Regarding Catherine's character, she gets herself into a pretty situation by the hundredth page. The story becomes filled with lies, confessions and all around blasphemy! I am not sure whether or not I feel sorry for her, support her or resent her.
Should we feel sorry for Catherine? For starters, she lead an unfortunate childhood. She grew up very attached to Heathcliff which bred a sense of mischievousness in her. Nelly relates to us that, " [Catherine] laughed if I told her to say she was sorry for her faults, and beg to be forgiven" ( Pg. 34). On top of that social hindrance, her father died while she was still young and that would have undoubtedly scarred and stunted her growing personality. Heathcliff seemed to be the only one that could console her, or at least Nelly nor Hindley did not try, so is probably why she holds him so dearly. The affect they had on each other was most obvious after Mr. Earnshaw's death, ""The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts... no parson in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did, in their innocent talk;..." (Pg. 35). The strange relationship that Heathcliff and Catherine had when they were children, one that was detrimental yet friendly, makes me unsure of whether or not to feel sorry for her. It's true that she grew up in a sorry way, but she was content to be with Heathcliff. I say that I feel sorry for her because she could not have known any other way than Heathcliff.
Should we support Catherine? Her scheme seems to be keeping Heathcliff to herself. Initially, I do not support her since she was so mean and heartless to Heathcliff. She confessed to Nelly, while Heathcliff eavesdropped, "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him;...Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,..." (Pg. 63). It was tense for me to read that part, as I felt the foreshadowing that Heathcliff would want revenge for her selfish declining of her love for him. After three years of separation, she gratefully welcomes him over despite her husband, Linton, and his obvious discomfort. They all should have nothing to do with each other yet she persists. The mixture while at tea is described as, "The meal hardly endured ten minutes. Catherine's cup was never filled, she could neither eat nor drink. Edgar had made a slop in his saucer, and scarecely swallowed a mouthful" (Pg. 76). Heathcliff's presence is so unnatural to their regular lives. I rather feel sorry for Heathcliff for wanting to come back to suffer their harshness. As far as Catherine's support goes, I feel she should be at least granted the chance to see Heathcliff and be able to discover his true intentions so she might move on.
Should we dislike Catherine? To this I say she is as succeptible to the pitfalls of every human being. She is selfish of her friend and has a quick temper, which are not uncommon faults. However, they are so extreme when she learns of Isabella's affection for Heathcliff. She tells Heathcliff in an exaggerated tone about Isabella's apparent obsession with him and forces Isabella to witness her rant. This is a too-cruel thing to do and I do not blame Isabella for resorting to violence in order to free herself from the situation. I fear that is the reaction Catherine was waiting for so that Heathcliff would come to detest Isabella for her rashness. This is contradictory, though, because Catherine was being so much more rash that Heathcliff should come to dislike Catherine more than Isabella because of this encounter. By using this underhanded tactic and taking advantage of her reknown bad temper, I dislike Catherine.
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Kindling, as we discussed in class last Thursday, it's important to remember that Catherine's story is told by Nelly's point of view, and Nelly is not always so sympathetic to Catherine's plight in the novel. It might be interesting for your next post, to keep some tabs on the way that Nelly views Catherine's life and times. What about Catherine is she particularly critical? How does Nelly paint Catherine in certain unsympathetic ways? Could there be ways one could view it differently? What if the story were written from Catherine's perspective? Do you think we would be more sympathetic towards her? Also, I like that you examined the "class" reasons behind Catherine's rejection of Heathcliff. While most middle and upper class readers in Victorian England would understand Catherine's reasons for going for the (richer) Edgar Linton, do you think it's significant that Nelly is so critical of her? Do you think Nelly is making a political statement here about class and about women?
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