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Wuthering Heights
IN THE LATE WINTER MONTHS OF 1801 a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange.
Lockwood asks his housekeeper,Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of Heathcliff and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights.
Nelly remembers her childhood.
As a young girl, she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner of the manor, Mr. Earnshaw, and his family.
One day, Mr. Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy.
The Earnshaw children, a boy named Hindley and his younger sister Catherine, detest the dark-skinned Heathcliff.
But Catherine quickly comes to love him.
Mr. Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff to his own son.
Mr. Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college.
Three years later, Mr. Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights.
He returns to France with a wife.
Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields.
Heathcliff continues his close relationship with Catherine.
One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange, Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced to stay at the Grange to recuperate.
Mrs. Linton works to make her a proper young lady.
By the time Catherine returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar Linton.
Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton.
Hindley descends into the depths of alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff.
Catherine’s desire for social advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton.
Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three years.
When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who have wronged him.
Having come into a vast and mysterious wealth.
He deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley,
knowing that Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency.
When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the manor.
He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton.
Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter, and dies.
Heathcliff begs her spirit to remain on Earth.
Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff’s son, named Linton.
Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherine’s daughter’s nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange.
Young Catherine grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering Heights.
One day, wandering through the moors, she meets Hareton and plays together with him.
Soon afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff.
Heathcliff hopes that if Catherine marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange.
Soon after the marriage
Edgar dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton.
Heathcliff now controls both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
Nelly’s story ends as she reaches the present.
Lockwood, appalled, ends his tenancy at Thrushcross Grange and returns to London.
Six months later, he pays a visit to Nelly, and learns of further developments in the story.
Catherine grows to love Hareton as they live together at Wuthering Heights.
Heathcliff becomes more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine.
Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies.
Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff.