Foster son of Mr. Earnshaw; foster brother of Hindley and Catherine; husband of Isabella; father of Linton. Heathcliff is the conflicted villain/hero of the novel. Mr. Earnshaw finds him on the street and brings him home to Wuthering Heights, where he and Catherine become soul mates. He is the ultimate outsider, with his dark "gypsy" looks and mysterious background. Though he eventually comes to own Wuthering Heights, he never seems as fully home in the house as he does on the moors. His love for Catherine is gigantic and untamed and matters to him more than anything else, but it is never easy— it leads him to control and belittle and manipulate nearly everyone around him. Despite his many horrible deeds, Heathcliff is not a straight-out bad guy; he is a poor orphan who finds material success but not what he really wants— the love of Catherine.
Heathcliff Quotes in Wuthering Heights
The Wuthering Heights quotes below are all either spoken by Heathcliff or refer to Heathcliff. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1
Quotes
But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gypsy in aspect, in dress and manners a gentleman, that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire.
Related Characters:
Mr. Lockwood (speaker), Heathcliff
Related Symbols:
Wuthering Heights
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Chapter 3
Quotes
The ledge, where I placed my candle, had a few mildewed books piled up in one corner; and it was covered with writing scratched on the paint. This writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small—Catherine Earnshaw, here and there varied to Catherine Heathcliff, and then again to Catherine Linton.
Related Characters:
Mr. Lockwood (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton, Heathcliff, Edgar Linton
Related Symbols:
Wuthering Heights
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Chapter 8
Quotes
Doubtless Catherine marked the difference between her friends, as one came in and the other went out. The contrast resembled what you see in exchanging a bleak, hilly, coal country for a beautiful fertile valley; and his voice and greeting were as opposite as his aspect.
Related Characters:
Ellen "Nelly" Dean (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton, Heathcliff, Edgar Linton
Related Symbols:
The Weather
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Chapter 9
Quotes
I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and [Edgar's] is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.
Related Characters:
Catherine Earnshaw Linton (speaker), Heathcliff, Edgar Linton
Related Symbols:
The Weather
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Nelly, I see now, you think me a selfish wretch; but did it never strike you that if Heathcliff and I married we should be beggars? whereas, if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's power?
Related Characters:
Catherine Earnshaw Linton (speaker), Ellen "Nelly" Dean, Hindley Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Edgar Linton
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My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods; time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath—a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff!
Related Characters:
Catherine Earnshaw Linton (speaker), Ellen "Nelly" Dean, Heathcliff, Edgar Linton
Related Symbols:
The Weather
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Chapter 11
Quotes
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. That will be a prompt way of finishing all, when I am pushed to extremity!
Related Characters:
Catherine Earnshaw Linton (speaker), Heathcliff, Edgar Linton
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Chapter 15
Quotes
You teach me how cruel you've been—cruel and false. Why do you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry, and wring out my kisses and tears; they'll blight you—they'll damn you. You loved me—then what right had you to leave me? What right—answer me—for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart—you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton
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I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer—but yours! How can I?
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton
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Chapter 16
Quotes
Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe—I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be 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!
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton
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Chapter 17
Quotes
I've recovered from my first desire to be killed by him-I'd rather he'd kill himself! He has extinguished my love effectually, and so I'm at my ease.
Related Characters:
Isabella Linton (speaker), Heathcliff
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Chapter 20
Quotes
My son is prospective owner of your place, and I should not wish him to die till I was certain of being his successor. Besides he's mine, and I want the triumph of seeing my descendant fairly lord of their estates: my child hiring their children to till their father's land for wages. That is the sole consideration which can make me endure the whelp: I despise him for himself, and hate him for the memories he revives!
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker), Edgar Linton, Linton Heathcliff
Related Symbols:
Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange
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Chapter 29
Quotes
I got the sexton, who was digging Linton's grave, to remove the earth off her coffin lid, and I opened it. I thought, once, I would have stayed there, when I saw her face again—it is hers yet—he had hard work to stir me; but he said it would change, if the air blew on it, and so I struck one side of the coffin loose, and covered it up—not Linton's side, damn him! I wish he'd been soldered in lead—and I bribed the sexton to pull it away, when I'm laid there, and slide mine out too. I'll have it made so, and then, by the time Linton gets to us, he'll not know which is which!"
