At the house, Heathcliff tells Nelly that he hopes Linton and Cathy will one day marry. Yet Cathy and Linton don't even recognize each other when they meet. Heathcliff's plot becomes clear: he wants to marry them in order to solidify his claim to Thrushcross Grange.
Named after her mother, Heathcliff has passion on her by using her as his quest for his revenge and makes her one of his own. She was forced into a relationship to Linton and marries him for Heathcliff to claim inheritance of her home Thrushcross Grange, and ends up being among his servants.
Heathcliff forces his sickly son, Linton, who entirely resembles his mother, Isabella, into marriage with Catherine Linton, daughter of Cathy and Edgar, in a bid to gain control of Thrushcross Grange.
Heathcliff wants Cathy and Linton to get married so that he can have control over the Grange. Why has Heathcliff tried so hard to make Hareton a stupid, withdrawn person? He sees Hareton as an opportunity to get revenge on Hindley.
Heathcliff eventually achieves his entire plan of revenge, including marrying Cathy and Linton so that he also gains control of the Grange. However, Heathcliff's death, alone and desperate for his lost love, represents the futility of his struggle.
At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff traps Nelly and Cathy inside, insisting that they can't leave until Cathy and Linton get married. He confines Nelly and Cathy to a bedroom overnight. The next day, he releases Cathy from the room (but not the house) while keeping Nelly locked up under Hareton's watch.
After Cathrine's death, Heathcliff completely loses it and vows to destroy Linton. He does this by marrying Linton's sister and producing an heir which he succeeds in marrying off to Linton's daughter Cathy (named after her mother).
Heathcliff eventually forces Cathy to marry Linton, his own son, whom he hates. Linton eventually dies, and Cathy meets Hareton Earnshaw, her cousin. She initially teases him about not being able to read, but she eventually falls in love with him and plans to marry him, destroying Heathcliff's plans for revenge.
Catherine does not marry Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights because she sees better opportunities for herself and him by marrying Edgar Linton. Catherine falls in love with Heathcliff, and he loves her but is angry when he overhears her say that she cannot marry him because he is uncivilized and of lower social standing.
He invites Cathy and Nelly to pay a visit to Wuthering Heights to see the boy. Nelly, always suspicious of Heathcliff, disapproves of the idea, but Cathy, not realizing that this son is her cousin Linton, is curious to meet the boy, and Nelly cannot keep her from going.
He reveals that his father is forcing him to court Cathy, and that he is terrified of what Heathcliff will do if Cathy rejects him.
Following Linton's death, Cathy avoids Zillah and Hareton, although she and Hareton frequently argue. Nelly wishes Cathy could live with her in a small cottage she has acquired, but she knows it's improbable. She believes only another marriage could save Cathy, but it seems unlikely that she'll find someone to marry.
The threat of sexual immorality with Heathcliff is heightened by chronological details: Cathy's baby, 'a seven month-child,' is born seven months after the return of Heathcliff (p. 137).
The love between Cathy and Linton is a grotesque exaggeration of that between Catherine and Edgar. While Catherine always seems just a bit too strong for Edgar, Cathy and Linton's love is founded on Linton's weakness—Linton gets Cathy to love him by playing on her desire to protect and mother him.
"In those two months, Mrs. Linton encountered and conquered the worst shock of what was denominated a brain fever." But worse was to come, for her "state of disorder" left Catherine "a mere ruin of humanity". The second phase of her illness is told in terms that suggest hysteria - until we get to the bitter end.
In a conversation with Nelly in which he reveals that he feels close to death, Edgar admits he would consent to letting Cathy marry Linton—if, that is, he thought this would make Cathy happy and that Linton would be able to care for her.
Heathcliff returned in September 1783 and Catherine clearly shows surprise when he reappears. As noted above, there does not seem to be any evidence that Catherine ever slept with Heathcliff so we can be reasonably certain that Cathy was Edgar's.
He says that he can forgive her for the pain she has caused him, but that he can never forgive her for the pain that she has caused herself—he adds that she has killed herself through her behavior, and that he could never forgive her murderer.
After she falls asleep on a chair in his bedroom, Heathcliff wakes up Isabella and tells her this is not her room. Further, he blames Edgar for Catherine's illness and vows to take his revenge on Isabella for this. Isabella closes her letter by writing, 'I do hate him - I am wretched - I have been a fool!
Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same.” Perhaps the most famous of all Wuthering Heights quotes, this snippet from Chapter 9 has Catherine expressing her deepest feelings for Heathcliff to the housekeeper Nelly Dean.
Catherine dies two hours later. When Nelly brings Heathcliff the news, he seems somehow to already know. He curses Catherine for the pain she's caused, then begs her to haunt and torment him for the rest of his life, even if it drives him mad, just so they can be together.
Catherine Earnshaw's one true love is Heathcliff. Catherine firmly believes that Heathcliff is her soulmate, but she marries Edgar instead. In Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff (Catherine's soulmate) marries Isabella Linton even though he is in love with his foster sister Catherine Earnshaw.
Heathcliff, the father, was in love with Catherine Earnshaw, but Edgar Linton married her. So for revenge, Heathcliff married Edgar's sister Isabella and spent a few months abusing her before they split. As a result, they had a son, Linton Heathcliff. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Edgar's sister, Isabella, who becomes Heathcliff's wife, dies 12 years after giving birth to their son, Linton, who in his turn dies at age 17, not long after his arranged marriage to Cathy, Catherine's daughter.
Linton Heathcliff is a major character from Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. He is the son of Heathcliff and Isabella Linton and the cousin of Hareton Earnshaw and Cathy Linton. He was abused by his father and meant to be a tool in Heathcliff's plan of revenge in order for him to claim both houses.