Romero 1

Natalie Romero
Dr. Geriguis
Feminisms Rough Draft
12 June 2013
Bront's Cleopatra:
An Feminist Analysis of Catherine Earnshaw, Wild Child
IntroductionThe Cleopatra Model
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety." William Shakespeare
The role of females in fiction, as well as their roles in real life, has been a topic of debate,
strife, and struggle since the earliest days of storytelling. Since Biblical times, women have been
tread upon by patriarchal societies, who so often cited the Judeo-Christian tale of creation
(specifically the Fall) as reasoning for why women are inferior to men. Thanks to Eve's infamous
decision, millions of women were shoved into metaphorical identity boxes, constrained within
two main archetypal capacitiesthe angel or the harlot1. Although we typically think of the
angel/harlot labels as being a product of Victorian society, they have their roots far back in
history.
The first strains of blossoming feminism were reactions to religious strongholds, and
were argued within "a religious framework, and in religious terms" (Walters 6). The Christian
world, dominated by men, was ruled by the Bible, written by men. Although there is no shortage
of female characters in the Bible, they always seem to fall into roles set by a patriarchal society
some, under the shade of "powerfully negative scriptural images" (Walters 9). Eve, Jezebel,
There are other female archetypes as well, but they all seem to fall into subcategories under angel or harlot: the
mother is a positive, somewhat neutral figure that fits under "angel", while the other negative roles of femme fatal or
lunatic fit under the equally negative "harlot" or fallen woman.
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Bathsheba, and Delilah are portrayed as treacherous, untrustworthy women, who use power and
sexuality to sway or betray their male counterparts. Some, like Bathsheba and Jezebel, are linked
to more than merely the downfall of a manassociations with murder mar their names as well.
Meanwhile, Mary the mother of Jesus, Hannah, and Esther are humble, obedient, and subservient
to the will of men. They are shown to be loyal to God, their families, and are willing to sacrifice
for the Lord. There is also a third category of women who began their lot in life as "harlots" but
who are able to successfully transform into "angels", thereby securing happy futures, the reward
of a male GodRahab, Mary Magdalene, and Ruth2 are the three most common examples. It is
interesting to note that the women who fall under the harlot archetype are also linked to some
type of authority, self assertion, passion, and for some, sexual freedom. These attributes have
been typically coded as masculine traits; somewhere along the line, it was decided that these
were unfeminine characteristics. Women assuming or utilizing male characteristics are therefore
"harlots", in temperament and thought, if not in action.
Perhaps the most famous historical example of a powerful woman who embraced these
so-called masculine traits is that of Cleopatra. The only female of the Macedonian Ptolemaic line
to rule Egypt, she reigned as Queen for twenty-two years before her death in 30 B.C. Practically
since the moment of her infamous demise by asp bite, she has been depicted as the harlot
archetype. A powerful woman3 was a dangerous woman in the eyes of the Romans, who were
coincidentally the first to write her history. These males historians not only viewed her as a
threat, but as a deceiver and "enslaver" of two of the most powerful men in the Roman world:
2

Although Ruth was not an "evil" character before her "conversion", she previously belonged to a different culture
and religion. Her good fortune does not come about until she dedicates herself to her Hebrew mother-in-law, Naomi,
and to Naomi's God.
Euripides, who wrote several hundred years prior to Cleopatra, even said that "clever women...were
dangerous" (Schiff 4).
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Julius Caesar and his protg Mark Antony. Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra: A Life (2010)
explains that in that day and age, the very fact that Cleopatra had intimate relationships with
these men (who did her bidding)
made the situation a "zero-sum game:
a woman's authority spelled a man's
deception" (4). Her enemy, Augustus,
painted her to his subjects in Rome as
"insatiable, treacherous, bloodthirsty,
power-crazed": a "tabloid version" of
herself (Schiff 6). These images
attached themselves to the name of
Cleopatra with an enduring zeal, and
for years poets, writers, and scholars
believed them wholeheartedly.
Although research from the
20th and 21st centuries indicates that
This famous depiction, Cleopatra and Caesar (1886) by Jean-Lon
Grme, illustrates
the supposed
seduction of Julius
by the young
queen, portraying her as half-naked and alluring. Schiff deduces
that their initial meeting was nothing like this.

