Catherine Earnshaw

Infobox Character

Name = Catherine Earnshaw


Caption =
Story = "Wuthering Heights"
Creator = Emily Bronte
Spouse = Edgar Linton
Relatives = Brother: Hindley Earnshaw
Foster Brother: Heathcliff
Children = Daughter Catherine (Cathy) Linton
Age = Six years of age at beginning of novel; eighteen at death
Born = Summer 1765
Died = 20 March 1784

Catherine Earnshaw, or Catherine Linton, is the principal female character in Emily Brontë's novel "Wuthering Heights". Born Catherine Earnshaw, and originally residing in Wuthering Heights, Catherine - or Cathy, as she is known in her childhood - is Hindley Earnshaw's sister and the foster sister of Heathcliff. The love between Catherine and Heathcliff forms the basis of "Wuthering Heights"' plot. She struggles in her decisions in the novel, to be true to her own heart and soul and be with Heathcliff, or make a good marriage and marry Edgar Linton, which is displayed by the names she writes on her books; 'Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton, Catherine Heathcliff.' She is regarded as the main romantic heroine in the novel, although she dies half-way through the story.

tory

Infobox

Catherine Earnshaw is the younger sister of Hindley in the book, and is born and raised at Wuthering Heights. She becomes the foster sister of the orphan Heathcliff at the age of six years old, and the two quickly become very close companions, especially through their ramblings on the moors. They are separated when Hindley becomes jealous of his father's affection towards Heathcliff, and therefore he reduces Heathcliff to a servant-boy status after Mr. Earnshaw's death. Nevertheless, Catherine and Heathcliff's determined spirit towards one another does not part them, but rather they get into mischief 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 Thrushcross Grange for five weeks. This visit allows Catherine to become a lady- much unlike the rude, wild, childish girl she often was with Heathcliff- and also allows her to form an intimate friendship with Edgar and Isabella Linton, the two children residing at the Grange. Catherine's change is very much visible at her return to Wuthering Heights at Christmas time. Heathcliff remains devoted to her, which forms a sort of romantic triangle in the story between Catherine, Heathcliff, and Edgar Linton.

Cathy's most famous scene is very likely the memorable declaration of her feelings that she passionately gives notice of to Nelly Dean, the housekepper of Wuthering Heights and the novel's sole narrator. She takes care not to disguise her passion for Heathcliff, insisting that "his and mine are the same," yet she also proclaims that she will marry Edgar Linton because of the fact that were she and her true soul mate to wed, they would be beggars. Heathcliff, however, does not know of these things, and embarks on a mysterious, three-year absence after hearing Cathy say that it would "degrade her to marry him."

This decision can easily be looked back on as the event that set off Heathcliff's revenge on the Lintons, for what follows thereafter is completely disasterous. Heathcliff returns, finding Catherine married to Edgar and living at Thrushcross Grange, and immediately pursues his revenge, seducing Isabella Linton in order to gain control of Thrushcross Grange at Edgar's death, and thus trapping her in an abusive, terrifying marriage. Catherine, meanwhile, begins a state of psychological insanity, although it is partly based on her desire to provoke her husband and "break his heart" because of the pain she feels. It then becomes apparent, however, that she refuses to eat, never leaves her chamber, and has fallen prey to countless illusions and declarations of madness.

Heathcliff and Catherine share one final meeting, about half-way through the story, which is aided reluctantly by Nelly, who helped form the secret meeting because of the fact that Edgar banished Heathcliff from the Grange. The lovers pour out their passions to one another, but when Edgar walks unexpectedly through the door to the chamber, Catherine experiences a state of shock and faints. She dies a mere couple of hours after giving birth to a daughter, also named Cathy, whose generation forms the basis of the second half of the story.

Catherine does, though, have a spirit that lives throughout the whole novel. Her ghost apparently haunts Heathcliff up until his mysterious death, and a very iconic scene in "Wuthering Heights" is that in which Lockwood, the first narrator in the book, sees her ghost as a little girl lost on the moors, put together in a very eerie, gothic fashion. Heathcliff goes to great lengths of desperation to have one glimpse of his lost love once more, and dies on Catherine's bed, with the window open, which is a symbol of Catherine's enduring power throughout the course of the story.

Description

Catherine is said in the book to be pretty, with, as Nelly says, "the bonniest eye" and "the sweetest smile." She has long locks of "beautiful" hair, as Heathcliff describes it, but it is her eyes that can be seen in many characters in the novel. The "Earnshaw eyes" belong not only to Catherine, but also to her brother Hindley, and her nephew Hareton. Her daughter Cathy inherited only two things from the mother, as we are told by Nelly, and they were those particular eyes, as well as an expression that makes her seem "haughty." Catherine is strong-willed, wild, passionate, mischevious, and as a child is a bit spoiled. As seen in her remarkable change of apperance after a five-week stay at Thrushcross Grange, she is anything but a lady while roaming the moors with Heathcliff. Nelly counters that she "didn't love" Catherine, perhaps because of her waywardness throughout the book, and during her final illness she has "a bloodless lip" and is very frail. A rather odd point- as well as one that adds to the gothic sense of "Wuthering Heights"- is that her lifeless body looks very angelic, divine, and gorgeous. Nelly Dean tells Lockwood in the story that "no angel in heaven looked as beautiful as her," and that her countenance resembled "perfect peace."

Effect on Modern Society

Catherine delivers many of the lines which have become synonymous with the work, such as her renowned declaration of love for Heathcliff, "My love for him resembles the eternal rocks beneath, a source of little visible delight, but necessary...I am Heathcliff...", or the famous ghostly utterance, "Let me in your window - I'm so cold"!", later used by Kate Bush in her 1978 hit "Wuthering Heights". The entertainment world, indeed, has been so intrigued by the love between Catherine and Heathcliff, that many film adaptations of the novel, particularly the 1939 version with Laurence Oliver and Merle Oberon, cover only half of the story, ending with Catherine's death rather than tell the story of the younger Cathy, Hareton, and Linton Heathcliff. Thematically, Catherine is also central to the issues of gender conflict, class division and violence in "Wuthering Heights", as well as to the antithesis of good and evil or reality and fantasy which pervades the novel.

["Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte ] "Wuthering Heights," (1847) by Emily Bronte