Wuthering Heights Essay Research Paper At the

Wuthering Heights Essay, Research Paper

At the beginning of Wuthering Heights Lockwoode makes a mistake in

assuming that young Catherine II was Heathcliffe?s wife. It is easy to see how

he, a stranger unfamiliar with the Earnshaw-Linton family history could have

made such a mistake. But, had Lockwoode known about the life of the woman

Heathcliffe had always wanted to marry, Catherine I, and then have been able to

compare it to life of her daughter, Catherine II, he would never have been able to

make that mistake, for the lives of the mother and daughter were as different as

night and day.

To start, Heathcliffe, the current master of the house in which Lockwoode

was staying, loved Catherine I more than anything in the world. They spent

hours, even days at a time together, and almost always cherished each other?s

company. Their relationship, however, was not one of social equals. Through a

series of events, Heathcliffe had become Catherine?s servant, and it was for this

reason that Catherine refused to marry the man she loved, feeling that it would

?degrade? her to do so.

It is, among other things, because of this that Heathcliffe hates Catherine

II with all his heart. To him, she is a symbol of the woman he could never have

because of his lowly status. Through no fault of her own, she becomes the

object of his hatred and is treated much worse than her mother ever was;

Heathcliffe even makes her his servant. Her relationship with Heathcliffe is at

the opposite end of the spectrum when comparing it to that of her mother.

Heathcliffe loved Catherine I, but hates Catherine II. Heathcliffe was Catherine

I?s servant, but Catherine II has become Heathcliffe?s servant.

As far as married life goes, neither Catherine I nor Catherine II married

who they truly loved, but nevertheless, Catherine I still managed to get along

with her husband, Edgar Linton, and in exchange for the task of marrying this

man whom she did not love, she received a boost in her social standing, and she

secured for herself a life of comfort and finacial stability.

Catherine II, on the other hand, is forced (by Heathcliffe) to marry Linton

Heathcliffe, a man for whom she has no love