Wuthering Heights Characters

This article by Custom-Writing.org experts contains Wuthering Heights character map and the all the information about the Wuthering Heights characters: Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, Isabella Linton, Nelly Dean, Mr. Lockwood. Our article also covers minor characters and their relationships. In the first section, you’ll find a Wuthering Heights characters family tree.

🌳 Wuthering Heights Family Tree

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte tells the story of two families. The first one is the Earnshaws from Wuthering Heights, and the second one is the Lintons from Thrushcross Grange.

👪 Wuthering Heights Character List

The main characters of Wuthering Heights are:

• Heathcliff  
• Catherine Earnshaw 
• Edgar Linton
• Catherine/Cathy Linton
• Linton Heathcliff
• Hareton Earnshaw
• Nelly Dean
• Mr. Lockwood 
• Hindley Earnshaw
• Isabella Linton 

Click on a character’s name to jump straight to the section that talks about them.

👦 Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights Character’s Analysis

Mr. Earnshaw adopts a street boy without knowing how much love and suffering he is about to bring in his family. In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff becomes a foster brother to Catherine and Hindley. He neglects this relation, however, when he falls in love with Catherine.

As one of the main characters in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff is supposed to be either antagonist or protagonist, but it is entirely unclear. The reader understands that despite all his acts of revenge, he remains the victim himself. Hindley starts the vicious cycle of hate, and we can’t blame Heathcliff for it.

When Heathcliff is a small child who suffers from bullying, it is almost impossible not to sympathize with him. But when he gains power and starts abusing it, he moves to the category of villains.

Even though he becomes the master of Wuthering Heights, the house that suits his grumpy personality so well, he never feels home there. Heathcliff carries the mark of an outsider, and by the end of the story, he is nothing more than just pitiful.

There is a contradiction in his character analysis, though. Heathcliff is capable of great love, and it seems like nothing can stop him from trying to win Catherine back. It may create some misunderstanding because his love is as great as his hatred.

Quotes by Heathcliff

👧 Characters of Wuthering Heights: Catherine Earnshaw

Catherine Earnshaw is another tragic character in this complicated family tree of Wuthering Heights. She has been in love with Heathcliff since childhood as much as he has been in love with her. However, it seems like she is torn apart between her mind’s voice and the spirit of her heart. The love triangle reflects this conflict.

From the beginning, Catherine shows herself as a free-spirited little girl. She would run away to the moors with Heathcliff. However, the luxury and security of civilized Linton’s home is winning over her untamed nature.

It is even reflected by the place she is buried at. Her coffin is not with the Lintons nor in the Earnshaws’ tomb but on the kirkyard overlooking the moors. Her grave appears to be just in the middle between Edgar and Heathcliff’s. It is not her according to her wish but highlights the conflict.

As she nears death, Catherine devotes her love to Heathcliff, even though he can’t forgive her. Her deep and passionate love for him seems to be so strong that she returns to Wuthering Heights as a ghost.

Quotes by Catherine Earnshaw

🎭 Other Characters in Wuthering Heights

Edgar Linton

Born and raised as a true gentleman, Edgar Linton represents Heathcliff’s counterpart. He is caring, kind, and loving, which makes him more feminine than other male characters. As a father and husband, Edgar shows his best side.

Nobody is perfect, and Linton has human flaws. He is consumed with hatred towards Heathcliff, which appears to be just another part of a vicious cycle of revenge in this story.

Despite his love for Catherine, he loses her at the end, along with his child, sister, and even house. It might point out the fact that the dearest feeling is not enough to keep everything together.

On the other hand, it might highlight that good, represented by Edgar, does not always defeat evil in the person of Heathcliff. Edgar Linton has always seemed to be spoiled and, therefore, raised to become rather helpless. There is not much he can do against the raw, natural power of Heathcliff’s love and revenge.

Catherine/Cathy Linton

Catherine Linton is the fruit of the knot tied between Linton and Earnshaw. She stands on the crossroads of the two family trees. A beautiful girl inherited some of her parents’ characteristics. She can be stubborn and selfish as Catherine but is as compassionate and gentle as Edgar.

Her father has tamed Cathy’s wild temper, and she appears to be kinder than Catherine. Still, it may seem like her mother’s wildness that runs in her veins leads her back to Wuthering Heights. There, she even manages to calm down Heathcliff’s thirst for revenge a little bit.

