Wuthering Heights characters

Heathcliff

Also known as gipsy, the gipsy brat, Mr. Heathcliff

The dark foundling brought as a child to Wuthering Heights by old Mr. Earnshaw; passionate lover of Catherine Earnshaw and the brooding master who seizes both the Heights and Thrushcross Grange in revenge. Father of Linton Heathcliff.

As drawn: A dark-skinned, black-haired man with deep-set black eyes withdrawing under heavy brows; erect, handsome, athletic figure carried with a morose, reserved air; dressed as a country gentleman though rather slovenly. As a foundling child he was a dirty, ragged, black-haired boy of ambiguous, gipsy-like aspect.

Bonds:CatherineDoomed loversIsabellaAbusive spousesHaretonAbusive guardianEarnshawFoster father and son

Catherine Earnshaw

Also known as Cathy, Miss Cathy, Catherine Linton, Mrs. Linton

The wild, headstrong daughter of Mr. Earnshaw and sister of Hindley (the elder Catherine of the first generation); soulmate of Heathcliff who marries Edgar Linton and dies giving birth to her daughter Catherine.

As drawn: A slender, beautiful young woman with dark hair and the Earnshaws' handsome dark eyes; spirited and imperious in bearing, capable of both great charm and fierce, stormy temper.

Bonds:HeathcliffDoomed loversEdgarHusband and wifeHindleySiblingsCatherineMother and daughter

Catherine Linton

Also known as Cathy, Catherine, Miss Linton, Catherine Heathcliff

The daughter of Edgar Linton and the elder Catherine (the younger Catherine of the second generation); coerced into marrying her cousin Linton Heathcliff, and at last drawn to Hareton Earnshaw.

As drawn: A real beauty combining the Earnshaws' handsome dark eyes with the Lintons' fair skin and small delicate features, and yellow, light curling hair; high-spirited yet tender, her black eyes flashing when roused.

Bonds:LintonCoerced spousesHaretonCousins and loversCatherineMother and daughterEdgarFather and daughter

Edgar Linton

Also known as Mr. Linton, the master, Mr. Edgar

The gentle, refined master of Thrushcross Grange who marries the elder Catherine; brother of Isabella and father of the younger Catherine.

As drawn: A soft-featured, graceful gentleman with long light hair curling slightly at the temples, large serious blue eyes, and an even forehead; pensive, amiable, and mild in expression.

Bonds:CatherineHusband and wifeCatherineFather and daughterIsabellaSiblings

Hindley Earnshaw

Also known as Hindley, Mr. Earnshaw, young Earnshaw, the master

Catherine's elder brother and heir of Wuthering Heights, who degrades Heathcliff into a servant and ruins himself with drink and grief after his wife's death; father of Hareton.

As drawn: Once active and healthy, grown in manhood sparer and pale, haggard and dissipated, with a violent, dishevelled aspect deepened by drink and despair.

Bonds:CatherineSiblingsHaretonFather and son

Hareton Earnshaw

Also known as Hareton, Earnshaw

The son of Hindley Earnshaw, robbed of his birthright and kept ignorant by Heathcliff; a rough but good-natured young man who is eventually loved by the younger Catherine.

As drawn: A handsome, powerfully built young rustic with thick, rough brown curls, whiskers encroaching bearishly over his cheeks, and hands embrowned like a common labourer's; his bearing free and almost haughty despite shabby dress.

Bonds:CatherineCousins and loversHeathcliffAbusive guardianHindleyFather and son

Isabella Linton

Also known as Isabella, Miss Linton, Mrs. Heathcliff

Edgar Linton's younger sister who elopes with Heathcliff and becomes his ill-used wife, then flees south to bear his son Linton Heathcliff.

As drawn: A slight, delicate young woman with fair Linton skin and light hair; refined and girlish, later worn and distressed by her marriage.

Bonds:HeathcliffAbusive spousesEdgarSiblingsLintonMother and son

Linton Heathcliff

Also known as Linton, young Linton

The frail son of Heathcliff and Isabella Linton, raised at the Grange then claimed by his father, who forces his marriage to the younger Catherine.

As drawn: A pale, delicate, effeminate and sickly boy with fair light colouring, strongly resembling his uncle Edgar Linton but marked by a fretful, peevish sickliness Edgar never had.

Bonds:CatherineCoerced spousesHeathcliffFather and sonIsabellaMother and son

Ellen Dean

Also known as Nelly, Mrs. Dean, Ellen

The housekeeper who serves both Earnshaw and Linton families across two generations and narrates most of the story to Mr. Lockwood.

As drawn: A hardy, healthy countrywoman of middle age, matronly and plainly dressed, with the sensible, steady bearing of a long-serving housekeeper.

Mr. Lockwood

Also known as Lockwood

The genteel outsider who rents Thrushcross Grange from Heathcliff and, intrigued by the household, prompts Nelly Dean to tell him the family's history; the frame narrator.

As drawn: A fashionably dressed gentleman from the busy world, reserved in manner and somewhat delicate in constitution.

Joseph

Also known as Joseph

The old, fanatically religious manservant of Wuthering Heights who serves the household across the generations, sour and censorious toward everyone.

As drawn: An elderly, very old but hale and sinewy man with a peevish, sour face, given to muttering pious complaints; dressed in plain rustic working clothes.

Mr. Earnshaw

Also known as the old master, old Earnshaw

The master of Wuthering Heights at the story's start, father of Hindley and the elder Catherine, who brings the orphan Heathcliff home from Liverpool.

As drawn: An ageing, stalwart Yorkshire farmer, kind-hearted but grown grievously irritable and failing in strength in his final illness.

Bonds:HeathcliffFoster father and son

Frances Earnshaw

Also known as Frances, the mistress

Hindley Earnshaw's giddy young wife, brought home unexpectedly after old Earnshaw's funeral; mother of Hareton, she dies of consumption soon after his birth.

As drawn: A thin but youthful woman with a fresh complexion and eyes sparkling as bright as diamonds; nervous and easily startled, breathing quickly and coughing from consumption.

Zillah

Also known as Zillah

The stout housekeeper installed at Wuthering Heights during Heathcliff's later years, an indifferent servant of the household.

As drawn: A stout, brisk servant-woman, seen donned in a scarlet shawl and black silk bonnet with a willow basket on her arm.