Catherine Earnshaw and Hindley Earnshaw's sibling relationship

Catherine Earnshaw and Hindley Earnshaw, the only children of Mr. Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights, share a sibling relationship that deteriorates from early rivalry into open enmity and permanent estrangement. Their bond is the novel's first great fracture, one that sets in motion the cycles of cruelty and revenge that consume two families. From childhood, Hindley resents Catherine's closeness to the foundling Heathcliff, whom their father favors, and after Mr. Earnshaw's death, Hindley's tyranny drives Catherine into a double life that ultimately destroys her.

Childhood and Early Rivalry

As children, Catherine and Hindley are united in their initial rejection of Heathcliff, the dirty, ragged boy their father brings home from Liverpool. Hindley, a boy of fourteen, is furious when his promised fiddle is crushed in Mr. Earnshaw's greatcoat during the journey, and Catherine, learning that her whip has been lost in attending to the stranger, "showed her humour by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing" . Their father strikes Catherine for this behavior, and both children "entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room" . Yet the alliance is short-lived. Mr. Earnshaw "took to Heathcliff strangely, believing all he said... and petting him up far above Cathy, who was too mischievous and wayward for a favourite" . This favoritism breeds "bad feeling in the house" . Hindley, already bitter, "learned to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend, and Heathcliff as a usurper of his parent's affections and his privileges; and he grew bitter with brooding over these injuries" . Catherine, meanwhile, becomes Heathcliff's closest companion, and the two "promised fair to grow up as rude as savages" , united against Hindley's authority.

Hindley's Tyranny After Mr. Earnshaw's Death

Mr. Earnshaw dies quietly in his chair one October evening, and Catherine and Heathcliff "set up a heart-breaking cry" . Hindley returns home for the funeral, bringing a wife, Frances, and immediately asserts his authority. He drives Heathcliff from their company to the servants, deprives him of the curate's instruction, and insists he labour out of doors "as hard as any other lad on the farm" . Catherine, however, "taught him what she learnt, and worked or played with him in the fields" . Hindley's cruelty escalates: he orders Heathcliff a flogging and Catherine a fast from dinner or supper when they absent themselves from church . The siblings' relationship becomes one of open persecution and defiance. Catherine writes in her diary that Hindley is "a detestable substitute" for their father, and that his "conduct to Heathcliff is atrocious" . She records how Hindley and Frances "basked downstairs before a comfortable fire" while she, Heathcliff, and the ploughboy were forced to endure a three-hour sermon in the garret . When she and Heathcliff rebel by throwing their religious books into the dog-kennel, Hindley "seizing one of us by the collar, and the other by the arm, hurled both into the back-kitchen" . Catherine laments, "How little did I dream that Hindley would ever make me cry so!" . He calls Heathcliff a vagabond, forbids them to play together, and threatens to turn Heathcliff out of the house .

Catherine's Defiance and Estrangement

As Catherine grows into a young woman, she becomes "haughty, headstrong" , and her relationship with Hindley becomes one of mutual antagonism. She keeps aloof from him and his companions, and her brother, motivated by pride rather than affection, indulges her caprices in the hope that she will "bring honour to the family by an alliance with the Lintons" . Catherine, for her part, declares that she will not be separated from Heathcliff: "Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into nothing before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff" . She plans to marry Edgar Linton in order to "aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's power" . Hindley's cruelty is the catalyst for her disastrous double commitment. When Heathcliff overhears Catherine say that "it would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now" and disappears, Catherine falls into a fever. Hindley, rather than showing concern, "lavished on her a torrent of scornful abuse" . Catherine's illness proves the beginning of the end: she marries Edgar, and the sibling bond is effectively severed.

Aftermath and Legacy

Hindley's life spirals into dissipation after Frances's death. He becomes "desperate" , given to "reckless dissipation" , and his treatment of Heathcliff is "enough to make a fiend of a saint" . Catherine, now Mrs. Linton, stands "between him and bodily harm" , but she cannot save him from himself. Hindley dies "drunk as a lord" at barely twenty-seven, leaving his son Hareton dependent on Heathcliff. Catherine's own daughter, Catherine Linton, inherits her mother's dark eyes and spirited nature , but the sibling conflict of the first generation is not repeated. The second Catherine, after a forced marriage and widowhood, eventually reconciles with Hareton, breaking the cycle of enmity that defined her mother's relationship with her brother. The sibling relationship between Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw thus stands as the novel's original wound—a bond poisoned by jealousy, hardened by tyranny, and never healed.