## Characters
**Nelly Dean (Ellen)** - Narrator and housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange
- Role: Present in scene, narrating events
- Actions: Pleads with Heathcliff to let Catherine stay, offers to resign her position to work at Wuthering Heights instead of Zillah
- Relationships: Devoted servant to Catherine ("my beloved young mistress"), has worked at the Grange for years
**Catherine Linton** (young Catherine, referred to as "my young lady")
- Role: Present in scene, being forced to leave the Grange
- Physical details: Her lips felt "like ice" when kissing Nelly goodbye
- Personality: Shows defiance toward Heathcliff, claims she has "a better" nature than Linton to forgive his faults, speaks with "dreary triumph"
- Actions: Initially tries to dash out when seeing Heathcliff, ultimately agrees to go to protect young Linton, kisses Nelly goodbye
- Relationships: Married to young Linton (her cousin), stepdaughter to Heathcliff, devoted to Nelly
**Heathcliff** - Master of both Wuthering Heights and now Thrushcross Grange
- Role: Present in scene, forcing Catherine to come live at the Heights
- Physical details: "Dark face rather sallower and more composed, his frame a stone or two heavier" than 18 years before, hair wet with perspiration, "same man" otherwise unchanged
- Actions: Enters without ceremony, physically restrains Catherine, demands she come to Heights, reveals he opened Catherine Earnshaw's coffin, takes portrait of Mrs. Linton, forces Catherine to walk to Heights
- Relationships: Father-in-law to Catherine, father to young Linton, was obsessed with Catherine Earnshaw (deceased)
**Young Linton** (Linton Heathcliff) - Catherine's husband
- Role: Mentioned, currently at Wuthering Heights in poor condition
- Physical condition: Described as "such a cobweb, a pinch would annihilate him," wakes "and shrieks in the night by the hour together"
- Actions: Has "received his due" punishment from Heathcliff, calls for Catherine to protect him
- Relationships: Son of Heathcliff, husband to Catherine, described as having "a bad nature"
**Catherine Earnshaw Linton** (deceased, referred to as "Mrs. Linton")
- Role: Mentioned extensively, deceased but central to Heathcliff's obsession
- Physical details: Portrait shows "splendid head," her face in the coffin "is hers yet"
- Relationships: Deceased first wife of Edgar Linton, object of Heathcliff's obsession
**Edgar Linton** (recently deceased)
- Role: Recently buried, mentioned in context of his grave
- Relationships: Catherine Earnshaw's husband, father to young Catherine
**Hareton** - Resident at Wuthering Heights
- Role: Mentioned as witness to young Linton's condition
- Actions: Reports on young Linton's nightmares, was sent out during Heathcliff's punishment of Linton
**Joseph** - Servant at Wuthering Heights
- Role: Mentioned as helping carry young Linton upstairs
- Relationship: Long-time servant who thinks Heathcliff's conscience troubles him
**Zillah** - Housekeeper at Wuthering Heights
- Role: Mentioned as current housekeeper, heard young Linton's complaints about Catherine
**The Sexton** - Graveyard worker
- Role: Mentioned as being bribed by Heathcliff to disturb the graves
- Actions: Dug Edgar Linton's grave, helped Heathcliff open Catherine's coffin, was bribed to arrange future grave disturbance
## Timeline & Events
**Evening after Edgar Linton's funeral:**
- Nelly and Catherine sit in the library discussing their future
- They hope Catherine can remain at the Grange during young Linton's lifetime
- A discarded servant announces Heathcliff's arrival
- Heathcliff enters without ceremony, dismisses the servant
**Heathcliff's demands:**
- He insists Catherine come to Wuthering Heights to care for young Linton
- Reveals he punished young Linton "the day before yesterday" by simply placing him in a chair and staring at him for two hours
- States he's seeking a tenant for the Grange and wants his "children" around him
**Heathcliff's revelation about the grave:**
- Yesterday: Heathcliff had the sexton remove earth from Catherine Earnshaw's coffin and opened it
