u/PanthalassicPoet

Looking back over some of their scenes together in Wuthering Heights, I’ve become increasingly fascinated by Nelly’s relationship with Heathcliff. They have very different values and have treated each other quite, uh, badly at times, but I wanted to focus here on a different, weirder side of their dynamic. Ever since childhood, Heathcliff seems to have had a certain fondness for and trust in Nelly as a confidante. And as much as her traditional values are at odds with his and Cathy’s, I think that Nelly is a lot more like Heathcliff than she’d like to admit. I’m guessing this has something to do with their uncomplaining attitudes; the two of them put up with considerable mistreatment from Hindley, and while Nelly would never seek revenge, she seems to share Heathcliff’s disdain for people who aren’t so stoic—young Edgar, for instance, and Linton especially. It’s fitting that Nelly was initially endeared to Heathcliff through his silent forbearance of the measles, given that both of them later have extremely callous things to say about Linton, who bears his own illness with constant complaints.

Nelly seems to be one of few people whom Heathcliff actually “likes,” in his way; it feels significant, at least, that she and Hareton are the ones he wants at his funeral. What toughness appeals to him in Hareton likely appeals to him in Nelly as well. But Nelly is also someone to whom Heathcliff can divulge his own vulnerabilities, and it seems that much of their relationship can be drawn back to and encapsulated by that occasion of Heathcliff’s childhood sickness. It’s hard to judge the truth of everything Nelly reports as narrator, but if we accept her claim that young Heathcliff “felt I did a good deal for him, and he hadn’t the wit to guess that I was compelled to do it,” this could inform a lot of his attitude towards her at other points. (I’m also feeling some echoes here of Hareton’s view of Heathcliff, but we won’t go off on that tangent.) He does refuse Nelly’s company sometimes, but at others, he seems as desirous of it as the sick boy needing her at his bedside. For all his detachment and valued self-sufficiency, perhaps Heathcliff still feels the vague need for a mother figure; Mrs. Earnshaw refused to fulfill this, and what became of his biological mother is a mystery. Nelly was there when Heathcliff was a vulnerable child, and there is something binding in that shared memory. There were a few moments, in rereading, where I could imagine Heathcliff as the unruly and flippant grown son to Nelly, as the chiding and eye-rolling mother—for instance, the interaction where Heathcliff asks Nelly if he used to look as stupid as Hareton when he was little. (Though, interestingly, both Heathcliff and Nelly have acted as parental figures to Hareton.)

For her own part, Nelly seems to feel an (often self-important) urge to mother, in her way, no matter how fruitless—or opposed to her own values—her efforts may be. Against her master’s orders, she stays up at night to watch for Cathy and Heathcliff’s return to the Heights and let them in. Nor is her aiding of Heathcliff restricted to his childhood; there seems something about him which thrusts Nelly into contradiction with herself throughout her life. On certain occasions she has gone against Edgar’s wishes or social convention in the interest of Heathcliff’s scandalous relationship with Cathy, despite her disapproval of it. Ultimately, she does attend his funeral and goes forward with his demand to be buried next to Cathy, “to the scandal of the whole neighborhood.” And perhaps this event was prefigured by Nelly’s discovering Heathcliff’s hair in the dead Cathy’s locket, and instead of throwing it out, simply intertwining it with Edgar’s.

There’s more could be said, but also more that I haven’t worked out, and I’ve rambled on enough already. For now, have the silly drawings. I’ve had a lot of fun with these, as usual.

In my animal design scheme, Nelly is depicted as a cow. (Somehow that felt right for the name.) As a rural domestic, it was natural that she be some sort of farm animal; this also makes her a fitting housemate for Joseph the donkey, Wuthering Heights’ other longtime servant. Neither are designed as purebreds, and their species are larger and stronger than the other domestic herbivores I’ve featured, the sheep and rabbits representing the Lintons, who are much milder and not accustomed to manual labor. Still, Nelly is aligned with the Lintons in some respects, and will ultimately end up living at the Grange rather than Wuthering Heights. Cows, of course, are also associated with milk—lending well to Nelly’s role as nurse—and motherhood; as mentioned, Nelly acts at various points as mother figure to several characters, especially since Heathcliff, Hareton, and the Cathys lose their biological mothers at an early age. 

Nelly’s fur is both brown and white, reflecting her close relationships with both the Earnshaw and Linton families. Her facial pattern has also ended up looking a bit like Cathy and Hindley’s father’s (whose design I have not posted yet); perhaps something of his strict parenting approach was passed on to her. I’ve lately been working on designs for the Earnshaw and Linton parents, and have a few other art pieces in the works as well. So, thanks for looking through, and stay tuned!

