## Characters
**Mr. Lockwood (Narrator/Frame Character)**
- Present: Currently ill and bedridden at Thrushcross Grange
- Physical: Too weak to read, has been sick for four weeks
- Actions: Requests Mrs. Dean continue her story, dismisses his medicine
- Note: Has been suffering from illness partly caused by Heathcliff's influence
**Mrs. Dean (Nelly)**
- Present: Serving as nurse to Lockwood and storyteller
- Role: Primary narrator of the embedded story, former servant at both houses
- Actions: Tends to Lockwood, continues the tale of Heathcliff's return
- Personality: Observant, practical, somewhat judgmental
**Mr. Heathcliff**
- Past role (in story): Returns after 3-year absence, now transformed
- Physical transformation: "tall, athletic, well-formed man," "upright carriage suggested the idea of his having been in the army," "countenance was much older in expression," "intelligent, and retained no marks of former degradation," "half-civilised ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued"
- Clothing: "dressed in dark clothes, with dark face and hair," "cheeks were sallow, and half covered with black whiskers"
- Personality: Dignified manner, reserved, stern, shows "undisguised delight" when looking at Catherine
- Actions: Returns unexpectedly, visits Thrushcross Grange, staying at Wuthering Heights with Hindley
- Key quote: "I'm in hell till you do!" (about seeing Catherine)
**Catherine Linton (Mrs. Linton)**
- Present: Married to Edgar, living at Thrushcross Grange
- Personality: Passionate, demonstrative, self-centered, mercurial moods
- Physical: Referenced indirectly through Isabella's jealousy of others' beauty
- Actions: Welcomes Heathcliff ecstatically, argues with Edgar about him, confronts Isabella about her feelings
- Relationship changes: Has grown fond of Edgar but still deeply attached to Heathcliff
**Edgar Linton**
- Present: Master of Thrushcross Grange, Catherine's husband
- Physical: "quite slender and youth-like" compared to Heathcliff
- Personality: Gentle, jealous, proper, "deep-rooted fear of ruffling her humour"
- Actions: Reluctantly receives Heathcliff, grows pale with annoyance, suggests kitchen as more suitable place for Heathcliff
**Isabella Linton**
- Present: Edgar's sister, living at Thrushcross Grange
- Age: Eighteen years old
- Physical: "charming young lady," has "yellow hair and whiteness of her skin," "dainty elegance," "dove's eyes"
- Personality: "infantile in manners, though possessed of keen wit, keen feelings, and a keen temper," becoming "cross and wearisome," "dwindling and fading"
- Key development: Has fallen in love with Heathcliff
- Actions: Argues with Catherine, defends Heathcliff, becomes distressed
**Hindley Earnshaw**
- Past role: Now master of Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff's former tormentor
- Current state: Gambling, drinking, borrowing money against his land
- Actions: Invited Heathcliff to stay, plays cards with him, losing money
- Personality: "too reckless to select his acquaintance prudently," "always greedy"
**Kenneth**
- Role: Local doctor treating Lockwood
- Mentioned: Told Lockwood he won't be out of doors till spring
**Joseph**
- Role: Servant at Wuthering Heights
- Actions: Gossips about the goings-on at Wuthering Heights, reports on Hindley and Heathcliff's behavior
## Timeline & Events
**Current Frame (Present)**
- Four weeks after Lockwood's initial visit and illness
- Heathcliff recently sent Lockwood grouse "seven days ago"
- Heathcliff visited Lockwood's sickbed for an hour
- Lockwood requests continuation of Mrs. Dean's story
**Past Events (Mrs. Dean's Narrative)**
- Takes place after Catherine's marriage to Edgar Linton
- Initial period: Catherine and Edgar very happy for "half a year"
- "On a mellow evening in September": Heathcliff returns after 3-year absence
- Nelly gathering apples at dusk, moon visible
- Heathcliff waits an hour before approaching
- Same evening: Dinner at Thrushcross Grange, Heathcliff stays "above an hour longer"
- "About the middle of the night": Catherine visits Nelly's chamber
- Following days: Period of happiness at the Grange
- Recent weeks: Isabella has been "dying for your sake several weeks"
- "The day after": Justice-meeting in next town, Edgar absent, Heathcliff calls early
## Key Facts
**Wuthering Heights Layout**
- Visible from Thrushcross Grange across the valley
- Connected by a path through wild green park
- Near Gimmerton chapel and marshes
**Thrushcross Grange Details**
- Has a parlour with windows overlooking the court and valley
- Kitchen mentioned as separate from main entertaining areas
- Multiple bedrooms (Nelly has her own chamber)
**Physical Descriptions**
- Gimmerton: Local village with chapel
- The houses are at walking distance from each other
- Valley setting with mist and beck (stream)
**Heathcliff's Transformation**
- Has been absent exactly three years
- Now has money ("plentifully supplied")
- Refined manners, no longer rough
- Military bearing suggests possible army service
- Origin of wealth and education remains mysterious
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
**Isabella Linton**: Eighteen years old (explicitly stated)
**Heathcliff's absence**: Exactly three years
**Catherine's marriage happiness**: Lasted "half a year" initially
**Lockwood's illness**: Four weeks duration
**Recent developments**: Isabella has been infatuated "several weeks"
## Unexplained Changes
**Heathcliff's Dramatic Transformation**
- From rough, uneducated foundling to refined gentleman
- Physical transformation: now tall, athletic, well-formed
- Acquired wealth and education through unknown means
- Military bearing suggests possible army service
- Retained "half-civilised ferocity" but now controlled
**Isabella's Condition**
- Has become sickly and difficult over recent weeks
- "Dwindling and fading before our eyes"
- Change attributed to her secret love for Heathcliff
## Plot Developments
**New Threads Introduced**
- Isabella's infatuation with Heathcliff creates new triangle
- Heathcliff's mysterious source of wealth and education
- His true motives for returning and staying at Wuthering Heights
**Existing Threads Advanced**
- Catherine-Heathcliff relationship rekindled despite her marriage
- Edgar's jealousy and discomfort with the situation
- Hindley's continued degradation, now involving gambling with Heathcliff
**Threads Complicated**
- Catherine torn between loyalty to husband and joy at Heathcliff's return
- Edgar's genteel nature prevents him from directly confronting the situation
- Heathcliff's presence destabilizes both households
## Foreshadowing & Setups
**Ominous Elements**
- Nelly's "presentiment in the bottom of my heart that he had better have remained away"
- Heathcliff's interest in Isabella as Edgar's heir: "She's her brother's heir, is she not?"
- His "ominous musing" when Catherine is absent
- Joseph's reports of Hindley's deterioration and reckless behavior with Heathcliff
- Nelly's fear: "an evil beast prowled between it and the fold, waiting his time to spring and destroy"
**Catherine's Dangerous Confidence**
- Her belief she could "kill him, and he wouldn't wish to retaliate" regarding Edgar
- Her dismissal of potential consequences of Heathcliff's presence
**Heathcliff's Calculated Behavior**
- His careful establishment of visiting rights at the Grange
- Strategic positioning at Wuthering Heights for proximity to Catherine
- His reserved observation of Isabella despite her obvious attraction