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton, Edgar Linton
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33
Quotes
'It is a poor conclusion, is it not?' he observed, having brooded awhile on the scene he had just witnessed: 'an absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! My old enemies have not beaten me; now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives: I could do it; and none could hinder me. But where is the use? I don't care for striking: I can't take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity. It is far from being the case: I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker)
Related Symbols:
Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34
Quotes
Last night, I was on the threshold of hell. To-day, I am within sight of my heaven. I have my eyes on it: hardly three feet to sever me!
Related Characters:
Heathcliff (speaker), Catherine Earnshaw Linton
Related Literary Devices:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Wuthering Heights LitChart as a printable PDF.

Heathcliff Character Timeline in Wuthering Heights
The timeline below shows where the character Heathcliff appears in Wuthering Heights. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Soon after arriving, he visits his landlord, Mr. Heathcliff, whom he describes as a gruff yet noble "dark-skinned gypsy." Heathcliff lives in a manor...
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Chapter 2
...the lantern and sends the dogs after him. The dogs pin Lockwood down, which amuses Heathcliff and Hareton. Lockwood then gets a nosebleed and is forced to spend the night at...
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Chapter 3
Zillah brings Lockwood to a room that Heathcliff usually doesn't allow anyone to stay in. Left alone, Lockwood notices three names scratched into...
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...himself. She continues to beg, and he cries out. His yell carries into the real world—Heathcliff hears it and comes running. He's upset to find Lockwood in the room, while Lockwood's...
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The next morning Heathcliff escorts Lockwood home. The servants of Thrushcross Grange are overjoyed to see Lockwood—they feared he'd...
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Chapter 4
...Grange, Lockwood starts feeling lonely and asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him about Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights. Nelly Dean says she grew up at Wuthering Heights with Hindley and...
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...kind man. When Nelly was little, he returned from a business trip to Liverpool with Heathcliff, an orphan boy he'd found on the street. Earnshaw's daughter, Catherine, took to her foster...
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Chapter 5
...passes. Mr. Earnshaw's health deteriorates, and he becomes even less accepting of Hindley's behavior toward Heathcliff. He sends Hindley away to college, allowing Catherine and Heathcliff to grow closer.
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...rigid religious beliefs. Meanwhile, to her father's dismay, Catherine is constantly going on adventures with Heathcliff and getting into trouble. Though she teases her father about this, she loves him deeply...
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On the stormy night of Mr. Earnshaw's death, Catherine and Heathcliff console each other. They talk of heaven, imagining it as a beautiful place.
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Chapter 6
...makes immediate changes, such as moving the servants to the back quarters. He also forces Heathcliff to give up his education and instead to work in the fields. Yet for the...
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One day, Heathcliff and Catherine don't return from one of their adventures and Hindley orders that they be...
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...and insist that Catherine stay with them while she heals. But they are shocked at Heathcliff's rough clothes and language and refuse to let him stay with Catherine. Before leaving, Heathcliff...
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...goes to Wuthering Heights and berates Hindley for letting Catherine run wild. Ashamed, Hindley blames Heathcliff and says that Heathcliff may no longer see or talk to Catherine.
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Chapter 7
Hindley allows Heathcliff to greet her "like the other servants." Catherine kisses Heathcliff hello, but teases that he's...
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Edgar and Isabella come to Wuthering Heights for Christmas. Heathcliff allows Nelly to make him presentable, but it turns out that Mrs. Linton allowed her...
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Catherine, though, thinks that both Edgar and Hindley mistreated Heathcliff, and after dinner she slips away from the others to visit Heathcliff. Nelly also takes...
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Chapter 8
...to alcohol for comfort, and takes out his grief on the servants, Catherine, and, especially, Heathcliff. For his part, Heathcliff delights in Hindley's decline.
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...with the Lintons. When she's with them she acts like proper lady. But when with Heathcliff, she acts just as she used to.
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One day when Hindley is out, Heathcliff doesn't go to the fields and instead plans to spend the day with Catherine. But...
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Chapter 9
...from Nelly in a rage, but then accidentally drops the baby over the bannister. Luckily, Heathcliff is at the bottom of the steps to catch Hareton without harm.
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Later, Catherine goes to Nelly in the kitchen. As Heathcliff listens, she tells Nelly that she has accepted Edgar's proposal of marriage, yet isn't sure...
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Furious and ashamed, Heathcliff leaves, and therefore doesn't hear Catherine say that, though she must marry Edgar, she loves...
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That night, in a storm, Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights. Catherine discovers his absence and, distraught, searches for him all...
