The relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights revolves around to the third generation. Their relationship is bonded with a strong force of love that is unbreakable by Catherine’s marriage to Edgar. Firstly, to trace the development of Heathcliff and Catherine’s relationship starts off with the coming and adoption of Heathcliff into the house of Earnshaw’s where it was the first generation where Mr. Earnshaw was still alive. They were supposed to be brothers and sisters or say siblings but Heathcliff found love and affection in the eyes of Catherine Earnshaw.
When Hindley abuses Heathcliff, he remains calm and never beats Hindley back. He was completely mistreated like an outcast in the mansion of wuthering heights by Hindley but Catherine was the only one whom he found connection. They both will run away to the side of the moors and hence the moors symbolizes the extreme passions of Heathcliff and Catherine. Catherine never mistreats Heathcliff and perhaps Heathcliff was drawn towards more to her than the rest of the family members and develop love affections towards her which continues even after her death.
Their relationship and love is beyond the comprehension of other characters consciousness. Nelly’s narration shows that they loved each other that Catherine sacrificed herself by getting married to Edgar due to social conventions of the Victorian age where she only wanted to serve Heathcliff indirectly. The marriage between Edgar and Catherine did not stop Heathcliff to avoid Catherine or develop less passion for her yet he drew more towards her by taking revenge on breaking his heart and emotions. Heathcliff suffered and was heartbroken when Catherine married Edgar and he left the house when he misheard and misunderstood Catherine’s conversation with Nelly but Catherine only wanted him tthe best. Heathcliff disappeared and came back as a gentleman and starts taking revenge on other characters who are the second generation.
The revenge in the novel is driven by excessive emotions of betrayal and hatred. It spurred from the inability to unify Heathcliff and Catherine marriage together or physical union and hence he decides to take revenge on Catherine just to hurt her and made her feel the way he felt when she married Edgar and left him devastated. He married Edgar’s sister Isabella and have a child Linton Heathcliff who was sickly and was a mere pawn of his father. Catherine could not restrain away from the betrayal of Heathcliff or could not see him getting close to Isabella and she soon becomes ill and dies in the childbirth which left Heathcliff emotionally tumultuous and even escalates when he digs the grave of Catherine and sleeps with her dead body in the grave. Heathcliff cunningly removes the ring of Catherine’s finger by putting his own which reflects their physical union even after death.
Lastly, the relationship is quite platonic in a dark and supernatural way where the two lovers Catherine and Heathcliff were finally unified after Heathcliff dies. There had been rumours that they were seen together in the moors and the moors actually reflects their passionate love as well as their unification of soul. Heathcliff became very ill after years of longing and thinking about his own life in the mansion of wuthering heights. It is the third generation moving at the present and Nelly told the story to Lockwood that Heathcliff did not eat for many days and died alone in his room screaming the name of Catherine and died. This reflects that Heathcliff’s love for Catherine is unimaginable and continues even after her death which is mysteriously dark and the romance itself between the two is unified mystically in the escapism of moors.
