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Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Wuthering Heights, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Gothic Literature and the Supernatural
Nature and Civilization
Love and Passion
Masculinity and Femininity
Class
Revenge and Repetition
Summary
Analysis
That winter, Edgar falls ill and Nelly becomes Cathy's main companion. One day, as the two walk in the garden, Cathy climbs the wall in an effort to get some fruit. In the process, her hat falls over the wall. Cathy, with Nelly's permission, climbs down the wall to get it, but then finds herself unable to climb back.
The wall around the garden symbolizes the boundary between nature and civilization. Besides being tomboyish, Cathy's climbing over the wall shows her adventurous spirit and her connection to nature.
Themes
Quiz
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As Nelly searches for a key to the gate in the wall, Heathcliff appears. He admonishes Cathy for ending her correspondence with Linton, adding that he suspects she was cruelly playing with Linton. He then says that he will be away from Wuthering Heights for a week, and that she should visit Linton, who he thinks may be dying of a broken heart. Cathy feels so guilty that she decides to go to Wuthering Heights the next morning. Nelly agrees to go only because she thinks the sight of Linton will show Cathy that Heathcliff is lying.
Heathcliff further engineers the relationship between Cathy and Linton, not because he wants them to be happy together (they are clearly a terrible match), but simply to further his revenge.
Themes
Literary Devices
Quiz
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