Wuthering Heights

Roles

• Heathcliff - Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50), Male

About this piece

Heathcliff debases and mocks his wife Isabella

Summary

The story takes place in the beginning of the 19th century and its main focus is the passionate love between Heathcliff and Catherine. The narrators are Mr. Lockwood, a gentleman who in the beginning of the story arrives in a manor in Yorkshire, Thrushcross Grange, and rents it from Heathcliff, a mysterious wealthy man who leaves in Wuthering Heights. The other narrator is Nelly, the housemaid. As he arrives in the manor, Lockwood falls sick and asks Nelly to tell him the story of the families that lived in Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Nelly tells him Heathcliff was a poor little boy who was adopted by Mr. Earnshaw. Mr. Earnshaw had a daughter, Catherine, and a son, Hindley, who strongly dislike Heathcliff as he joins their family. With time, however, Catherine and Heathcliff become inseparable. As they grow, Mr. Earnshaw ends up preferring Heathcliff over his own son. After Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights and starts treating Heathcliff as a common laborer to get revenge. Catherine, after meeting her rich neighbor Edgar Linton, even if she loves Heathcliff, becomes interested in him and eventually marries him. Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and returns after several years as a wealthy man. Even if Hindley dies soon after, he decides to seek revenge. He mistreats Hareton, Hindley's son, and sets his sights on Isabella Linton, Edgar's sister, for her wealth. Catherine falls ill and she is nursed for months by Nelly and Edgar. Isabella marries Heathcliff and the two elope and later settle down in Wuthering Heights. Isabella's life, however, is misable as she is constantly mistreated by Heathcliff, who obviously doesn't love her. In this scene Nelly has come to Wuthering Heights to visit Isabella. In this monologue, after Nelly urges Heathcliff to treat his wife kindly, Heathcliff debases and mocks his wife, saying that he never told her he loved her and even if he mistreated and tormented her constantly, she would always come back for more...

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