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.

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.

Bonds:HeathcliffDoomed loversEdgarHusband and wifeHindleySiblingsCathyMother 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.

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.

Bonds:CatherineHusband and wifeCathyFather 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.

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.

Bonds:CathyCousins 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.

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.

Bonds:CathyCoerced 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Zillah

Also known as Zillah

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