Catherine's Death (15/16) Flashcards
Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship before she dies
-heathcliff storms into her room when she is dying and then Cathy claims that both Edgar and him have broken her heart.
- its an emotional reunion
- Heathcliff longs for them never to be apart.
-He then says that its her fault for being in this situation and calls her a ‘murderer’ for killing his and hers hearts.
-they confess their love for each other finally.
“I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer — but yours! How can I?”
why does Catherine die?
she ends up trapped in a love triangle with Edgar and Heathcliff and the situation affected her health, ending up with her dying when giving birth.
symbolic form of Death.
Catherine’s life was symbolic form of Death because even though she was not physically dead yet, her soul was not in the right place. Her soul was dying and aching for peace.
impact of Cathy’s death on Heathcliff
-he is angry that she did not mention his name in her last moments and is despondent over losing her.
- With the shock of Catherine’s death, Heathcliff implores her to haunt him: “I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
-He is clearly devastated by the death of his one true love, and although Heathcliff has done dastardly deeds throughout the text, most readers tend to sympathize with him and the loss he is feeling.
Heathcliff after her death
-Heathcliff faces psychological decline at the end of the book as he realises that even his revenge does not satisfy him or bring his Catherine back.
-he understands that his mental suffering impacts his physical well-being. He struggles to breathe, rest, and eat. He admits that he cannot go on in this state of existence anymore.
-Heathcliff’s suffering and the haunting of Catherine’s lost destructive love has become too much to bear.
Where she is buried
The location of Catherine’s coffin symbolizes the conflict that tears apart her short life. She is not buried in the chapel with the Lintons. Nor is her coffin placed among the tombs of the Earnshaws. Instead, as Nelly describes in Chapter XVI, Catherine is buried “in a corner of the kirkyard, where the wall is so low that heath and bilberry plants have climbed over it from the moor.” Moreover, she is buried with Edgar on one side and Heathcliff on the other, suggesting her conflicted loyalties.
