## Characters
**Nelly Dean (Ellen)**
- Role: Present narrator, servant at Wuthering Heights, acting as nursemaid
- Physical details: None specified
- Personality: Observant, sometimes spiteful ("relished mortifying her vanity now and then"), practical, loyal but critical
- Key actions: Nurses baby Hareton, witnesses conflicts, hides Hareton from drunk Hindley, removes shot from gun
- Relationships: Foster-sister to Hindley, caretaker of Hareton
**Frances Earnshaw**
- Role: Dies in this chapter after giving birth
- Physical details: Described as having consumption
- Personality: Gay-hearted, optimistic until death ("gay heart never failed her")
- Key actions: Gives birth to son Hareton, dies from consumption
- Relationships: Hindley's wife, Hareton's mother
**Hareton Earnshaw**
- Role: Newborn, present in scenes
- Physical details: "The finest lad that ever breathed," "such a beauty"
- Personality: Infant
- Key actions: Born, cries when Catherine shakes him, follows Nelly everywhere
- Relationships: Son of Hindley and Frances, last of ancient Earnshaw stock, cared for by Nelly
**Hindley Earnshaw**
- Role: Present in scenes, master of Wuthering Heights
- Physical details: None new specified
- Personality: In denial about wife's illness, becomes desperate and tyrannical after her death, drinks heavily
- Key actions: Refuses to accept Frances is dying, becomes "reckless" after her death, comes home "rabid drunk"
- Relationships: Husband to Frances (deceased), father to Hareton, foster-brother to Nelly
**Catherine Earnshaw**
- Role: Present in scenes
- Physical details: "At fifteen she was the queen of the country-side," no physical details given
- Personality: "Haughty, headstrong creature," proud, violent (slaps Nelly and Edgar), passionate, adopts "double character"
- Key actions: Maintains relationships with both Heathcliff and Edgar, strikes Nelly and Edgar, becomes lovers with Edgar
- Relationships: Has "wondrous constancy" to Heathcliff, becoming lovers with Edgar Linton
**Heathcliff**
- Role: Present in scenes
- Physical details: "Without having bad features, or being deficient in intellect, he contrived to convey an impression of inward and outward repulsiveness," "acquired a slouching gait and ignoble look"
- Personality: "Savage sullenness and ferocity," takes "grim pleasure...in exciting aversion," jealous of Edgar
- Key actions: Marks calendar tracking Catherine's time with Lintons vs. him, argues with Catherine
- Relationships: Constant companion to Catherine, antagonistic toward Edgar
**Edgar Linton**
- Role: Present in scenes, visiting Catherine
- Physical details: Portrait described as "soft-featured face...long light hair curled slightly on the temples; the eyes were large and serious; the figure almost too graceful," "sweet, low manner of speaking"
- Personality: Gentle, shocked by violence, "wanted spirit in general"
- Key actions: Visits Catherine, gets slapped by her, becomes her lover
- Relationships: Brother to Isabella, becomes Catherine's lover, "late master" (Nelly's former employer)
**Dr. Kenneth**
- Role: Mentioned, attended Frances's birth and death
- Actions: Delivered prognosis that Frances would die, declared medicines useless
**Joseph**
- Role: Mentioned as remaining servant
- Actions: Loading lime at Penistone Crags, stays to "hector over tenants and labourers"
**Isabella Linton**
- Role: Mentioned
- Relationship: Edgar's sister, admires Catherine
## Timeline & Events
**June (fine day)** - Frances Earnshaw gives birth to son Hareton while workers are in hay field. Doctor Kenneth tells Hindley that Frances has consumption and will die before winter.
**Following week** - Frances maintains good spirits despite illness. Hindley denies she's ill.
**One night** - Frances dies suddenly while leaning on Hindley's shoulder, after saying she thought she could get up tomorrow.
**Period after Frances's death** - Hindley becomes tyrannical and drinks heavily. Most servants leave except Nelly and Joseph. Heathcliff grows more savage and sullen.
**Specific afternoon** - Hindley goes away from home. Heathcliff decides to take holiday. Catherine expects Edgar's visit and dresses up. Heathcliff shows her the almanac marking her time with Lintons vs. him. They argue. Edgar arrives and witnesses Catherine slap Nelly, then Catherine slaps Edgar. Edgar tries to leave but returns. While they reconcile, Hindley comes home drunk. Edgar leaves and Catherine goes to her chamber.
## Key Facts
- Hareton is "the last of the ancient Earnshaw stock"
- Frances had consumption "these many months" before giving birth
- The house is called Wuthering Heights
- Catherine is fifteen years old
- Heathcliff has reached "the age of sixteen"
- There's an almanac on the wall where Heathcliff marks Catherine's time with different people
- Edgar's portrait hangs over the fireplace (his wife's portrait has been removed)
- Joseph is loading lime on "the further side of Penistone Crags"
- Hindley keeps a fowling-piece that he plays with when drunk
- The curate stopped visiting due to the house's reputation
## Ages, Dates & Arithmetic
- **Catherine**: Fifteen years old in this chapter
- **Heathcliff**: Sixteen years old ("He had reached the age of sixteen then, I think")
- **Frances**: Dies within a week of giving birth
- **Timeline**: Birth occurs on "morning of a fine June day"
- **Edgar's visits**: Catherine has maintained acquaintance with Lintons since her "five-weeks' residence among them" (referenced from earlier)
## Unexplained Changes
- **Heathcliff's deterioration**: Significant personality and physical decline since childhood - "lost the benefit of his early education," developed "slouching gait and ignoble look," became morose and antisocial. This decline is explained by hard labor and loss of status after old Mr. Earnshaw's death.
## Plot Developments
**New threads introduced:**
- Hareton's birth creates new character and inheritance question
- Edgar and Catherine's romantic relationship officially begins
- Frances's death removes stabilizing influence
**Existing threads advanced:**
- Catherine torn between two worlds (Lintons vs. Heathcliff) reaches crisis point
- Heathcliff's degradation continues and deepens
- Hindley's drinking and tyranny escalate after wife's death
**Threads complicated:**
- Catherine's "double character" creates internal conflict
- Edgar witnesses Catherine's violent nature but still pursues her
- Heathcliff becomes more isolated and resentful
## Foreshadowing & Setups
- **Hareton as "last of ancient Earnshaw stock"** - emphasizes his importance to family legacy
- **Hindley's fowling-piece** - Nelly removes shot "that he might do less mischief if he did go the length of firing the gun," suggesting future violence
- **Catherine's violent nature revealed to Edgar** - "There will be no saving him: he's doomed, and flies to his fate!"
- **Heathcliff's growing resentment** - his tracking of Catherine's time and increasing isolation suggests future conflict
- **Edgar's portrait with missing wife's portrait** - hints at tragic end to Edgar's marriage
**Key quote on Catherine's dual nature:** "She imposed unwittingly on the old lady and gentleman by her ingenious cordiality...and led her to adopt a double character without exactly intending to deceive any one."