Wuthering Heights Summary

A summary of the classic Gothic novel by Emily Brontë.

In England in 1801, a man named Lockwood goes to visit a lonely home on the Yorkshire moors called Wuthering Heights.

Lockwood wishes to lease a nearby house called Thrushcross Grange. It is owned by Heathcliff, who lives at Wuthering Heights.

Heathcliff is cold and surly and resembles a dark-skinned gypsy. His house is dark, cold, and filled with menacing dogs, which injure Lockwood and force him to stay in this unnerving place.

The servants put Lockwood in a large bed. In the intricate headboard, he finds journals describing the oppressive lives of two children: Heathcliff and Catherine. From the journal, he learns the two escaped their misery only in each other's company.

Lockwood is awakened by a moaning ghost outside the window. It cries that its name is Catherine and that it has “come home.” Heathcliff runs in and begs the ghost to come to him, but it is gone.

Nelly Dean, the housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange, gives Lockwood some history:

Heathcliff is an orphan brought to Wuthering Heights from Liverpool as a “ragged, black-haired child” by old Mr. Earnshaw. Earnshaw’s wife and their children, Hindley and Catherine, are cruel to Heathcliff. But Mr. Earnshaw himself favors the orphan, adding to the resentment.

Eventually, Hindley goes off to university. Catherine becomes fond of Heathcliff, and the two spend virtually all their time together. When Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley becomes master of Wuthering Heights and treats Heathcliff like a farmhand. Catherine is all that makes life tolerable for Heathcliff.

One day, while Catherine and Heathcliff explore the moors, a dog bites Catherine. Servants take her to Thrushcross Grange, berating Heathcliff for his dark complexion and gypsy-like appearance. He goes back to Wuthering Heights, but Catherine remains and is pampered while her injury heals.

Catherine returns after five weeks. In her absence, Heathcliff was subjected to even worse abuse, but after spending time at Thrushcross Grange, she looks like a ladylike young woman instead of the child running wild on the moors.

Hindley Earnshaw and Edgar Linton both torment Heathcliff. When he fights back, he is banished to his room, while Catherine keeps company with the more refined Edgar. Heathcliff vows revenge on Hindley, no matter how long it takes.

Hindley’s wife dies giving birth to their son, Hareton. Edgar asks Catherine to marry him, and she accepts. Though she loves Heathcliff, Hindley has turned him into such a lowly servant that it would be beneath her to marry him now. But she believes their friendship will continue even if she marries another man. On hearing this, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights.

Edgar and Catherine marry and live happily at Thrushcross Grange with Edgar’s sister, Isabella. Three years later, Heathcliff returns, and Catherine is thrilled to see him. Edgar tells Catherine she must choose between him and Heathcliff, which infuriates her.

Heathcliff marries Isabella, since she is an heir to the Linton fortune, but life at Wuthering Heights is miserable. Hareton is wild, Hindley is a drunken lout, and Heathcliff is “the devil.” He says he will make Isabella suffer in Edgar’s place as revenge for Edgar marrying Catherine. But Edgar refuses to help Isabella since she married his mortal enemy, Heathcliff.

Catherine is pregnant but very ill when Heathcliff comes to see her. He declares his love for her, but she wishes they were both dead. He demands to know why she betrayed them both by marrying Edgar. Catherine gives birth to a daughter, Cathy, and dies. She is buried out on the lonely moor.

Heathcliff begs her to haunt him, for he cannot live without her. Isabella escapes to London. Hindley dies of alcoholism.

Concerned for young Hareton, Nelly goes to Wuthering Heights and finds that Heathcliff is just as cruel to Hareton as Hindley was to him. Edgar dotes on Cathy. One day, Cathy slips away and ends up meeting her cousin Hareton at Wuthering Heights. He is strong and handsome but entirely without education or manners. She thinks he is a servant and treats him poorly, just as her mother treated Heathcliff.

Isabella dies in London. Edgar brings back her son, Linton Heathcliff, who is pale and weak compared to Hareton. Edgar hates to give Linton to Heathcliff but has no choice since Heathcliff is the boy’s father.

When Cathy is sixteen, Heathcliff invites her to visit Wuthering Heights. He intends to have Cathy and Linton marry so that Heathcliff can inherit Thrushcross Grange when Edgar dies. Cathy does fall in love with Linton, and he loves her in return, but they end up in a violent argument over the relationship between her mother, Catherine, and his father, Heathcliff.

Linton confesses that Heathcliff has threatened to kill him if he does not bring Cathy to Wuthering Heights and marry her. She goes there with him, where Heathcliff torments them before they are, indeed, married.

Heathcliff locks Cathy upstairs, but she escapes and returns home just before her father, Edgar, dies. She is allowed to stay until he is buried beside her mother, Catherine, out on the moor.

Heathcliff tells Cathy that he loved her mother so much he had her grave dug up so he could see her again. He has bribed the church sexton to lay him to rest beside her when he dies. He says he is not afraid of the dead because Catherine has been haunting him for the eighteen years since her death.

With Edgar dead, Heathcliff declares himself master of Thrushcross Grange. He intends to lease it out and make a profit from it. Linton falls ill and dies. His will states that everything is left to his father, Heathcliff. Cathy has nothing and is not allowed to leave.

Only Cathy, Heathcliff, and Hareton remain at Wuthering Heights, leading a tormented existence there. This brings the story back to the point where Lockwood was going to lease Thrushcross Grange. He returns to London instead.

Some time later, Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights again, which looks far better kept and more cheerful. Inside, he finds Cathy teaching Hareton to read. The two cousins are now married.

Nelly says Heathcliff finally lost interest in revenge and seemed to go mad, roaming the house, staring out the windows, and reminding everyone that he was to be buried beside Catherine. Nelly found him dead one night with rain pouring down on him from an open window.

Some of the country folk claim to have seen Heathcliff’s ghost wandering the moor with Catherine. Wuthering Heights is finally at peace.