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Three years later, Heathcliff has still not returned, and Edgar and Catherine get married. Nelly leaves Hareton with Hindley...
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Chapter 10
Heathcliff visits him once during this time, after which Lockwood asks Nelly to tell him how...
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Then one evening Heathcliff appears at the Grange. Catherine is almost frantic with excitement. Edgar is less pleased. He...
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As Heathcliff enters the parlor, Nelly notes that he looks imposing, mature, and dignified, in contrast to...
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As Edgar, Heathcliff, and Catherine talk, Heathcliff says that he returned hoping only to catch a glimpse of...
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...to tell her that she couldn't sleep from excitement. She says that she had praised Heathcliff to Edgar, but that Edgar had claimed to feel sick and even cried. Nelly advises...
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Catherine also tells Nelly how Heathcliff wound up staying at Wuthering Heights: he'd gone to Wuthering Heights to find Nelly and...
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In the following days, Catherine and Isabella often visit the Heights, and Heathcliff regularly comes to the Grange. Isabella soon develops a crush on Heathcliff. When she confesses...
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The next day, Catherine humiliates Isabella by revealing her crush to Heathcliff when he visits. Isabella rushes from the room. Heathcliff expresses disdain for Isabella, but notes...
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Chapter 11
...charge, Hareton, who curses and throws stones at her. Hareton tells her that it was Heathcliff who taught him to curse, and that Heathcliff also refused to allow Hareton to be...
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The following day, Nelly and Catherine observe Heathcliff and Isabella embracing in the Grange's garden. Catherine confronts Heathcliff in the kitchen about his...
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Informed of the confrontation by Nelly, Edgar rushes in and orders Heathcliff to leave. Heathcliff refuses. Edgar moves to get the servants to come and help him...
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Once Heathcliff is gone, Edgar furiously demands that Catherine choose between him and Heathcliff. Catherine refuses to...
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Chapter 12
Delirious, Catherine rambles about a time she spent on the moors with Heathcliff as a child, and obsesses over death.
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...Heights and that, though she's going to die, she'll never be rest until she's with Heathcliff.
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That same night, Isabella runs off with Heathcliff. Edgar, furious, refuses to attempt to get Isabella to come back. Instead he says that...
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Chapter 13
...pregnant. Edgar hopes the child is male, so that the baby, rather than Isabella and Heathcliff, will inherit Thrushcross Grange.
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Six weeks after she ran away with and married Heathcliff, Isabella writes to Edgar, begging for forgiveness. Edgar doesn't answer the letter.
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...says that she is living at Wuthering Heights and that her experience has been awful. Heathcliff has told her that since he can't get to Edgar to punish him for Catherine's...
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Chapter 14
At Wuthering Heights, Nelly barely gets to see Isabella at all. Instead, Heathcliff asks after Catherine's condition and then asks Nelly to help him see her, adding that...
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Nelly refuses to help Heathcliff, who threatens to hold Nelly prisoner at Wuthering Heights and go to the Grange alone....
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Chapter 15
When Edgar goes to church four days later, Nelly delivers Heathcliff's letter to Catherine, who is so weak that she can hardly hold it. Heathcliff walks...
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Heathcliff responds that he forgives her for what she has done to him, but that he...
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Just then Edgar arrives home from church. Heathcliff gets up to leave, but Catherine begs him to stay and he does. As Edgar...
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Nelly ushers Heathcliff from the room, promising to send news of Catherine's health in the morning. Heathcliff says...
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Chapter 16
...to a daughter, Cathy, two months prematurely. Catherine dies two hours later. When Nelly brings Heathcliff the news, he seems somehow to already know. He curses Catherine for the pain she's...
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Edgar keeps watch over Catherine's body, day and night, while Heathcliff stays out in the garden through the night. Eventually, exhaustion forces Edgar to leave Catherine's...
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After Heathcliff leaves, Nelly discovers that Heathcliff has replaced a lock of Edgar's hair that Catherine kept...
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Chapter 17
...Catherine's funeral, but fell apart the morning of the funeral and started drinking. Then, while Heathcliff was out standing vigil at Catherine's grave, Hindley locked the doors of Wuthering Heights to...
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When Heathcliff returned, Isabella warned him of Hindley's plans, but didn't let him into the house. Hindley...
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...live near London, where she gave birth to a sickly boy, whom she named Linton. Heathcliff eventually learned where Isabella and his son were, but did not go after them. Isabella...