One strength that is unique for Cathy is her ability to see the true beauty. By the end of the story, she understands Hareton’s nobility and decides to marry him.

Linton Heathcliff

Linton is Isabella and Heathcliff’s son, born weak and sickish. Isabella raises the boy away from his father in London. Only after her death, Edgar takes him back to Yorkshire. There, at the age of 13, he finally goes under Heathcliff’s guardship.

However, instead of much-needed love and care from his only living parent, Linton receives only hate and despise. Heathcliff treats the boy as a servant and decides to use him in his revenge plans.

Forced to marry Cathy, Linton can’t take it anymore. Constant stress, anxiety, and bullying worsen his poor health. He dies soon after his marriage to Cathy.

Hareton Earnshaw

Hindley’s son, Hareton Earnshaw, becomes adopted by Heathcliff after the death of his father. His life as a field worker without proper education painfully resembles Heathcliff’s. No wonder since it is all according to the plan of the master of Wuthering Heights.

Despite being far from intelligent, Hareton is kind-hearted and keeps trying to prove he is worth something. In the end, Cathy sees his sensibility and noble soul, which encourages her to take a step towards their romantic relationship.

Also, the ending suggests that Hareton is an example of what Heathcliff might have become if life wasn’t so rough.

Nelly Dean

Nelly Dean, or originally Ellen, has experience of housekeeping in both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Thanks to that, she knows almost everything about the lives in two houses and provides Mr. Lockwood with the juicy description of their family drama.

Since she was growing up around the Earnshaw’s family, she is emotionally connected to the story’s main characters. Nelly is very kind and compassionate, so she always ends up taking care of the kids.

Moreover, she seems to be more educated than one can expect from a servant. Often, instead of just observing, she decides to act and help the characters out.

Mr. Lockwood

Mr. Lockwood is the one who retells the story of the two families heard from Nelly. However, he also introduces the setting and creates a so-called frame story.

A bit arrogant and selfish, Lockwood is not used to the antic behavior of Wuthering Heights’ inhabitants. There are almost no social norms or culture in that household. That strikes him as a stranger from more civilized parts of England.

Lockwood doesn’t know much about Wuthering Heights, so sometimes he might misunderstand the events. Moreover, his introverted nature leads him to seek answers from Nelly instead of directly talking to Heathcliff’s family.

Hindley Earnshaw

Hindley, Catherine’s brother, has started hating Heathcliff from his very first day in Wuthering Heights. Being a natural bully, he treats little Heathcliff as inferior. As soon as Mr. Earnshaw dies and he inherits the house, Hindley turns the adopted boy into a field worker and refuses him in education.

Even though his relationships with other family members aren’t perfect, he suffers from depression when his beloved wife, Frances, dies. Hindley becomes a heavy drinker and gambler, totally forgetting his parental responsibility for his son, Hareton. This self-destructive behavior leads him to lose his wealth and die being so much in debt that Wuthering Heights becomes Heathcliff’s property.

Isabella Linton

Isabella Linton is Edgar’s sister. Raised to be a kind and delicate lady, she also falls victim to this world’s hatred. Her marriage with Heathcliff eventually ruins her life.

The fact that it is not true love doesn’t need much explanation. Heathcliff only uses her to inherit Thrushcross Grange for revenge. However, Isabella has real feelings for him at first, at least until she comes to Wuthering Heights and is treated like trash.

It breaks her, and she runs away to London to give birth to Heathcliff’s son, Linton. A poor woman stays there until she dies over a decade later.

We hope that the above description of Wuthering Heights characters is useful. If you want to learn more about the true meaning of the novel, check out Wuthering Heights Analysis sections. And if you’re looking for exciting essay ideas on the story, please read this collection of topics.

🔗 References

1. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë – Oxford University Press
2. Why Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is a cult classic
3. Psychological Interpretations of “Wuthering Heights”
4. “Nelly, I am Heathcliff!”: The Intersection of Class, Race, and Narration in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights – UM LSA
5. Heathcliff Research Papers – Academia.edu
6. Catherine Earnshaw | UTexas
7. Feminist criticism of “Wuthering Heights” – JSTOR
8. Emily Brontë’s fierce, flawed women: not your usual Gothic female characters | The Conversation
9. Wuthering Heights – Characters and their Environment
10. ‘Wuthering Heights’ Characters – ThoughtCo