Wuthering Heights [Recorded Books Edition] characters

Appears from the start

A solitary gentleman who rents Thrushcross Grange and visits his landlord at nearby Wuthering Heights. Reserved and curious, he narrates the opening visits while repeatedly misreading the tense household around him.

Appears from the start

Lockwood's landlord and the master of Wuthering Heights. He is guarded, severe, and openly impatient with visitors; the strange mixture of pain and authority in the household suggests a history Lockwood does not yet understand.

Appears from the start

An elderly servant at Wuthering Heights whose harsh religious judgments and habitual ill temper make him an unwelcoming presence from Lockwood's first visit.

First appears in chapter 2

A beautiful, sharp-tongued young woman living at Wuthering Heights under Heathcliff's authority. Lockwood initially misunderstands both her identity and her relationship to the men in the house.

First appears in chapter 2

A strong, roughly dressed young man at Wuthering Heights. Lockwood cannot place him socially: Hareton behaves like a laborer but carries himself with pride and resents being treated as a servant.

First appears in chapter 3

The housekeeper at Wuthering Heights during Lockwood's visits. More practical and humane than the rest of the household, she gives the stranded visitor a room despite Heathcliff's prohibition.

Also known as Catherine Earnshaw Linton

First appears in chapter 3

A former inhabitant of Wuthering Heights whose childhood writings Lockwood finds in an old room. The repeated forms of her surname and Heathcliff's anguished response to her name establish her as the absent center of the house's history.

Also known as Ellen Dean

First appears in chapter 4

The housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange and Lockwood's principal source for the history of the Earnshaws and Lintons. She grew up as a servant at Wuthering Heights and witnessed the families' conflicts at close range.

First appears in chapter 4

The former master of Wuthering Heights, father of Hindley and Catherine. His decision to bring an abandoned boy named Heathcliff into his family creates a bond with Catherine and lasting resentment in Hindley.

First appears in chapter 4

Mr. Earnshaw's son and Catherine's older brother. He resents the attention his father gives Heathcliff and treats the newcomer as a rival from childhood.

First appears in chapter 6

The refined young heir of Thrushcross Grange. When Catherine is injured near his home, his family receives her as a guest, introducing her to a comfortable and socially privileged life far removed from Wuthering Heights.

First appears in chapter 6

Edgar's younger sister, raised with him at Thrushcross Grange. Delicate and sheltered, she first meets Catherine and Heathcliff when the two children venture onto the Lintons' property.

First appears in chapter 6

Hindley's lively young wife, who returns with him to Wuthering Heights after Mr. Earnshaw's death. Her arrival accompanies Hindley's assumption of authority over the household.

First appears in chapter 17

The sickly young son of Isabella and Heathcliff, born after Isabella escapes her marriage and settles far from the moors. He is raised apart from his father during his early childhood.