After my previous posts on the Earnshaws, Lintons, and Lockwood, it’s Joseph’s turn for the spotlight. (A Nelly-centric post will also be coming eventually.) For all the damage this man has done to most of the major characters in Wuthering Heights, he’s pretty hilarious. Lots of fun scenes to draw.

In my animal design scheme, Joseph is depicted as a donkey, because:

1. Donkeys are working animals, fitting for a farm laborer like Joseph.
2. Gray fur seemed apt for suggesting old age.
3. Regarding Joseph’s perception of himself as a virtuous Christian, the humble donkey has long been associated with Christianity and Jesus. Joseph probably considers himself the righteous donkey to his wayward masters’ Balaams.
4. Regarding Joseph’s perception by others, donkeys also have plenty of negative cultural associations. They are often presented as stubborn (Joseph just won’t leave that godforsaken house) and stupid (Cathy Jr. easily freaks him out by claiming to have magically caused his rheumatism).
5. He’s an ass.

There will be more Joseph drawings in the future; he’s a lot of fun. (I know it’s obscene how long I spent drawing that grave meme… somehow the stupidest things are the ones that you get most carried away with. It was really fun.) The currants incident is not included here, as it will be the subject of later artwork.

(Also, just wanted to thank everyone for the reception of my previous posts in this subreddit. I really appreciate all your comments!)

A continuation of my project to draw Wuthering Heights characters (as animals) in different outfits to illustrate how they change over the course of the book. I’ve had a lot of fun crafting designs for Cathy (Jr.), Linton, and Hareton that reflect their complex mirroring of characters from their parents’ generation. Heathcliff's and Edgar's outfits have also been updated to Regency styles.

Heathcliff is a melanistic leopard, Edgar is a Border Leicester sheep, Cathy is an ermine, Linton is a lop rabbit, Hareton is Bearton, ghost Cathy is a pine marten. Reasoning for the animal species is explained in my previous posts and in more depth in my recent video, but essentially the younger generation is designed to resemble the older. Linton is his mother's species (but a less healthy and active breed) with almost no resemblance to his father; Cathy, as a white-furred mustelid, is a combination of her parents; Hareton is a large carnivoran like his biological father and chosen father, but also meant to resemble his aunt.

1797

The year when the three members of the younger generation come together for the first time. For her time living with Edgar at Thrushcross Grange, I’ve dressed Cathy in pink; she has her mother’s energy and strong will, but can be mild and gentle like her father, so she wears a more desaturated color than the older Cathy’s fiery red—but still somewhat reminiscent of it. I imagine that Edgar has dressed his daughter as such in remembrance of his parted wife, for whom he named her, but also in the hopes that she will stay his little girl forever. In a way, the pink is to red as what the diminutive “Cathy” is to “Catherine,” the name he used for his wife. The yellow in Cathy’s hat also ties in with the color scheme of her father’s outfit, since the two are extremely close. 

Linton also wears yellow, but a very desaturated tone, and in addition to the blue which I’ve used as his family’s color prior to Edgar and Isabella’s separation. Whereas I’ve had Edgar abandon the blue, I imagine that Isabella still wore it and dressed her son in it, given the fact that she named him for her family. It very much matches his big blue eyes. When Linton first moves to northern England and encounters the other characters, he’s described as wearing a fur-lined cloak even in the prime of summer, so he’s dressed as such here. Yes, he’s a rabbit wearing fur, but this reflects the inherent irony of his existence, as “Linton Heathcliff.” There’s also the grim sense of his being regarded as simply bound for death, and his being prevented from ever developing into a true independent self.

Linton is soon to meet a decidedly dissimilar housemate, whose attire is much rougher and accustomed to work. I imagine that Hareton’s clothing doesn’t change much throughout his time at Wuthering Heights (except at the very end), as Heathcliff is determined to prevent any development on his part. Hareton’s state of “degradation,” however, is one in which Heathcliff himself recalls living as a youth, and he claims to know exactly how the kid is feeling, for which reason I’ve dressed Hareton in the same patchy clothing which Heathcliff used to wear. Red, as the Earnshaw color in my outfit scheme, also augments Hareton’s identification with his aunt Cathy, which later begins to disturb Heathcliff.

