Catherine [1]
Character traits: Catherine is wild and free spirited when young ‘mischievous and wayward’. After marries Edgar becomes more domesticated and slightly snobbish as she is trying to fit into a different culture. She is stubborn and dominant which means she has difficulty seeing others point of view. She is spoiled, and often arrogant.
Physical description: In contrast to her traits and behavior Catherine is described by Nelly as ‘She had the bonniest eye, and sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish’. This physical description shows opposition between character traits and behavior.
Actions they take: Catherine is torn between her wild passion and her social ambition, nature and culture, Heathcliff and Edgar. She is a constant presents in the text, both alive and dead. She is not buried in the chapel with the Lintons. or among the tombs of the Earnshaws. Instead, instead she is buried “in a corner of the kirkyard, where the wall is so low that heath and bilberry plants have climbed over it from the moor.” This shows that even when she is dead she is still part of her surroundings, showing that she ultimately belongs to the nature side of her personality. She is buried with Edgar on one side and Heathcliff on the other, suggesting her conflicted loyalties.
Behavior: She often has fits of temper and outbursts of rage: ‘her ears red with rage’, ‘she never had power to conceal her passion’, not typically demure woman of the time. Although she has outbursts she is not presented as a spiteful person ‘ I believe she meant no harm, for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company’. When married to Edgar she uses her outbursts to try and make him react to her, uses it as a tool of manipulation.
Image with which they are associated: Thought of as ‘queen of the country- side’
What they say: Sounds quite rude and spiteful when she speaks ‘’ were you asked to tea?’ she demanded, ‘I didn’t touch you, you lying creature!’.
What others say about them: Nelly presents Catherine as being wild and mischievous but she still has a soft spot for her ‘poor thing’, ‘I should like to hear how she is’, which could be because she has seen her grow up and that Nell is the one that Catherine confides in about marring Edgar, and believes that deep down she means no harm. Sometimes Nelly and Catherine seem of equal status and sometimes it is the complete opposite ‘’Have you been looking for him, as I ordered?’’
Physical description: In contrast to her traits and behavior Catherine is described by Nelly as ‘She had the bonniest eye, and sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish’. This physical description shows opposition between character traits and behavior.
Actions they take: Catherine is torn between her wild passion and her social ambition, nature and culture, Heathcliff and Edgar. She is a constant presents in the text, both alive and dead. She is not buried in the chapel with the Lintons. or among the tombs of the Earnshaws. Instead, instead she is buried “in a corner of the kirkyard, where the wall is so low that heath and bilberry plants have climbed over it from the moor.” This shows that even when she is dead she is still part of her surroundings, showing that she ultimately belongs to the nature side of her personality. She is buried with Edgar on one side and Heathcliff on the other, suggesting her conflicted loyalties.
Behavior: She often has fits of temper and outbursts of rage: ‘her ears red with rage’, ‘she never had power to conceal her passion’, not typically demure woman of the time. Although she has outbursts she is not presented as a spiteful person ‘ I believe she meant no harm, for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company’. When married to Edgar she uses her outbursts to try and make him react to her, uses it as a tool of manipulation.
Image with which they are associated: Thought of as ‘queen of the country- side’
What they say: Sounds quite rude and spiteful when she speaks ‘’ were you asked to tea?’ she demanded, ‘I didn’t touch you, you lying creature!’.
What others say about them: Nelly presents Catherine as being wild and mischievous but she still has a soft spot for her ‘poor thing’, ‘I should like to hear how she is’, which could be because she has seen her grow up and that Nell is the one that Catherine confides in about marring Edgar, and believes that deep down she means no harm. Sometimes Nelly and Catherine seem of equal status and sometimes it is the complete opposite ‘’Have you been looking for him, as I ordered?’’