Cathy Linton: A Look Into One Of Literature's Most Controlling Women
When we first meet Mrs. Linton, she is actually Catherine Earnshaw (whom shall be referred to as Cathy from now on) - daughter of the kind-hearted, generous Mr. Earnshaw whom is the owner of Wuthering Heights - and only around the age of six years. At this age, people tend to think 'Aww, how sweet'. Don't allow yourself to fall into this trap. Cathy grows up, choosing to place herself under the company and influence of Heathcliff - whom her Father brought back from Liverpool to raise as one of his own - for the next six years. She grows up freely, choosing to shun the ways of what would be considered a civilised young lady. Instead, Cathy and Heathcliff roam the moor together, free as birds and become a pair of “mischievous little monkeys”. They also find comfort in each other when Mr. Earnshaw - whom both were very close to - passes away. From this very early stage in the book, we can assume Cathy’s character will always have an element of freedom and will always expect to get her own way by the use of her foul temper - which we discover particularly when she attacks her housekeeper Ellen (Nelly) Dean.
Cathy and Heathcliff soon get themselves into the habit of spying on their ‘neighbours’ and residents of Thrushcross Grange - a grand property across the moor from Wuthering Heights. These ‘neighbours’ - named Edgar and Isabella Linton - will go on to become Cathy’s husband and sister-in-law. One evening, whilst spying on Edgar and Isabella, Cathy is bitten on the ankle by the Linton family’s dog. She is injured and taken into the house when recognised. Heathcliff, however, is treated unpleasantly and chased off. A doctor is called and Cathy is placed under the Linton’s care for the next five weeks. Constantly being around the Lintons has an effect on Cathy and she soon picks up on their manners, undergoing a transformation into an educated and ‘well-mannered’ young lady.
However, Cathy’s status of being well-mannered is questionable at best. During one of Edgar’s many visits to Wuthering Heights, Cathy demands that Nelly aborts her work and leaves their presence. When Nelly politely refuses, Cathy pinches her arm which leaves a “decided purple” and then slaps Nelly “on the cheek a stinging blow that filled both eyes with water”. This then causes her young nephew, Hareton, to call her “wicked aunt Cathy” which causes Cathy to shake him violently until Edgar attempts to intervene and is slapped on the ear in return. Cathy then acts surprised when Edgar wants to leave; I don’t particularly blame the man, I wouldn’t want to stay in someone’s company after they’d behaved in such a despicable manner either. When we read this passage, it is implied that Nelly provokes Cathy - perhaps to show Edgar her quick-temper or perhaps simply for her own amusement. We can see this implied provocation when she responds to Cathy’s demands that she leaves the room with “It’s a good opportunity now the master is away, he hates me to be fidgeting over these things in his presence - I’m sure Mr. Edgar will excuse me.” and “I’m sorry for it, Miss Catherine!” accompanied by her calmly continuing with her work. We can assume that Cathy was provoked but still, surely a young lady of well-manners would not have behaved in such a way and no one - of good manners or not - strikes their guest and then wonders why they want to leave.
In Heathcliff’s eyes, his and Cathy’s love is placed in jeopardy when she begins to spend more and more time with the Lintons. This leads to a natural jealousy on Heathcliff’s part as he begins to wonder if Cathy prefers Edgar to himself because of his manners and well-groomed appearance - which leads to an incident with Heathcliff throwing a tureen of apple sauce in Edgar’s face, unable to deal with the taunting of him and Cathy’s foul-tempered brother Hindley. Heathcliff’s behaviour during this period demands sympathy from readers as he is trying his best to impress Cathy and prove himself to be just as good as Edgar Linton yet she still says marrying him would degrade her. These words from Cathy cause the distraught Heathcliff to leave Wuthering Heights and refuse to return until he is an educated gentleman. This is when our first doubts about Cathy’s nature begin to arise; she seemed perfectly happy with Heathcliff before but all-of-a-sudden she adopts a pompous attitude and sees herself as a higher status.
Cathy and Edgar marry during Heathcliff’s three-year absence and she moves into Thrushcross Grange with him and Isabella. There is tranquility seemingly because Edgar, Isabella and all the servants try to tiptoe around Cathy for fear of triggering one of her foul mood swings which cause her to behave in the most vile of ways.
I find the fact that everyone aims to keep Cathy happy due to her quick and fiery temper absolutely ridiculous. Edgar is supposed to be her husband and at the time it would have been the woman fearing the man not the man fearing the woman - not that I condone any fear in relationships at all, this is simply an assumption of the times. This implies that Edgar is a spineless little man. Heathcliff, on the other hand, probably would have refused to put up with Cathy’s foul-temper - although it is questionable as to whether she would be so foul if he were her husband as the pair seem to cancel each other out when it comes to temper, although Cathy seems easier to provoke than Heathcliff.
