Wuthering Heights Chapter 13 - 18

Catherine’s recovery was slow and made possible only due to the devoted efforts of Edgar Linton. The sickness did not leave her altogether and marked her health terribly with its passing. Isabella wrote to Ellen to tell her of the terrible reception she had suffered at Wuthering Heights, which she described as a horribly unclean place with ghastly occupants. She described her meeting with the foul-mannered Hareton, insufferable Joseph, and the demonic Hindley. She had sent her brother a note informing him of her return but had mentioned none of her unhappiness, but she now pleaded with Ellen to come to visit her and bring along a reply from her brother. Edgar refused to write and persisted in his assertion that Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange would not communicate amongst themselves, but he bid her leave if she wished to see Isabella. Nelly was horrified at the degraded situation of both the household as well as the young and vivacious Isabella. On the contrary, Heathcliff appeared to be at the peak of his existence and wished only to hear of Catherine’s ill health. Nelly criticized him for treating his wife so poorly, while he informed her that he had never once confessed love for Isabella and that the love in their marriage had been wholly one-sided. Isabella interrupted the tirade by telling Nelly that Heathcliff had only married her to hurt Edgar but she was resolved to prevent that and should rather see herself or Heathcliff die before it. Heathcliff cast her out of the room but arrested Nelly, and dogged her with arguments in favor of aiding him in securing a secret interview with Catherine.

Nelly told him that the shock of his presence would inevitably worsen her health and that Edgar was the best caretaker for her due to his devotion and care. Heathcliff passionately declared that Catherine longed to see him just as he longed to see her and that Edgar’s devotion is paltry in comparison to the love he and Catherine experience for one another. Eventually, Nelly agrees to aid Heathcliff in his pursuit against her own better judgment and bears a letter to Catherine from Heathcliff. She isn’t able to deliver the letter until Sunday, which is when Catherine is alone while the rest of the household goes to church. Catherine seems unable to understand the contents of the letter but focuses only on the name. Heathcliff chooses to come into the house without waiting for a reply. The meeting of the two lovers is deeply moving, but savage as Catherine asks Heathcliff how he felt at delivering Catherine to death. It was certain in her appearance that she would not long remain a resident of this world, but Heathcliff rebuffed that it was she who had riven them apart by marrying Edgar Linton. The two seemed to be locked together while their faces were washed with tears, alas the service ended and the servants of Thrushcross Grange began to return. Heathcliff desired to leave but Catherine would not let him depart as she believed it to be their last meeting, while Ellen tried to convince him that he should leave. Edgar came rushing to the room as he heard the raised voices but his ire to find Heathcliff there was diverted by the now unconscious Catherine. Ellen and Edgar worked together to restore Catherine but Nelly remembered to send Heathcliff away before Edgar could return to considering his presence by telling him about Catherine’s recovery. Heathcliff departed only after he had extracted a promise from Nelly that she would come to inform him of Catherine’s health on the morrow.

Catherine passed on that very night after she had given birth to a seven-month-old baby girl. No one in the household could bring themselves to care for the child for the first hours of its life as everyone was bereft of any happiness by Catherine’s passing. Heathcliff was moved to tears when Nelly recounted the death of his other half, and he prayed that she must not find a place in heaven but instead be damned to roam the earth and haunt him to his death for he could not live without his soul. He was allowed a last glance at her broken body when Edgar broke his seemingly unending vigil over her remains for a few short hours. Not long after the death of Catherine, Isabella came to the Grange in an extremely disheveled condition. She had weathered a storm to escape from Wuthering Heights and recounted the riotous occurrences of the house. She told Nelly of Hindley’s resolution to kill Heathcliff as he knocked at the door to be let inside the house on the day of Catherine’s funeral. He had sought Isabella as an accomplice but she could not bring herself to abandon her conscience and so warned Heathcliff of Hindley’s intentions. Heathcliff was able to overpower Hindley but in that struggle, Edgar received a near mortal wound that so distressed the house servant Joseph. The next morning, Isabella took scornful pleasure in twisting a knife into the wounds of the mourning Heathcliff as she claimed that Catherine’s death was his own fault. Heathcliff struck her with a table knife and a severely injured Hindley prevented him from harming her any further as she escaped. Isabella departed for London, an arrangement that gave her brother severe pleasure, and it was learned that she birthed a son not long after reaching there, whom she named Linton. Hindley did not wait long to depart after his sister, and Nelly learned that he had mortgaged all of his property to furnish the funds for his habit of gaming so that little Hareton was trusted to the mercy of Hindley's creditor. Nelly bemoaned the loss of Hareton for the creditor was none other than the devilish Heathcliff, who seemed to exult in the destruction of the Earnshaw lineage.

Edgar took the loss of his wife with much civility and devoted all of his life to the care of his little daughter, Catherine, who he fondly called Cathy. The child was tender and intelligent, taught almost exclusively by her loving father. He kept her in the confines of the Grange and its parks for nearly thirteen years and this nurtured in her a desire to go out and explore the world. Edgar was forced to leave Catherine to the attention of Nelly for three weeks when he learned of his sister’s sickness as she wished to trust her son to his care. Cathy took the opportunity of lax guardianship to make explorations beyond the moors that her father had always taken her to roam. She took a team of pointers to the crags that bordered Wuthering Heights, and that is where Nelly found her once she had realized that the child was missing. Cathy seemed to be having a pleasant time with the meanly garbed Hareton, and a servant at the Grange, but this jovial time soon ended as she offended Hareton by thinking him to be a servant. Cathy became quite upset as well when the servant at the Heights called Hareton Cathy’s cousin, and in her sad passion revealed to both that Edgar would be bringing her 'actual' cousin Linton to the Grange soon. Heathcliff was not present at the Heights during their stay but Nelly was certain that he would hear of this news, while Hareton attempted to reconcile himself with the yet crying Cathy but she would have none of it. Nelly convinced Cathy to keep the details of her adventure a secret by suggesting that the news of Cathy’s trip to Wuthering Heights would end Nelly’s employment with the family.

Analysis

Wuthering Heights describes a passionate love that never changes between Heathcliff and Catherine. In fact, the lovers are united in their belief that they are identical since Catherine claims that their souls are made of the same substance while Heathcliff passionately laments the loss of his soul. The lyrical style of writing that Brontë uses in Wuthering Heights greatly communicates the passion of its characters. Some scholars argue that Wuthering Heights is meant to be a cautionary tale about the passion of love. If that had indeed been its purpose, the book fails at directing the reader's attention towards the consequences of their love, but rather presents a moving picture of a love that refuses to undergo any change. Both Catherine and Heathcliff are aware that their love for one another is not affected by Catherine's marriage to Edgar, and it is often compared to the moors, which serve to indicate the two facets of their love. Their love like the moors in winter can be dreary and dark, but it is also often beautiful and moving, like the moors in summer. Heathcliff's behavior after the death of Catherine is yet another compelling feature of the story that convinces the reader that the love the two shared was unique.

Doubles are a strong motif in Wuthering Heights that recur continually and are utilized to develop the characters as well as the themes of the story. Nearly all things exist in pairs, whether it is the estates, the couples, or even the servants. Heathcliff and Catherine find their foils in Edgar Linton and Isabella respectively. Isabella is a particularly interesting character who is at first depicted as a spoiled girl but is later shown to be a strong and indepenedent woman as she decides to run away from her cruel husband and raise her son on her own in London