Zillah

Zillah is the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights who enters service there after the death of Hindley Earnshaw, replacing the previous servant. She is a narrow-minded, selfish woman who prioritizes her own security over any moral duty, and her conduct toward Catherine Linton after the girl's forced marriage to Linton Heathcliff exposes the complete isolation and helplessness of the younger Catherine within Heathcliff's household.

Role and Character

Zillah first appears during Lockwood's disastrous overnight stay at Wuthering Heights, when she rushes into the kitchen wielding a frying-pan to break up a dog attack on the visitor, and later ushers him to the oak-panelled bedchamber, warning him to hide his candle because her master has an odd notion about that room. She is described as a "lusty dame, with tucked-up gown, bare arms, and fire-flushed cheeks," and she proves the only person in the house who shows Lockwood any practical kindness, splashing cold water down his neck to stop a nosebleed and giving him brandy. After Heathcliff's death, when Lockwood returns to the neighborhood in 1802, he finds Zillah has left Wuthering Heights and Nelly Dean has taken her place; a new, unnamed housekeeper is smoking a pipe on the steps of Thrushcross Grange.

Complicity in Catherine Linton's Suffering

Zillah's most significant role is as the custodian of Catherine Linton during the weeks after her forced marriage to Linton Heathcliff and her father's death. When Catherine first arrives at the Heights, Zillah refuses to send for a doctor for the dying Linton, despite Catherine's desperate pleas, because Heathcliff has ordered her not to. She tells Nelly Dean, "I never dare disobey him, Mrs. Dean; and, though I thought it wrong that Kenneth should not be sent for, it was no concern of mine either to advise or complain, and I always refused to meddle." On one occasion, Catherine comes to Zillah's chamber in the middle of the night, frightened out of her wits, and begs her to tell Heathcliff that his son is dying. Zillah lies in bed trembling for a quarter of an hour, then decides Catherine must be mistaken and begins to doze, only to be roused by Linton's bell. She delivers the message, and Heathcliff goes to the room, but Zillah's delay and passivity contribute to the boy's lonely death. After Linton's funeral, Zillah visits Catherine twice a day but makes no real effort to comfort her; when Catherine repels her attempts at kindness "proudly and promptly," Zillah withdraws entirely.

Antagonism Toward Catherine Linton

Zillah actively resents Catherine Linton and takes satisfaction in her humiliation. She tells Nelly Dean that she would "love well to bring her pride a peg lower" and that Catherine is "as poor as you or I: poorer, I'll be bound." When Catherine finally comes downstairs after a fortnight of solitary confinement, Zillah offers her the armchair, but Catherine "turned up her nose at my civility." Zillah then helps Hareton Earnshaw make himself presentable, flattering him into good humor, and reports with evident pleasure how Catherine scorned Hareton's attempts at friendliness. She describes Catherine as speaking "as chill as an icicle, and as high as a princess," and notes that Catherine "will snap at the master himself, and as good as dares him to thrash her; and the more hurt she gets, the more venomous she grows." Zillah's account, while biased, provides the only external view of Catherine's life at the Heights during this period and confirms the complete absence of any ally or comfort for the young widow.

Narrative Function

Zillah serves as a foil to Nelly Dean: where Nelly is loyal, compassionate, and willing to risk her position to help those in her care, Zillah is self-protective, obedient to authority, and indifferent to suffering that does not directly threaten her. Her refusal to intervene in Linton's illness or to show Catherine any genuine kindness underscores the total power Heathcliff exercises over his household and the moral cowardice of those who serve him. Through Zillah, the novel demonstrates how ordinary people can become complicit in cruelty simply by following orders and minding their own business.