I am amazed at the complexitites of the character relations thus far in Wuthering Heights. From what i can tell the tale and the events surrounding wuthering heights seem to be very skewed through the different accounts from very different character bias'. So far Nelly seems to be the only truthful and reliable character, although their seems to be an air about her as well that as gone undected by me so far.
The most interesting character, or should I say the most conflicted character, in the story so far would be Mrs. Linton or Catherine. She is unbelievably selfish and childish in almost every scene she is in. She doesn't know what she wants yet still seems to be very protective over HeathCliff despite her marriage to Mr. Linton. At first i was indifferent about her character, but after reading further I have come to hate her. The way she throws her husband to the wolves(heathcliff) possibly in hopes of HeathCliff taking her as his own. That is the only conclusion I can draw; she seems still very much connected to him despite his evil being; most likely cause it ties so deeply with her inner evil, despite her ability to dress up and ultimately put on a cover to win over Mr. Linton. Mr. Linton seems to be very level headed and understanding of his wife's craziness but attempting to slightly befriend or at leat welcome HeathCliff into his home despite the knowledge he has of their previous relationship. When the reality of the situation should be and comes to be as Mr. Linton puts it on pg. 89, "This is insufferable!...It is disgraceful that she should own him for a friend, and force his company on me!......I have humoured her enough." He know's he has been wronged by his wife, and although I wish I were much further in the novel, he in my hopes will abondon the childish witch and see her for the same evils he see's within his adversary, Mr. HeathCliff. When Catherine is discussing her marriage to Linton earlier in the novel is goes to prove her arrogance and incompedence as a women. Also, it in my opinion foreshadowes the events coming between her wrongfully reasoned husband and true love; especially so when Catherine and Nelly are discussing when Nelly first states, "did it never strike you 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." Nelly replies on pg 64, "I think that's the worst motive you've given yet for being the wife of your Linton." Nelly seems to be, for the most part, level headed yet she still carries an obvious bias with her throughout her own accounts, where she continually and conveniently leaves out any part showing her own self in a bad light.
All of this conflict revolves around the estate of Wuthering Heights; how it is all connected i do not know. The appearance of the ghost earlier in the novel raises some huge questions about Catherine's existence as well as the accountability of Mr. Lockwood. The ghost appears to be real but he is in a half asleep state and cannot distinguish for himself. I am looking forward to discovering the ties between these convulted relationships.
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Green Eggs, so far these are excellent posts and I hope you continue demonstrating this capacity for analysis and close reading. While I agree with you about Catherine's flightiness, I'm wondering, though, if we should be so hard on her. Remember that she, too, is a product of her time and that Victorian readers would probably be extremely sympathetic towards her plight. As a woman in the nineteenth century with no rights and no independent wealth, she is absolutely not kidding when she says that if she chose to marry Heathcliff the both of them "should be beggars" (64). I think it's interesting that it is Nelly (a member of the lower class) that harbors such a sharp criticism towards Catherine's very genuine middle-upper class concerns. Could this be a class critique? Could it be a critique on the impossibility of true love in a society based on material wealth?
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