would be fair to claim they have a central role in the overall narrative, especially because of the “plurality” and “ambiguity” of each individual instance where the symbolism of books is introduced.

As seen through Bronte's two characters, Nelly and Edgar, both victims of Catherine's emotional displays, each has a different belief about her . Edgar is quick to forgive his beloved's ugly outbursts because of his own inability to perceive such an impulse since he completely lacks that himself. Nelly, on the other hand, having been witness too many times to Catherine's outbursts, is jaded and intolerant. Their completely opposite reactions are due to the contrast in the type of relationships each shares with the protagonist , and because of the basic differences in their own

“Honest people don't hide their deeds” (Bronte 90), this quote reveals the relationships of dishonest characters that occur in the novel, this quote is spoken from Nelly, the housekeeper, to Isabella, Edgar’s sister and Heathcliff's new beau, she says to persuade Isabella to believe that Heathcliff is dishonest (which can be true now and then) as well as to put into question his background. However, this quote can likewise interface with Catherine who is is in love with Heathcliff, nonetheless, she is devastated that she has to make a decision between choosing love or social class, and when speaking with Nelly we understand that Catherine isn't honest with the men she cherishes or even herself. In Emily Bronte’s novel, Wuthering Heights, characters Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, are two people who meet as children and as they are older eventually fall in love with each other, but their relationship becomes intensely complicated once Catherine meets someone new. Heathcliff feels betrayed by

The first one I saw was when Catherine became sick and Nelly does not tell Edgar of Catherine illness. Nelly knew the Edgar and Catherine were arguing at the time. Nelly doesnt support Catherine interest in love or in health. Edgar call Nelly heartless after telling her " you know your mistress is nature and you encourage me to harass her". The second one I saw was when Nelly doesn't tell Catherine what Heathcliff heard and what he didn't hear during her confession to know you that she was in love with Heathcliff and not Edgar. In the story Nelly's stop liking Catherine after her "infancy was past" meaning there was a time when they were children that they got

Catherine is a beautiful woman, but she gets mostly everything she wants and is sometimes arrogant. She has an uncontrollable attraction for Heathcliff but her social ambition pulls her towards Edger. She basically makes the lives of the men that love her suck. That may not effect Nelly's beliefs because she hasn't had a love affair with Catherine like Edger has. Nelly and Edgar's beliefs about Catherine are obviously very different throughout the story.

The quote depicts Catherine at a fork in the road when it comes to her future suitors. Heathcliff is her true love, but not a logical choice, while Edgar is a rich, attractive, and kind young man. Catherine is certain that she is perfect for Heathcliff, she has the impression that she knows everything about him, and they are one of the same persons. The thoughts of Heathcliff are forever swirling through her mind, as a result of that, her own future husband is jealous of him. Even though they are step siblings, she believes that they should still pursue their relationship. Marrying Edgar is Catherine’s upcoming scheme, allowing her marriage to be beneficial to Heathcliff. She recognizes that her interest in Heathcliff is not simple, although

Catherine notices how cruelly Hindley was treating Heathcliff. Nobody understood Heathcliff at first. One night while Hindley had a little but too much to drink, he dropped baby Hareton but luckily Heathcliff was there and saved the baby from getting hurt. Catherine was the only one in the house at, first who, liked being around Heathcliff and tried supporting him as much as she could. Nelly lived in Wuthering Heights along with them and she was the one that Catherine told everything to. Catherine always supported Heathcliff and he gave her his all because he adored Catherine. Nelly was reading between the lines and it seemed as if Catherine was using her emotions to anchor in Heathcliff to do anything for her. However she ran into a little bit of a problem. At first Heathcliff had a lower “social status” than Catherine and she told Nelly that she loved Heathcliff more than Edgar but Heathcliff would be a “degrade” compared to Edgar. Unfortunately, Heathcliff over heard the conversation between the two and he decided to leave Wuthering

In her statement, Catherine, is describing how strong her love is for Heathcliff. She states that her love will never end. Catherine states that she is one with Heathcliff, for they share the same thoughts and the same mind. This quote shows that the bond of love cannot be broken and will stand the test of time.

Heathcliff is so desperate for acceptance that he is willing to cheat people to gain the property he craves. By doing so he hopes to show Catherine that he is worthy of her, a landowner in his own right. After Catherine accepts Edgar's proposal, she seeks out Nelly and tells here that "[I]t would degrade [her] to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how [she] love[s] him; and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more [herself] than [she] [is]. Whatever [their] souls are made of, his and [hers] are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire." (Page 74, lines 29 - 33).

“If wellness is this what in hell's name is sickness?” American singer Amanda Palmer captures what it means to reside in both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange in her hit song, “Runs in the Family”. Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights puts the ‘dysfunction’ in ‘dysfunctional families’ by using illness to demonstrate family dynamics. In the narrative, the affliction of mental illness is spread to almost all characters as they enter the household of Wuthering Heights, while residents at Thrushcross Grange are afflicted with physical illness, causing the ultimate upheaval of both households.

It is the opinion of this essay that the character of Heathcliff evolves a lot more than the character of Catherine. When we first meet Heathcliff, he was found on the streets of Liverpool by Catherine’s father who then adopts him into the family as one of his own. This would have been a dramatic change for Heathcliff. Then after experiencing this quality of life until the death of the father he is then cast into the role of a servant/labourer by Catherine’s brother who despises him. Finally, when Heathcliff hears part of the conversation between Catherine and Nelly, he hears Catherine plans to marry Edgar Linton as she could never marry Heathcliff. “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now”. (82) It is here Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and returns three years later, a gentleman of means and of polite demeanour, not what you would expect from him. Here we can bring back the point that one’s environment dramatically affects one’s behaviour. Like Catherine, Heathcliff defies social norms expected of his gender. After he returns back from travelling having acquired great wealth and on the surface seems a changed man, he would be accepted into middle class society as he displays the characteristics expected of him. It is well described in the book to enforce the dramatic change in him for readers to understand how far he has come from