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Dramatic Irony
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Heathcliff vs. Edgar:
Nelly's narration uses landscape imagery to portray Heathcliff and Edgar Linton as foils for one another, particularly to show that Heathcliff (despite being of "foreign" origin) is very much of the moors, while Edgar belongs to a gentler, more refined world. She makes this comparison on the day that Edgar ultimately proposes to Catherine, and Heathcliff leaves the Heights:
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—He had a sweet, low manner of speaking, and pronounced his words as you do, that’s less gruff than we talk here, and softer.
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Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Hindley vs. Edgar:
Nelly wonders aloud why Edgar Linton and Hindley Earnshaw—both loving husbands and fathers initially—took such different paths in life, presenting them as foils for each other.
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] Hindley, with apparently the stronger head, has shown himself sadly the worse and the weaker man. When his ship struck, the captain abandoned his post; and the crew, instead of trying to save her, rushed into riot, and confusion, leaving no hope for their luckless vessel. Linton, on the contrary, displayed the true courage of a loyal and faithful soul: he trusted God; and God comforted him. One hoped, and the other despaired: they chose their own lots, and were righteously doomed to endure them.
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Chapter 24
Explanation and Analysis—Competing Heavens:
Linton and Cathy are comparing their ideas of heaven's happiness and get into a quarrel about it. Their incompatible imagery also sets them up as foils for one another.
Unlock with LitCharts A+He said the pleasantest manner of spending a hot July day was lying from morning till evening on a bank of heath in the middle of the moors, with the bees humming dreamily about among the bloom [...] mine was rocking in a rustling green tree, with a west wind blowing, and bright, white clouds flitting rapidly above [...] and the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky dells [...] and the whole world awake and wild with joy. He wanted all to lie in an ecstacy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle, and dance in a glorious jubilee.
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