Kyle Woollacott

Heathcliff grows worse and his health declines , roaming the moors and neither eating or sleeping. He sees Catherine everywhere he looks but this makes him strangely happy. Eventually he is found dead in Catherine's room and is buried alongside her. Lockwood leaves with Hareton and Cathy planning to marry and move to Thrushcross Grange , giving a some what happier ending than what would be expected.

Heathcliff continues to seek further solitude. “ He shunned meeting us at meals”. “He had an aversion to yielding so completely to his feelings choosing rather to absent himself and eating once in twenty-four hours seemed sufficient sustenance for him”.

At first it seems that Heathcliff is barely eating enough to live healthily, but it seems he is only eating enough to just survive as if he is waiting for something.

Heathcliff leaves one night and doesn't come back all night, he arrives back at the house in the morning. Cathy comments on Heath cliff's surprising attitude , describing him as almost bright and cheerful.

“Why, almost bright and cheerful-no, almost nothing-very much excited, and wild and glad”

Heathcliff comes back from his night outing happy and in a cheerful mood unlike his normal personality. Meaning something is putting him in this mood. This could fit in with the theory of Heathcliff being otherworldly or a vampire as vampires go out at night and do not eat food , and above all being happy after their kill.

“ Is he a ghoul or a vampire?” – Nelly

It is not explained as to what Heathcliff is doing on the moors in the night , there can be many reasons , after Heathcliff’s death a villager reports to have seen Heathcliff and “another” walking the moors. This “another” could be Catherine and it could also be taken into account that Heathcliff could have also sighted the ghost of Catherine during his late night walks.

“ He seemed rare and pleased” – Hareton

This shows that Hareton has also noticed a change in Heathcliff.

Cathy begins to question Heathcliff more as he acts more out of the ordinary each day and also begins to refuse to eat all together.

“ I’m animated with hunger, and seemingly I must not eat”.

The word animated describes Heathcliff as standing out due to his new attitude for the past few days , it can fit closely to the word reanimation which would describe a corpse brought back to life through other worldly magic , adding to the demonic feeling that emits from Heathcliff through out the novel.

“ Last night, I was on the threshold of hell. Today , I am within sight of my heaven. I have my eyes on it hardly three feet to sever me”. Heathcliff’s heaven could be seeing Cathy again being able to spend eternity with her, and by saying he is within sight of heaven , it can be said that at this point Heathcliff can foresee his own death, and by saying he is hardly three feet way it shows he knows his time to die is soon.

“You'll neither see nor hear anything to frighten you, if you refrain from prying”. When Heathcliff says this to Nelly its almost a polite warning , that if Nelly doesn't stick around Heathcliff or noses about his business , she will not see him or hear him die and thus will not scare her or anyone else. Almost like Heathcliff is warning Nelly of what is about to come.

“ But you might as well bid a man struggling in the water , rest within arms length of the shore! I must reach it first, and then ill rest.” By rest it can be assumed that Heathcliff means his death and his eternal rest rather than just a recovery sleep. He makes his final goal out to be death ,it could be to join Catherine or could be as it is the last thing for him to do. He managed to make money and come back from his travels wealthily he took revenge on those who wronged him , he created a new Heathcliff through Hareton and watched as he triumphed over his own son Linton.

When Heathcliff dies and Nelly discovers the body she believes that she sees him smile , “His eyes met mine so keen and fierce, I started, and then he seemed to smile”. This shows that even though he is dead Nelly knows that this is what he wanted as it seems even his body is smiling after death.

“I tried to close his eyes to extinguish, if possible that frightful lifelike gaze of exultation , before any one else beheld it. They would not shut: they seemed to sneer at my attempts and his parted lips and sharp white teeth sneered too.”

This quote furthers the idea of Heathcliff being otherworldly as it seems he is still taunting Nelly from beyond the grave , sneering at her like some sort of devil would , having the last laugh on Nelly. Almost as if even though his body has died his spirit is still there to mock Nelly.

When news of Heathcliff’s death reaches everyone it can be seen that Hareton was the only person to hold Heathcliff in high regards even though he was greatly wronged.

“ But poor Hareton, the most wronged , was the only one that really suffered much. He sat by the corpse all night weeping in bitter earnest”. This shows that even though Heathcliff punished Hareton and brought him up like Heathcliff was treated by Hindley he still loved him. Hareton shows that he is not just a typical brute , as he shows emotion by crying all night over Heathcliff’s death. It can also be seen that Heathcliff loved Hareton to , as to him Hareton was reliving the past , overcoming Linton like Heathcliff had overcome Hindley.

Heathcliff has his wishes carried out and he is burried regardless of the uproar it caused to the neighbourhood. Even after his death there had been many sightings of Heathcliff some say they have met him near the church and on the moor and even within the house. An old man says he has seen the two of them every rainy night since Heathcliff's death. A young boy was crying during storm and when asked what was the matter he replied

“Theys Heathcliff and a woman yonder under t’Nab”.

In all the accounts of the ghosts being seen of Heathcliff they all say that there has been a another person with him and that it was a girl. This could indeed be Catherine , as they could be taunting the people of the moors for eternity as both characters would find such terror great fun in the afterlife.

The Chapter ends with Nelly summing up that Hareton and Cathy will be getting married on new years day and that they will be moving to Thrushcross grange and that Joseph will look after the house , only living in the kitchen whilst keeping the rest of the house shut up. Almost as if keeping it empty for Heathcliff and Cathy.

The Marriage of Hareton and Cathy on new years can almost signify a new start to the Moors , no more revenge is needed there are no more loose ends , time for the characters to start thresh and learn from the mistakes of their ancestors.

The three headstones can be seen laying next to each other all though Edgars is half buried in Heath, this could signify Heathcliff’s victory over Edgar yet again in death.

“listened to the soft wind beneath the grass and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth”. Lockwood cant understand how the dead would find it un easy to rest in such a quiet peaceful place. Yet from everything that happens in the past it is easy to understand that Edgar could be turning in his grave.