CHAPTER 34

- You read just four chapters ago that Heathcliff had
complete control of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross
Grange. Now he doesn't have control even over himself. He
can't eat or sleep. The reasons for both this final illness,-
this "strange change"- and for his death are ambiguous.
Depending on how you feel about Heathcliff, you can
emphasize either of two interpretations: he has finally been
consumed by his own infernal passion, or he has been
united spiritually with Catherine. Either way the love
between young Hareton and Cathy intensifies his sense of
loss and is inextricably linked with his change. You can
support the idea of an infernal passion: his is a strange joy,
accompanied by shivering, and bloodshot eyes; he focuses
on things that aren't there, things that bring him both
rapture and anguish. His appearance is so strange that one
night Ellen is convinced he's a goblin, a ghoul, or a
vampire. How do we know where he came from? she asks.
Even when her common sense is restored in the morning,
she is frightened of him, and won't sit with him. He seems
to commune with Cathy's ghost, with wild endearment and
with suffering. When speaking of making a will, he wishes
he could destroy all his property so no one would get it.

Table of Contents