Emily Bronte does such an incredible job at capturing the essence of what a love-hate relationship can possibly be like, between her characters of Heathcliff and Catherine. When Heathcliff first comes into the Earnshaw family, Catherine and her brother Hindley were very jealous of and resented Heathcliff, as he soon became Mr. Earnshaw's new favorite son. After awhile, however, Catherine falls in love with him, and they become inseparable playmates. I think that Catherine, being raised by her parents and surrounded only by "proper," "clean," and "feminine" ways of life (ways she ought to act), doesn't realize what she's missing out on, until she meets Heathcliff. He's described as a "dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough to walk and talk- indeed, its face looked older than Catherine's- yet when it was set on its feet, it only stared round and repeated over and over again some gibberish that nobody could understand" (29). Catherine was probably never taught to want to play with dirty "gipsy brats" (29) like Heathcliff, so when her father accepted him into the house, she didn't know how to react. When she realized that Heathcliff was different from the rest of her family, and almost had a certain alluring element to him, she couldn't stop her desire to be with him all the time. It's fascinating, especially in children, the desire humans have to want what they cannot have. Catherine cannot have what Heathcliff has, and so she and her brother Hindley are jealous of him; he seems to have some kind of freedom (as we discussed in class) that Catherine longs for in life.
However, when she is approached with the decision of who to marry, she defaults back to what she believes is "safe," and decides to marry Edgar, whom her parents and the townspeople would approve of. Here, she seems to lack self-confidence, or as people in class described it, "just wanted what she wanted, and that's that"... But I think she's actually a very smart girl, in this situation. Yes, she's desperately in love with Heathcliff, but she probably cannot trust herself to be with a person who is unacceptable and so incredibly straying from the norm of who she should marry and be in love with. She even says that "my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath- a source of little visible delight, but necessary" (64). Catherine seems to embody what we all might feel deep within ourselves; wanting what we can't have. It wouldn't make sense for her to marry someone who has no social status, and has no authority over anything, while Edgar has ultimate authority over Thrushcross Grange when his parents die. Little does Catherine know that Heathcliff ends up having power and authority over all of Thrushcross Grange AND Wuthering Heights.
It's just a shame that many of us (including Catherine) aren't able to follow our dreams/hearts because we know we won't come out as successful in the end. Catherine really is level-headed, I believe, but it's very saddening that she cannot be with the one who she loves, and instead has to deliberate and "pick" the smartest marriage during this time.
I'm glad that you're able to find some sympathy for Catherine. I think in many ways this novel is about the hypocrisy embedded in a society that says, on the one hand, to marry for "true love," but condemns individuals socially, financially, and culturally for doing so. There is no doubt that if Catherine had married Heathcliff, they "should be beggars" (64). Victorian readers (especially female Victorian readers) would have certainly sympathized with Catherine's plight. Neither Emily nor her sister Charlotte were able to marry the men they loved mainly because of financial reasons. I also wonder about the fact that it is Nelly who gets to tell Catherine's side of the tale here. As a member of the lower working class, she probably is not as sympathetic to Catherine as a middle-upper class reader. I wonder if we would see Catherine's situation differently if she were the one to tell it (?).
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