Catherine and her relationships with Edgar and Heathcliff

In Wuthering Heights, how does Catherine’s marriage to Edgar compare with her relationship with Heathcliff? Catherine says that she can’t marry Heathcliff because it would be degrading, but is that worse than the unhappiness she feels married to Edgar? Do you think that if Catherine and Heathcliff had been able to marry in life, that they would have lived “happily ever after” or as least, contentedly? Why or why not?

Heathcliff, Edgar & Cathy and Heathcliff, Hindley & Catherine

Consider the generational relationships in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights – Cathy, Heathcliff, and Edgar vs. Catherine, Hareton, and Heathcliff. What parallels are there? What significant differences are there? What changes that allows the second generation to find some measure of contentment in life? Is it personality, economics, social class changes? Do you think that Catherine and Hareton in particular learned anything from seeing how the adults around them behaved and the consequences of that behavior?

Taking in Heathcliff

In Chapter 4 of Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw returns from his trip to London with the child who becomes Heathcliff, saying that he wouldn’t leave the boy as he found him. Why do you think Mr. Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home with him from London? Do you think that if Mr. Earnshaw had known what would become of Hindley, Heathcliff, and Cathy in the decades to come that he would still have brought Heathcliff home with him? How likely is it that Hindley and Cathy might not have lived “happily ever after” even if Heathcliff hadn’t been around?