The Rivalry of Heathcliff and Edgar

Follows the long duel between Heathcliff and Edgar Linton over Catherine Earnshaw, from boyhood contempt to the final ruin of the Linton fortune.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Spies at the Grange

The Two Worlds Meet A Gate Between Classes Heathcliff and Catherine, spying through the window, see the Lintons quarreling over a lapdog and despise them. When the bulldog seizes Catherine, the Lintons take her in and reject Heathcliff as a wicked gypsy boy, exposing the social chasm between the two houses. A Furor Nursed Edgar's mother calls Heathcliff unfit for a decent house, and her words are reported to the boy with shame. The first encounter with the Grange is also the first wound to Heathcliff's pride, and it plants the seed of a lifelong hatred.

The Rival Suitors

An Almanack and a Ring Two Methods of Winning Edgar Linton wins Catherine's heart with gentleness, wealth, and fine looks; Heathcliff can only offer the deep, unspoken bond of childhood. The contest is unequal if measured by the world's standards, and Catherine's decision to marry Edgar hands the first victory to the Lintons. A Resentment Stored Heathcliff overhears Catherine say marriage to him would degrade her, and the wound never closes. Edgar, for his part, sees Heathcliff only as a sullen ploughboy and never understands the rival he has defeated until it is too late.

The Quarrel at the Grange

A Blow for Catherine The Kitchen Confrontation Heathcliff, banned from the Grange, provokes Edgar into a physical confrontation and contemptuously praises Catherine for preferring such a milk-blooded coward. Edgar, driven beyond endurance, strikes Heathcliff on the throat, and Catherine mocks them both. The Marriage's Breaking Point The quarrel ends with Catherine's three-day fast and her fatal illness. Edgar wins the fight and loses his wife to her own despair; Heathcliff leaves the field with the satisfaction of having exposed the frailty of his enemy and the cost of that exposure is Catherine's death.

The War of Silence

A Herald of Avoidance Two Men and a Grave Edgar shuts himself away from Heathcliff entirely, refusing to cross his path, while Heathcliff works his way through Hindley's fortune and the second generation. The duel is now fought through children and property, with visits barred and no one daring to open a door. A Truce of Hatred Each man waits for the other's death with gnawing patience. Edgar's only hope is his daughter; Heathcliff's only plan is to take her; and the war is waged in wills, mortgages, and secret meetings rather than on any open field.

The Final Victory of the Foundling

The Master of the Grange A Corpse in the House Heathcliff obtains control of Thrushcross Grange in the hours before Edgar's death, through the bought lawyer and the forced marriage of Cathy to Linton. The house where he was once called a gypsy brat now receives him as its lord. A Victory Without Joy The price is the death of the only woman he truly loved long ago, and the emptiness that follows his triumph is the measure of his defeat. Edgar Linton, though dead, has escaped the misery that Heathcliff intended for him.

the night Catherine and Heathcliff peep into Thrushcross Grange

the years of courtship before Catherine's marriage

the day Edgar orders Heathcliff out of the house

the eighteen years between Catherine's death and Edgar's own

autumn 1801, after Edgar's death