Flashcards for Wuthering Heights

Catherine Earnshaw

Catherine Earnshaw is a passionate and determined daughter of Mr. Earnshaw, serving as the emotional heart of Wuthering Heights.

daughter of Mr. Earnshaw; Heathcliff's soulmate; later Mrs. Linton

Catherine Linton

Catherine Linton — known as "Miss Cathy" and later "Mrs. Heathcliff" — is the only child of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton, serving as the second-generation heroine of the novel.

daughter of Catherine Earnshaw and Edgar Linton; later Mrs. Heathcliff

Edgar Linton

Edgar Linton owns Thrushcross Grange and is married to Catherine Earnshaw.

owner of Thrushcross Grange; Catherine's husband

Hareton Earnshaw

Hareton Earnshaw, son of Hindley Earnshaw, is the last of his family line, a fact etched above the door of Wuthering Heights, dated 1500.

Hindley's son; raised neglected by Heathcliff

Heathcliff

Heathcliff is the dark, brooding heart of Wuthering Heights.

master of Wuthering Heights; foundling raised by the Earnshaws

Hindley Earnshaw

Hindley Earnshaw is Catherine's older brother and becomes the master of Wuthering Heights after their father's death.

Catherine's brother; master of Wuthering Heights after his father

Isabella Linton

Isabella Linton is the younger sister of Edgar Linton and lives at Thrushcross Grange, moving in the same social circles as the Earnshaws.

Edgar's sister; elopes with Heathcliff

Joseph

Joseph is the elderly manservant at Wuthering Heights, present throughout nearly the entire novel.

longtime servant at Wuthering Heights

Linton Heathcliff

Linton Heathcliff is the son of Heathcliff and Isabella.

son of Heathcliff and Isabella; sickly heir used as a pawn by his father

Mr. Earnshaw

Mr. Earnshaw is the head of Wuthering Heights and the father of Hindley and Catherine.

patriarch of the Earnshaw family; Heathcliff's adoptive father

Mr. Kenneth

Mr. Kenneth is the doctor for the communities surrounding Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

local doctor

Mr. Lockwood

Mr. Lockwood is the tenant of Thrushcross Grange and serves as the novel's frame narrator, sharing his diary entries and first-person perspective at both the beginning and end of the story.

tenant of Thrushcross Grange; frame narrator

Nelly Dean

Nelly Dean, also known as Ellen Dean, is the housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange and serves as the primary narrator in Wuthering Heights.

housekeeper and principal storyteller

Zillah

Zillah is the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights, introduced as "the stout housewife."

housekeeper at Wuthering Heights

“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!”

In Chapter XXXIV, during his last days, Heathcliff shares with Nelly that the night before, he felt he was standing on "the threshold of hell," but now he sees his heaven just a few feet away.

Heathcliff · Chapter XXXIV

“A perfect misanthropist’s Heaven—and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us.”

Lockwood makes this entry in his diary right at the start of the novel, following his first trip to Wuthering Heights.

Lockwood · Chapter I

““Come in! come in!” he sobbed. “Cathy, do come. Oh, do—once more! Oh! my heart’s darling! hear me this time, Catherine, at last!””

This cry occurs at the end of Chapter III, after Lockwood describes his nightmare about the child-ghost Catherine Linton scratching at the window and pleading to be let in.

Heathcliff · Chapter III

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.”

Catherine shares these thoughts in Chapter IX while confiding in Nelly about Edgar Linton's marriage proposal, which she has already accepted.

Catherine Earnshaw · Chapter IX

“My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff!”

Still in Chapter IX, Catherine intensifies her declaration.

Catherine Earnshaw · Chapter IX

“Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!”

Heathcliff utters this heart-wrenching plea in Chapter XVI, in the park outside Thrushcross Grange at dawn, right after Nelly informs him that Catherine has died peacefully during the night.

Heathcliff · Chapter XVI

“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!”

Also in Chapter XXXIII, Heathcliff talks about how his craving for revenge crumbles, comparing it to the toil of physical labor—using tools like levers and mattocks, and the Herculean effort involved—only to realize that when the moment finally arrives, his motivation has completely disappeared.

Heathcliff · Chapter XXXIII

“I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

Immediately after his plea in Chapter XVI, Heathcliff delivers this shorter, more intense cry.

Heathcliff · Chapter XVI

““Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!””

In Chapter XVII, after Isabella has escaped Wuthering Heights and Hindley has passed away, Heathcliff steps up as the new guardian of the infant Hareton Earnshaw.

Heathcliff · Chapter XVII

“I’ve got him faster than his scoundrel of a father secured me, and lower; for he takes a pride in his brutishness.”

Heathcliff makes this claim in Chapter XXI, after Cathy and Nelly find themselves two miles closer to Wuthering Heights than their own home, where Heathcliff invites them inside.

Heathcliff · Chapter XXI

“she has disturbed me, night and day, through eighteen years—incessantly—remorselessly—till yesternight; and yesternight I was tranquil.”

In Chapter XXIX, on the evening after Edgar Linton's funeral, Heathcliff reveals to Nelly that he had the sexton open Catherine's grave so he could see her face.

Heathcliff · Chapter XXIX

“The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!”

Heathcliff expresses this in Chapter XXXIII during a private chat with Nelly after he realizes that Hareton's eyes mirror those of Catherine Earnshaw.

Heathcliff · Chapter XXXIII

Catherine Earnshaw's grave

Catherine's grave in the kirkyard rests on a lush green slope, where the moor heath spills over the low wall, marking the line between life and death that Heathcliff struggles to accept.

