characters

Heathcliff: Found, presumably orphaned, on the streets of Liverpool and taken to Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw and reluctantly cared for by the family. He and Catherine grew close.

Catherine Earnshaw: First introduced to the reader after her death, through Lockwood's discovery of her diary and carvings. She seems unsure whether she is—or wants to become—more like Heathcliff, or more like Edgar. It is as if she wants both, even perhaps cannot be fully herself without both, and yet society or human nature makes that impossible.

Edgar Linton: Introduced as a child in the Linton family, he resides at Thrushcross Grange. Edgar's style and manners are in sharp contrast to Heathcliff's, who instantly dislikes him, and Catherine, who is drawn to him. Catherine marries him instead of Heathcliff because of his higher social status, with disastrous results. From the perspective of feminist theory, this exemplifies the problems inherent in a social structure in which women can gain prestige and financial security only through marriage.

Nelly Dean: The main narrator of the novel, Nelly is a servant for all three generations of the Earnshaw and Linton families. In a sense, she straddles the "culture versus nature" divide. She is humbly born and has lived and worked amid the rough manners of Wuthering Heights, but is an educated woman who has experienced the more genteel manners of Thrushcross Grange.

between characters is a relationship over history, both hate relationships or affection shown so this

black line: son or daughter of; if dotted it means adoption
red line: wedding; if double it means second wedding
pink line: love
blue line: affection
green line: hate
light yellow area: plot driving characters
violet area: external observers