Cleopatra was not only an intelligent

ruler and an astute politician, but

remarkably well-behaved for an offspring of the murderous, incestuous Ptolemy dynasty,

examining the way she was remembered in history provides us with what can be termed the
"Cleopatra model4." An expansion on the harlot archetype, the Cleopatra model describes strong,

A category of my own making, after observing the remarkable similarities between Cathy and Cleopatra.

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passionate women who have not been allowed to achieve happiness or longevity unless they
succumb to their male superiorsbe it God or their husbandsthereby transforming into the
angel archetype. If they retain their natural, assertive personalities, refusing to be tamed, they fall
under the Cleopatra model: they eventually cause the ruination of a family or the downfall of a
man. Emily Bront's retaliation against these set roles for females in fiction is the character of
Catherine Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights (1847). In Cathy, Bront weaves a complex woman
who is rebellious, headstrong, and who embodies traditionally male traits.
This essay will analyze the character of Catherine Earnshaw through first and third wave
feminist lenses by 1) tracing her unorthodox use of power and will throughout her childhood, 2)
examining her relationship to her effeminate husband Edgar Linton, and 3) assessing the affects
her life and death have on Heathcliff, Edgar, and Wuthering Heights itself. Although Cathy's life
follows the Cleopatra model, ending in her death and the eventual collapse of the men who dared
to love her, it is imagined by Bront in a revolutionary way. Much like the heroine of Kate
Chopin's The Awakening (1899), which would be written 51 years after Bront's death, Cathy
has limited choices as a female character. Because she is a headstrong, impulsive, feisty, spirited,
and forceful woman, involved in such turbulent relationships, there aren't many happy endings
that could have been written for her in a Victorian setting unless she changed her personality. Just
as Chopin's Edna Pontellier must die in a symbolic manner, Cathy must die before half the story
is even told; even so, her character continues to haunt and permeate the remainder of the book
both through the actions of her daughter and namesake, as well as in the anguished mind of
Heathcliff. I would imagine that writing Cathy's end was a small price to pay in order for Bront
to release such a strong-willed female character to the English masses.

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Cathy's Childhood
"Why canst though not always be a good lass, Cathy?" And she turned her face up to his, and
laughed, and answered, "Why cannot you always be a good man, father?" Emily Bront
The audience first meets Catherine Earnshaw in a 1771 setting, when gender roles and
expectations for women were very nearly set in stone, even for young children. "It was believed
that a woman's gentler nature better suited her to piety and charity"; a woman should be pure,
keep solace in her home, and above all, be stable (Fortin). Cathy is none of these things, not even
as a stereotypical "innocent child." In fact, a great deal of Cathy's character can be best seen by
analyzing passages during which she is still a childmany of the descriptions from chapters 4
and 5 are foreshadowing the kind of person that Cathy will grow up to be; or at the very least, the
kind of person her male dominated society (made up primarily of her father, her brother,
Heathcliff, and her husband) believe her to be.
Children in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were often considered to be miniature
adultsyoung girls in particular were held to high expectations, being molded into traditional
young women who would make good wives. Although this may seem odd to twenty-first century
readers, Jacquelyn Rogers, who has studied children's roles as portrayed through contemporary
illustrations, writes that when engaging with nineteenth century literature, readers ought to:
Consider the popular early depictions of the child as a small adult. Even as late as
the first quarter of the nineteenth century, children wore scaled-down versions of
the clothes worn by their elders, with boys in tricorner hats and girls in crinolines;
all depending on the adult fashions of the time... The child had no childhood as
we understand that period of development today. Clothing, work, responsibilities,

