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Chapter 22
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
Cathy and Nelly ride to Wuthering Heights the next morning in the rain. There, they find Linton, who whines about the servants and complains about Cathy not coming to visit him before now. Linton then brings up the possibility of marriage.
Linton uses guilt, rather than love, to try to capture, or tame, the stronger Cathy.
Themes
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Cathy gets annoyed at this, and shoves Linton's chair, which sends Linton into a spasm of coughing. Linton says that Cathy has assaulted him and worsened his already frail condition. Doing his best to make Cathy feel guilty, he then asks her to nurse him back to health herself.
Cathy, however, refuses to be tamed in this way. But when Linton's weakness becomes clear and Cathy is given a chance to mother and care for him, she becomes more amenable to Linton.
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Nelly and Cathy return to Thrushcross Grange, where Nelly comes down with a cold from riding to Wuthering Heights and back in the rain. Cathy dutifully nurses both Nelly and her father by day; by night, she takes the opportunity to secretly go to Wuthering Heights to see Linton.
Once again the "civilized" characters are felled by illness arising from harsh weather, while the more "natural" character remains perfectly healthy. Meanwhile, Cathy's attraction to Linton mirrors Catherine's attraction to Edgar.
Themes
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