Edgar Linton

Edgar Linton is a fictional character in Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. His role in the story is that of Catherine Earnshaw's husband. He resides at Thrushcross Grange and falls prey to Heathcliff's schemes for revenge against his family.Well-bred but rather spoiled as a boy, Edgar Linton grows into a cowardly man. He is almost the ideal gentleman: Catherine accurately describes him as “handsome,” “pleasant to be with,” “cheerful,” and “rich” who represents a chance for social elevation. However, this full assortment of gentlemanly characteristics, along with his civilized virtues, proves useless in Edgar’s clashes with his foil, Heathcliff, who gains power over his wife, sister, and daughter. His breeding and wealth attracted Catherine though Heathcliff was her true love. Edgar's attitude toward Heathcliff is one of extreme superiority.Edgar is the father of his and Catherine's daughter, Catherine (Cathy) Linton, and the brother of Isabella Linton. He is shown with a tender, gentle, and weak personality as opposed to Heathcliff's savage, tyrannical nature (he is a contrast to Heathcliff both physically and spiritually).

Description

Edgar Linton is regarded as the complete opposite of his wife, Catherine Earnshaw, and her foster brother and true love, Heathcliff. With his fair long hair, his pale skin and his blue eyes, Edgar seems to have stumbled out of a Jane Austen novel for the quiet, gentle life he at first leads at Thrushcross Grange, a home of peace and goodwill until Heathcliff's presence fills it. Edgar is said to be constitutionally weak, as is the case throughout the Linton family, and is very distressed when he realizes that he cannot match the fire and passion of his wayward wife and her soul mate. He loves Catherine dearly, despite her passion for Heathcliff, and adores their daughter, named after his wife. When Isabella, his sister, marries Heathcliff, he insists that he will no longer have a relationship with her, and that they are brother and sister only in name. His portrait, perfectly and accurately resembling him, is thus described:“Mrs. Dean raised the candle, and I discerned a soft-featured face, exceedingly resembling the young lady at the Heights, but more pensive and amiable in expression. It formed a sweet picture. The long light hair curled slightly on the temples; the eyes were large and serious; the figure almost too graceful”.

Heathcliff

Heathcliff

Heathcliff is a fictional character in the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Owing to the novel's enduring fame and popularity, he is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured Romantic hero whose all-consuming passions destroy both himself and those around him.

He is generally known more for his love for Catherine Earnshaw than his final years of vengeance in the second half of the novel, in which he grows into a bitter, haunted man. His complicated and bizarre nature makes him a rare character, with components of both the hero and villain.

Character

He is a dark-skinned gypsy foundling discovered on the streets of Liverpool and raised by the Earnshaw family of Wuthering Heights. In keeping with the supernatural themes present in the novel, it is speculated that Heathcliff might be a demon or a hellish soul. He becomes a gentleman "in dress and aspect."

A silent and at first solitary child, Heathcliff is initially resented by both Catherine Earnshaw and her elder brother, Hindley; whilst Catherine later befriends and loves Heathcliff, Hindley continues to resent him, seeing him as an interloper (intruder) who has stolen his father's affection. Upon Mr. Earnshaw's death and his inheritance of the estate, the spiteful Hindley proceeds to treat Heathcliff as little more than a servant boy and makes him work the fields, which creates Heathcliff's lifelong anger and resentment. Catherine, however, remains close to her foster brother.

As she matures into her young teens, however, Catherine grows close to Edgar Linton, a timid and well-bred young man of the neighbouring estate, Thrushcross Grange, and accepts his proposal of marriage; but she insists that her true and only love is Heathcliff. She claims that she cannot marry him because it "would degrade her" and that the two would be beggars were such a union to take place. Nevertheless, she also declares her passion for him in such ways as "whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same," and the famous quote "I am Heathcliff." Aware only of Catherine's decision to marry Edgar, rather than her proclamation of true love for him, a bitter Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights upon overhearing her saying that it would degrade her and while away, by means unknown, makes his fortune.