1801

The year where Cathy’s life is turned upside down, as Heathcliff forces her to marry Linton and then inherits Edgar’s house. She’s still wearing the outfit she came in from the Grange (I am mixing and matching times a little bit here, as Heathcliff carries off the portrait at a different date—but the event seems symbolic of what he’s doing to Cathy here), so the pink has taken on a definite irony at this point, with the perversion of its typical symbolism—the grotesque falsity of her romance and the ending of her youthful innocence. But some shadow of her mother’s red remains; in the face of adversity, Cathy shows her predecessor’s fiery rebelliousness, even threatening to burn the house down. For Heathcliff, though, she's still nothing to the original Cathy, and he’s beaten her for her defiance, continuing my design theme of ripped left ears. This indicates her situation’s close parallel to Isabella's, whose defiance also brought her injury from Heathcliff. I also depict Heathcliff with a torn left ear (presumably a result of his time as a homeless orphan (stray cat) and of Hindley’s abuse), so his inflicting the same on Isabella and Cathy shows how he passes on his trauma to others. 

Hareton, meanwhile, is depicted with a ripped ear which I imagine is the fault of Hindley. It wouldn't have been as deliberate as his abuse of Heathcliff, but Hindley was always drunkenly carrying around his knife and gun, so accidents were liable to happen, especially after Heathcliff and Nelly left the Heights and there was no one around to rescue Hareton. Hindley did literally threaten to cut off his baby son’s ears at one point, so I've partially actualized that. This adds to Hareton’s rough appearance, though I have him trying around this time to dress a little nicer so that Cathy will stop looking down on him. He’s brushed his fur out of his eyes and swapped out his trousers for breeches, but he’s still not very fancy. 

Fanciness is reserved for Linton, whom Heathcliff has treated oppositely to Hareton and shaped by now into a parodic sort of head of household. Linton’s change from a gender-ambiguous cloak to a three-piece suit also marks how Heathcliff has transformed him from effeminate "lass" into mock-patriarch, bringing him to believe that he has control over his wife. Heathcliff’s influence has been strong, but Linton is overall an incongruous sort of hybrid of his father and Edgar’s family. He’s lost any hint of blue, which is the color I’ve used for his mother and for the Lintons in general before the siblings’ separation. But some of Edgar’s attributes are still evident in Linton’s outfit, his bow-tied cravat and big shiny buttons. In contrast, the large lapels and incongruously long tailcoat—more appropriate for a cat than a short-tailed rabbit—match with Heathcliff’s attire. 

Early 1802

The final year of Heathcliff’s life; he’s getting pretty haunted here. Linton is dead, and Cathy and Hareton are at a decidedly low point in their relationship. As Lockwood described her, Cathy is wearing a black dress, being still in mourning. Of course, black is also the color I use for Heathcliff’s usual attire, showing how Cathy’s trauma and confinement at Wuthering Heights are bringing her temperament closer to Heathcliff's, embittered and disdainful of her company. She’s Cathy Heathcliff now, after all. Hareton is also confined to the house at this point, after busting up his arm in a hunting accident—a self-caused injury for once, but with the bandaged arm, I did want to suggest resemblance to Hindley in 1784, who also lost a lot of blood in his arm after Heathcliff broke in through his window and beat him up. Having given up on cultivating friendly relations with Cathy, he’s stopped caring about looking nice, returning to his tattered trousers and unkempt hair. His waistcoat is buttoned this time to suggest a closing off.

Later 1802 / 1803

This is the period post-Heathcliff’s death, when Hareton and Cathy have decided to live together at the Grange. By this point, Hareton is learning to read and has adopted more gentlemanly clothing—here, a fine dress coat and cravat. Cathy, her time of mourning over, has shed the black dress and returned to a brighter color—not her original pink, as things have changed too much for her to be Edgar’s little girl again, but a vibrant green; Wuthering Heights has finally opened up its doors and she’s able to roam around outside. Hareton, for his part, has lost the Earnshaw red he’s worn for most of his life, coming to match with Cathy instead, as he’s leaving his ancestral home to live with her at Thrushcross Grange. Apart from reading, Cathy and Hareton bond by planting flowers in the garden (much to Joseph’s anguish), so I’ve drawn them here with primroses, which Cathy sneaks into Hareton’s porridge while dining with Heathcliff. It’s a fitting choice of flower, signalling the onset of spring, as things begin to look up from Cathy and Hareton’s bleak winter at Wuthering Heights. And while they settle down at the Grange, their parallel predecessors will be enjoying their own unconventional happy (not so happy for the terrified moor residents) ending by haunting the Heights.

No Joseph or Nelly here, but artwork featuring them will be coming soon.