Film Adaptation Of WH From The 1940's

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

Both Catherine and Heathcliff express these emotions when exposed to an unusually intense thunderstorm with “growling thunder [...and] violent wind” (Brontë 84). After Catherine told Nelly that she was now engaged to Edgar Linton, Heathcliff ran away out of anger because of Catherine’s rejection of him. In turn, when it was discovered that Heathcliff was missing, Catherine ran out into the storm, not accepting his disappearance. The violent nature of the storm reflects Heathcliff’s anger towards Cathy for not choosing him, exemplified when the storm itself destroys the chimney of Wuthering Heights. This mirrors Heathcliff’s new desire to destroy those who have hurt him at Wuthering Heights, including Catherine.

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

Catherine’s crisis starts with her decision to marry Edgar Linton. “Yes, and it worries me, and I must let it out! I want to know what I should do. To-day, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him, and I've given him an answer. Now, before I tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which it ought to have been.”(77) Catherine starts to worry about the decisions she made because she realized she loves Edgar but not nearly as much as she loves Heathcliff. Cathy went on to admit this saying “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.” (80) She knows she shouldn't marry Linton because she loves Heathcliff more than anyone else, but she does

Catherine serves as a constant presence with every surrounding object reminding him of her and driving him to the brink of insanity. She acts as the essence of his life and Heathcliff’s passion does not prevail until he ultimately decides to join her in death. At the end of the book, Heathcliff informs Nelly about his yearning for death and on his deathbed, he moans out for Catherine (Bronte

When Catherine talks to Nelly about Edgar, they are in the kitchen. Cathy was sure that they were alone, and nobody was there to listen. She was wrong. Little did she know, Heathcliff overheard her tell Nelly that she cannot be with Heathcliff because Hindley has degraded him too much and that marrying him would degrade her. She proceeds to confess her love for Heathcliff to Nelly.

She wants to up her social class and Heathcliff will not help with it so, Catherine marries Edgar Linton. “And he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband.” (76) In this statement it only

In Wuthering Heights Nelly and Edgar each have differing opinions on Catherine. Nelly knew Catherine was prone to big emotional fits but she was used to it. However Edgar thinks she uses her mind to trick people and get her way. Nelly sees Catherine as a spoiled little girl who always gets her way, but Edgar thinks she is a princess who uses her smarts to get things she wants.

Furthermore, when Heathcliff returns, Catherine should take no interest in trying to rekindle her feelings for him as Edgar had been putting in effort to make their marriage work 'Mr. Edgar had a deep-rooted fear of ruffling her humour' Up until this scene the couples were getting along and if Catherine had concealed her zealous behaviour towards Heathcliff then the calm atmosphere would have remained. Catherine rudely ignores her husband's presence to the extent that he demands the disrespectful behaviour to be stopped and a decision made 'Will you give up Heathcliff hereafter, or will you giver up me? It is impossible for you to be my friend and his at the same time…' Indeed, Edgar is right to put Catherine's in this difficult situation because any other typical husband at the time would have been less patient with Catherine or banned Heathcliff from the house at an earlier stage. Catherine struggles because the two men in her life represent two types if world and she cannot have both at the same time.

This leads to him running away from the heights entirely, leaving Catherine to marry Edgar. “He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him.” (81). Upon his return (two years later), Heathcliff marries Isabella to get back at Catherine, and her speech about how marrying him would degrade her. Isabella is also taken against her and her family’s will. Heathcliff kidnaps her and locks her away at the heights. In a letter written to Nelly, Isabella confirms that it was truly against her will for her leaving, and that she cannot return in the time of crisis in her brother’s life. “… an entreaty for kind remembrance and reconciliation, if her proceeding offended him: asserting that she could not help it then, and being done, no power to repeal it.” (140). In the act of kidnapping Isabella, Heathcliff’s intent is to hurt Catherine. Catherine would develop almost a jealous-like temper towards the whole situation, as Heathcliff knew it would. Even on Catherine’s deathbed, there is a constant push and pull (in almost a literal sense) of the cruelty that goes on between the two of them. Between the crying, the vexing, and the constant apologies, comes the brutal cruelty of the words Catherine speaks to Heathcliff. “I shall not pity you, not I. You have killed me – and thriven on it, I think.” (164)

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).

This is an excellent example of Catherine’s unconscious exposing itself through her dreams. This dream shows that she knows that she has no right to marry Edgar, who is approximated with heaven, while, at the same time, showing that her true home is at Wuthering Heights, with Heathcliff. In a way, her unconscious was telling her that she belongs with Heathcliff, yet she chose to ignore it. She picked Edgar mostly based on his power and money, which was the most important thing to her at this point.

Catherine is blunt in her criticism of Heathcliff's company. "You might be dumb or a baby for anything you say to amuse me, or for anything you do, either!" In contrast to the wilderness she shares with Heathcliff, Catherine has a cultured side that is brought out by the Lintons. This side of her nature is attracted to Edgar, but she does not cease to love Heathcliff. Catherine's marriage to Edgar is not simply a marriage of convenience.

She was, in part, misled into falling in love with another man who was an item of a wealthy family. Realizing that she could never be with a laborer, she married Edgar, the man who lives in Thrushcross Grange, and suppressed her feelings for Heathcliff. On the other hand, Heathcliff is determined to be with Catherine because his love is so vigorous for her. “If he loved you with all the power of his soul for a whole lifetime, he couldn’t love you as much as I do in a single day.” (pg). Not long after, Heathcliff heard Catherine say how she could never be with someone like him, and he felt like his heart had collapsed in on his lungs. He hastily slipped out of the town, and was gone for three years. He arrived back when he was moneyed and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, she had already moved on with her life so Heathcliff tried to make her envious by marrying her sister in law. His plan didn’t quite work as he had hoped, and Catherine soon died after giving birth. This news mortified Heathcliff, and he turned into a bitter old man rather briskly. He told her, “Stay with me always- take any form- drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” (pg162). He loved her so much that he wanted her spirit to haunt him, just so she could be with