- He struck one side loose (not Edgar's side) and arranged for future grave disturbance
- This was 18 years after her death
**Flashback - The night of Catherine Earnshaw's burial:**
- Heavy snowfall occurred
- Heathcliff went to churchyard in evening with spade
- Began digging but heard sighs and felt Catherine's presence
- Stopped digging, refilled grave, returned home
- Found door fastened, fought with "accursed Earnshaw" and his wife
- Searched his and Catherine's room desperately
**18 years of torment described:**
- Continuous sense of Catherine's presence but inability to see her
- Constant expectation of meeting her everywhere
- Inability to sleep in their former shared chamber
- Nightly opening and closing eyes hoping to see her
**Departure:**
- Catherine prepares to leave
- Heathcliff takes Mrs. Linton's portrait
- They walk to Heights together, Catherine's arm forced under his
- Nelly watches from window as they disappear into the tree-lined alley
## Key Facts
- The same room where Heathcliff was received "as a guest, eighteen years before"
- Same moon shining through window, same autumn landscape
- Portraits on library wall: Mrs. Linton (splendid head) and her husband (graceful)
- Heathcliff is heavier by "a stone or two" than 18 years ago
- Young Linton is physically very weak ("such a cobweb")
- Catherine Earnshaw's face in coffin appeared unchanged ("it is hers yet")
- The coffin side struck loose was not Edgar's side
- Heathcliff has "strong faith in ghosts" and conviction they exist among us
- Catherine's lips felt "like ice" when she kissed Nelly goodbye
- No ponies needed at Wuthering Heights for Catherine's future journeys
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
- **18 years ago:** Heathcliff was last received as guest at the Grange, Catherine Earnshaw died
- **18 years:** Duration of Heathcliff's torment and obsession with Catherine's ghost
- **The day before yesterday:** When Heathcliff punished young Linton (two days before this scene)
- **Yesterday:** When Heathcliff opened Catherine's coffin
- **Two hours:** Duration Heathcliff stared at young Linton as punishment
## Unexplained Changes
- Heathcliff now owns Thrushcross Grange (he is "master" and seeking a tenant)
- Heathcliff's physical appearance largely unchanged despite 18-year gap
- Some servants at the Grange are "discarded ones, not yet departed"
## Plot Developments
**New threads introduced:**
- Catherine must now live at Wuthering Heights under Heathcliff's control
- The question of what will become of Nelly and the Grange
**Existing threads advanced:**
- Heathcliff's supernatural obsession with Catherine Earnshaw reaches new level with grave disturbance
- Young Linton's physical and mental deterioration under his father's psychological torture
- Power dynamics shift as Heathcliff now controls both properties
**Threads complicated:**
- Catherine torn between protecting young Linton and escaping Heathcliff's control
- Nelly's future uncertain as beloved mistress is taken away
## Foreshadowing & Setups
- **The portrait:** Heathcliff taking Mrs. Linton's portrait suggests continued obsession will play out at the Heights
- **Grave arrangements:** Heathcliff's plan to have his coffin placed next to Catherine's and Edgar's removed sets up his own death scene
- **Catherine's icy lips:** Physical detail suggesting her own decline or supernatural influence
- **Young Linton's condition:** His extreme weakness and nightmares suggest he may not survive long
- **Heathcliff's "pacification":** His claim to be "pacified—a little" after seeing Catherine's corpse suggests his obsession may be reaching resolution
- **The tree-concealed alley:** Their disappearance into concealment symbolically suggests Catherine's entrapment
**Key quotes for future reference:**
- "I'll have it made so: and then by the time Linton gets to us he'll not know which is which!" (about grave arrangements)
- "It was a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths, to beguile me with the spectre of a hope through eighteen years!"
- "Now, since I've seen her, I'm pacified—a little"