Hindley's return with Frances

Hindley Earnshaw's return to Wuthering Heights for his father's funeral is a turning point that shatters the fragile order of the household and sets in motion the systematic degradation of Heathcliff. He arrives not alone but accompanied by a wife, Frances, a woman of obscure origins whose presence both astonishes the neighborhood and precipitates a new regime of cruelty. The event reconfigures the balance of power at the Heights, transforming Hindley from a resentful son into a tyrannical master and driving Heathcliff from the family circle into the fields as a labourer.

The Return and the New Wife

Hindley comes home for the funeral, and the first shock to the household is that he brings a wife with him. He never informs anyone of her background, and Nelly Dean speculates that she probably had neither money nor name to recommend her, or Hindley would scarcely have kept the union from his father. Frances is not a disruptive presence in the ordinary sense; every object she sees upon crossing the threshold appears to delight her, and she seems pleased with everything except the funeral preparations and the presence of mourners. Nelly initially thinks her half silly, observing her hysterical reaction to the black trappings of death: she runs to her chamber, shivers, clasps her hands, and repeatedly asks if the mourners have gone, then describes the effect of seeing black with such emotion that she falls to weeping, saying she feels afraid of dying. Nelly, who imagines Frances as little likely to die as herself, notes that she is rather thin but young and fresh-complexioned, with eyes that sparkle like diamonds. Yet Nelly also remarks that mounting the stairs makes Frances breathe very quick, that the least sudden noise sets her all in a quiver, and that she coughs troublesomely sometimes—symptoms whose portent Nelly does not then understand.

Hindley's Transformation and New Rule

Young Earnshaw is altered considerably in the three years of his absence. He has grown sparer, lost his colour, and speaks and dresses quite differently. On the very day of his return, he tells Joseph and Nelly that they must henceforth quarter themselves in the back-kitchen and leave the house for him. He initially intends to carpet and paper a small spare room for a parlour, but his wife expresses such pleasure at the white floor, huge glowing fireplace, pewter dishes, delf-case, dog-kennel, and the wide space to move about in that he drops the intention. Frances also expresses pleasure at finding a sister among her new acquaintance, and she prattles to Catherine, kisses her, runs about with her, and gives her quantities of presents at the beginning. But her affection tires very soon, and when she grows peevish, Hindley becomes tyrannical. A few words from her evincing a dislike to Heathcliff are enough to rouse in him all his old hatred of the boy. He drives Heathcliff from their company to the servants, deprives him of the instructions of the curate, and insists that he labour out of doors instead, compelling him to work as hard as any other lad on the farm.

Consequences for Heathcliff and Catherine

Heathcliff bears his degradation pretty well at first because Cathy teaches him what she learns and works or plays with him in the fields. Both promise fair to grow up as rude as savages, the young master being entirely negligent of how they behave so long as they keep clear of him. He would not even have seen after their going to church on Sundays, only Joseph and the curate reprimand his carelessness when they absent themselves, and that reminds him to order Heathcliff a flogging and Catherine a fast from dinner or supper. But it becomes one of their chief amusements to run away to the moors in the morning and remain there all day, and the after punishment grows a mere thing to laugh at. The curate may set as many chapters as he pleases for Catherine to get by heart, and Joseph may thrash Heathcliff till his arm aches; they forget everything the minute they are together again, or at least the minute they have contrived some naughty plan of revenge. Nelly often cries to herself watching them grow more reckless daily, not daring to speak a syllable for fear of losing the small power she still retains over the unfriended creatures.

Narrative Role and Significance

Hindley's return with Frances is the event that formally ends the period of relative peace following old Mr. Earnshaw's death and inaugurates the systematic oppression that will shape Heathcliff's character and fuel his lifelong revenge. The arrival of Frances, with her unexplained origins and her fragile health, introduces a new element of instability into the household. Her dislike of Heathcliff, casually expressed, becomes the catalyst for Hindley's active persecution, reducing Heathcliff from a favoured if resented member of the family to a common labourer. This degradation is the wound from which Heathcliff's later cruelty springs, and it sets the terms for the central conflict of the novel: the struggle between the dispossessed outsider and the established family that has wronged him.