Nelly Dean describes him as "athletic" when he returns, and that his "upright carriage suggested his being in the army." No other hints are given about where Heathcliff was and how he made his fortune over the course of his three-year absence. On returning, he is ruthlessly determined to destroy those who degraded him and prevented him from being with Catherine, cementing his status as an anti-, rather than a romantic, hero. Not only does he swindle Hindley, who has fallen into alcoholism and gambling after the death of his wife Frances, out of his ownership of Wuthering Heights; he heartlessly takes advantage of Edgar Linton's sister Isabella and marries her, before treating her in a cruel and contemptuous fashion. Although he tells Catherine that he despises Isabella and would "cut (his own) throat" if he imagined Catherine wanted him to marry Edgar's younger sister, his and Isabella's marriage promises to result in his inheriting Thrushcross Grange on Linton's death. This can only be achieved, however, by Heathcliff's forcing his and Isabella's son Linton into marriage with Catherine's daughter, who is also named Cathy.

After Catherine Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff's vindictive cruelty intensifies, aimed at destroying not only his enemies but also their heirs — Hareton, son of Hindley and Frances Earnshaw, and Catherine, daughter of Edgar Linton and Catherine the elder. He forces his sickly son, Linton, who entirely resembles his mother Isabella, into marriage with Catherine Linton, daughter of Cathy and Edgar, in a bid to gain control of Thrushcross Grange. Shortly after the two are married in their nearly loveless match, the insipid Linton dies, hardly a surprise to either his father or his widow. Heathcliff treats Catherine with relative mercy, turning her into a cold, distant creature, far removed from the bright, lively girl she used to be. Hareton and Catherine eventually fall in love, however, and their relationship in some ways mirrors and in others opposes that between Heathcliff and the elder Catherine. Their union breaks the cycle of hatred at Wuthering Heights, and Heathcliff no longer cares to continue his revenge. Hareton, resembling his aunt Catherine Earnshaw much in looks, creates a sense of uneasiness for Heathcliff.

The novel ends with the death of Heathcliff, who has become a broken, tormented man, haunted by the ghost of the elder Catherine, next to whom he demands to be buried. His corpse is initially found by Nelly Dean, who, peeping into his room, spots him. Heathcliff grows restless towards the very end of the novel and stops eating. Nelly Dean does not believe that he had the intention to commit suicide, but that his starvation may have been the cause of his death. He wanted to be with Cathy in eternal life.

Ellen Dean

Ellen, or Nelly Dean, is the housekeeper of Thrushcross Grange as the novel begins and is

the servant of both Catherines. She is often more of a friend or relative to the characters in the book than a servant. Consequently, she knows more of the story than anyone else so is able to fill Mr Lockwood in on events.

Lockwood refers to her as "Mrs Dean" in 1801 but there is no other mention of a husband. It is probably a polite term applied to all housekeepers. She is stout

When young, her mother was nurse to Hindley so Ellen acted as a servant-cum-companion to Hindley and Catherine, playing with them and running errands. Considered herself a foster-sister to Hindley and Catherine. when older, short of breath.

Came to Thrushcross Grange in 1783 to act as Catherine's maid. Stayed on after her death

as a housekeeper.

A stranger named Lockwood visits the household of Wuthering Heights at the beginning of the story, and is overcome with shock when he believes he has seen the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw at a window in one of the chambers of the Heights. Eager to know the story of the master of the Heights, Heathcliff, Lockwood returns to Thrushcross Grange, his own temporary residence, where he asks Nelly, the housekeeper, to tell him all that she knows.

Nelly's mother was a servant at the Heights, Nelly was thus a foster sister and servant to

Hindley and his sister, Catherine Earnshaw, at Wuthering Heights. Nelly is the same age as Hindley, about six years older than Cathy.

Catherine's death after childbirth causes Nelly to nurse another child, Catherine Linton. Nelly tenderly adores Cathy, and, fearing for her future, she and Edgar try desperately to keep the innocent yet curious girl from falling into Heathcliff's machinations. Heathcliff succeeds in spite of them, and Cathy is forced into a marriage with his weak and quickly-dying son Linton. Cathy's misery at Wuthering Heights is one of the few sequences of events that Nelly does not witness for herself: she has been ordered by Heathcliff to remain at the Grange, but, inveterate gossip that she is, she manages to hear of it from Zillah, the housekeeper at the Heights.

Nelly continues to fight to restore peace at Wuthering Heights and, at the conclusion of the novel, is asked by Heathcliff to come back to work there. She is the one who finds Heathcliff dead in his chamber, enabling the New Year's Day marriage of Cathy and Hareton. Despite Heathcliff's dreadful treatment of her erstwhile charges, Nelly is "stunned by the awful event; and my memory unavoidably recurred to former times with a sort of oppressive sadness."

