Wuthering Heights · Question
What happens to the second generation?
Answer
Young Catherine Linton, Linton Heathcliff, and Hareton Earnshaw inherit the war. Heathcliff uses Linton to seize Thrushcross Grange and punishes Hareton into ignorance as a mirror of his own youth. Cathy is forced into a miserable marriage, then widowed into Heathcliff’s household.
The late chapters shift. After Heathcliff’s death, Cathy teaches Hareton and their bond softens the Heights. Lockwood finds a quieter scene than the one he first misread. Brontë allows repair without pretending the first generation’s passion was a model. Revenge-cycles end not by converting Heathcliff but by outliving him.
Evidence in the book
- XXI
Heathcliff’s designs on the younger Cathy and Linton take shape.
- Chapter XXXII
Lockwood returns to find Cathy and Hareton changed.
- XXXIV
Heathcliff dies; the household’s violence finally eases.