Hareton and Cathy's Redemptive Union

Tracks the slow healing of the second generation through the bond between Hareton Earnshaw and Catherine Linton (younger), from mutual contempt to marriage.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The First Encounter

The Clown and the Princess An Accidental Meeting Thirteen-year-old Catherine Linton rides across the moors to Penistone Crags and is drawn into Wuthering Heights, where she meets the rough, illiterate Hareton. She takes him for a servant, orders him about, and is scandalized to be told they are cousins. A Bad Beginning The encounter plants the seeds of both humiliation and aspiration. Hareton is stung by her contempt, while Cathy is appalled at the thought of kinship with a rustic who curses her and cannot read. The gap between them is the full measure of Heathcliff's successful cruelty toward the boy.

The Taunt at the Inscription

I Can Read Yon Now A Painful Triumph Hareton proudly spells out the name "Hareton Earnshaw" above the door for Cathy, having secretly taught himself his letters. She laughs at him as a dunce because he cannot read the date, and his face shows the mortification of a man who has labored to please and been mocked. A Wounded Ambition Cathy's taunt reveals both her cruelty and the depth of Hareton's hidden desire to rise. The failed performance marks a turning point: he has begun to measure himself against her world, and her laughter will nearly drive him back into brutishness.

The Burning Books

The Bonfire of Shame A Secret Library Exposed Cathy discovers Hareton's hidden stock of books, taunts him about his stumbling pronunciation, and reads his favorite ballad in a mocking drawl. Hareton, beside himself with wounded pride, hurls the volumes into the fire one by one. The Cost of Shame The burning is an act of self-destruction as much as rage, canceling the only avenue of self-improvement he had found. Nelly reflects that Cathy's scorn has undone the good potential in him, and that his efforts to rise have been answered only by derision.

The Easter Monday Approach

The First Overtures A Broken Pipe With Heathcliff absent from the kitchen, Cathy takes Hareton's pipe from his mouth, breaks it, and declares she wants to be friends. He replies with curses and sulks, but she persists, even planting a gentle kiss on his cheek when he refuses her offered hand. The Gift Refused, Then Kept She wraps a handsome book for him, and when he does not refuse it, she slips beside him and asks him to say he forgives her. His rough defenses crumble; the book becomes a bridge, and two wary hearts begin to move toward each other.

The Reading Lessons

The Tutoring Bond Cultivating a Garden Cathy persuades Hareton to dig up Joseph's currant bushes and plant a flower garden with her, then takes up the role of teacher, hearing his lessons as his head bends over the same books he once burned. Nelly watches them with the satisfaction of a parent whose children have come home. A New Earnshaw The education transforms Hareton's very features, making them bright and noble where they had been sullen. His slow reading, corrected by a laughing but loving voice, is an act of civilization far stronger than all Heathcliff's labors to brutalize him.

On the Eve of Marriage

The Restored House A Reading at the Window Mr. Lockwood, returning, spies Hareton reading with Cathy's hand over his shoulder and hears the young woman scolding him fondly for his mistakes. The rough Earnshaw of the earlier visit has become a handsome, respectable young man. A Union of the Houses Nelly Dean announces that the two will marry on New Year's Day and leave the Heights for Thrushcross Grange, with Joseph left to mind the old house. The marriage unites Earnshaw land and Linton blood, healing the feud that consumed both families.

summer 1784, when Cathy wanders to Penistone Crags

a moonlit evening in 1797, before Cathy's secret visits end

autumn 1801, during Lockwood's first stay at Thrushcross Grange

Easter Monday, 1802

spring to autumn 1802, during Hareton's convalescence

autumn 1802, when Lockwood visits the Heights a second time