Many would say that the entire household fearing Cathy’s temper is a perfect example of women gaining control, or having some element of it. But I don’t see this as a positive example of women being in control. Although anger itself is not a submissive emotion, Cathy’s anger is somewhat of a weakness as it is so easy to fire up and we have already seen that Nelly potentially provoked her for amusement. If everyone were to find amusement in Cathy’s temper, it would put her in a submissive position as she would simply be laughed at every time she tried to strike fear into everyone with her temper. It is even said the entire household ‘humours her’, suggesting they already privately find amusement in her tasteless behaviour.
On Heathcliff’s return, Cathy shows little to no consideration towards Edgar by inviting Heathcliff in and then wondering why he is so upset; the two men despise each other. Her disregard for anyone but herself continues when she wakes Nelly in the middle of the night because she “cannot sleep” and wants “some living creature” to keep her company. She then describes Edgar as sulky because she is “glad of a thing that does not interest him”. This shows her as unsympathetic and self-concerned. She converses with Nelly for a little longer then decides to depart back to bed. But before she does so, she has the absolute cheek to consider herself to be “an angel”. When I read this for the first time, I actually burst into laughter of disbelief. At this point, if I were Nelly, I would’ve given Cathy a slap to the face and exclaimed “Get over yourself.” In short, this woman is no angel. What kind of angel plays two men off against each other, dithers between the two unable to decide which she wants to be with, violently attacks people when she cannot get her own way, shows no consideration to anyone but herself, hurts one man by spending all her time with the other and then throws a tantrum when he does the same to her? (I will mention this later). Oh, yes, this woman is clearly an angel.
Isabella finds herself blown away by Heathcliff’s mysterious nature and he becomes the object of her affections. It would seem the feeling is mutual. Cathy is furious and very jealous and decides that she will make herself feel better by mocking and embarrassing Isabella in front of Heathcliff. And this sort of behaviour is acceptable how? Cathy’s jealousy is clearly because of the simple fact that she does not wish to share Heath cliff - It’s almost as if she wishes to put Heathcliff in a glass case in the corner and say “Mine, don’t touch”. Perhaps it is also because she selfishly doesn’t want his affections to be fixed on any woman apart from her - which leads me to believe that she secretly loves the idea of Edgar and Heathcliff fighting over her.
At a later point, Heathcliff and Edgar become involved in a physical fight and Cathy storms off - some obvious attention-seeking going on here - and then orders Nelly to tell Edgar she is very ill, even though she isn’t, and doesn’t feel up to speaking with him about what has occurred with Heathcliff. Nelly, however, refuses - she never seems to do as Cathy asks - and tells Edgar where she is. This leads to more attention-seeking on Cathy’s part when she deliberately barricades herself in her bedroom for three days armed only with a pitcher of water and an empty stomach. She refuses to eat and runs out of water very quickly and then can’t seem to understand why she falls ill of “brain fever” - after all, she was only seeking everyone’s sympathy.
Isabella seems the only woman in the text who realises her surroundings are no good for her and takes control of her situation. She leaves Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights behind - having moved there after their marriage - and independently finds herself a new home and gives birth to hers and Heathcliff’s son, Linton. Cathy on the other hand, stays in the area, surrounded by her sordid past and only causing trouble and hurt for herself and those around her.
Due to her “brain fever” Cathy falls delirious and passes away shortly after giving birth to her daughter Catherine. However, before this incident, she is visited by Heathcliff. Despite her weakness and illness, Cathy - still feisty as ever - tries to blame her illness and broken heart on him. She exclaims “I shall not pity you, not I. You have killed me and - thriven on it, I think.“ However, Heathcliff isn’t having any and responds in a way which causes me to cheer every time I read it: “Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort - you deserve this. You have killed yourself.. You loved me - the what right had you to leave me? What right - answer me - for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? .. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it - and in breaking it, you have broken mine..” To this Cathy bursts into pathetic tears - most likely because she realises she’s lost this argument - and sobs out “Let me alone. Let me alone.. If I’ve done wrong, I’m dying for it. . .” And then begs for him to forgive her. Edgar returns and we see some form of mutual civility between the pair when Heathcliff exclaims “.. unless you be a fiend, help her first - then you shall speak to me!” This shows that both care deeply for this woman and are willing to be civil when she isn’t stirring things up between them.
After hearing of Cathy’s death, Heathcliff curses “You said I killed you - haunt me then!” and demands that she haunt him until he dies. We see a point at the beginning of the novel - in its non-linear chronology - where Lockwood observes that Heathcliff “burst into an uncontrollable passion of tears..” after he tells Heathcliff of his nightmare in which Cathy banged on the window and begged him to let her in. Edgar raises Catherine but eventually passes away, having never re-married or fully recovering from Cathy‘s death. It seems that even after her death, Cathy cannot let these two men get on with their lives - she has to haunt them both until they join her in death.
