Wuthering Heights: Character Mind Map & Summary
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights: the key characters of two houses and two generations, the narrators, who dies and how, famous lines and the exam facts.
The Character Mind Map
Tap any name to open the details.
Heathcliff
A dark-skinned foundling brought from the streets of Liverpool to Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw. He grows up in wild love with Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine, but is bullied by her brother Hindley. When Catherine marries the gentle Edgar Linton, Heathcliff leaves, returns rich, and spends his life taking revenge on both families.
I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!Fate: dies, longing to join Catherine; buried beside her
🌬️ Wuthering Heights
The EarnshawsCatherine EarnshawHeathcliff’s soulmate
Role: Wild and proud. She loves Heathcliff but marries Edgar Linton for status, tearing herself apart.
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.Dies after giving birth to Cathy
Hindley EarnshawCatherine’s brother
Role: Cruel to Heathcliff as a boy; after his wife Frances dies, he drinks and gambles away the Heights to Heathcliff.
Dies of drinkHareton EarnshawHindley’s son
Role: Kept rough and uneducated by Heathcliff as revenge, but has a good heart.
Engaged to Cathy🏡 Thrushcross Grange
The LintonsEdgar LintonCatherine’s husband
Role: Gentle, refined and weak beside Heathcliff’s passion.
Isabella LintonEdgar’s sister
Role: Infatuated with Heathcliff, she elopes with him and is treated cruelly; she flees and bears his son, Linton.
Cathy LintonCatherine’s daughter
Role: Forced by Heathcliff to marry his sickly son Linton; later teaches Hareton to read and falls in love with him.
Engaged to HaretonLinton HeathcliffHeathcliff’s sickly son
Role: Used by his father to seize the Grange by marrying Cathy.
Dies young📖 The Narrators
Who tells the storyMr LockwoodHeathcliff’s tenant at the Grange
Role: An outsider from the south who visits the Heights in 1801 and writes down the story, the outer frame.
Nelly (Ellen) DeanThe housekeeper
Role: Has served both houses and tells Lockwood most of the story. She is not always a neutral narrator.
Memory Hook: 2 Houses, 2 Generations
The whole novel is built on contrasts and repetition.
Who Dies & How
Most of the first generation die before the second can find peace.
Famous Lines: Who Says What
The lines most often asked about in exams.
Quick Summary
The plot in five stops.
Stage 1The Visit
- Lockwood visits the gloomy Heights, sees Catherine’s ghost at the window, and asks Nelly for the story.
Stage 2Childhood
- Heathcliff arrives, grows close to Catherine, and is degraded by Hindley.
Stage 3Betrayal
- Catherine chooses Edgar. Heathcliff leaves, returns rich, and marries Isabella for revenge. Catherine dies giving birth.
Stage 4Revenge
- Heathcliff takes the Heights from Hindley and forces Cathy to marry his son to gain the Grange.
Stage 5Peace
- Heathcliff loses his will for revenge and dies. Cathy and Hareton will marry.
Must-Know Exam Facts
Quick points for UGC NET, SET and PGT.
Publication
Published in December 1847 under the pen name “Ellis Bell”, together with Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey. Emily’s only novel; she died in 1848.
Narrative Structure
A frame narrative: Lockwood writes down what Nelly Dean tells him, often quoting other characters, so we get stories within stories.
Charlotte’s Preface
In the 1850 edition, Charlotte Brontë wrote a preface defending her sister’s “rustic” and stormy novel.
Setting
The Yorkshire moors, 1771–1802; the two houses stand four miles apart.
Genre
Gothic romance, with ghosts, storms and violent passion, but also a carefully dated family saga.
Key Themes
Passionate love, revenge, nature vs culture, social class, and inheritance.
100+ Key Works of English Literature
All the character mind maps in one printed book.
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