Wuthering Heights Ch. 25: Reading the Listener

Summary

Dean pauses to needle Lockwood about Catherine Linton's portrait and his interest, then resumes the winter story with Edgar visibly failing in spring: Cathy obeys her dying father, and Edgar asks whether nephew Linton improves. Nelly calls the boy delicate and unlikely to reach manhood, yet manageable in marriage unless Cathy indulges him foolishly.

Edgar, looking toward Gimmerton kirkyard, admits he once prayed to join Catherine underground; now he would accept Heathcliff's triumph if Linton could console Cathy, but fears abandoning her to a feeble tool of his enemy. He would rather lay Cathy in the earth before him than resign her to an unworthy heir. Spring weakens him while Cathy mistakes his flushed cheeks for recovery; Heathcliff screens every letter while Linton pleads eloquently for supervised moor meetings that sound simple and probably genuine.

Cathy and Nelly together crack Edgar's steady refusal into weekly supervised rides on moors nearest the Grange as June finds him steadily declining, still hoping union with his heir may keep Cathy at the Grange. Nelly closes already knowing Heathcliff tyrannically drove the dying boy to feign eagerness so the marriage plot would not die with him, redoubling cruelty as death threatened his cruel plans.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Recognizing Emotional Manipulation

A dying parent's wish can be used to rush a choice no one would make in daylight. Cathy obeys Edgar's plea to stay with Linton after his death; Nelly, reading the listener, foresees Heathcliff driving the boy to feign health so the marriage plot survives him.

Separate a loved one's last request from a predator's timetable before you sign away your freedom in grief.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Lockwood

Lockwood wants the portrait and the love story. Nelly watches that want, and she times the next stretch of the tale to it. He thinks he is hearing a winter tragedy. She is testing how easily a listener will turn a dying father's wish into romance. The frame still protects the house: feeling, arranged for a man who came to be entertained.

Continue this thoughtThe Story Arrives Already Judged

Coming Up in Chapter 26

Edgar at last allows the first summer ride to Linton at the guide-stone; a herd-boy will send them farther onto the heath, breaking the rule to stay on Grange land. Linton lies gaunt on the moors, gasping that he is better while Catherine's joy turns to alarm.

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Chapter 25

Reading the Listener

“These things happened last winter, sir,” said Mrs. Dean; “hardly more than a year ago. Last winter, I did not think, at another twelve months’ end, I should be amusing a stranger to the family with relating them! Yet, who knows how long you’ll be a stranger? You’re too young to rest always contented, living by yourself; and I some way fancy no one could see Catherine Linton and not love her. You smile; but why do you look so lively and interested when I talk about her? and why have you asked me to hang her picture over your…

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Reading the Listener

Summary

Why This Matters