Heathcliff's Revenge

Charts Heathcliff's systematic and cross-generational program of revenge against Hindley Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, and the families that humiliated him.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Boy's Vow

Payment Deferred The Seed of the Plot Locked away from the Christmas dance for attacking Edgar Linton, Heathcliff refuses food and sits brooding. Pressed by Nelly, he reveals that he is trying to settle how he shall pay Hindley back, and that he will wait as long as necessary, hoping Hindley will not die before he does. Revenge as a Way of Life Heathcliff's suffering is channeled into a single labor of anticipation; the boy's vow turns his degradation into a source of strength. Every blow he receives is being recorded and compounded, and the entire novel from this point is the long process of that debt's collection.

Winning Hindley's Money

The Card Table Trap A Greedy Ally Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights and joins Hindley's nightly card games, letting his old enemy win at first and then stripping him of money and credit. Hindley, reckless and burning for company, mortgages his lands piece by piece to the man he believes he is merely entertaining. The Usurer's Mask Heathcliff dwells in the house of his persecutor under the guise of a paying guest, watching his debtor rot. Joseph's gossip reaches Nelly: the master is borrowing on his land while Heathcliff calmly pockets the gold. The revenge is being executed not by violence but by arithmetic.

The Courtship of Isabella

The Snare for a Linton A Cold Harvest Heathcliff deliberately fascinates Isabella Linton, making her fall in love with him while avowing to Catherine that he hates the girl and would welcome the chance to destroy her completely. The courtship is presented as a strategy to wound both Edgar and Catherine. Resistance and Success Edgar orders Heathcliff out of the house, Catherine protests, and the quarrel that follows breaks the marriage's fragile peace. Isabella's infatuation, described by her brother as a fantastic preference, is the first concrete dividend of Heathcliff's scheme against the Lintons.

The Orphan Taken

Now My Bonny Lad Statement of Ownership When Hindley is buried, Heathcliff lifts Hareton onto the table and murmurs that the boy is now his, to be twisted as crookedly as any tree under the same wind. He has acquired the last Earnshaw as his dependent and his instrument. The Brute's Education Heathcliff sets about raising Hareton as a degraded brute, withholding schooling, encouraging coarseness, and arranging that Joseph flatter the boy's pride of name while the substance is stolen from him. The revenge on Hindley is extended into the next generation by undoing everything the Earnshaws once were.

The Net Around Young Cathy

The Second Generation Enshared Letters and Lies Heathcliff schemes to unite the sickly Linton Heathcliff with Edgar's daughter Catherine, first through a secret correspondence, then through staged meetings on the moor. The design is to absorb Thrushcross Grange's fortune into his own bloodline before Edgar can save his daughter. The Trap Springs Luring Cathy to Wuthering Heights on the pretext of seeing the ailing Linton, Heathcliff locks the doors and compels her to remain overnight. By the time she escapes to her father's deathbed, the marriage has been forced, the Grange's property is bound to Linton, and the revenge has achieved its final legal form.

The Revenge Turns to Ash

The Empty Triumph All Ends Possessed Heathcliff is now master of everything: Hareton is his dependant, young Catherine is his daughter-in-law and prisoner, and both estates are in his grip. Yet he tells Nelly that he has lost the taste for destruction and that the happiness of his enemies no longer interests him. The Poison That Ate Its Maker His own image of himself as Hercules with lever and mattock has become absurd; he cannot be bothered to raise his hand. The revenge, fully realized, ceases to nourish him, and he is left with nothing but the ghost of the love he destroyed, which draws him toward death as the only remaining object.

Christmas Eve, while Heathcliff is locked in the garret at Wuthering Heights

in the months after Heathcliff's return, before Catherine's illness

after Catherine's marriage to Edgar Linton, before the quarrel at Thrushcross Grange

at Hindley Earnshaw's funeral

1797 to August 1801, from Cathy's first visit to her detention at Wuthering Heights

winter 1801 to spring 1802, after the deaths of Edgar and Linton Heathcliff