## Characters
**Mr. Heathcliff** - The master of Wuthering Heights
- Physical: Pale, trembling, bloodless hue, black long hair, deep black eyes, sharp white teeth, hollow cheeks, blood-shot eyes
- Present throughout most of chapter, dies at the end
- Exhibits strange behavior - excited, wild, glad expression contrasting with usual demeanor
- Stops eating for four days, wanders at night
- Shows signs of seeing/communicating with something invisible to others
- Found dead in the paneled bedroom with window open, rain-soaked
- Buried with only his surname "Heathcliff" on headstone
**Nelly Dean (narrator)** - The housekeeper
- Present throughout, tells the story to Mr. Lockwood
- Observes and cares for Heathcliff during his final days
- Discovers his body and arranges burial
- Mentions she tended him in infancy and watched him grow
**Catherine (Cathy)** - Hareton's cousin
- Present in early scenes, gathering primrose roots for garden
- Reports Heathcliff's strange cheerful demeanor
- Draws away from Heathcliff in fear during his final days
- Plans to marry Hareton on New Year's Day and move to Thrushcross Grange
**Hareton Earnshaw** - Catherine's cousin
- Has "perfectly recovered from his accident" (referenced from previous chapter)
- Helps Catherine with gardening
- Grieves most deeply at Heathcliff's death, sits by corpse all night weeping
- Plans to marry Catherine and move to Grange
- Described as "the most wronged" but having "a generous heart"
**Joseph** - Elderly servant
- Complains about Catherine's garden placement
- Refuses to help prepare Heathcliff's body after death
- Calls Heathcliff wicked, thanks God for his death
- Will remain to care for Wuthering Heights with a lad companion
- Claims to have seen ghostly apparitions of Heathcliff and a woman
**Mr. Kenneth** - The doctor
- Called to examine Heathcliff but refused entry
- Perplexed about cause of Heathcliff's death
- Nelly conceals the four-day fast from him
**Mr. Green** - Lawyer (mentioned)
- Heathcliff plans to send for him about legal matters and will
**Mr. Lockwood** - Visitor/listener to Nelly's story
- Present in final scene, leaves payment for Nelly
- Visits the churchyard and sees the three headstones
- Will presumably leave the area
**Edgar Linton** - Deceased (referenced)
- Has headstone in churchyard next to Heathcliff's
## Timeline & Events
**Time Setting:** April, pleasant spring weather
**Day 1:** Evening - Heathcliff goes out at night, doesn't return until morning
- Morning: Catherine reports seeing Heathcliff looking "almost bright and cheerful...very much excited, and wild, and glad"
- Noon: Heathcliff sits for dinner but abandons food, walks in garden
- Afternoon: Returns to eat but still appears agitated, requests to be left alone
- Evening (8 o'clock): Nelly brings supper and candle, sees his frightful appearance
- Night: Heathcliff goes to paneled bedroom
**Day 2:** Dawn - Nelly checks for footprints (finds none)
- Morning: Heathcliff gives farming directions to Joseph, stares at invisible object
- Afternoon: Asks for company, rejected by Nelly, approaches Catherine who draws away
- Evening: Goes to his chamber
**Day 3:** All night and into morning - Heathcliff groans and mutters
- Mr. Kenneth called but refused entry
- Evening: Heavy rain begins
**Day 4:** Dawn - Nelly discovers Heathcliff's body in paneled bedroom
- Rain has been pouring through open window all night
- Burial arrangements made
**Later:** Burial takes place in evening as Heathcliff requested
- Small attendance: Earnshaw, Nelly, sexton, six pallbearers
- Hareton places green sods over grave
**Present conversation:** Nelly tells Lockwood about upcoming marriage on New Year's Day
## Key Facts
- The house has dwarf apple trees near the southern wall
- The paneled bedroom has a window "wide enough for anybody to get through"
- Heathcliff's grave has only "Heathcliff" and death date on headstone (no surname, age unknown)
- Joseph will remain at Wuthering Heights with a lad companion
- Catherine and Hareton will move to Thrushcross Grange after marriage
- The church/kirk is showing decay after seven months - broken windows, loose slates
- Three headstones exist: Edgar Linton's (with turf/moss), Heathcliff's (still bare), and a middle grey one half-buried in heath
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
- Nelly mentions Heathcliff lived "a selfish, unchristian life" since age thirteen
- Catherine and Hareton plan to marry on "New Year's Day"
- Seven months have passed since some previous time (Lockwood's earlier visit)
- Heathcliff fasted for four days before death
- About a month before the telling, Nelly encountered a boy who saw ghostly figures
## Unexplained Changes
- Heathcliff's dramatic personality shift from his usual dark demeanor to appearing excited, wild, and glad
- His sudden inability to eat despite apparent hunger
- His fixation on something invisible to others
## Plot Developments
**New threads:**
- Mystery of what Heathcliff sees that others cannot
- Question of whether supernatural elements are real or imagined
**Threads advanced:**
- Heathcliff's deteriorating mental/physical state reaches climax
- Catherine and Hareton's relationship progresses to marriage plans
**Threads resolved:**
- Heathcliff's life and reign of terror ends with his death
- The property will transfer to the younger generation
## Foreshadowing & Setups
- Heathcliff's detailed burial instructions suggest premeditation
- His statement "I am within sight of my heaven...hardly three feet to sever me" foreshadows his death
- The mention of ghost sightings sets up supernatural ambiguity
- The description of the three headstones provides symbolic closure
**Key quotes:**
- "Last night I was on the threshold of hell. To-day, I am within sight of my heaven."
- "My soul's bliss kills my body, but does not satisfy itself."
- "I have nearly attained my heaven; and that of others is altogether unvalued and uncoveted by me."
The chapter serves as Heathcliff's death scene and the beginning of resolution for the novel's central conflicts.