Plot Overview
In the late winter months of 1801, a
man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange
in the isolated moor country of England. Here, he meets his dour landlord,
Heathcliff, a wealthy man who lives in the ancient manor of Wuthering
Heights, four miles away from the Grange. In this wild, stormy countryside,
Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story
of Heathcliff and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights. Nelly
consents, and Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale
in his diary; these written recollections form the main part of Wuthering
Heights.
Nelly remembers her childhood. As a young girl,
she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner of the
manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family. One day, Mr. Earnshaw goes
to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy whom he will raise
with his own children. At first, the Earnshaw children—a boy named
Hindley and his younger sister Catherine—detest the dark-skinned
Heathcliff. But Catherine quickly comes to love him, and the two
soon grow inseparable, spending their days playing on the moors.
After his wife's death, Mr. Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff
to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty to Heathcliff,
Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathcliff nearby.
Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits
Wuthering Heights. He returns with a wife, Frances, and immediately seeks
revenge on Heathcliff. Once an orphan, later a pampered and favored
son, Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer,
forced to work in the fields. Heathcliff continues his close relationship
with Catherine, however. One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange,
hoping to tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish
children who live there. Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced
to stay at the Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time
Mrs. Linton works to make her a proper young lady. By the time Catherine
returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar, and her relationship
with Heathcliff grows more complicated.
When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby
boy named Hareton, Hindley descends into the depths of alcoholism,
and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff. Eventually,
Catherine's desire for social advancement prompts her to become
engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for Heathcliff.
Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three
years, and returning shortly after Catherine and Edgar's marriage.
When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge
on all who have wronged him. Having come into a vast and mysterious
wealth, he deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing
that Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency.
When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the manor. He also
places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella
Linton, whom he treats very cruelly. Catherine becomes ill, gives
birth to a daughter, and dies. Heathcliff begs her spirit to remain on
Earth—she may take whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive
him mad—just as long as she does not leave him alone. Shortly thereafter,
Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff's son, named
Linton after her family. She keeps the boy with her there.
Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as
Catherine's daughter's nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange. Young Catherine
is beautiful and headstrong like her mother, but her temperament
is modified by her father's gentler influence. Young Catherine grows
up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering Heights; one day,
however, wandering through the moors, she discovers the manor, meets
Hareton, and plays together with him. Soon afterwards, Isabella
dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff. Heathcliff treats
his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boy's
mother.
Three years later, Catherine meets Heathcliff
on the moors, and makes a visit to Wuthering Heights to meet Linton.
She and Linton begin a secret romance conducted entirely through
letters. When Nelly destroys Catherine's collection of letters,
the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young
lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health. However,
it quickly becomes apparent that Linton is pursuing Catherine only
because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if Catherine
marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange—and his
revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be complete. One day, as Edgar Linton
grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine
back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Catherine
marries Linton. Soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death
is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton. Heathcliff
now controls both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. He forces
Catherine to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a common servant, while
he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood.
Nelly's story ends as she reaches the present. Lockwood, appalled,
ends his tenancy at Thrushcross Grange and returns to London. However,
six months later, he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further
developments in the story. Although Catherine originally mocked
Hareton's ignorance and illiteracy (in an act of retribution, Heathcliff
ended Hareton's education after Hindley died), Catherine grows to
love Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff
becomes more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine,
to the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost. Everything he
sees reminds him of her. Shortly after a night spent walking on
the moors, Heathcliff dies. Hareton and young Catherine inherit
Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married
on the next New Year's Day. After hearing the end of the story,
Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff.
Chronology
The story of Wuthering Heights is told
through flashbacks recorded in diary entries, and events are often
presented out of chronological order—Lockwood's narrative takes
place after Nelly's narrative, for instance, but is interspersed
with Nelly's story in his journal. Nevertheless, the novel contains
enough clues to enable an approximate reconstruction of its chronology,
which was elaborately designed by Emily Brontë. For instance, Lockwood's
diary entries are recorded in the late months of 1801 and
in September 1802;
in 1801, Nelly tells
Lockwood that she has lived at Thrushcross Grange for eighteen years,
since Catherine's marriage to Edgar, which must then have occurred
in 1783. We know that
Catherine was engaged to Edgar for three years, and that Nelly was
twenty-two when they were engaged, so the engagement must have taken
place in 1780, and
Nelly must have been born in 1758.
Since Nelly is a few years older than Catherine, and since Lockwood
comments that Heathcliff is about forty years old in 1801,
it stands to reason that Heathcliff and Catherine were born around 1761,
three years after Nelly. There are several other clues like this
in the novel (such as Hareton's birth, which occurs in June, 1778).
The following chronology is based on those clues, and should closely
approximate the timing of the novel's important events. A “~” before
a date indicates that it cannot be precisely determined from the
evidence in the novel, but only closely estimated.
1500 -
The stone above the front door of Wuthering Heights, bearing
the name of Hareton Earnshaw, is inscribed, possibly to mark the
completion of the house.
~1761 -
Heathcliff and Catherine are born.
~1767 -
Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff to live at Wuthering Heights.
1774 -
Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college.
1777 -
Mr. Earnshaw dies; Hindley and Frances take possession
of Wuthering Heights; Catherine first visits Thrushcross Grange
around Christmastime.
1778 -
Hareton is born in June; Frances dies; Hindley begins his
slide into alcoholism.
1780 -
Catherine becomes engaged to Edgar Linton; Heathcliff
leaves Wuthering Heights.
1783 -
Catherine and Edgar are married; Heathcliff arrives
at Thrushcross Grange in September.
1784 -
Heathcliff and Isabella elope in the early part
of the year; Catherine becomes ill with brain fever; young Catherine
is born late in the year; Catherine dies.
1785 -
Early in the year, Isabella flees Wuthering Heights
and settles in London; Linton is born.
~1785 -
Hindley dies; Heathcliff inherits Wuthering Heights.
~1797 -
Young Catherine meets Hareton and visits Wuthering Heights
for the first time; Linton comes from London after Isabella dies
(in late 1797 or early 1798).
1800 -
Young Catherine stages her romance with Linton in
the winter.
1801 -
Early in the year, young Catherine is imprisoned
by Heathcliff and forced to marry Linton; Edgar Linton dies; Linton
dies; Heathcliff assumes control of Thrushcross Grange. Late in
the year, Lockwood rents the Grange from Heathcliff and begins his
tenancy. In a winter storm, Lockwood takes ill and begins conversing
with Nelly Dean.
1801–1802 -
During the winter, Nelly narrates her story for Lockwood.
1802 -
In spring, Lockwood returns to London; Catherine
and Hareton fall in love; Heathcliff dies; Lockwood returns in September
and hears the end of the story from Nelly.
1803 -
On New Year's Day, young Catherine and Hareton plan
to be married.
