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English Literature books summaryCathy was "much too fond" of Heathcliff, and liked to order people around. Heathcliff would do anything she asked. Her father was harsh to her and she became hardened to his reproofs. Finally Earnshaw died one evening when Cathy had been resting her head against his knee and Heathcliff was lying on the floor with his head in her lap. When she wanted to kiss her father good night, she discovered he was dead and the two children began to cry, but that night Ellen saw that they had managed to comfort each other with "better thoughts than [she] could have hit on," imagining the old man in heaven Chapter 6, Summary Hindley returns home, unexpectedly bringing his wife, a flighty woman with a strange fear of death and symptoms of consumption (although Ellen did not at first recognize them as such). Hindley also brought home new manners and rules, and informed the servants that they would have to live in inferior quarters. Most importantly, he treated Heathcliff as a servant, stopping his education and making him work in the fields like any farmboy. Heathcliff did not mind too much at first because Cathy taught him what she learned, and worked and played with him in the fields. They stayed away from Hindley as much as possible and grew up uncivilized and free. "It was one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day, and after punishment grew a mere thing to laugh at." One day they ran off after being punished, and at night Heathcliff returned. He told what had happened. He and Cathy ran to the Grange to see how people lived there, and they saw the Linton children Edgar and Isabella in a beautiful room, crying after an argument over who could hold the pet dog. Amused and scornful, Heathcliff and Cathy laughed; the Lintons head them and called for their parents. After making frightening noises, the wilder children tried to escape, but a bulldog bit Cathy's leg and refused to let go. She told Heathcliff to escape but he would not leave her, and tried to pry the animal's jaws open. They were captured and brought inside, taken for thieves. When Edgar recognized Cathy as Miss Earnshaw, the Lintons expressed their disgust at the children's wild manners and especially at Heathcliff's being allowed to keep Cathy company. They coddled Cathy and drove Heathcliff out; he left after assuring himself that Cathy was all right. When Hindley found out, he welcomed the chance to separate Cathy and Heathcliff, so Cathy was to stay for a prolonged visit with the Lintons and Heathcliff was forbidden to speak to her. Chapter 7, Summary Ellen resumes the narrative. Cathy stayed at Thrushcross Grange for five weeks, until Christmas. When she returned home she had been transformed into a young lady with that role's attending restrictions: she could no longer kiss Ellen without worrying about getting flour on her dress. She hurt Heathcliff's feelings by comparing his darkness and dirtiness to Edgar and Isabella's fair complexions and clean clothes. The boy had become more and more neglected in her absence, and was cruelly put in his place by Hindley and especially by Cathy's new polish. Cathy's affection for him had not really changed, but he did not know this and ran out, refusing to come in for supper. Ellen was sorry for him. The Linton children were invited for a Christmas party the next day. That morning Heathcliff humbly approached Ellen and asked her to "make him decent" because he was "going to be good." Ellen applauded his resolution and reassured him that Cathy still liked him and that she was grieved by his shyness. When Heathcliff said he wished he could be more like Edgar fair, rich, and well-behaved Ellen told him that he could be perfectly handsome without being effeminate if he smiled more and was more trustful. However, when Heathcliff, now "clean and cheerful" tried to join the party, Hindley told him to go away because he wasn't not fit to be there. Edgar unwisely made fun of his long hair and Heathcliff threw hot applesauce at him, and was taken away and flogged by Hindley. Cathy was angry at Edgar for mocking Heathcliff and getting him into trouble, but she didn't want to ruin her party. She kept up a good front, but didn't enjoy herself, thinking of Heathcliff alone and beaten. At her first chance her guests gone home she crept into the garret where he was confined. Later Ellen gave Heathcliff dinner, since he hadn't eaten all day, but he ate little and when she asked what was wrong, he said he was thinking of how to avenge himself on Hindley. At this point Ellen's narrative breaks off and she and Lockwood briefly discuss the merits of the active and contemplative life, with Lockwood defending his lazy habits and Ellen saying she should get things done rather than just telling Lockwood the story. He persuades her to go on. Chapter 8, Summary Hindley's wife Frances gave birth to a child, Hareton, but did not survive long afterwards: she had consumption. Despite the doctor's warnings, Hindley persisted in believing that she would recover, and she seemed to think so too, always saying she felt better, but she died a few weeks after Hareton's birth. Ellen