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and attitudes of children mimicked the adults. The sooner the child became an
adult, or appeared to become an adult, the better. (Rogers 41, 42)
Being "good" entailed cultivating a level of domesticity and culture, and eliminating passions or
wild behavior. Perhaps the best, most succinct, explanation can be found in Jane Eyre, by
Emily's sister Charlotte Bront: young Jane is constantly punished and shunned by her aunt, Mrs.
Reed, for being deceitful. When Jane finally confronts her caretaker about being wrongly
accused of ill-doings, Mrs. Reed calmly replies, "But you are passionate, Jane" (Bront 77). It
isn't hard to deduce that passion is an unacceptable emotion for a woman to have, found
offensive and undesirable, even in a child.
Not only were women and children the property of men, but the mixture of a patriarchal
society, patriarchal religion, and patriarchal science had prescribed distinct gender differences
believed to be inherent: "Men, as the stronger sex, were thought to be intelligent, courageous,
and determined. Women, on the other hand, were more governed by their emotions, and their
virtues were expected to be chastity, modesty, compassion, and piety" ("Gender in the
Proceedings"). Women were supposed to be passive, and any "tendency to be ruled by their
bodies and their emotions, notably lust, excessive passion, shrewishness, and laziness" was a
fault and a sin. Passion, this objectionable and dangerous emotion, strongly rules over the
characters of both Cathy and Heathcliff throughout Wuthering Heights, and it is what partially
sets Cathy aside as a wild, somewhat "masculine" person, blurring gender lines throughout the
story.
The first impression the reader gets of the child Cathy is in chapter 4, when her father
asks her and her brother Hindley what they would like as gifts from Liverpool. Hindley requests

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a fiddle, while the six-year-old Cathy asks for a horse whip. While it was not uncommon for
women to be skilled equestrians, it is an odd demand for such a young girl to make. Whips are
tools of force and strength, symbolic of inflicted pain by one individual upon other another, be
they human or animal. Nelly Dean recalls to Mr. Lockwood that despite being so little, Cathy
"could ride any horse in the stable" (Bront 29). At this incredibly early point in the complex
narrative, Cathy already shows aptitude and determination in a difficult discipline; horseback
riding requires commitment, a kind of passion and eagerness typically coded as masculine that
continues throughout Cathy's lifetime. She is also drawn to a device meant to exact violence,
which would have been viewed as male-oriented. This imagery immediately feeds into the small
details that follow.
In chapter 5, Nelly Dean does not hold back in relating Cathy's childhood personality.
Showcasing manners certainly considered most unladylike, Cathy is constantly mischievous,
putting everyone "past [their] patience fifty times and oftener in a day" (Bronte 33). She talks
and laughs excessively, "singing...and plaguing everybody who would not do the same" (Bronte
33). Nelly even mentions that Cathy makes people cry, although she does not say who is subject
to tears (my guess is that Nelly is referring to herself, as she and Cathy were practically raised
together, eating at the same table and playing as companions). Cathy often acts "the little
mistress," but not in such a way that one might think she were mimicking a lady of the house
instead, she uses "her hands freely" and commands her companions with "slapping and
ordering" (Bronte 33), a reference back to the chapter 4 picture of a six-year-old wanting to
wield a riding crop or horse whip.

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In addition to the abuse of her playmates, Cathy openly defies her father with "naughty
delight", behaves as "badly as possible all day", turns Joseph the servant's "religious curses into
ridicule" (Bronte 34), and even goads and taunts the other servants (including Nelly). In fact,
Nelly believes that young Cathy is most happy when she does exactly what her father hates most:
...showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more
power over Heathcliff than his kindness; how the boy would do her bidding
in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination. (Bronte 34)
Mr. Earnshaw, in despair over his daughter, says "Cathy, I cannot love thee." While at first this
makes Cathy cry, she becomes "repulsed" and "hardened" (Bronte 34) by her father's words,
even laughing in ridicule when Nelly advises that she apologize to him. It is almost as though
Cathy can see through her father's attempt to use his approval (or lack of approval in this case)
as a method of controlling his childrenonce she realizes his ruse, she is disgusted by it. Her
mature understanding of ulterior motives, cleverness, penchant for childish violence, and
recalcitrance toward her father all foreshadow her actions as an adult. Mr. Earnshaw has lost his
role over Heathcliff; he has been usurped by his own daughter. This points directly to how Cathy
will later usurp her husband's role as head of the household when she is a grown woman.
During her childhood and adolescence, Cathy's domineering over Heathcliff, the "gipsy
brat" (Bronte 29), is very much indicative of their layered, elaborate relationship. There is
something in her, even as a "mischievous...wayward" (Bronte 30), "wild, wicked slip" (Bronte
33), that captivates Heathcliff and will soon become an all-absorbing aspect of his future. Not
only is their bond an odd mixture of friendship, obsession, sibling rivalry, and sexual attraction,
but there are underlying currents of gender and class issues as well. Heathcliff is automatically

