## Characters
**Catherine "Cathy" Earnshaw**
- Role: Central character, returning from 5-week stay at Thrushcross Grange
- Physical details: Brown ringlets, wearing a feathered beaver hat, long cloth habit, grand plaid silk frock, white trousers, burnished shoes, fingers "wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying indoors"
- Personality: Much improved manners, more dignified, concerned about her appearance, torn between old and new worlds
- Key actions: Returns from Grange transformed, initially laughs at Heathcliff's appearance, later shows distress over the conflict, secretly visits Heathcliff in garret
- Relationships: Close friendship with Heathcliff (strained), sister to Hindley, has become acquainted with Edgar and Isabella Linton
**Heathcliff**
- Role: Central character, Catherine's childhood friend
- Physical details: Thick uncombed hair, dirty face and hands, clothes worn for three months in mire and dust, "ten times more" careless and uncared for since Catherine's absence, younger than Edgar but taller and twice as broad across shoulders, has "two lines between his eyes," thick brows that "sink in the middle," "black fiends" for eyes that "lurk glinting under them"
- Personality: Proud, ashamed, violent-tempered, plotting revenge against Hindley
- Key actions: Hides when Catherine returns, refuses to shake hands, storms out, throws hot apple sauce at Edgar Linton, confined to garret as punishment, plots revenge against Hindley
- Relationships: Devoted to Catherine, despised by Hindley, sees Edgar as rival, cared for by Ellen
**Hindley Earnshaw**
- Role: Master of Wuthering Heights, Catherine's brother
- Actions: Welcomes Catherine back, enjoys humiliating Heathcliff, calls him "forbidding young blackguard," confines Heathcliff to garret, threatens violence
- Relationships: Brother to Catherine, husband to Frances, master over Heathcliff
**Frances Earnshaw**
- Role: Hindley's wife, mistress of Wuthering Heights
- Actions: Comments on Catherine's transformation, helps remove Catherine's riding clothes
- Relationships: Wife to Hindley, sister-in-law to Catherine
**Edgar Linton**
- Role: Young gentleman visitor from Thrushcross Grange
- Physical details: Great blue eyes, even forehead, light hair, fair skin, well-dressed, described as handsome but delicate
- Actions: Makes innocent comment about Heathcliff's long hair, gets hot apple sauce thrown at him, cries and uses cambric handkerchief
- Relationships: Brother to Isabella, becomes Catherine's social peer
**Isabella Linton**
- Role: Young lady visitor, Edgar's sister
- Actions: Arrives for Christmas visit, cries and wants to go home after the apple sauce incident, participates in evening dance
- Relationships: Sister to Edgar, daughter of Mrs. Linton
**Ellen "Nelly" Dean**
- Role: Narrator and housekeeper
- Actions: Observes events, tries to help and counsel Heathcliff, serves at dinner, arranges secret meeting between Catherine and Heathcliff
- Relationships: Servant to the family, confidante to characters
**Joseph**
- Role: Servant at Wuthering Heights
- Actions: Disapproves of Christmas music as "next door to songs," retires for private prayer, eats "unsociable meal" with Ellen
- Relationships: Fellow servant with Ellen
**Mrs. Linton** (mentioned)
- Role: Mother of Edgar and Isabella
- Actions: Insisted her children be kept away from "that naughty swearing boy" (Heathcliff)
**Mr. Earnshaw** (mentioned, deceased)
- Role: Former master, Catherine and Hindley's father
- Mentioned in Ellen's memories of past Christmases and his fondness for Heathcliff
## Timeline & Events
**Time Reference**: Chapter covers Catherine's return at Christmas after a 5-week stay at Thrushcross Grange, with the narrative ending in "the summer of 1778, that is nearly twenty-three years ago" from the frame narrative perspective.
**Sequence of Events**:
1. Catherine returns from Thrushcross Grange on Christmas Eve, transformed into a lady
2. Heathcliff hides, ashamed of his dirty appearance
3. Catherine greets Heathcliff but laughs at his appearance, causing him to storm out
4. Ellen prepares Christmas festivities while Catherine prepares gifts for the Lintons
5. Christmas morning: Heathcliff asks Ellen to make him "decent"
6. Ellen attempts to boost Heathcliff's confidence while cleaning him up
7. The Linton children arrive for their visit
8. Heathcliff encounters Hindley, who orders him confined to the garret
9. Edgar makes an innocent comment about Heathcliff's hair
10. Heathcliff throws hot apple sauce at Edgar, gets confined and beaten
11. Christmas dinner proceeds with the Lintons while Heathcliff remains locked up
12. Evening dance with the Gimmerton band (15 musicians)
13. Catherine secretly visits Heathcliff in the garret via skylight
14. Ellen allows Heathcliff into kitchen briefly, where he reveals his revenge plans
## Key Facts
- Catherine stayed at Thrushcross Grange for exactly 5 weeks
- The Gimmerton band has 15 members: trumpet, trombone, clarionets, bassoons, French horns, bass viol, plus singers
- Heathcliff's clothes had "seen three months' service in mire and dust"
- The garret has a skylight that Catherine can crawl through
- Wuthering Heights has a library with books in Greek, Latin, and French
- Ellen Dean can read and has studied most books in the library except foreign languages
- The kitchen has silver mugs, a polished clock decorated with holly
- There are stables with a "new pony" and other beasts
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
**Explicit Date**: Summer of 1778 is mentioned as "nearly twenty-three years ago" from the frame narrative perspective, placing the frame story around 1801.
**Time References**:
- Catherine's 5-week absence at Thrushcross Grange
- Heathcliff's clothes worn for "three months"
- Ellen mentions "some three years" she wants to skip over
- Reference to old Mr. Earnshaw's past Christmas visits (undefined time ago)
**Age Implications**:
- Characters are described as children/young people
- Heathcliff is "younger" than Edgar but physically more developed
- Catherine and Heathcliff are of similar ages as childhood companions
## Unexplained Changes
**Catherine's Transformation**: In just 5 weeks, Catherine has completely changed from a "wild, hatless little savage" to a refined lady with improved manners and self-respect. The speed and completeness of this transformation is remarkable.
**Heathcliff's Deterioration**: Described as being "ten times more" careless and uncared for since Catherine's absence, suggesting rapid decline in just 5 weeks.
## Plot Developments
**New Threads**:
- Social class divide becomes explicit barrier between Catherine and Heathcliff
- Catherine's internal conflict between her refined new self and loyalty to Heathcliff
- Heathcliff's revenge plot against Hindley begins to form
**Existing Threads Advanced**:
- Catherine-Heathcliff relationship becomes strained by social differences
- Hindley's cruelty toward Heathcliff intensifies
**Threads Complicated**:
- Edgar Linton emerges as potential rival to Heathcliff for Catherine's affections
- Social expectations create barriers to Catherine and Heathcliff's friendship
## Foreshadowing & Setups
**Revenge Plot**: Heathcliff's declaration "I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!" sets up future conflict.
**Social Division**: The contrast between refined Edgar and rough Heathcliff, with Catherine caught between them, foreshadows future romantic triangle.
**Catherine's Internal Conflict**: Her secret visit to Heathcliff and emotional distress during dinner suggests her feelings remain unchanged despite her external transformation.
**Physical Description Setup**: Detailed description of Heathcliff's appearance and potential, Ellen's fantasy about his noble birth, suggests future development of his character and possibly his actual origins.
**Class Commentary**: The chapter establishes the central theme of how social class can divide natural companions and corrupt authentic relationships.