Wuthering Heights Illuminator post 4 Derrick Truax
Okay, completely forgot to to this until Kody Bell mentioned it to me at hockey. So, there are two quotes I found that I thought would be worthy of mentioning. My first quote is in chapter 15 when Heathcliff comes to visit Catherine right before she dies.
“Well might Catherine deem that heaven would be a land of exile to her, unless with her mortal body she cast away her mortal character also.” I wasn’t completely sure what to make of this quote, but it seemed to mean that Catherine probably thought that heaven would be exile unless she completely through away who she was. Do you think this has to do with her being apart from Heathcliff? What do you make of this?
The second quote I thought i should mention is in chapter 16 after Heathcliff finds that Catherine is dead.
“He dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears.” This struck me as creepy and insane. If Heathcliff loved Catherine so much, how could he bear to be away from her for several years? This reaction also struck me as odd because I’m pretty sure most people would just cry, not slam their head into a tree and howl.
Category: Per 1 WH Illum 3 comments »
March 8th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Okay, for the first quote, I can agree that Catherine wouldn’t want to be stuck forever in heaven with the new personality she developed. The way she was before is obviously who she wants to be, because she likes the life she had with Heathcliff far better than the way she is with Edgar, and we can see that when Heathcliff visits and she gets giddy earlier in the book.
The second, one thing I have to say, if you were completely in love with someone, and you find out they died, you might do a little bit more than cry. This isn’t a really good connection, but in movies, people die inside when they find out the love of their lives passed away. They cry, yell, seclude themselves from others, even stop eating and sleeping.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
What I made of this was that maybe she does’nt want to be in heaven becuase then she would be seperated from Mr. Heathcliff becuase this whole book was about there love but they didn’t want to love each other, but then when they get together Catherine has to go and die. Awesome.
Well if you spent a long time trying to get a girl you love deep within your “loins” then I am pretty sure smashing your face into a tree would release some anger and sadness. Is there a point in living if you just lost your true love??forever????? I thought that quote was pretty beast and man-ly
March 8th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Sorry this is after 8. I checked earlier and didn’t see Derrick’s post at 5 tonight. Anyway, I am not sure that this quote has anything to do with Catherine’s separation from Heathcliff, but rather her own faults. Perhaps the author is trying to say that even though her physical body is gone, she must get rid of the actions she performed while in that body.
I agree that this quote is slightly creepy, for this is not a normal action taken by a sane person. It is indeed Heathcliff’s fault that he left Catherine and the actions he has taken should be blamed on him not anyone else. I think that he did not marry Catherine because he was scared of Earnshaw. I also think that he had the potential of receiving more money if marrying Isabella.
-Megan Douglas