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lower class because he is an orphan, darker skinned, and most likely of gypsy heritage. To some
degree, Cathy would hold sway over him because she is higher than him on the social scale.
However, he has been
brought into her father's
house as an equal to the
children, to sleep in Cathy
and Hindley's room with
them, given the same
privileges as them, and is
later officially christened
Heathcliff, which was "the
name of a son who had

Heathcliff and Cathy as portrayed by Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in the
1939 Hollywood production.

died in childhood" (Bronte 30). Mr. Earnshaw "took to Heathcliff strangely," despite the
protestations of his wife, "believing all he said...and petting him up far above Cathy, who was
too mischievous and wayward for a favorite" (Bronte 30). This being said, were Cathy a more
feminine character who fit into Victorian gender roles, Heathcliff would have held authority over
her instead of the other way around. The fact that she controls the majority of his actions and
decisions from their childhood to their adulthood speaks volumes about the strength of her
character.
Who "Wears the Pants"?Edgar and Cathy's Role Reversal
The issue of class arrises again when Cathy and Heathcliff are of marrying age. Even
though Cathy is strong-willed and authoritarian, she is still subject to her society. If she does not

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marry well, things could end badlylike the plot of a Jane Austen novel, she must take finances
and social status into account when choosing a husband. She loves Heathcliff, but chooses his
rival for her affections, their neighbor Edgar Linton. Heathcliff was lowered to the status of a
servant by Hindley after their father died, and Cathy is hyper-cognizant of his lack of fortune.
"Did it never strike you," she asks Nelly, "that if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars?
Whereas, if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's
power" (Bront 64). Although not directly addressed, her premarital dilemmas show echoes of
first-wave feminism; although Cathy belongs to the middle or upper middle class, she has
received a limited education, one of the main grievances in Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of
the Rights of Women (1792). As a result of restricted education opportunities and strict laws
regarding rights and land ownership, a single woman did not have many options prior to the
Married Women's Property Act, passed in 1882 (UK Legislation). Cathy cannot remain single;
Cathy cannot marry a penniless gypsy servant; Cathy's choice is inevitably to integrate herself
into the Linton family, even if it means legally giving up her belongings and her identity to her
husband.
Despite her choice, readers typically focus on the tumultuous relationship between Cathy
and Heathcliff and often overlook Edgar. In chapter 10, however, Bront weaves Edgar into the
narrative in such a way that he cannot be ignored. At the beginning of the chapter, the reader is
informed that Cathy has calmed down significantly since her childhood and adolescence with
Heathcliff. Cathy, who at this point in the novel has been consistently wild and defiant, behaves
relatively well at Thrushcross Grange, the Linton family home. Nelly Dean observes that the
heroine acts "infinitely better than I dared to expect" (Bronte 90). In comparison to the well-

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brought up Edgar and his sister Isabella, Cathy is still unrestrained; however, her conduct is
vastly improved. Edgar and Isabella dote upon her every whim, "the honeysuckles embracing the
thorn" (Bronte 90).
The imagery of the honeysuckle and the thorn continues the thread of foreshadowing.
Bront is conveying the opposite impression of typical gender roles through this botanical and
sexual metaphor. The honeysuckle flower holds several symbolic meanings; besides being coded
as feminine, it has stood for devotion, intense love, sex, passion, and the promise of true love.
These feminine attributes are being given to Edgar and Isabella, whereas Cathy is the thorn.
Thorns represent pain and sacrifice, and can be viewed as a phallic symbol. Thorns penetrate the
skin of the unsuspecting plucker of the rose, causing discomfort, surprise, and often times an
issue of blood. This subtle description of the male anatomy would have been an obvious analogy
to contemporary readers. Through this clever allusion, Bront is setting the stage, so to speak, for
the scene that will follow. The reader is already aware of what Cathy was like as a child. The
reader also knows that Edgar is prone to more effeminate emotions, as evidenced in several
scenes where he is "sobbing" (Bront 46). The metaphor of the flower and its vicious counterpart
serve to enforce these ideas.
The ever-watchful Nelly Dean infers that the newlyweds are beginning to fall in love, "in
possession of deep and growing happiness" (Bronte 90). But with two words, Bronte cuts their
happiness short. "It ended" (Bronte 91) with the return of Heathcliff, who has been gone for
three years with no word. Although Cathy has always been stronger in both character and
resilience than her new husband, it is during the following two scenes that their role reversal
seems to officially take place. The patriarchal mantle of command and fortitude shifts to Cathy in

