Wuthering Heights

In Wuthering Heights, Catherine Earnshaw Linton dies shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Cathy. After the conflict between Edgar and Heathcliff, Catherine becomes seriously ill. Although Edgar nurses her and she improves somewhat, she never fully recovers. Following an emotional reunion with Heathcliff, she collapses, and that night she gives birth to Cathy and dies a few hours later.

The novel also suggests that Catherine's decline is connected to the emotional turmoil surrounding her love for Heathcliff and her marriage to Edgar. Earlier, she isolates herself, refuses to eat, becomes delirious, and believes herself near death. Later, Heathcliff tells her, “I love my murderer—but yours! How can I?”, blaming her in part for the self-destructive choices that contributed to her condition.

Catherine’s death is one of the central tragedies of the novel. It leaves Heathcliff devastated and drives much of his later obsession, revenge, and longing to be reunited with her even after death.