Chapter nine is an important chapter, a pivotal point. Discuss why, focusing particularly on the significance of the conversation between Cathy and Nelly.

She does admit that she loves Heathcliff, "… how I love him…” but she knows that she cannot not marry him. She understands that she must marry a rich and respected man, which is what Edgar Linton is, and not Heathcliff. She says it would "degrade" her to marry Heathcliff. This is the last part of the conversation Heathcliff overhears, and leaves Wuthering Heights for what the reader thinks at this point to be forever, knowing that he will never have Cathy. What the reader may be confused by is why Nelly, who knew Heathcliff was listening, did not interrupt Cathy to tell her what he had just heard. However, was this a dramatic device used by Bronte in order to get the protestation of love from Cathy?

Cathy also describes the differences between herself and the two men with an interesting quote: "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightening, or frost from fire." She is just describing here how different she sees herself and Edgar.  She believes that her and Heathcliff are one together. She means a similar thing as to the soul reference when she says, "I am Heathcliff!" Cathy simply means that they are so much alike that they could not possibly have so much love for anyone else. It is something that she mentions on many occasions, including "He's always, always in my mind: not as pleasure… but as my own being." She is a part of Heathcliff.

Although Catherine loves Heathcliff, she also loves Edgar at the same time - she merely loves them in different ways. This is shown by the quote: "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary." She means here that she loves Edgar now, for her own reasons, but she knows that the reasons are merely temporary, and it is very likely that one day she will no longer feel the same way. It is only because she lives for the present that she chooses to marry him. The word "change" may actually be used in the physical sense, as she says, "winter changes the trees". Perhaps here she means that she loves him because he is handsome, and, over time, old age will set in and he will no longer be handsome. The way she loves Heathcliff is for much more solid reasons, one that can never change It is nothing do with his physical appearance, which she even admits herself when she says "… I love him… not because he's handsome…". Instead of trees, as she uses to describe her love for Edgar, she uses rocks. Rocks are strong, unchanging, and ubiquitous; it feels literally solid as a rock. She re-enforces this with the word "eternal", meaning everlasting, and ongoing. "Eternal" is a very powerful word, often bringing connotations of their love continuing after death, when they are souls together. The two are completely different, however. The trees are visible; because her love for Edgar is the love she lets people see. She says the rocks are "beneath" and "of little visible delight" because her love for Heathcliff must be hidden, as she knows she can never be with him.

After hearing all these declarations from Cathy, we find it hard to understand why she would want to marry Edgar. This is purely down to social hierarchy. Cathy earlier spoke of how it would degrade herself to marry Heathcliff, because he has no house, and no name for his own, unlike Edgar Linton. When Cathy marries Edgar, she immediately becomes one of the gentry.

Cathy realises that she cannot marry Heathcliff, but still confesses her love for him all the same. Chapter nine is a pivotal point because if the circumstances had been even slightly different, we would have a completely different novel. Heathcliff may not have run away, which would have meant Cathy would most certainly have caught a fever whilst out looking for him. The passion between Cathy and Heathcliff remains rooted in their hearts, impervious to external contingencies. The text consistently treats the love between Catherine and Heathcliff as an incontestable fact of nature. Nothing can alter or lessen it, and they know this. Heathcliff and Catherine know that no matter how they hurt each other, they can be sure of never losing their shared passion and ultimate mutual loyalty. Catherine can decide to marry Edgar, certain that this outward act will have no effect on her and Heathcliff's inner feelings for one another. Similarly, it is in the knowledge of their passion's durability that Heathcliff later undertakes his cruel revenge.