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a split secondwhereas before she was a wild, passionate child who "was never happier than
when she was defying us with her bold, saucy look and her ready words" (Bronte 42), she will
now absorb the stereotypical masculine qualities of a master of the house.
At first, Cathy attempts to share her elation over Heathcliff's return with Edgar. She
ecstatically embraces him and tells him the good news. Edgar, however, never having liked or
tolerated Heathcliff, is displeased by her announcement. When Cathy mentions that she wants
Heathcliff to come up to the parlor, Edgar is repulsed, suggesting the kitchen as a "more suitable
place for him" (Bronte 93). He is, of course, referring to Heathcliff's suspicious status as an
abandoned gypsy child (and possibly illegitimate offspring of Cathy's father) and role as a
servant under Hindley's command of Wuthering Heights; Heathcliff was often shunned by Edgar
for his darker hair and skin and social status, not to mention his volatile temper and mannerisms.
But Cathy will not submit to her husband's wishes. Instead, she calmly turns to Nelly
Dean and says: "Set
two tables here...one
for your Master and
Miss Isabella, being
gentry; the other for
Heathcliff and myself,
being of lower orders."
Turning to Edgar, she
asks, "Does that please
In this image from the 1939 film, Edgar is place symbolically at Cathy's feet, while
Heathcliff is level/equal with her.

you, dear?" (Bronte 75)

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13
Although seemingly bending to Edgar's will with a compromise, she is mocking him by doing
exactly as she pleases. Her tone and actions, "half angry, half laughing" (Bronte 75), pose a
direct challenge to her husband.
Cathy moves to fetch Heathcliff from downstairs, but Edgar stops her, in his final act
as master of Thrushcross Grange. "...Catherine, try to be glad, without being absurd. The whole
household need not witness the sight of your welcoming a runaway servant as a brother" (Bronte
75). At this moment, as Mrs. Dean goes to find Heathcliff, the reader is left to wonder at Cathy's
response to Edgar's command. Because she stays in the parlor, one can only assume that
whatever her rebuttal, she has gained the power she wished, and is ignoring Edgar's command in
her own passive/aggressive way. Dinner is carried out according to Cathy's orders, and Edgar
may not even realize that he has lost authority over the house and all its occupants. Not only does
Nelly Dean choose to obey Cathy, but Edgar has lost control over his own wife. A nineteenth
century wife belonged to her husband in every way, very nearly a possession who should follow
commands. Cathy's behavior is in direct opposition to this traditional role.
Edgar attempts to regain control of the situation once or twice, but to no avail.
Catherine, after trying to make the men shake hands, seats herself nearest Heathcliff. They stare
unabashedly at each other,
"confidently, [with] undisguised delight...They were much too absorbed in
their mutual joy to suffer embarrassment. Not so Mr. Edgar: he grew pale
with pure annoyance: a feeling that reached its climax when his lady rose,
and stepping across the rug, seized Heathcliff's hands again, and laughed like
one beside herself." (Bronte 94)

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Later, in the middle of the night, Cathy wakes Nelly, unable to sleep because of her
happiness. She confides in Mrs. Dean what has just occurred between her and Edgar,
unknowingly confirming their role reversal; the words she chooses to describe Edgar's reaction
to Heathcliff are stereotypically feminine, inferring that Edgar is more sensitive and womanly
than she, filling the role of wife as she now fills the role of Master.
"Edgar is sulky," she tells Nelly, "because I'm glad of a thing that does not
interest him: he refuses to open his mouth, except to utter pettish, silly
speeches; and he affirmed I was cruel and selfish for wishing to talk when he
was so sick and sleepy. He always contrives to be sick at the least cross! I
gave a few sentences of commendation to Heathcliff, and he, either for a
headache or a pang of envy, began to cry..." (Bronte 96)
The emasculated Edgar has lost the respect of the reader; as previously mentioned, men were
supposed to be stronger and more intelligent, and not governed or swayed by emotion. But Edgar
has fallen into a pit of emotion, resorting to sulking like a child, saying "pettish, silly" things,
pretending to be sick in order to sway Cathy, and crying. In a typical setting, this would have
been Cathy's role, and not her husbands.
Despite all this, Edgar still loves Cathy, and is terrified of losing her. Being emasculated
in the eyes of a Victorian audience does not necessarily diminish his worth to a twenty-first
century audience. Because modern, third-wave feminism deals more with gender studies and the
fluidity of all gender roles as opposed to women's rights, current readers are able to understand
that it is perfectly all right for Cathy to be spirited and "masculine" and for Edgar to be sensitive
and "feminine". This does not make him a bad husbandalthough Cathy can never love him the