was happy to take care of the baby. Hindley "grew desperate; his sorrow was of a kind that will not lament, he neither wept nor prayed he cursed and defied execrated God and man, and gave himself up to reckless dissipation. The household more or less collapsed into violent confusion respectable neighbors ceased to visit, except for Edgar, entranced by Catherine. Heathcliff's ill treatment and the bad example posed by Hindley made him "daily more notable for savage sullenness and ferocity." Catherine disliked having Edgar visit Wuthering Heights because she had a hard time behaving consistently when Edgar and Heathcliff met, or when they talked about each other. Edgar's presence made her feel as though she had to behave like a Linton, which was not natural for her. One day when Hindley was away Heathcliff was offended to find Catherine putting on a "silly frock," getting ready for Edgar's visit. He asked her to turn Edgar away and spend the time with him instead but she refused. Edgar was by this time a gentle, sweet young man. He came and Heathcliff left, but Ellen stayed as a chaperone, much to Catherine's annoyance. She revealed her bad character by pinching Ellen, who was glad to have a chance to show Edgar what Catherine was like, and cried out. Catherine denied having pinched her, blushing with rage, and slapped her, then slapped Edgar for reproving her. He said he would go; she, recovering her senses, asked him to stay, and he was too weak and enchanted by her stronger will to leave. Brought closer by the quarrel, the two "confessed themselves lovers." Ellen heard Hindley come home drunk, and out of precaution unloaded his gun. Chapter 9, Summary Hindley came in raging drunk and swearing, and caught Ellen in the act of trying to hide Hareton in a cupboard for safety. He threatened to make Nelly swallow a carving knife, and even tried to force it between her teeth, but she bravely said she'd rather be shot, and spat it out. Then he took up Hareton and said he would crop his ears like a dog, to make him look fiercer, then held the toddler over the banister. Hearing Heathcliff walking below, Hindley accidentally dropped the child, but fortunately Heathcliff caught him. Looking up to see what had happened, he showed "the intensest anguish at having made himself the instrument of thwarting his own revenge." In other words, he hated Hindley so much that he would have liked to have him to kill his own son by mistake. If it had been dark, Ellen said, "he would have tried to remedy the mistake by smashing Hareton's skull on the steps." Hindley was somewhat shaken, and began to drink more. Heathcliff told Nelly he wished he would drink himself to death, but he had a strong constitution. In the kitchen Cathy came to talk to Nelly (neither of them knew Heathcliff was in the room, sitting behind the settle). Cathy said she was unhappy, that Edgar had asked her to marry him and she had accepted. She asked Nelly what she should have answered. Nelly asked her if and why she loved Edgar; she said she did for a variety of material reasons: "he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman in the neighborhood, and I shall be proud of such a husband." Nelly disapproved, and Cathy admitted that she was sure she was wrong: she had had a dream in which she went to heaven and was unhappy there because she missed Wuthering Heights. She said: "I have 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 Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightening, or frost from fire." (Heathcliff left after hearing that it would degrade her to marry him.) Nelly told Cathy that Heathcliff would be deserted if she married Linton, and she indignantly said that she had no intention of deserting him, but would use her influence to raise him up. Nelly said Edgar wouldn't like that, to which Cathy replied: "Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into nothing, before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff!" Later that night it turned out that no one knew where Heathcliff was. Cathy went out in the storm looking for him, unsuccessfully he had run away. The next morning she was sick. After some time she went to stay with the Lintons a healthier environment and she got better, while Edgar and Isabella's parents caught the fever and died. She returned to Wuthering Heights "saucier, and more passionate, and haughtier than ever." When Nelly said that Heathcliff's disappearance was her fault, Cathy stopped speaking to her. She married Edgar three years later, and Ellen unwillingly went to live with her at the Grange, leaving Hareton to live with his wretched father. Chapter 10, Summary Catherine got along surprisingly well with her husband and Isabella, mostly because they never opposed her. She had "seasons of gloom and silence" though. Edgar took these for the results of her serious illness. When they had been married almost a year, Heathcliff came back. Nelly was outside that evening and he asked her to tell Catherine someone wanted to see her. He was quite changed: a tall and athletic man who looked as though he might have been in the army, with gentlemanly manners and educated speech though his eyes contained a "half-civilized