Younger Catherine’s father, Edgar Linton, had named her daughter the same name as her mother purposely, in hopes of maintaining a tie with the elder Catherine. Edgar half- heartedly hoped to find the elder Catherine in the newborn Catherine, an indication that the elder generation sought for a cyclic pattern to carry on. Younger Catherine continued to grow more alike to her mother; she was beautiful, lively yet Nelly noted that differences existed between the mother and daughter.
“A real beauty in face, with the Earnshaw’s handsome dark eyes, but the Lintons’ fair skin, and small features, and yellow curling hair. Her spirit was high, though not rough, and qualified by a heart sensitive and lively to excess in its affections. The capacity for intense attachments reminded me of her mother: still she did not resemble her; for she could be soft and mild as a dove, and she had a gentle voice and pensive expression: her anger was never furious; her love never fierce: it was deep and tender.” (137)
Younger Catherine was tender and did not express her emotions as passionately as her mother. Nevertheless younger Catherine’s capacity for intense attachments matched her mother’s. After Catherine had met Linton at Wuthering Heights she became affixed to him, and was immediately upset upon the fact that her father banned further visits to the Heights. Younger Catherine confessed to Nelly, “I’m not crying for myself, Ellen, it’s for him. He expected to see me again tomorrow, and there, he’ll be so disappointed: and he’ll wait for me, and I shan’t come!” (163) Catherine attained the affectionate heart of her mother’s and her courteousness, loyal nature from her father’s. The younger Catherine obtained the best qualities of her parents. Bronte suggested that an individual’s temperament could be refined through reincarnation. The younger generation had more pleasant character traits in which supported the continuance of interaction with one’s partner.
Catherine partnered with Hareton Earnshaw, the son of Hindley Earnshaw at the end of Wuthering Heights, whom she had detested then learned to love. Nelly described Hareton, “With Hareton the resemblance is carried farther: it is singular, at all times – then it was particularly striking: because his senses were alert, and his mental faculties wakened to unwonted activity.” Hareton’s physical, mental resemblance, and his blood tie with Hindley encouraged Heathcliff to bring revenge upon Hareton. Heathcliff could not tolerate the way Hindley lowly treated Heathcliff in the past. As a result, Heathcliff punished Hareton in the same fashion,
“Hareton, who should now be the first gentleman in the neighborhood, was reduced to a state of complete dependence on his father’s inveterate enemy; and lives in his own house as a servant, deprived of the advantage of wages, and quite unable to right himself, because of his friendlessness, and his ignorance that he has been wronged.” (137)
Heathcliff’s scheme brought Hareton up in a hazardous environment where Hareton was not given the chance to be educated, and led to the development of his boorish characteristics. Catherine disdained Hareton’s illiteracy at first, and continuously mocked Hareton,
“He’s just like a dog, is he not, Ellen? She once observed, ‘or a cart-horse? He does his work, eats his food, and sleeps, eternally! What a blank, dreary mind he must have! Do you ever dream, Hareton? And if you do, what is it about? But you can’t speak to me!’” (225)
As Catherine spent more time in the Heights, she regretted taunting Hareton. Young Catherine tried to make amendments, who offered to teach Hareton to read and surprisingly “impressed on his cheek a gentle kiss”. (229) Hareton was stunned by Catherine’s actions, “he trembled, and his face glowed: all his rudeness and all his surly harshness had deserted him” (229) The realization of the infatuation they held for each other brought out their gentle sides. Nelly observed that Hareton became more appealing after he spent some time learning to read with Catherine.
“His honest, warm, and intelligent nature shook off rapidly the clouds of ignorance and degradation in which it had been bred; and Catherine’s sincere commendations acted as a spur to his industry. His brightening mind brightened his features, and added spirit and nobility to their aspect: I could hardly fancy it the same individual I had beheld on the day I discovered my little lady at Wuthering Heights, after her expedition to the Crags.” (234)
Catherine had given guidance to Hareton in which assisted her partner to display his companionable, amiable side that made him a better person. The fact that they did not hold any grudges, and learned to forgive other’s faults was another factor that prompted their successful relationship.
The union between younger Catherine and Hareton brought the two thresholds together. The couple is not perfect, “Earnshaw was not to be civilized with a wish; and my young lady was no philosopher, and no paragon of patience; but both their minds tending to the same point – one loving and desiring to esteem, and the other loving and desiring to be esteemed – they contrived in the end to reach it.” (229) The refined character traits and the ability to forgive were the reasons that caused the younger generation to achieve reconciliation that the elder generation had struggled for. Heathcliff said, “And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!” (136) In response to Heathcliff’s words, one tree did not grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it. One tree learned to improve its qualities that aided one tree to step out of the twisted cycle its parents faced.
Work Sited Page
- Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ware: Wordsworth Editions, 1992. Print.