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...the Grange. But Nelly is shocked to learn that Hindley died deeply in debt to Heathcliff, who now owns Wuthering Heights. In addition, Heathcliff refuses to let Hareton leave Wuthering Heights,...
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...master of Wuthering Heights, now is forced to live as a dependant and servant to Heathcliff.
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Chapter 19
...night Joseph arrives from Wuthering Heights, demanding Linton. Edgar says he will bring Linton to Heathcliff in the morning.
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Chapter 20
...Heights the next morning. To make the fearful Linton feel better Nelly assures him of Heathcliff's goodness. But Heathcliff proves Nelly is lying from the moment he appears—he refers to Linton...
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Chapter 21
...questioning the Wuthering Heights housekeeper, and learns that Linton remains weak and whiny and that Heathcliff can't stand him.
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...Cathy runs ahead of Nelly, and when Nelly catches up she finds Catherine speaking with Heathcliff and Hareton.
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Catherine says that she thinks she's met Hareton before, and wonders if he's Heathcliff's son. Heathcliff says no, but that he does have a son whom Catherine has met...
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At the house, Heathcliff tells Nelly that he hopes Linton and Cathy will one day marry. Yet Cathy and...
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...he can't even show Cathy around the house, so she goes off with Hareton instead. Heathcliff demands that Linton go after them. Before they move out of earshot, Nelly hears Cathy...
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...though Cathy doesn't entirely understand he does manage to get across how much he despises Heathcliff. Edgar also asks his daughter not to have any contact with Linton, but Cathy doesn't...
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Chapter 22
As Nelly searches for a key to the gate in the wall, Heathcliff appears. He admonishes Cathy for ending her correspondence with Linton, adding that he suspects she...
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Chapter 25
...he says that if she wishes Cathy may marry Linton, even though that would mean Heathcliff would definitely inherit the Grange.
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Chapter 27
...father is pushing him to woo Cathy. He also says that he's frightened of what Heathcliff would do to him if she doesn't marry him.
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As they talk, Heathcliff arrives. He asks Nelly that Edgar's health, and also tells her privately that he worries...
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At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff locks Nelly and Cathy inside the house and says that they won't be allowed to...
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Chapter 28
...but they fail and return without her. Meanwhile, in order to keep Cathy's inheritance from Heathcliff, Edgar decides to place the inheritance in the hands of trustees. He sends for his...
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Chapter 29
After Edgar's funeral, Heathcliff comes to the Grange to bring Cathy back to Wuthering Heights. He says that he...
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Cathy responds that she and Linton love each other, while Heathcliff is loveless and alone. She adds that "however miserable you make us, we shall still...
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As Cathy packs, Nelly asks Heathcliff to let her be the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights because she wants to stay with...
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As they leave, Cathy asks Nelly to visit her at Wuthering Heights. But Heathcliff tells Nelly never to come to the Heights, and that if he needs her he'll...
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Chapter 30
...she hasn't seen Cathy since that day, and only gets news about her from Zillah. Heathcliff forbade anyone at the Heights to be kind to Cathy, and made her nurse Linton...
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...he has recovered from his illness and will soon ride to Wuthering Heights to tell Heathcliff that he will be leaving Thrushcross Grange and going to London, where he will be...
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Chapter 31
Lockwood goes to Wuthering Heights to tell Heathcliff of his decision to leave Thrushcross Grange. He also carries a letter to Cathy from...
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Lockwood also learns that Heathcliff has taken Cathy's books. Cathy adds that Hareton has gathered some of her favorite books...
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Heathcliff returns, and says as soon as he enters that Hareton bears such a striking resemblance...
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Chapter 32
...happened after he left: Two weeks after Lockwood left, Zillah finds a new job, and Heathcliff asks Nelly to take her place. Soon after Nelly arrives, Cathy admits to her that...
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Chapter 33
The morning after Cathy gives Hareton the book, she and Heathcliff get into an argument at breakfast over her inheritance. Hareton takes her side. Heathcliff grabs...
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Chapter 34
Heathcliff withdraws from the world and eats just one meal a day.
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Heathcliff refuses all food and demands that he be left entirely alone. The next morning, at...
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The next day Heathcliff locks himself into his room and refuses to even see the doctor. The next morning,...
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Heathcliff is buried as he wanted, next to Catherine, while Cathy and Hareton are soon to...
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Lockwood leaves Wuthering Heights and walks through the moors to the churchyard where Heathcliff, Catherine, and Edgar are buried. He writes that though the local villagers say that they...
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