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way she loves Heathcliff, Edgar tries his best to make her happy and provide for her every need.
Cathy may hold the power and the passion in the relationship, but Edgar still plays an important
role. In the midst of their chances at happiness being totally disrupted, and their relationship
collapsing into emotional and physical confrontations, Edgar still tries to make things work. One
can't help but wonder if the downfall of Edgar and Cathy is actually because of Heathcliff's
return, or if it is due to their gradual role reversal. Is Cathy, as a strong, passionate woman, the
ruination of this family unit?
The Downfall of Edgar, Heathcliff, and Wuthering Heights
Cathy, Heathcliff, and Edgar continue to play the power struggle game throughout the
next several chapters. Heathcliff marries Edgar's sister Isabella, almost in an act of defiance
toward Cathy. Throughout these troubles, Cathy refuses to give up her power. Even when she has
been through illness and is near the point of death during her first and only pregnancy, she
remains resilient. Like her predecessor, Cleopatra, she never lets moments of weakness show.
Even in instances of calm and quiet, Cathy's powerful personality still controls the household of
Thrushcross Grange. The reader gets the feeling that Cathy will allow her ill health to take over
when she deems necessaryin her one motherly instinct, she takes control of her pregnancy in a
nearly supernatural way, typical of Gothic literature. Cathy refuses her own death, knowing that
it would kill her child as well. She perseveres5 until little Catherine is born, and then, "two hours
after...[dies]...having never recovered sufficient consciousness to miss Heathcliff, or know
Edgar" (Bront 128).

Cleopatra, too, holds out as long as she can during the conquest of Egypt by the Romansshe then chooses to kill
herself, executing her own judgement rather than be a slave to her conquerors.
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Cathy's death causes an abrupt shift in the novel. At first, it seems as though the story
cannot continuethe feisty, dynamic, and unafraid heroine is dead, a seven-month old baby
taking her name and her place. Instead, the plot progresses with ferocity. Cathy's passing affects
the lives of the remaining characters drastically, paralleling the Cleopatra model even further
the mental states of the men who loved her change; essentially, their downfall is a direct reaction
to her death, and is therefore her fault.
Edgar is distraught after his wife's demise, and holds unnecessary anger toward his infant
child, believing that her birth caused Cathy to die. "An unwelcomed infant it was, poor thing! It
might have wailed out of life, and nobody cared a morsel, during those first hours of
existence" (Bront 128). Eventually he learns to love her, becoming possessive and
overprotective, educating her himself instead of giving her over to a tutor, and refusing to let her
leave Thrushcross Grange. In fact, young Catherine "had not once been beyond the range of the
park by herself. Mr. Linton would take her with him a mile or so outside...but he trusted her to no
one else" (Bront 146). Because he could not control Cathy, he attempts to control his daughter
as best as he can, isolating her and keeping her from knowing that Heathcliff, her uncle6, lives
across the moor at Wuthering Heights. To a certain degree, one could argue that Cathy's absence
causes Edgar to adopt more masculine qualities.
Heathcliff's character undergoes major changes after Cathy's death as well. He has
always been sullen and moody, full of forceful quietness (and in some ways, these traits are
deepened by his sadness), but is now subject to sudden, unexpected bursts of frenzy and emotion.
While his love for Cathy was passionate and strange, he is far more angry, ardent, and fiery after
In the complicated, convoluted family tree, Heathcliff is young Cathy's uncle twice overonce because he was
technically Mr. Earnshaw's adopted (and/or illegitimate) son, and therefore Cathy's brother. And twice, because he
married Catherine's aunt Isabella, and is her uncle by marriage.
6

