Wuthering Heights Characters: Full List & Analysis

Who drives the story

Main characters

Heathcliff

A Liverpool foundling of unknown origins, taken in and favored by Mr. Earnshaw, then degraded by Hindley. His love for Catherine curdles into a lifelong revenge that consumes both families—and finally himself, starving in her old room.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Night the Ghost Knocked; Part 2: The Orphan and the Lady; Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: Love as possession; Revenge and its inheritance; Nature versus culture; Class and status; The unreliability of the tellers

Catherine Earnshaw

Wild, self-centered, and torn between the moors with Heathcliff and the gentility Edgar offers. She marries for status, breaks herself refusing food when Heathcliff returns, and dies after giving birth to Cathy.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Night the Ghost Knocked; Part 2: The Orphan and the Lady; Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: Love as possession; Nature versus culture; Class and status; The unreliability of the tellers

Edgar Linton

The civilized master of Thrushcross Grange who wins Catherine and dotes on her and their daughter. His gentleness cannot shield his property or his family from Heathcliff's schemes.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Orphan and the Lady; Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: Love as possession; Revenge and its inheritance; Nature versus culture

Nelly Dean

Housekeeper to both houses and the novel's chief storyteller, confidante to Catherine, Heathcliff, and Isabella alike. She shapes everything Lockwood—and you—hear, and ends as housekeeper at Wuthering Heights.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Night the Ghost Knocked; Part 2: The Orphan and the Lady; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: The unreliability of the tellers

Isabella Linton

Edgar's sheltered sister, infatuated with Heathcliff against all warnings. Her elopement becomes an imprisonment and abuse; she escapes south and dies bearing their sickly son, Linton.

Appears in:: Part 2: The Orphan and the Lady; Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning
Themes:: Love as possession; Revenge and its inheritance

Hindley Earnshaw

Catherine's brother, who brutalizes Heathcliff as a boy and drinks and gambles away the estate as a man. He dies six months after Catherine, his son's inheritance mortgaged to his enemy.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Night the Ghost Knocked; Part 2: The Orphan and the Lady; Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning
Themes:: Revenge and its inheritance

Hareton Earnshaw

Hindley's son, raised illiterate and servant-like in his own house, taught vulgarities by Heathcliff as a weapon against Hindley. Cathy's apology and reading lessons turn him from brute to bridegroom.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Night the Ghost Knocked; Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: Revenge and its inheritance; Nature versus culture

Cathy Linton

Daughter of Catherine and Edgar—her father's looks, her mother's fire without the cruelty. Abducted and forced to marry Linton, she survives widowhood, confronts Heathcliff, and reclaims both houses.

Appears in:: Part 3: The Return and the Reckoning; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: Revenge and its inheritance; Nature versus culture

Lockwood

The naive tenant whose disastrous night at the Heights opens the book. He is the frame around Nelly's tale, returning eight months later to witness the ending.

Appears in:: Part 1: The Night the Ghost Knocked; Part 4: The Second Generation and the Quiet Earth
Themes:: The unreliability of the tellers

Also in the story

Supporting characters

Linton Heathcliff

Heathcliff's sickly son by Isabella, pulled between his father's tyranny and Cathy's kindness. He helps her escape to her father's deathbed, defying Heathcliff, and dies soon after.

How they are connected

Key relationships

Heathcliff Hindley Earnshaw
Earnshaw, then degraded by Hindley.
Heathcliff Catherine Earnshaw
His love for Catherine curdles into a lifelong revenge that consumes both families—and finally himself, starving in her old room.
Catherine Earnshaw Edgar Linton
Wild, self-centered, and torn between the moors with Heathcliff and the gentility Edgar offers.
Catherine Earnshaw Cathy Linton
She marries for status, breaks herself refusing food when Heathcliff returns, and dies after giving birth to Cathy.
Edgar Linton Heathcliff
His gentleness cannot shield his property or his family from Heathcliff's schemes.
Nelly Dean Heathcliff
Housekeeper to both houses and the novel's chief storyteller, confidante to Catherine, Heathcliff, and Isabella alike.
Nelly Dean Catherine Earnshaw
Housekeeper to both houses and the novel's chief storyteller, confidante to Catherine, Heathcliff, and Isabella alike.
Nelly Dean Isabella Linton
Housekeeper to both houses and the novel's chief storyteller, confidante to Catherine, Heathcliff, and Isabella alike.
Nelly Dean Lockwood
She shapes everything Lockwood—and you—hear, and ends as housekeeper at Wuthering Heights.
Isabella Linton Heathcliff
Edgar's sheltered sister, infatuated with Heathcliff against all warnings.
Isabella Linton Edgar Linton
Edgar's sheltered sister, infatuated with Heathcliff against all warnings.
Hindley Earnshaw Catherine Earnshaw
Catherine's brother, who brutalizes Heathcliff as a boy and drinks and gambles away the estate as a man.

Go deeper

Wuthering Heights themes & symbols

Love as possession · Revenge and its inheritance · Nature versus culture · Class and status

Themes explained

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The full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.

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