Wuthering Heights: (Annotated)

Mr. Lockwood writes in his diary about his first days at Thrushcross Grange, a manor house in the countryside. Lockwood pays a visit to his landlord, Heathcliff shortly after arriving, describing him as a dark-skinned, surly man living in a nearby manner called Wuthering Heights. “Wuthering” is an adjective used in Yorkshire to describe the strong winds that often blow across the moors during a storm. Lockwood gets the impression from Heathcliff that the man does not trust him and is left alone in a room full of snarling dogs at one point during the conversation. When Heathcliff returns, Lockwood is upset but after a conversation with the man he begins to like him a little better. Though he does feel unwelcome at Wuthering Heights, Lockwood decides to come again the next day.
The next day, Lockwood returns to the manor house only to be told by the servants that Heathcliff is away. He is shown into a sitting room by a young but rough-looking man where a beautiful young woman is sitting by the fire. Assuming that this woman is Heathcliff’s wife, Lockwood tries to make conversation but is rebuffed by the woman at every turn. Heathcliff arrives and informs Lockwood that the young woman is actually his daughter-in-law, the widow of his dead son. The rough-looking young man is Hareton Earnshaw.
When it is time for Lockwood to leave, he realizes that the snow outside has gotten worse and he will need to bring a lantern to guide him back to Trushcross Grange. However, when he takes a lantern one of the servants, Joseph thinks he has stolen it and looses the dogs on him. Lockwood is pinned by the dogs and becomes so furious at the residents of Wuthering Heights that he curses them. But he is hurt and must be brought back inside to recover. Lockwood is brought to a room in the house that Heathcliff forbids people from entering so that he can rest. He notices that the room is in poor condition and sees that three names have been carved into the paint on a shelf by the bed. The names are Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton, and Catherine Heathcliff. Lockwood also finds a diary that belonged to Catherine Earnshaw twenty-five years earlier. Lockwood reads an entry in which Catherine’s uncaring brother, Hindley tells his wife to pull Heathcliff’s hair. He gathers from reading the diary that Catherine and Heathcliff were very close but that Hindley hated Heathcliff.