u/Altruistic_Bag2884

With Catherine's death, Nelly became governess and the only woman in charge at Thrushcross Grange, answering only to Edgar and no one else. She reached the maximum power someone of her social standing could attain. Also, unconsciously, Nelly may have wished for Catherine's death because, from her perspective, Catherine's behavior ruined the Linton family.

Nelly said: "'She's either unconscious or dead,' I thought: 'either way better. Far better that she should be dead than lingering a burden and a misery-maker to all about her."

Nelly recounts it as if Edgar became reclusive because of the great pain of losing his wife, but what if it wasn't as she says and there were other social reasons for his seclusion?

Since Mr. Lockwood didn't speak to anyone else in those parts, he was left with only one version of what had happened, without knowing how the people there viewed it.

At that time, the betrayed man faced profound public humiliation. The severity of the damage depended on how he reacted. If he accepted it passively, he became a laughingstock. Edgar probably became a cuckold in people's mouths. The situation would become a social and psychological nightmare for a man with Edgar Linton's proud and reserved temperament. The betrayal exposed his inability to control his wife, seen as his natural subordinate, and his complacency generated widespread mockery in popular culture and a loss of respect in gentlemen's circles.

Edgar could have sued Heathcliff civilly for "damaging and trespassing on his property" (legally, the wife was considered the husband's property), but he chose not to do anything, which to society showed weakness and would generate a strong, veiled ostracism since it would be expected that he would take immediate legal action to clear the name of his class.

The fact that Edgar cut ties with the community and abandoned his position as a magistrate, which had given him social prestige, suggests he became a laughingstock.

This also explains why he isolated his daughter from everything to prevent her from learning about her mother and being ridiculed and ostracized in the community.

Nelly with Catherine: She concealed a crisis involving a pregnant woman whose outcome could have been avoided with immediate help, acting out of cowardice and personal pride.

Heathcliff with Linton: He refused the hypocrisy of futile treatments for a young man who had no possible salvation, focusing on extracting the last political value from the situation before biology did its inevitable work.

This crime applies to any citizen who witnesses a situation of grave need or imminent danger to the life or physical integrity of another and does nothing.

From the moment Catherine falls ill until Edgar discovers her condition and Nelly goes to get the doctor, all of this is pure domestic negligence on Nelly's part. If she knew her employer was pregnant, which is likely, then her level of negligence and failure to assist is even more serious.

However, there's a part where this is even more visible: that accent is when Catherine opens the window and leans out, completely delirious, putting herself in danger, and Nelly tries to pull her away without success, but instead of screaming for help, she just stands there struggling with the situation until Edgar enters the room by pure chance and helps Nelly control the situation. What to think of this?

There's something else I didn't quite understand, and I'd like someone to clarify. Was Nelly the governess of Thrushcross Grange or Catherine's personal maid?

My question stems from the fact that Catherine was entirely under Nelly's care and not someone else's. If someone else had been taking care of Catherine, that maid could have told Edgar about Catherine's true condition, couldn't she?

It distresses me how negligent and insensitive Nelly was towards Catherine, especially if she knew or at least suspected that she was pregnant.