ferocity." Catherine was overjoyed and didn't understand why Edgar didn't share her happiness. Heathcliff stayed for tea, to Edgar's peevish irritation. It transpired that Heathcliff was staying at Wuthering Heights, paying Hindley generously, but winning his host's money at cards. Catherine wouldn't let Heathcliff actually hurt her brother. In the following weeks, Heathcliff often visited the Grange. Isabella a "charming young lady of eighteen" became infatuated with him, to her brother's dismay. Isabella became angry at Catherine for keeping Heathcliff to herself, and Catherine warned her that Heathcliff was a very bad person to fall in love with and that Isabella was no match for him: "I never say to him to let this or that enemy alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them, I say "Let them alone, because I should hate them to be wronged"; and he'd crush you, like a sparrow's egg, Isabella, if he found you a troublesome charge." Catherine teased Isabella by telling Heathcliff in her presence that she loved him, holding her so she couldn't run away. Isabella scratched Catherine's arm and managed to escape, and Heathcliff, alone with Catherine, expressed interest in marrying Isabella for her money and to enrage Edgar. He said he would beat Isabella if they were married because of her "mawkish, waxen face." Chapter 11, Summary Nelly went to visit Wuthering Heights to see how Hindley and Hareton were doing. She saw Hareton outside; he didn't recognize his nurse, threw a rock at her and cursed. She found that his father had taught him how to curse, and that he liked Heathcliff because he wouldn't let his father curse him, and let him do what he liked. Nelly was going to go in when she saw Heathcliff there; frightened, she ran back home. The next time Heathcliff came to visit Nelly saw him kiss Isabella in the courtyard. She told Catherine what had happened, and when Heathcliff came in the two had an argument. Heathcliff said he had a right to do as he pleased, since Catherine was married to someone else. He said: "You are welcome to torture me to death for your amusement, only, allow me to amuse myself a little in the same style." Nelly found Edgar, who came in while Catherine was scolding Heathcliff. He scolded her for talking to "that blackguard," which made her very angry, since she had been defending the Lintons. Edgar ordered Heathcliff to leave, who scornfully ignored him. Edgar motioned for Nelly to fetch reinforcements, but Catherine angrily locked the door and threw the key into the fire when Edgar tried to get it from her. Humiliated and furious, Edgar was mocked by Catherine and Heathcliff, but he hit Heathcliff and went out by the back door to get help. Nelly told Heathcliff that he would be thrown out by the male servants if he stayed, so he chose to leave. Left with Nelly, Catherine expressed her anger at her husband and her friend: " 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." Edgar came in and demanded to know whether she would drop Heathcliff's acquaintance, and she had a temper tantrum, ending with a faked "fit of frenzy." When Nelly revealed that the fit was faked, she ran to her room and refused to come out or to eat for several days. Chapter 12, Summary After three days in which Catherine stayed alone in her room, Edgar sat in the library, and Isabella moped in the garden, Catherine called Nelly for some food and water because she thought she was dying. She ate some toast, and was indignant to hear that Edgar wasn't frantic about her; she said: "How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me and they have all turned to enemies in a few hours." It became clear to Ellen that she was delirious, and thought she was back in her room at Wuthering Heights: she was frightened of her face in the mirror because she thought there was no mirror there. She opened the window and talked to Heathcliff (who was not there) as though they were children again. Edgar came in and was much concerned for Catherine, and angry at Ellen for not having told him what was going on. Going to fetch a doctor, Ellen notices Isabella's little dog almost dead, hanging by a handkerchief on the gate. She released it, and found Dr. Kenneth, who told her that he had seen Isabella walking for hours in the park with Heathcliff. Ellen found that Isabella had indeed disappeared, and a little boy told her he had seen the girl riding away with Heathcliff. Ellen told Edgar, hoping he would rescue his sister from her ill-considered elopement, but he coldly refused to do so. Chapter 13, Summary In the next two months Catherine "encountered and conquered the worst shock of what was denominated a brain fever," but it was realized that she would never really recover. She was pregnant. Heathcliff and Isabella returned to Wuthering Heights and Isabella wrote Edgar an apology and a plea for forgiveness, to which he gave no reply. She later sent Ellen a longer letter asking whether Heathcliff were a demon or crazy, and recounting her experiences. She found Wuthering Heights dirty, uncivilized and unwelcoming: Joseph was rude to her, Hareton was disobedient, Hindley was a half-demented mere wreck of a man, and Heathcliff treated