Lucia Lopez Fuentes and Jorge Lin Kang

Mr. Earnshaw

MR. EARNSHAW

Mr. Earnshaw was the father of Hindley and Catherine and owner of Wuthering Heights. In one of his trips to Liverpool he finds a homeless gypsy boy starving in the streets and adopts him as his own son, naming him "Heathcliff".

Mr. Earnshaw took Heathcliff to live at Wuthering Heights. Hindley finds himself robbed of his father's affections and becomes bitterly jealous of Heathcliff who was his father’s

favourite. However, Catherine grows very attached to him. Soon, the two children spend hours on the moors together and hate every moment apart.

Mr. Earnshaw was a strict and grave man with no sense of humour. Nevertheless he was a kindly man who took pity on Heathcliff. Unfortunately, he favours Heathcliff above his true son, Hindley, creating enmities which would have long-lasting consequences.

After Mr. Earnshaw dies in October 1777, Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights and makes Heathcliff a common stable boy and field labourer.

Martina Izurieta and Manuela Scatena Bugallo

Catherine Earnshaw

Catherine Earnshaw, known as Catherine Linton after her marriage, is the main female protagonist of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights.

Whilst residing in her ancestral home Wuthering Heights, she forms a deep romantic bond with foster brother Heathcliff, one that leads them both into misery, violence and despair.

She is the younger sibling of Hindley, and is born and raised at Wuthering Heights. She becomes the foster sister of the orphan Heathcliff at the age of six, and the two become close companions. They are separated when Hindley becomes jealous of his father's affection towards Heathcliff and reduces him to servant-boy status after the death of Mr Earnshaw, who took Heathcliff in as a Liverpool foundling. Catherine and

Heathcliff's strong characters do not separate them; rather, they get into a great deal of mischief together, most notably while spying at Thrushcross Grange, the fancy home of the wealthy Linton family. When a dog from the Grange attacks Cathy at her intrusion, the Lintons aid her by keeping her at the Grange for five weeks. This visit allows Catherine to turn into a lady quite unlike the rude, wild, childish girl she has been with Heathcliff, and allows her to form intimate relationships with Edgar and Isabella Linton, the two children residing at the Grange, although her (and Heathcliff's) initial impression of them was contemptuous. Catherine's change is visible on her return to the Heights at Christmas time. Heathcliff, although hurt by this, remains devoted to her, forming one part of a love triangle that includes Edgar Linton, who quickly becomes a despised rival.

Cathy’s character

• The younger Catherine is shown as the character whose inner conflicts veer her towards danger.

• She is raised up in a protective environment provided to her by her father to save her from the viciousness of the resident of Wuthering Heights, mainly Heathcliff. This over protectiveness is what led to Catherine fleeing from Thrushcross Grange to Wuthering Heights, rebelling against the rules. This shows her inner conflict between obeying her father and being free.

• She is also highly spirited and an inquisitive person but when redeemed to a life of misery at Wuthering heights she becomes distant and bitter.

• Being raised without a mother, her father is the most important person for her.

• Cathy can also be cruel at times, ridiculing Hareton’s inability to write and read.

• Having no one else in the world except of her father, she craved human company and had a capacity for intense attachments. This is what drew her to Linton.

• Another inner conflict of Cathy were her feelings for Linton, she took care of him and loved him yet his whiny behavior made her impatient. So is also confused with the mode of their relationship.

Mr. Lockwood

Mr. Lockwood comes to Wuthering Heights because he is interested in one of Heathcliff’s properties, Thrushcross Grange. Therefore, he then becomes Heathcliff’s tenant. When these two characters meet, the relationship they have up is very cold and distant, that’s why Lockwood asks Nelly, the maid, to tell him Heathcliff’s story. Lockwood’s narration forms a frame around Nelly’s; he serves as an intermediary between Nelly and the reader. A somewhat vain, pompous and presumptuous gentleman, he deals very clumsily with all the inhabitants of Wuthering Heights too. Lockwood comes from a more domesticated region of England, and he finds himself at a loss when he witnesses the strange household’s disregard for the social conventions that have always structured his world. As a narrator, his vanity and unfamiliarity with the story occasionally lead him to misunderstand events.

He is essentially in the story to act as the substitute reader, asking questions and learning the history of Heathcliff, the Earnshaws and the Lintons from Ellen Dean.