Wuthering Heights · Chapter
XVI explained
Catherine Earnshaw dies shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Catherine Linton.
What happens
Catherine Earnshaw dies shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Catherine Linton. Edgar Linton is devastated. Heathcliff, learning of her death, is consumed by grief and rage, begging her ghost to haunt him. Nelly Dean facilitates Heathcliff's final visit to Catherine's corpse, where he replaces a lock of her hair with his own. Catherine is buried on a green slope in the kirk-yard, not in the Linton or Earnshaw family tombs.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Destruction
Heathcliff's love for Catherine becomes a destructive force, driving him to rage and despair upon her death, and he begs her to haunt him rather than leave him.
Supernatural and the Ghostly
Heathcliff's plea for Catherine's ghost to haunt him and his belief that ghosts wander the earth highlight the supernatural elements of the chapter.
Isolation and Alienation
Catherine's burial apart from her family tombs and Heathcliff's solitary grief underscore themes of isolation and alienation.
Characters to notice
- Catherine Earnshaw
Dies two hours after giving birth to her daughter; her corpse is described as peaceful and beautiful.
- Heathcliff
Grieves violently upon learning of Catherine's death, begs her ghost to haunt him, and secretly visits her corpse to replace a lock of her hair with his own.
- Edgar Linton
Deeply sorrowful after Catherine's death; becomes a sleepless guardian of her coffin.
- Nelly Dean
Narrates the events, opens a window for Heathcliff to see Catherine's corpse, and reflects on the peace of death.
- Catherine Linton
Born prematurely as a puny, seven-months' child; her mother dies shortly after her birth.
Key passages
“About twelve o’clock that night was born the Catherine you saw at Wuthering Heights: a puny, seven-months’ child; and two hours after the mother died, having never recovered sufficient consciousness to miss Heathcliff, or know Edgar.”
Around midnight, Catherine Linton was born prematurely, and her mother died two hours later without regaining awareness of her surroundings.
Nelly Dean recounts the birth and death to Lockwood.
“May she wake in torment! ... Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then!”
Heathcliff curses Catherine, wishing her soul to be restless and to haunt him forever.
Heathcliff's anguished reaction to Catherine's death.
“I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
Heathcliff declares that Catherine is his very life and soul, and he cannot exist without her.
Heathcliff's expression of utter dependence on Catherine.