her cruelly. He refused to let her sleep in his room, which meant she had to stay in a tiny garret. Hindley had a pistol with a blade on it, with which he dreamed of killing Heathcliff, and Isabella coveted it for the power it would have given her. She was miserable and regretted her marriage heartily. Chapter 14, Summary Ellen, distressed by Edgar's refusal to console Isabella, went to visit her. She told Isabella and Heathcliff that Catherine would "never be what she was" and that Heathcliff should not bother her anymore. Heathcliff asserted that he would not leave her to Edgar's lukewarm care, and that she loved him much more than her husband. He said that if he had been in Edgar's place he would never have interfered with Catherine's friendships, although he would kill the friend the moment she no longer cared about him. Nelly told Heathcliff to treat Isabella better, and he expressed his scorn and hatred for her (in her presence, of course). He said she knew what he was when she married him: she had seen him hanging her pet dog. Isabella told Nelly that she hated him, and Heathcliff ordered her upstairs so he could talk to Nelly. Alone with her, he told her that if she did not arrange an interview for him with Catherine, he would force his way in armed, and she agreed to give Catherine a letter from him. Chapter 15, Summary The Sunday after Ellen's visit to Wuthering Heights, while most people were at church, she gave Catherine Heathcliff's letter. Catherine was changed by her sickness: she was beautiful in an unearthly way and her eyes "appeared always to gaze beyond, and far beyond." Ellen had left the door open, so Heathcliff walked in and Catherine eagerly waited for him to find the right room. Their reunion was bitter-sweet: though passionately glad to be reunited, Catherine accused Heathcliff of having killed her, and Heathcliff warned her not to say such things when he would be tortured by them after her death besides, she had been at fault by abandoning him. She asked him to forgive her, since she would not "be at peace" after death, and he answered: "It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands... I love my murderer but yours! How can I?" They held each other closely and wept until Ellen warned them that Linton was returning. Heathcliff wanted to leave, but Catherine insisted that he stay, since she was dying and would never see him again. He consented to stay, and "in the midst of the agitation, [Ellen] was sincerely glad to observe that Catherine's arms had fallen relaxed... ?She's fainted or dead, so much the better...'" Linton came in, Heathcliff handed him Catherine's body and told him to take care of her: "Unless you be a fiend, help her first then you shall speak to me!" He told Nelly he would wait outside for news of Catherine's welfare, and left. Chapter 16, Summary Around midnight Catherine gave birth to a daughter (also named Catherine, the girl Lockwood saw at Wuthering Heights) and died two hours later without recovering consciousness. No one cared for the infant at first, and Ellen wished it had been a boy: as it was, Edgar's heir was Isabella, Heathcliff's wife. Catherine's corpse looked peaceful and beautiful, and Ellen decided that she had found heaven at last. She went outside to tell Heathcliff and found him leaning motionless against an ash tree. He knew she was dead, and asked Ellen how it had happened, attempting to conceal his anguish. Ellen was not fooled, and told him that she had died peacefully, like a girl falling asleep. He cursed Catherine and begged her to haunt him so he would not be left in "this abyss, where I cannot find you!... I cannot live without my soul!" He dashed his head against the tree and howled "like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears." Ellen was appalled. On Tuesday, when Catherine's body was still lying, strewn with flowers, in the Grange, Heathcliff took advantage of Edgar's short absence from the chamber of death to see her again, and to replace Edgar's hair in her locket with some of his own. Ellen noticed the change, and enclosed both locks of hair together. Catherine was buried on Friday in a green slope in a corner of the kirkyard, where, Ellen said, her husband lies now as well. Chapter 17, Summary The next day, while Ellen was rocking the baby, Isabella came in laughing giddily. She was pale and her face was cut; her thin silk dress was torn by briars. She asked Ellen to call the carriage for the nearest town, Gimmerton, since she was escaping from her husband, and to have a maid get some clothes ready. Then she allowed Ellen to give her dry clothes and bind up the wound. Isabella tried to destroy her wedding-ring, and told what had happened to her in the last days: She said that she hated Heathcliff so much that she could feel no compassion for him even when he was in agony following Catherine's death. He hadn't eaten for days, and spent his time at Wuthering Heights in his room, "praying like a methodist; only the deity he implored was senseless dust and ashes." The evening before, Isabella sat reading while Hindley Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 |
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