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her deathwhen Nelly Dean brings him the news of Cathy's end, he explodes into one of the
best known prose monologues in history:
"May she wake in torment!" he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his
foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. "Why, she's a
liar to the end!Where is she? Not therenot in heavennot perishedwhere?
Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayerI
repeat it till my tongue stiffensCatherine Earnshaw, my you not rest, as long as
I am living! You said I killed youhaunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their
murderers, I believeI know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me
alwaystake any formdrive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where
I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I
cannot live without my soul!" (Bront 130)
Like Edgar, Heathcliff turns to obsession, but of a different kind. He is preoccupied with the idea
of Cathy's ghost until his death at the end of the novel. The idea of her never leaves him; in fact,
his conditional madness worsens when he finally meets his niece, Catherine, who is nearly the
image of his deceased love. Cathy continues to hold power over both Edgar and Heathcliff from
the grave, through the character of her daughter, and through her enduring influence. Cathy's
absence is as strong as her presence, a testament to her wild nature and all-encompassing
strength.
Even her childhood home of Wuthering Heights seems to feel her absence. Heathcliff
eventually gains control of the property, but it does not flourish under his touch. Instead, it
begins to decay, as though nature is reacting to Cathy's death. The house was built strong to

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withstand the "atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in story weather" (Bront 4),
but is becoming a shadow of its previous self. Heathcliff hardly employs any servants; there are
not enough of them for the upkeep of the place. Even the trees are "stunted" and the house is
covered in "gaunt thorns" (Bront 4), symbolic of the absence of life. While the house may be
filled with living, breathing occupants, it is missing the vivacity and spirit of a woman like
Cathy.
Although many people are drawn to this book for the romantic and Gothic elements,
reading it with a feminist perspective can add to one's understanding of the text. Although Emily
Bront never addressed feminism directly, she obviously had a subtle motivesin Cathy, she
created a woman who was unafraid in the face of the patriarchy, who was passionate and
vivacious, and unapologetic for it. Although Bront had to cover Cathy with the veil of the harlot
archetype, have her die half-way through the novel, have her be responsible for the downfalls of
Edgar, Heathcliff, and Wuthering Heights, and even adopt a male pen-name to sell the text to a
publisher, I believe that it was all done with a hidden agenda in mind. To the majority of
contemporary readers, this was a tragic love story by a man named Ellis Bell in which the
headstrong harlot who has tricked two men into loving her dies after a rough pregnancy and even
rougher childbirth, the curse bestowed on women thanks to Eve's sin. But to those clever enough
to read the story for what it truly is, Cathy is a landmark character, attempting to escape her
prescribed gender role. Cathy's personality is naturally self-assertive, sharp, and competentshe
embodies traditionally male traits, paving the way for hundreds of powerful female characters.
Bront's Cleopatra is a beacon of realistic blurred gender lines, reminding readers that life is
often more grey than the black and white of our past.

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Works Cited
Bront, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2005. Nook digital file.
Bront, Emily. Wuthering Heights. A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Richard J. Dunn. W. W Norton
& Company, Inc.: New York, 2002. Print.
Fortin, Elaine. "Early Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Women and Their Roles as
Represented By Literature Popular in Worcester, Massachusetts." TeachUSHistory.org.
<http://www.teachushistory.org/detocqueville-visit-united-states/articles/early-19thcentury-attitudes-toward-women-their-roles>.
"Gender in the Proceedings." The Proceedings of the Old Bailey.
<http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Gender.jsp>.
Gerome, Jean-Leon. Cleopatra and Caesar. 1886. WikiPaintings: Visual Art Encyclopedia.
<http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/jean-leon-gerome/cleopatra-and-caesar>.
"Married Women's Property Act 1882." UK Legislation. The National Archives.
<http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/45-46/75>.
Rogers, Jacquelyn. "Picturing the Child in Nineteenth Century Literature: The Artist, the Child,
and a Changing Society." Children and Libraries. Winter 2008.
<http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/awardsgrants/profawards/bechtel/
v6n1.pdf>.
Schiff, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. Little, Brown and Company: New York, 2010. Print.
Walters, Margaret. Feminism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press: New York,
2005. Print.
"What is the Meaning of the Honeysuckle Flower?" GardenGuides.com.

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<http://www.gardenguides.com/128653-meaning-honeysuckle-flower.html>.