“But I begin to fancy you don't like me. How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me. (Catherine Linton, nee Earnshaw)”
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Quote Analysis of Catherine Linton's Reflection
Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" is a novel steeped in complex relationships and emotional tumult. In this quote, Catherine Linton expresses a profound realization about her relationships with those around her. The nuances of her statement reveal her character's depth and the broader themes of love, disdain, and the human condition.
Catherine begins with a perplexing observation: “But I begin to fancy you don't like me.” This admission indicates both vulnerability and self-awareness. Despite her strong personality, she acknowledges a possible dislike directed towards her, which hints at her longing for acceptance and love. It also signals a shift in her perception of interactions, where she is beginning to recognize not just affection, but also animosity from others.
She continues with a thought that encapsulates her complexity: “How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me.” This juxtaposition of hate and love speaks volumes. Catherine perceives a dissonance in human emotions, suggesting that even in a world rife with animosity, she believed herself to be a figure deserving of love. This reveals her underlying arrogance and self-importance, as well as her deep-seated need for validation, even amidst emotional chaos.
Moreover, this line reflects the broader theme of duality present in “Wuthering Heights.” The characters navigate between love and hate, passion and resentment, often blurring the lines between these opposing feelings. Catherine's assumption that love should be inevitable could be seen as naive, yet it also speaks to the yearning for connection that exists even in the most turbulent of relationships.
In summary, Brontë’s quote captures Catherine Linton's complex psychology, illustrating her struggle with love and acknowledgment within a hostile emotional landscape. It serves as a poignant reminder of the intricate web of human emotions and the desire for connection amidst a backdrop of antagonism.
Similar quotes
“How strange! I thought, though everybody hated and despised each other, they could not avoid loving me.”
“The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, 'Let me in - let me in!' 'Who are you?' I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. 'Catherine Linton,' it replied, shiveringly (why did I think of LINTON? I had read EARNSHAW twenty times for Linton) - 'I'm come home: I'd lost my way on the moor!' As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child's face looking through the window.”
“Yet I was a fool to fancy for a moment that she valued Edgar Linton's attachment more than mine -- If he love with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years, as I could in a day. And Catherine has a heart as deep as I have; the sea could be as readily contained in that horse-trough, as her whole affection be monopolized by him -- Tush! He is scarcely a degree dearer to her than her dog, or her horse -- It is not in him to be loved like me, how can she love in him what he has not?”
“And I pray one prayer--I repeat it till my tongue stiffens--Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you--haunt me, then!...Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!”
“You loved me-then what right had you to leave me? What right-answer me-for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart- you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine."~Heathcliff”
“Yes,' said Catherine, stroking his long soft hair, 'if I could only get papa's consent, I'd spend half my time with you - Pretty Linton! I wish you were my brother.''And then you would like me as well as your father?' observed he more cheerfully. 'But papa says you would love me better than him, and all the world, if you were my wife-so I'd rather you were that!''No! I should never love anybody better than papa,' she returned gravely. 'And people hate their wives, sometimes; but not their sisters and brothers, and if you were the latter, you would live with us, and papa would be as fond of you, as he is of me.”