Wuthering Heights

“But Mr. Heathcliff forms a singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gypsy in aspect, in dress and manners, a gentleman.”

Lockwood’s first impressions of Heathcliff’s physical appearance reflect Heathcliff’s outsider status. Then and now, the word “gypsy”has a negative connotation, suggesting an individual without a permanent home or a nomad. Heathcliff’s difficult history at Wuthering Heights, a home that never truly belonged to him in an emotional way, supports this interpretation. Later, in Chapter 7, Nelly recalls Heathcliff’s youthful wish for fair hair and blue eyes, which functions as evidence of his own awareness of his being an “other.”

“‘Poor Heathcliff! Hindley calls him a vagabond, and won’t let him sit with us, nor eat with us anymore; and, he says, he and I must not play together, and threatens to turn him out of the house if we break his orders.’”

Catherine Earnshaw laments her older brother Hindley’s abusive treatment of Heathcliff. Hindley has long harbored feelings of jealousy towards Heathcliff, as his father, Mr. Earnshaw,showed great favor towards the foundling from the day he found Heathcliff wandering the streets of Liverpool. Catherine, Heathcliff’s friend and defender, is powerless to protect Heathcliff from her brother’s abuse.

“The intense horror of my nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, ‘Let me in—let me in!’”

While staying overnight at Wuthering Heights during a terrible snowstorm, Lockwood finds himself in Catherine Earnshaw’s old bedroom. He mistakes a tapping at the window for a branch blowing in the wind, and he screams in fright when he feels himself grasping a small hand outside the window. The ghost of Catherine Earnshaw has appeared to Lockwood, but he lacks a deeper understanding of the situation, so all he feels is terror.