Wuthering Heights [Trout Lake Media Edition] recap

Tenant Lockwood asks housekeeper Nelly Dean to explain the hostile household at Wuthering Heights. She recounts how Catherine Earnshaw and the orphan Heathcliff grew up together, while Catherine's brother Hindley degraded him. Catherine married the refined Edgar Linton despite declaring a profound bond with Heathcliff. Heathcliff returned wealthy and devoted himself to revenge: he married and abused Edgar's sister Isabella, ruined Hindley, acquired Wuthering Heights, and later forced the younger Catherine to marry his dying son Linton so he could gain Thrushcross Grange. The elder Catherine died after giving birth, and Heathcliff remained consumed by her loss. In the next generation, Catherine's daughter and Hindley's neglected son Hareton begin in mutual contempt but grow close as she teaches him to read. Heathcliff abandons his revenge, becomes preoccupied with Catherine's presence, and dies. Catherine and Hareton plan to marry and unite the families and estates.

Mr Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, visits his landlord Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights. He finds a hostile household that includes the rough young Hareton Earnshaw, the widowed Catherine Linton, the servant Joseph, and several fierce dogs. A second visit ends in a snowstorm, forcing Lockwood to stay overnight. In an unused chamber he finds old names and childhood writing associated with Catherine Earnshaw. After a disturbing dream, he believes a childlike ghost is pleading at the window. Heathcliff is shaken when he hears Catherine's name and begs the unseen presence to return. Back at the Grange, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to explain how these people are connected.

Nelly begins with the former Earnshaw family. Mr Earnshaw brings home an orphan from Liverpool and names him Heathcliff. Catherine quickly becomes his closest companion, while her brother Hindley resents and mistreats him. After Mr Earnshaw dies, Hindley returns with his wife Frances, takes control of Wuthering Heights, and reduces Heathcliff to the status of a laborer. Catherine is injured while spying on the neighboring Lintons and spends weeks at Thrushcross Grange, returning with polished manners and a friendship with Edgar and Isabella Linton. Frances dies after giving birth to Hareton, and Hindley falls into drinking and violence. Edgar proposes to Catherine. She accepts, telling Nelly that marriage to Heathcliff would lower her socially even though her deepest attachment is to him. Heathcliff hears only the rejection and disappears before Catherine can explain the rest.

Catherine marries Edgar and lives at Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff returns after three years, now educated in manner and apparently wealthy, but intent on settling old grievances. Hindley welcomes him as a gambling companion and steadily loses money to him. Heathcliff encourages Isabella's romantic interest largely to hurt Edgar, despite Catherine's warning that he would make her miserable. Conflict among Catherine, Edgar, and Heathcliff leads Catherine to shut herself away and become dangerously ill. Heathcliff elopes with Isabella and brings her to Wuthering Heights, where she discovers his cruelty and Hindley's violent desperation. Nelly carries messages between the houses. While Edgar is absent, she allows Heathcliff to see the gravely ill Catherine; their reunion is accusatory, loving, and overwhelming. Catherine dies soon afterward, having given birth to a daughter.

After Catherine's death, Isabella escapes Heathcliff and eventually raises their son, Linton, in the south. Hindley dies deeply in debt, allowing Heathcliff to take Wuthering Heights and keep Hareton dependent and uneducated in deliberate repetition of Hindley's treatment of him. Edgar raises his daughter Catherine at Thrushcross Grange with great care and little knowledge of the neighboring household. When Isabella dies, Edgar brings the sickly twelve-year-old Linton north, but Heathcliff immediately claims his son. Young Catherine briefly meets Hareton and later Linton, unaware at first of their exact relationships to her. Heathcliff sees that a marriage between Catherine and Linton could place Thrushcross Grange under his control, and he begins encouraging contact between the cousins.

Catherine secretly visits Linton, whose weakness and self-pity alternate with affection and fear of his father. Nelly discovers the meetings and ends them, but Edgar's health is failing and Heathcliff continues to manipulate the young pair. He presents Linton as devoted while pressuring his son to secure the marriage. Catherine wants to comfort Linton yet increasingly recognizes his selfishness. When Edgar finally permits supervised meetings, Linton is visibly ill and terrified of failing Heathcliff. Heathcliff then imprisons Catherine and Nelly at Wuthering Heights and refuses to let Catherine return to her dying father until she marries Linton. Hareton is unable or unwilling to overcome Heathcliff's authority, and Linton assists the coercion despite his dependence on Catherine.

Catherine escapes in time to see Edgar before he dies, but her forced marriage gives Linton a claim over her property. Heathcliff has her brought back to Wuthering Heights and reveals that Linton has made him heir. Linton soon dies, leaving Catherine isolated and dispossessed in Heathcliff's house. When Lockwood later visits, he sees her mock Hareton's attempts to read, not realizing how shame and deprivation have shaped him. Lockwood leaves the district. Months later he returns and hears from Nelly that she has moved to Wuthering Heights. Catherine and Hareton initially quarreled, but she regretted her contempt, offered to teach him, and won his friendship. Their growing affection begins to undo Heathcliff's design for mutual degradation.

Catherine and Hareton become companions and plan to marry, joining the surviving Earnshaw and Linton lines. Heathcliff finds that Hareton's resemblance to Catherine Earnshaw and the younger couple's happiness make continued revenge unbearable rather than satisfying. He grows detached from property and daily life, speaks as though Catherine is close, refuses food, and spends nights wandering. Nelly finds him dead in Catherine's old room beside an open window. He is buried near Catherine and Edgar. Hareton grieves for the man who raised and abused him, while Catherine comforts him. They intend to move to Thrushcross Grange after their New Year's Day wedding, leaving Wuthering Heights to its old servant Joseph. Lockwood visits the three graves and hears that people claim to see Heathcliff and Catherine walking on the moors.

After years of pursuing possession and revenge, Heathcliff loses interest in controlling the younger generation. He is increasingly absorbed by the memory of Catherine Earnshaw, stops eating, wanders outdoors, and dies in her former room with the window open. Hareton mourns him despite the abuse he suffered. Catherine Linton and Hareton have meanwhile overcome their hostility: she teaches him to read, he responds with loyalty, and their affection repairs a relationship Heathcliff tried to deform. They plan to marry on New Year's Day and move to Thrushcross Grange, leaving Joseph at Wuthering Heights. Lockwood visits the graves of Catherine, Edgar, and Heathcliff and hears local claims that Catherine and Heathcliff are seen together on the moors. The two estates will pass into the hands of Catherine and Hareton, descendants of the families whose conflict dominated the previous generation.