Linton Heathcliff's Exploitation

Tracks the short miserable life of Linton Heathcliff as a pawn in his father's revenge, from his mother's death to his own.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Father's Claim

Reclaiming the Whelp A Property to Be Collected Joseph arrives at the Grange with a demand from Heathcliff that his son be surrendered immediately. Edgar Linton, who has just received the boy from his dying sister's care, is forced to give him up, knowing he will be used against the Lintons. A Cold Welcome When Heathcliff sees the pale, delicate, effeminate boy, he mocks his frailty and openly laments that the whelp is not worth the trouble of pride. The child is both a tool and a disappointment, owned but never loved.

The Invalid of the Heights

Confined to a Living Tomb The Tyrant in Weakness Linton Heathcliff quickly becomes a peevish, self-centered invalid, cloistered in a small parlour and terrorized by his father's contempt. Hareton's rough company is the only relief, and the two part with curses and tears. A Character Warped His constitution might have supported some health, but the father's neglect and the bullying of Joseph and Hareton encourage every selfish instinct. He is described as utterly lacking sympathy, a boy who schemes for his own comfort even as he whines for it.

The Secret Correspondence

Love Letters by Proxy An Amorous Fraud Heathcliff arranges for Cathy and Linton to meet, then encourages their letters, knowing the boy cannot win her love honestly. Linton's notes, at first shy, grow into passionate declarations influenced by his father's prompting. A Game of Hearts and Property The correspondence is a trap baited with romance; Edgar forbids it too late. When Ellen burns the letters, Catherine is heartbroken, but the damage is done: she has begun to dream of an impossible future with her weak cousin.

The Decoy at the Crags

Tears and Treachery His Father's Voice Linton is ordered by Heathcliff to lure Cathy to Wuthering Heights, pretending affectionate weakness so that the trap may close. He weeps and grovels, shows genuine terror of his father, and yet executes the scheme with a coward's precision. The Trap Springs Inside the house, Heathcliff locks the doors, and Linton reveals the plan: a forced marriage in the morning. His pleas for Cathy to save him are interwoven with threats that his father will kill him, making him the instrument and the victim of the same revenge.

The Will and the Speed

The Dying Tyrant A Document Signed in Tears Heathcliff, exploiting the boy's panic after the Grange funeral, threatens and coaxes Linton into bequeathing all his movable property to the father. The boy is then installed as the nominal husband of Catherine, while she tends him day and night. A Merciful Release Linton, already failing, dies within weeks, his will having stripped Cathy of everything. Even in death he is used: his passing gives Heathcliff full control of the Linton fortune and leaves young Catherine a widow and a captive.

the day after Linton Heathcliff arrives at Thrushcross Grange, ~1784

the years after Linton is brought to Wuthering Heights

1797, when Cathy is sixteen and has just discovered her cousin

August 1801, when Edgar Linton is dying

shortly after Edgar Linton's death, when Linton is confined to the Heights