Editing Wuthering Heights (section)

=== Nelly's tale ===
Thirty years earlier, the Earnshaws live at Wuthering Heights with their two children, Hindley and Catherine, and a servant—Nelly herself. Returning from a trip to [[Liverpool]], Earnshaw brings home an orphan whom he names Heathcliff. Heathcliff's origins are unclear but he is described as "like a gipsy" and possibly, a [[Lascar]] or an American or Spanish castaway.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brontë |first1=Emily |title=Wuthering Heights |date=1847 |publisher=Oxford's World Classics |isbn=978-0192833549 |pages=21, 44 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780199209286}}</ref> Earnshaw treats the boy as his favourite. His own children he neglects, especially after his wife dies. Hindley beats Heathcliff, who gradually becomes close friends with Catherine.

Hindley departs for university, returning as the new master of Wuthering Heights on the death of his father three years later. He and his new wife Frances force Heathcliff to live as one of their servants and subject him to much verbal and emotional abuse.

[[File:The Climb to Top Withens. - geograph.org.uk - 393405.jpg|thumb|left|The climb to ruined farmhouse [[Top Withens]], thought to have inspired the Earnshaws' home in ''Wuthering Heights'']]

Edgar Linton and his sister Isabella live nearby at Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff and Catherine spy on them out of curiosity. When Catherine is attacked by their dog, the Lintons take her in, but send Heathcliff home. The Lintons visit, and Hindley and Edgar make fun of Heathcliff; a fight ensues. Heathcliff is then made to live in the manor's unheated, dusty attic and swears that he will one day have his revenge.

Frances dies after giving birth to a son, Hareton. Two years later, Catherine becomes engaged to Edgar. She confesses to Nelly that she loves Heathcliff, and will try to help him, but feels she cannot marry him because of his low social status. Nelly warns her against associating with a man like Heathcliff. Heathcliff overhears part of the conversation and, misunderstanding Catherine's heart, flees the household. Distraught, Catherine falls ill.

Three years after his departure, with Edgar and Catherine now wed and expecting children, Heathcliff unexpectedly returns, now a wealthy gentleman. He encourages Isabella's infatuation with him as a means of revenge on Catherine. Enraged by Heathcliff's constant presence at Thrushcross Grange, Edgar banishes him. Catherine responds by locking herself in her room and refusing food; she never fully recovers. At Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff exploits Hindley's [[gambling]] addiction and compels him to mortgage the estate to cover his losses. Heathcliff elopes with Isabella, but the relationship fails and they soon return.

When Heathcliff discovers that Catherine is dying, he visits her in secret. She dies shortly after giving birth to a daughter, [[Catherine Linton|Cathy]], and Heathcliff rages, calling on her ghost to haunt him for as long as he lives. Isabella, bitter over Heathcliff's devotion to a dead woman, flees south where she gives birth to Heathcliff's son, a sickly boy named Linton. Hindley dies six months later of [[alcoholism]], and Heathcliff then takes possession of Wuthering Heights as its new master.

Twelve years later, after Isabella's death, the still-sickly Linton is brought back to live with his uncle Edgar at the Grange, but Heathcliff insists that his son must instead live with him. Cathy and Linton (respectively at the Grange and Wuthering Heights) gradually develop a relationship. Heathcliff schemes to ensure that they marry in order to ensure his claim to Thrushcross Grange, and on Edgar's death demands that the couple move in with him. He becomes increasingly wild and reveals that on the night Catherine died he dug up her grave, and ever since has been plagued by her ghost. When Linton unexpectedly dies, Cathy has no option but to remain at Wuthering Heights.

Having reached the present day, Nelly's tale concludes.