Wuthering Heights family tree

Emily Brontë gave two different characters the name Catherine, called a boy Linton when his mother was a Linton, and married almost everyone to a cousin. If you've lost track halfway through Wuthering Heights, you're in good company. Here's the whole family on one page.

Spoiler warning: the tree shows who marries whom and when everyone dies, right up to the last page.

Two houses, four miles apart

The whole novel happens between two houses on the Yorkshire moors. The Earnshaws farm at Wuthering Heights, up on the exposed hilltop. The Lintons are the better-off family down in the valley at Thrushcross Grange. In the first generation they're neighbours. By the third, they're one tangled family, and Heathcliff has made himself master of both houses.

Who's who

The first generation

• Mr and Mrs Earnshaw own Wuthering Heights. We never learn their first names.
• Mr and Mrs Linton own Thrushcross Grange. Both die of a fever caught while nursing the teenage Catherine.

Their children

• Hindley Earnshaw, the elder Earnshaw child. He hates Heathcliff from the day he arrives, and after their father dies he gets his revenge.
• Catherine Earnshaw, his sister, wild and proud. She loves Heathcliff but marries Edgar Linton.
• Heathcliff, a starving orphan Mr Earnshaw finds on the streets of Liverpool and brings home. He's raised as one of the family but isn't related to anyone in it, which is the whole problem.
• Edgar Linton, gentle and well-mannered, who marries Catherine.
• Isabella Linton, Edgar's sister, who elopes with Heathcliff and lives to regret it.
• Frances, Hindley's wife. Nobody at the Heights knows where she came from, and she dies soon after their son is born.

The grandchildren

• Hareton Earnshaw, Hindley's son, brought up rough and unable to read after Heathcliff takes over the Heights.
• Catherine Linton, usually called Cathy, the daughter of Catherine and Edgar. She's born the night her mother dies.
• Linton Heathcliff, the sickly son of Heathcliff and Isabella.

The three grandchildren are all first cousins. Hareton and Cathy share the Earnshaw side, since Hindley and Catherine were brother and sister. Cathy and Linton share the Linton side, since Edgar and Isabella were too. Hareton and Linton aren't blood relatives at all.

Which Catherine is which?

The mother is Catherine Earnshaw (later Catherine Linton), the heroine of the first half. Her daughter is born Catherine Linton, becomes Catherine Heathcliff when she marries Linton, and is set to become Catherine Earnshaw when she marries Hareton. So the daughter ends the book about to take her mother's maiden name. Brontë certainly meant it. Lockwood finds all three names scratched into a window ledge in the very first chapter.

Heathcliff's long game

The family tree is really the plot. Heathcliff is cheated of Catherine, so he takes the two houses instead. He wins the Heights by gambling with Hindley, who dies in debt to him. Hareton, the real heir, ends up as Heathcliff's servant. To get the Grange, he forces Cathy to marry his dying son Linton. When Edgar and then Linton die within weeks of each other, Heathcliff claims the Grange as well. Only after Heathcliff dies do Cathy and Hareton, the last Earnshaw and the last Linton, get the houses back.

Key dates

Brontë almost never gives a year outright, but she left enough clues for readers to work them out. These dates follow C. P. Sanger's famous 1926 chronology of the novel.

Quick answers

Is Heathcliff related to Catherine?

No. Mr Earnshaw brings him home as a child and raises him with Catherine and Hindley, but there's no blood relation. Some readers wonder if he's Mr Earnshaw's illegitimate son. The book never says, and the tree doesn't guess.

Who is Hareton's father?

Hindley Earnshaw. His mother is Frances, who dies when he's a baby.

Who does Cathy marry?

First her cousin Linton Heathcliff, under pressure from Heathcliff. After Linton dies, she falls for her other cousin, Hareton, and they're engaged when the novel ends.

Who tells the story?

Mostly Nelly Dean, who worked for both families, telling it to Mr Lockwood, Heathcliff's tenant at the Grange. They're on the tree under "Also in the story", with Joseph, the servant at the Heights.

Mr Earnshaw married Mrs Earnshaw. They had two children, Hindley Earnshaw and Catherine Earnshaw.
Hindley was born in 1757. Catherine was born in 1765.
Heathcliff is the foster son of Mr Earnshaw and Mrs Earnshaw. Heathcliff was born about 1764.
Mrs Earnshaw died in 1773. Mr Earnshaw died in 1777.
Hindley married Frances in 1777. Frances is a woman.
Hindley and Frances had a son called Hareton Earnshaw. Hareton was born in 1778.
Frances died in 1778.
About the Earnshaw family: Farmers at Wuthering Heights, a bleak house high up on the Yorkshire moors.

Mr Linton married Mrs Linton. They had two children, Edgar Linton and Isabella Linton.
Edgar was born in 1762. Isabella was born in 1765.
Mr Linton and Mrs Linton died in 1780.
About the Linton family: Gentry at Thrushcross Grange, four miles away in the sheltered valley.

Catherine Earnshaw married Edgar Linton in 1783. They had a daughter called Catherine Linton. Catherine Linton was born in 1784. Catherine Linton is also known as Cathy.
Catherine Earnshaw died in 1784. She died the night her daughter was born.
Heathcliff married Isabella Linton in 1784. They had a son called Linton Heathcliff. Linton Heathcliff was born in 1784.
Hindley died in 1784. Isabella died in 1797. Edgar died in 1801.
Cathy married Linton Heathcliff in 1801. Linton Heathcliff died in 1801.
Heathcliff died in 1802.
Cathy is engaged to Hareton.

Heathcliff has black hair. Heathcliff is moody. Catherine Earnshaw has long dark brown hair. Catherine Earnshaw is wild and proud. Edgar has blond hair. Edgar is gentle. Isabella has blonde hair. Hindley is cruel. Hareton is shy. Cathy has long curly blonde hair. Cathy is clever and cheeky. Linton Heathcliff has blond hair. Linton Heathcliff is sickly and sulky.
Nelly Dean is a housekeeper. Nelly Dean tells most of the story.
Lockwood is a tenant at Thrushcross Grange. Lockwood is a man.
Joseph is a servant at Wuthering Heights.