Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë & Emily Brontë
Contents
Wuthering Heights — CHAPTER IV
Overview
Lonely at the Grange, Lockwood draws Mrs. Dean into recounting Heathcliff’s origins. Nelly relates how old Mr. Earnshaw brought the foundling Heathcliff home, provoking Hindley’s jealousy and Catherine’s attachment. Earnshaw’s favoritism deepens the household rift, and a brutal quarrel over colts exposes Heathcliff’s manipulative resolve and simmering, enduring resentment—setting the tragedy in motion.
Summary
Unable to bear solitude, Lockwood asks housekeeper Nelly Dean to talk. After clarifying the tangled relations at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, he invites Nelly to recount Heathcliff’s past.
Nelly begins with old Mr. Earnshaw returning from Liverpool with a destitute, speechless child he names Heathcliff. Mrs. Earnshaw objects, Hindley resents the intruder, and young Catherine mocks him; yet Mr. Earnshaw insists the child share their home.
Heathcliff proves sullen but uncomplaining. Mr. Earnshaw grows partial to him, worsening Hindley’s jealousy. After Mrs. Earnshaw’s death, Hindley views Heathcliff as a usurper, while Catherine and Heathcliff become close companions. During a measles bout, Nelly tends them; Heathcliff’s quiet endurance softens her initial hostility.
Mr. Earnshaw’s favoritism empowers Heathcliff. When Heathcliff’s colt goes lame, he coerces Hindley into swapping horses by threatening to reveal Hindley’s beatings. Hindley strikes him and nearly causes serious injury.
Heathcliff calmly completes the exchange and accepts a cover story for his bruises, caring only that he has won. Nelly, misreading his silence as lack of vindictiveness, foreshadows that this composure masks a deeper, lasting desire for revenge.
Who Appears
- Nelly (Ellen) DeanHousekeeper and narrator; begins recounting Heathcliff’s origins and early dynamics at Wuthering Heights.
- Mr. LockwoodTenant at Thrushcross Grange; prompts Nelly to tell the history of Heathcliff and the families.
- HeathcliffFoundling brought from Liverpool; stoic, manipulative child favored by Earnshaw, resented by Hindley.
- Hindley EarnshawMr. Earnshaw’s son; grows jealous of Heathcliff, bullies him, and is coerced into a colt exchange.
- Catherine (Cathy) EarnshawMr. Earnshaw’s daughter; initially scornful but soon close to Heathcliff, sharing childhood companionship.
- Mr. EarnshawPatriarch who brings Heathcliff home and favors him, intensifying familial discord.
- Mrs. EarnshawObjects to Heathcliff’s arrival; dies early, worsening the household’s imbalance.