Wuthering Heights · Chapter
Chapter XXXII explained
Lockwood returns to Wuthering Heights and learns of Heathcliff's death from Nelly Dean.
What happens
Lockwood returns to Wuthering Heights and learns of Heathcliff's death from Nelly Dean. She recounts the final months: Catherine and Hareton's growing relationship, their lessons together, and the gradual softening of their enmity into affection. Joseph disapproves, but Nelly sees their union as the crown of her wishes.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Destruction
The destructive love of the past gives way to a redemptive, constructive love between Catherine and Hareton, symbolizing healing and hope.
Family and Generational Conflict
Joseph's resistance to the union represents the old generation's clash with the new, as Catherine and Hareton overcome inherited enmity.
Nature vs. Civilization
Catherine's civilizing influence on Hareton through reading and manners contrasts with the wild, untamed moors and Joseph's rustic traditionalism.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Lockwood
Returns to Wuthering Heights, hears the conclusion of Heathcliff's story, and observes the new harmony between Catherine and Hareton.
- Nelly Dean
Now living at Wuthering Heights, she narrates the events after Heathcliff's death and facilitates Catherine and Hareton's relationship.
- Catherine Linton
Grows restless after Heathcliff's death but gradually forms a bond with Hareton, teaching him to read and eventually becoming his friend and ally.
- Hareton Earnshaw
Learns to read under Catherine's tutelage, overcomes his sullenness, and develops a tender affection for her.
- Joseph
Disapproves of the growing intimacy between Catherine and Hareton, grumbling about the loss of proper order and the influence of 'witchcraft.'
- Heathcliff
Reported dead three months prior; his death is the catalyst for the changed atmosphere at Wuthering Heights.
Key passages
“He had a 'queer' end, as she expressed it.”
Nelly described Heathcliff's death as strange and unusual.
Nelly's understated remark hints at the mysterious and supernatural circumstances surrounding Heathcliff's demise.
“The crown of all my wishes will be the union of those two. I shall envy no one on their wedding day: there won't be a happier woman than myself in England!”
Nelly declares that her greatest desire is for Catherine and Hareton to marry, and she will be overjoyed when that day comes.
Nelly's hopeful conclusion underscores the theme of reconciliation and the promise of a peaceful future.