Dichotomy of love and convenience in Wuthering Heights

Catherine, the protagonist is talking to her nurse Nelly, who is one of the narrators. The first narrator is Mr Lockwood who went to Trushcross Grange, goes to Wuthering heights and during the night strange things happens. He asks Nelly Dean, who is the voice of the story. She was the Earn Shawn’s nurse and she moves to the grange with Catherine: for this reason, she knows everything. She is at the grange and she tells the story throw a very long flashback.

What was Catherine's Decision?

Catherine explains to Nelly why she is going to accept Linton’s proposes and she reveals the reason why she decides to accept. Opposing principles: love vs hate/ order vs chaos

It is clear that Catherine loves Heathcliff but she decides to marry Linton for convenience and she has a project about this: to give herself the so called, “respectability” and to give Heathcliff one opportunity in life too. There is a double convenience: to marry Linton will mean also convenience to Heathcliff. She supports her idea giving a lot of examples and she turns also to mythology.

Opposition and Unity

Heathcliff and Catherine are opposed but they are part of the same unity. All the book is based in the dichotomy between good and evil, positive and negative side of the central passion of the story. At the end there is unity of the two opposites.
It is not an intimate dialogue but there is a third character, Heathcliff overreaching a part of the story. He will never hear the final part and he will disappear for years, he will escape.

Use of figurative language (“he is more myself than me”); in Nelly’s opinion there is a fantastic world!

Catherine thinks that everything is possible: Linton must not be jealous of Heathcliff because this is the state of things.

Catherine's Character

Catherine is spoilt, she is self-centred.

Style: philosophical, solemn, not controlled, Passione, excessive when she talks about Heathcliff, imbalanced, because there is a prevision of future.