# Chapter XII Summary
## Characters
**Catherine Linton (Mrs. Linton)** - Present throughout chapter, ill and delirious
- Physical details: "thick entangled locks," "wasted face," haggard appearance that renders Edgar speechless, described as formerly "a stout, hearty lass"
- Personality: Dramatic, manipulative, prone to fits of passion, believes everyone should love her
- Key actions: Locks herself in room for three days, refuses food, becomes delirious, tears pillow apart, opens window despite cold, speaks to imaginary Heathcliff
- Relationships: Wife to Edgar Linton, former childhood companion of Heathcliff
- Mental state: Delirious, confusing past and present, believes she's dying
**Edgar Linton** - Present in latter part of chapter
- Physical details: None specified
- Personality: Withdrawn, studious, devastated by Catherine's condition
- Key actions: Shuts himself among books, enters Catherine's room, holds her during delirium, dismisses pursuit of Isabella
- Relationships: Catherine's husband, Isabella's brother
- Current state: Absorbed in grief over Catherine, showing no interest in Isabella's fate
**Isabella Linton (Miss Linton)** - Mentioned throughout, discovered missing
- Physical details: None in this chapter
- Key actions: Mopes in park and garden, elopes with Heathcliff during the night
- Relationships: Edgar's sister, has eloped with Heathcliff
- Status change: From resident at Thrushcross Grange to runaway
**Ellen "Nelly" Dean** - Narrator, present throughout
- Role: Housekeeper, sole "sensible soul" in the house according to herself
- Key actions: Tends to Catherine, fetches doctor, discovers Isabella's dog, learns of elopement
- Personality: Practical, somewhat unsympathetic to dramatics
**Heathcliff** - Not present but central to events
- Actions: Elopes with Isabella, appears in Catherine's delirious visions
- Relationships: Has eloped with Isabella, object of Catherine's obsessive thoughts
**Mr. Kenneth** - Doctor who treats Catherine
- Physical details: "plain rough man"
- Role: Village doctor, knows local gossip
- Key actions: Examines Catherine, warns of potential permanent mental damage
**Minor characters mentioned:**
- **Mary** - Maid who brings news of the elopement
- **Fanny** - Isabella's springer dog, found nearly strangled
- **Joseph** - Mentioned in Catherine's delirium as keeping late hours at Wuthering Heights
- **Blacksmith and his daughter** - Witnessed Heathcliff and Isabella's passage
## Timeline & Events
**Monday evening** - Catherine locks herself in her room after quarreling with Edgar
**Tuesday-Wednesday** - Catherine remains barricaded, Edgar stays among his books
**Thursday night/Friday morning** - Main events of chapter occur
- Catherine emerges, requests food
- Nelly brings tea and toast
- Catherine becomes increasingly delirious, tears pillow, demands window be opened
- Edgar enters room around midnight, shocked by Catherine's condition
- Nelly leaves to fetch doctor
- Nelly discovers Isabella's dog nearly strangled in garden
- Nelly fetches Mr. Kenneth (doctor)
- Upon return, Isabella discovered missing
- Maid Mary reports seeing Heathcliff and Isabella at blacksmith's shop "not very long after midnight"
## Key Facts
**Physical locations:**
- Events occur at Thrushcross Grange
- Catherine's room has a mirror "hanging against the opposite wall"
- Room has a window facing toward Wuthering Heights (though Catherine imagines seeing lights there in darkness)
- Garden has "a bridle hook driven into the wall"
- Wuthering Heights has "oak-panelled bed," firs by the lattice
- Penistone Crags mentioned as landmark
- Gimmerton Kirk (graveyard) referenced
**Object details:**
- Pillow filled with various feathers: turkey's, wild duck's, pigeon's, moor-cock's, lapwing's
- Mirror covered with shawl
- Isabella's dog Fanny found suspended by handkerchief
- Blacksmith paid with "a sovereign"
**Weather/setting:**
- "Middle of winter," strong north-east wind
- "Frosty air that cut about her shoulders as keen as a knife"
- No moon, "misty darkness"
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
**Catherine's age references:**
- She recalls being "twelve years old" when separated from Heathcliff after her father's death
- States "the whole last seven years of my life grew a blank" - suggesting current age around 19
- Her "former illness" referenced by doctor
**Time spans:**
- Catherine locked in room for "three days" (Monday evening to Thursday night)
- Isabella and Heathcliff's elopement occurred "not very long after midnight" on Thursday/Friday
## Unexplained Changes
**Isabella Linton:**
- Previous chapter showed her as innocent victim of Heathcliff's attention
- Now revealed to have been secretly meeting with Heathcliff for "above two hours" in plantation
- Has willingly eloped with him, contradicting earlier portrayal of fear/reluctance
## Plot Developments
**New threads introduced:**
- Isabella's elopement creates new crisis
- Catherine's serious mental/physical breakdown may be permanent
- Edgar's complete rejection of Isabella
**Existing threads advanced:**
- Catherine-Edgar-Heathcliff triangle reaches crisis point
- Catherine's mental instability escalates to dangerous levels
**Threads complicated:**
- Doctor warns Catherine may suffer "permanent alienation of intellect"
- Edgar refuses to pursue Isabella, effectively disowning her
## Foreshadowing & Setups
**Catherine's delirious statements:**
- "I'll not lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but I won't rest till you are with me"
- Insists on burial "in the open air, with a head-stone" rather than "under the chapel-roof"
- Claims her soul will be "on that hill-top"
**Ominous medical prognosis:**
- Doctor suggests "permanent alienation of intellect" more likely than death
- References Catherine's "second attack" implying previous similar episode
**Mysterious elements:**
- Sound of "horses' feet galloping at some distance" at 2 AM
- Isabella's dog found nearly strangled (deliberate cruelty or accident?)
- Catherine's vivid hallucinations of seeing lights at Wuthering Heights in complete darkness
The chapter establishes Catherine's potentially fatal illness as psychosomatic, rooted in her inability to reconcile her marriage to Edgar with her spiritual connection to Heathcliff, while simultaneously revealing Isabella's secret alliance with Heathcliff culminating in their elopement.