Plot Summary
The novel is narrated by Lockwood, a tenant at Thrushcross Grange, who hears the story from the housekeeper Nelly Dean. It spans two generations of two families — the Earnshaws of Wuthering Heights and the Lintons of Thrushcross Grange.
Mr. Earnshaw brings home an orphan boy he found on the streets of Liverpool and names him Heathcliff. Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw grow up inseparable on the moors. But when Catherine visits the Linton family at Thrushcross Grange, she is seduced by their wealth and refinement. She tells Nelly that marrying Heathcliff would "degrade" her — but also declares "I am Heathcliff." Heathcliff overhears only the first part and disappears.
Catherine marries Edgar Linton. Heathcliff returns years later, mysteriously wealthy, and begins a systematic campaign of revenge against both families. He marries Edgar's sister Isabella to gain control of the Linton property. He degrades Hindley Earnshaw (Catherine's brother) through gambling and alcohol. When Catherine dies in childbirth, Heathcliff is devastated but his revenge intensifies — it extends to the next generation.
Heathcliff forces a marriage between his sickly son Linton and Catherine's daughter Cathy, securing ownership of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. But the cycle finally breaks when Cathy and Hareton Earnshaw (Hindley's son, whom Heathcliff had deliberately kept ignorant and degraded) fall in love. Heathcliff, seeing in them a reflection of his own lost love with Catherine, loses his will to continue the revenge and dies — reportedly seen walking the moors as a ghost with Catherine.
Key Themes
- Obsessive love: Heathcliff and Catherine's love is presented as elemental — not romantic or gentle, but consuming and destructive
- Class and revenge: Heathcliff's revenge is fueled by class humiliation — he was rejected not for who he was but for what he lacked
- The cycle of violence: Abuse passes from generation to generation until Cathy and Hareton break it
- Nature vs. civilization: The moors (wild, free) vs. the Grange (refined, constrained) mirror the characters' inner lives
- Narration and reliability: The story is filtered through Nelly and Lockwood, both of whom shape what the reader sees
Key Characters
- Heathcliff: Orphan, lover, avenger — his love for Catherine becomes indistinguishable from revenge against everyone else
- Catherine Earnshaw: Torn between her love for Heathcliff and her desire for social standing — she cannot have both
- Edgar Linton: Catherine's husband, gentle and civilized but ultimately powerless against Heathcliff
- Cathy Linton: Catherine's daughter, who breaks the cycle by loving Hareton
- Hareton Earnshaw: Hindley's son, degraded by Heathcliff but redeemed by Cathy's love
- Nelly Dean: The housekeeper who narrates most of the story — sympathetic but not neutral