Catherine Earnshaw 🔒 Members

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Age and build

Hardly six years old but physically capable

“she was hardly six years old, but she could ride any horse in the stable” (Wuthering Heights, part 4)

Graceful and bright as a young woman

“instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house, and rushing to squeeze us all breathless, there lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Face and hair

Brown ringlets and bonny appearance

“a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Beautiful hair that was combed and dried

“they dried and combed her beautiful hair, and gave her a pair of enormous slippers” (Wuthering Heights, part 6)

Light hair in a locket

“a curl of light hair, fastened with a silver thread” (Wuthering Heights, part 16)

Eyes resembling Heathcliff's in her child

“with a look of Catherine in his eyes and about his mouth” (Wuthering Heights, part 13)

Dress

Fine clothes and feathered hat after visit to Grange

“a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit, which she was obliged to hold up with both hands” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Black frock worn upon father's return

“now attired in her new black frock—poor thing! her aunt’s death impressed her with no definite sorrow” (Wuthering Heights, part 19)

Wide-brimmed hat and gauze veil for rambling

“sheltered by her wide-brimmed hat and gauze veil from the July sun” (Wuthering Heights, part 18)

Voice and speech

Laughing and playful tone with her father

“she turned her face up to his, and laughed, and answered, “Why cannot you always be a good man, father” (Wuthering Heights, part 5)

Passionate and emphatic speech

“Nonsense!” cried Catherine in a passion. “Foolish, silly boy” (Wuthering Heights, part 27)

Signature words

Frequent use of 'Nelly' addressing the narrator

“Oh, Nelly! you know she has not” (Wuthering Heights, part 14)

Exclamations of 'Oh' expressing emotion

“Oh, he’s dead, Heathcliff! he’s dead” (Wuthering Heights, part 5)

Direct imperatives and demands

“Give me that key: I will have it” (Wuthering Heights, part 27)

Rhetorical questions expressing frustration

“Why have you disregarded my request” (Wuthering Heights, part 11)

Gait and mannerisms

Running and physical exuberance as a child

“I ran errands too, and helped to make hay, and hung about the farm ready for anything” (Wuthering Heights, part 4)

Climbing and agile movement

“In summer Miss Catherine delighted to climb along these trunks, and sit in the branches, swinging twenty feet above the ground” (Wuthering Heights, part 22)

Restless pacing when anxious

“Catherine paced up and down the floor, exclaiming—“I wonder where he is—I wonder where he can be” (Wuthering Heights, part 9)

Raising hand to cheek in pain or distress

“Catherine, released, put her two hands to her temples, and looked just as if she were not sure whether her ears were off or on” (Wuthering Heights, part 27)

Strengths

Physical courage and fearlessness

“she would have scorned to do it, if she had been spitted on the horns of a mad cow” (Wuthering Heights, part 6)

Passionate devotion to those she loves

“Linton is all I have to love in the world, and though you have done what you could to make him hateful to me, and me to him, you cannot make us hate each other” (Wuthering Heights, part 29)

Defiance and moral conviction

“I am not afraid of you!” exclaimed Catherine, who could not hear the latter part of his speech. She stepped close up; her black eyes flashing with passion and resolution” (Wuthering Heights, part 27)

Capacity for remorse and self-reflection

“her cheeks flushed, and the tears gushed over them. She slipped her fork to the floor, and hastily dived under the cloth to conceal her emotion” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Flaws

Mischievous and wayward nature

“Cathy, who was too mischievous and wayward for a favourite” (Wuthering Heights, part 4)

Selfish disregard for others' suffering

“An unfeeling child,” I thought to myself; “how lightly she dismisses her old playmate’s troubles” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Vanity and susceptibility to flattery

“The mistress visited her often in the interval, and commenced her plan of reform by trying to raise her self-respect with fine clothes and flattery, which she took readily” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Impulsive and capricious temperament

“her humour was a mere vane for constantly varying caprices” (Wuthering Heights, part 15)

Cruelty when angry or frustrated

“she seized his shoulders, and shook him till the poor child waxed livid” (Wuthering Heights, part 8)

Traits

Wild and untamed spirit

“instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Enchanting and superior to her peers

“she is so immeasurably superior to them—to everybody on earth, is she not, Nelly” (Wuthering Heights, part 6)

Deeply emotional and passionate

“I perceived she was in purgatory throughout the day, and wearying to find an opportunity of getting by herself, or paying a visit to Heathcliff” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Conflicted between love and social propriety

“I can recollect yet how I loved him; and can dimly imagine that I could still be loving him, if—no, no” (Wuthering Heights, part 17)

Intelligent and well-read

“I was always reading, when I had them,” said Catherine” (Wuthering Heights, part 31)

Lines in their own words

Playful defiance to her father

“Why cannot you always be a good man, father” (Wuthering Heights, part 5)

Shocked reaction to Heathcliff's appearance

“Why, how very black and cross you look! and how—how funny and grim” (Wuthering Heights, part 7)

Desperate plea to Heathcliff

“I do wish he’d come. I do wish he would” (Wuthering Heights, part 9)

Defiant declaration of her feelings

“in whichever place the soul lives. In my soul and in my heart, I’m convinced I’m wrong” (Wuthering Heights, part 9)

Passionate accusation to Heathcliff

“You and Edgar have broken my heart, Heathcliff! And you both come to bewail the deed to me, as if you were the people to be pitied” (Wuthering Heights, part 15)

Moral challenge to Heathcliff

“You are miserable, are you not? Lonely, like the devil, and envious like him? Nobody loves you—nobody will cry for you when you die” (Wuthering Heights, part 29)