Heathcliff - An orphan brought to live at Wuthering
Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff falls into an intense, unbreakable love
with Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, his resentful
son Hindley abuses Heathcliff and treats him as a servant. Because of her
desire for social prominence, Catherine marries Edgar Linton instead of
Heathcliff. Heathcliff’s humiliation and misery prompt him to spend most of the
rest of his life seeking revenge on Hindley, his beloved Catherine, and their
respective children (Hareton and young Catherine). A powerful, fierce, and
often cruel man, Heathcliff acquires a fortune and uses his extraordinary
powers of will to acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the
estate of Edgar Linton.
Catherine - The daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and his wife,
Catherine falls powerfully in love with Heathcliff, the orphan Mr. Earnshaw
brings home from Liverpool. Catherine loves Heathcliff so intensely that she
claims they are the same person. However, her desire for social advancement
motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead. Catherine is free-spirited,
beautiful, spoiled, and often arrogant. She is given to fits of temper, and she
is torn between her wild passion for Heathcliff and her social ambition. She
brings misery to both of the men who love her.
Edgar Linton - Well-bred but rather spoiled as a boy,
Edgar Linton grows into a tender, constant, but cowardly man. He is almost the
ideal gentleman: Catherine accurately describes him as “handsome,” “pleasant to
be with,” “cheerful,” and “rich.” However, this full assortment of gentlemanly
characteristics, along with his civilized virtues, proves useless in Edgar’s
clashes with his foil, Heathcliff, who gains power over his wife, sister, and
daughter.
Nelly Dean - Nelly Dean (known formally as Ellen Dean)
serves as the chief narrator of Wuthering Heights. A sensible,
intelligent, and compassionate woman, she grew up essentially alongside Hindley
and Catherine Earnshaw and is deeply involved in the story she tells. She has
strong feelings for the characters in her story, and these feelings complicate
her narration.
Lockwood - Lockwood’s narration forms a frame around
Nelly’s; he serves as an intermediary between Nelly and the reader. A somewhat
vain and presumptuous gentleman, he deals very clumsily with the inhabitants of
Wuthering Heights. Lockwood comes from a more domesticated region of England,
and he finds himself at a loss when he witnesses the strange household’s disregard
for the social conventions that have always structured his world. As a
narrator, his vanity and unfamiliarity with the story occasionally lead him to
misunderstand events.
Young Catherine - For clarity’s sake, this SparkNote refers
to the daughter of Edgar Linton and the first Catherine as “young Catherine.”
The first Catherine begins her life as Catherine Earnshaw and ends it as
Catherine Linton; her daughter begins as Catherine Linton and, assuming that
she marries Hareton after the end of the story, goes on to become Catherine
Earnshaw. The mother and the daughter share not only a name, but also a
tendency toward headstrong behavior, impetuousness, and occasional arrogance.
However, Edgar’s influence seems to have tempered young Catherine’s character,
and she is a gentler and more compassionate creature than her mother. Hareton
Earnshaw - The son of Hindley and Frances Earnshaw, Hareton is
Catherine’s nephew. After Hindley’s death, Heathcliff assumes custody of
Hareton, and raises him as an uneducated field worker, just as Hindley had done
to Heathcliff himself. Thus Heathcliff uses Hareton to seek revenge on Hindley.
Illiterate and quick-tempered, Hareton is easily humiliated, but shows a good
heart and a deep desire to improve himself. At the end of the novel, he marries
young Catherine.
Linton
Heathcliff -
Heathcliff’s son by Isabella. Weak, sniveling, demanding, and constantly ill,
Linton is raised in London by his mother and does not meet his father until he
is thirteen years old, when he goes to live with him after his mother’s death.
Heathcliff despises Linton, treats him contemptuously, and, by forcing him to
marry the young Catherine, uses him to cement his control over Thrushcross
Grange after Edgar Linton’s death. Linton himself dies not long after this
marriage.
Hindley
Earnshaw -
Catherine’s brother, and Mr. Earnshaw’s son. Hindley resents it when Heathcliff
is brought to live at Wuthering Heights. After his father dies and he inherits
the estate, Hindley begins to abuse the young Heathcliff, terminating his
education and forcing him to work in the fields. When Hindley’s wife Frances
dies shortly after giving birth to their son Hareton, he lapses into alcoholism
and dissipation.
Isabella Linton - Edgar Linton’s sister,
who falls in love with Heathcliff and marries him. She sees Heathcliff as a
romantic figure, like a character in a novel. Ultimately, she ruins her life by
falling in love with him. He never returns her feelings and treats her as a
mere tool in his quest for revenge on the Linton family.
Mr. Earnshaw - Catherine and Hindley’s
father. Mr. Earnshaw adopts Heathcliff and brings him to live at Wuthering
Heights. Mr. Earnshaw prefers Heathcliff to Hindley but nevertheless bequeaths
Wuthering Heights to Hindley when he dies.
Mrs. Earnshaw - Catherine and Hindley’s
mother, who neither likes nor trusts the orphan Heathcliff when he is brought
to live at her house. She dies shortly after Heathcliff’s arrival at Wuthering
Heights.
Joseph - A long-winded,
fanatically religious, elderly servant at Wuthering Heights. Joseph is strange,
stubborn, and unkind, and he speaks with a thick Yorkshire accent.
Frances
Earnshaw -
Hindley’s simpering, silly wife, who treats Heathcliff cruelly. She dies
shortly after giving birth to Hareton.
Mr. Linton - Edgar and Isabella’s
father and the proprietor of Thrushcross Grange when Heathcliff and Catherine
are children. An established member of the gentry, he raises his son and
daughter to be well-mannered young people.
Mrs. Linton - Mr. Linton’s somewhat
snobbish wife, who does not like Heathcliff to be allowed near her children,
Edgar and Isabella. She teaches Catherine to act like a gentle-woman, thereby
instilling her with social ambitions.
Zillah - The housekeeper at
Wuthering Heights during the latter stages of the narrative.
Mr. Green - Edgar Linton’s lawyer,
who arrives too late to hear Edgar’s final instruction to change his will,
which would have prevented Heathcliff from obtaining control over Thrushcross
Grange.
Hareton Earnshaw -
The son of Hindley and Frances Earnshaw, Hareton is Catherine’s nephew. After
Hindley’s death, Heathcliff assumes custody of Hareton, and raises him as an
uneducated field worker, just as Hindley had done to Heathcliff himself. Thus
Heathcliff uses Hareton to seek revenge on Hindley. Illiterate and
quick-tempered, Hareton is easily humiliated, but shows a good heart and a deep
desire to improve himself. At the end of the novel, he marries young Catherine
