Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
Table of Contents
Chapter 31 to Chapter 34
Chapter 31
Lockwood calls on Wuthering Heights the next day but, finding Heathcliff out, he stays on to observe a quarrel between Cathy and Hareton. She continues to mock his lack of education, while he meanwhile has secretly been hoarding her books in an attempt to educate himself and thus please her. (Here he echoes Heathcliff’s better-natured sentiment from earlier in the novel, when he asks Nelly to make him decent.) Cathy will not allow for Hareton to have decent impulses, however, and continues to berate him. Hareton’s only recourse is to smack her. Then he throws her books into the fire, an act that hurts himself as much as it hurts her.
Heathcliff enters and is disturbed to see the passion in the room: Hareton, for example, reminds him of Catherine. Lockwood settles with Heathcliff (or at least attempts to do so), but Heathcliff (true to his contrary ways) tells Lockwood that there is no hurry and that he should leave sufficient funds behind should he not be able to cover his debts. Thus, the place remains Lockwood’s for the remainder of the lease, notwithstanding Lockwood’s desire to hand it over early.
On parting, Lockwood regrets that he did not have occasion to draw Catherine into his confidence, and that she did not see in him a worthy suitor and try to make herself a little more pleasing.
Chapter 32
This chapter begins with a new date: 1802. A year has passed, and Lockwood has found himself in the vicinity of Thrushcross Grange, and so has returned to see how events have transpired in his absence. He finds the Grange empty except for a few servants. Mrs. Dean, he is told, resides now at the Heights.
So, Lockwood sets off for Wuthering Heights. There he finds a much different scene. He hears the voices of Cathy and Hareton, the former kindly helping the latter to read, and the latter using soft and gentle tones in thanks. The difference is stunning, and Lockwood cannot guess at what has come over Wuthering Heights. Nelly, however, is on hand to...
Sign up to continue reading Chapter 31 to Chapter 34 >