Catherine's name scratched on the window ledge

The three names — Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, Catherine Linton — scratched into the paint of the window ledge show Catherine's fractured identity and her struggle to belong fully to any one world or man.

Heathcliff's plan of revenge

Heathcliff's quest for revenge drives the novel's plot and represents how humiliation and dispossession can taint a person's spirit.

the moors

The moors around Wuthering Heights symbolize wildness, freedom, and the unconventional bond between Catherine and Heathcliff.

the window / lattice

Windows and lattices act as barriers separating the living from the dead, the inside from the outside, and captivity from freedom.

Wuthering Heights (the house)

The house embodies a harsh, enduring power and represents the damage one generation does to another.

Frame Narrative

The novel is crafted with several layers of storytelling.

Unreliable Narrator

Both principal narrators are upfront about the limitations and inaccuracies in their stories.

Motif

Windows and thresholds appear repeatedly in the novel, symbolizing longing, exclusion, and the divide between the living and the dead.

Imagery

Brontë paints striking sensory images that connect emotion to the physical world.

Foil

Edgar Linton and Heathcliff serve as ongoing contrasts throughout the novel.

Foreshadowing

Early details subtly hint at future disasters.

Simile

The novel often uses striking comparisons to express deep emotions.

Symbolism

The moors symbolize freedom, wild nature, and the profound bond between Catherine and Heathcliff, which civilized life struggles to contain.

Juxtaposition

The novel contrasts various settings and characters to deepen its themes.

Hyperbole

Characters often push language to its limits to express the depth of their emotions.

manifestations

Outward signs or displays of a feeling or quality; visible expressions of something that might otherwise stay hidden inside a person.

noun · Chapter 1

inhospitality

The quality of being unwelcoming and unfriendly to guests; a deliberate refusal to offer the basic courtesy expected of a host.

noun · Chapter 2

preposterously

In a way that is absurdly unreasonable or contrary to common sense; used here to describe an action done to a ridiculous extreme.

adverb · Chapter 3

liver-coloured

Dark reddish-brown in colour, like the organ; used to describe the coat of a dog.

adjective · Chapter 1

coal-scuttles

Metal buckets or containers kept near a fireplace and used to hold and carry lumps of coal for the fire.

noun · Chapter 2

clothes-press

A large piece of bedroom furniture, similar to a wardrobe or chest, used for storing folded clothes and linens.

noun · Chapter 3

excommunicated

Officially expelled from a church and banned from taking part in its sacraments or community as a punishment for wrongdoing.

verb · Chapter 3

weather-cocks

Weathervanes — devices mounted on a roof that spin to show which way the wind blows; used here figuratively for people who change their minds or feelings with every shift of circumstance.

noun · Chapter 4

close-handed

Unwilling to spend or give money; miserly and tight-fisted in financial dealings.

adjective · Chapter 4

provincialisms

Words, phrases, or pronunciations belonging to a particular region rather than standard educated speech; local dialect features that mark a speaker as coming from the country.

noun · Chapter 7

out-and-outer

An informal period term for someone who is a thorough, through-and-through example of a type — here used by a character to mean a person who looks every inch a rogue or ruffian.

noun · Chapter 6

foster-sister

A girl who was nursed and raised by the same woman as another child, though not related by blood; they share a wet-nurse or foster-mother.

noun · Chapter 8

fowling-piece

A light gun used for shooting wild birds; a type of shotgun common in the nineteenth century.

noun · Chapter 8

justice-meeting

A local magistrates' court session, held periodically in a nearby town, at which justices of the peace dealt with minor legal and administrative matters.

noun · Chapter 10

self-complacent

Smugly satisfied with oneself and one's own qualities or actions; uncritically pleased with how one has behaved.

adjective · Chapter 10

pertinaciously

With stubborn, unyielding persistence; holding to a course of action or attitude in a way that refuses to give in.

adverb · Chapter 12

misanthropical

Showing a deep dislike or distrust of people in general; withdrawn and hostile toward human company.

adjective · Chapter 13

intercommunication

Regular contact and exchange between two households or groups of people; the ongoing communication that keeps a relationship going.

noun · Chapter 14

scintillating

Flashing or sparkling with fierce light; here describing an eye that glitters with intense, almost feverish energy.

adjective · Chapter 15

vindictiveness

A fierce desire to hurt or punish someone in revenge; a bitter, unforgiving urge to pay back a wrong.

noun · Chapter 15

sanctimonious

Making an exaggerated show of being morally superior or piously virtuous; self-righteously disapproving in a way that feels hollow or hypocritical.

adjective · Chapter 19

importunately

In a persistent, pressing way that will not be ignored; knocking or asking repeatedly and urgently without stopping.

adverb · Chapter 28

hairbreadths

Extremely tiny fractions of distance, originally the breadth of a single hair; used here to mean the smallest possible gradual steps toward death.

noun · Chapter 29

foregathered

Met by chance or came together informally in a place; an older or dialect word for happening to encounter someone.

verb · Chapter 30

malappropriated

Picked up or used the wrong object through mistake; took something for a purpose it was not meant for, confusing it with the right tool.

verb · Chapter 32

misanthropists

People who have a general hatred or deep distrust of other human beings and prefer to avoid their company.

noun · Chapter 31

denomination

A particular branch or sect of the Christian church; here used to mean that any church affiliation will do, with no preference for one over another.

noun · Chapter 34