CHAPTER XI.
CATHERINE AND HEATHCLIFFE OF "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" AS JANE AND ROCHESTER OF "JANE EYRE."
We have already seen Catherine in Wuthering Heights represented Charlotte Brontë as intimately portrayed by herself in the work, and that Heathcliffe was drawn by her from the original of the Rochester of Jane Eyre. So faithfully did Charlotte Brontë tell again in Jane Eyre the history of her life in relation to her family and M. Héger, that she gives the main lines of her biography in both works. I will show them side by side.
For the literal parallels when not given in this chapter see the index. My amazing discovery on the return of the runaway Heathcliffe to Catherine and the return of the runaway Jane to Rochester I give literally herewith.
| Wuthering Heights. | Jane Eyre. |
| Opening scene: A rainy day in Catherine's (Charlotte Brontë's) childhood. She is treated unkindly by the rest of the household. It is impossible to go out on account of the rain. She had been commanded to keep aloof from the family group. This group included in particular, little Catherine tells us with bitter feeling, Hindley Earnshaw (Branwell Brontë), who luxuriated in the warmth of the fire with other members of the family. | Opening scene: A rainy day in Jane's (Charlotte Brontë's) childhood. She is treated unkindly by the rest of the household. It is impossible to go out on account of the rain. She had been commanded to keep aloof from the family group. This group included in particular, little Jane tells us with bitter feeling, John Reed (Branwell Brontë), who luxuriated in the warmth of the fire with other members of the family. |
| Nevertheless, though banished, Catherine (Charlotte Brontë) makes herself snug in a recess behind a curtain, and believes herself secure, when Hindley Earnshaw (Branwell Brontë), coming up from his paradise on the hearth, makes her come out of the recess precipitantly, after she has hurled the book she was reading. Little Catherine (Charlotte Brontë) sees a tyrant in Hindley Earnshaw (Branwell Brontë). He tells her that he is the master of the house. | Nevertheless, though banished herself, Jane (Charlotte Brontë) makes herself snug in a recess behind a curtain, and believes herself secure, when John Reed (Branwell Brontë), coming up from his paradise on the hearth, makes her come out of the recess precipitantly. He hurls the book she was reading. Little Jane (Charlotte Brontë) sees a tyrant in John Reed (Branwell Brontë). He tells her that he is the master of the house, or soon will be. |
| Later, Catherine complains to herself of her brother Hindley's (Branwell's) tyrannies. He has made her cry and her head ached, she says, as a result of his behaviour. | Later, Jane complains to herself of John Reed's (Branwell's) tyrannies. He has made her cry and her head ached, she says, as a result of his behaviour. |
| Little Catherine (Charlotte Brontë), although she was held to be passionate, and was treated harshly and almost as an outsider by the rest of the household, finds a kind, but apparently unsympathetic, friend in a woman-servant, Nelly Dean, who has a remarkable gift of narrative, like Tabitha Aykroyd, whom Charlotte Brontë loved, and who came to the Haworth parsonage when Charlotte was about nine years of age. But even Nelly Dean (Tabitha Aykroyd) sometimes tasked and scolded Catherine (Charlotte Brontë) unreasonably, and mistrusted her. | Little Jane (Charlotte Brontë), although she was held to be passionate, and was treated harshly and almost an outsider by the rest of the household, finds a kind, but apparently unsympathetic, friend in a woman-servant, Bessie, who has a remarkable gift of narrative, like Tabitha Aykroyd, whom Charlotte Brontë loved, and who came to the Haworth parsonage when Charlotte was about nine years of age. But even Bessie (Tabitha Aykroyd) sometimes tasked and scolded Jane (Charlotte Brontë) unreasonably, and mistrusted her. |
| She even believes that Catherine (Charlotte Brontë) is an actor and feigns in regard to certain fits of frenzy. | She even believes that Jane (Charlotte) is an actor and feigns in regard to certain fits of frenzy. |
| On the occasion of one of these bouts of frenzy, Catherine (Charlotte Brontë) is in a room, the door of which has been locked. | On the occasion of one of these bouts of frenzy, Jane (Charlotte Brontë) is in a room, the door of which has been locked. |
| In a paroxysm of alarm, Catherine (Charlotte Brontë) summons Mrs. Dean (Tabitha Aykroyd) frantically, and with a piercing scream. The latter enters annoyed, and quite unsympathetic. | In a paroxysm of alarm, Jane (Charlotte Brontë) summons Bessie (Tabitha Aykroyd) frantically, and with a piercing scream. The latter enters annoyed, and quite unsympathetic. |
| It is suggested Catherine was only acting, and Catherine overhears this. She had desired Mrs. Dean (Tabitha Aykroyd) to bring her a basin of gruel. | It is suggested Jane was only acting, and Jane overhears this. She finds Bessie (Tabitha Aykroyd) at the foot of her bed with a basin in her hand. |
| Catherine (Charlotte) relates her fears of the locked room: How she thought it haunted; she showed fear of the mirror, and describes excitedly to Mrs. Dean (Tabitha) her terrifying sensations previous to her losing consciousness, and how she supposed she must immediately have had a species of fit. | Jane (Charlotte) relates her fears of the locked room: How she thought it haunted; she showed fear of the mirror, and describes excitedly to Bessie (Tabitha) her terrifying sensations previous to her losing consciousness. She supposed she must immediately have had a species of fit. |
| Mrs. Dean (Tabitha) suggests sleep to Catherine (Charlotte Brontë). | Bessie (Tabitha) suggests sleep to Jane (Charlotte Brontë). |
| Mrs. Dean (Tabitha) believes that to see the apparition of a child is a sign of calamity having befallen some one near akin. One day Mrs. Dean sees a child-apparition, and fears it may be a sign of calamity to Catherine's (Charlotte's) brother, Hindley Earnshaw (Branwell Brontë). He is really in disgrace. | Bessie (Tabitha) believes that the apparition of a child is a sign of calamity having befallen some one near akin. Jane dreams of a child-apparition, and fears it may be a sign of calamity, and the day following Bessie's husband brings word of the disgrace of John Reed (Branwell Brontë, Charlotte's brother). |
| Catherine falls in love with a morose, "sallow-cheeked" individual with deep eyes, that have a singular expression, which makes the narrator associate "hell's light" with them. He has a handsome, erect carry, but is rather negligent in his apparel. His speech is abrupt. (His name is Heathcliffe.) | Jane falls in love with a morose, "olive-cheeked" individual with deep eyes, that have a singular expression, which makes the narrator associate "hell's light" with them. He has a handsome, erect carry, but is rather negligent in his apparel. His speech is abrupt. (His name is Rochester.) |
| But Catherine loved him, and he loved Catherine. Indeed, Catherine likens themselves to a cloven tree by saying that whosoever would come between them to divide them would meet the fate of Mïlo, who, of course, endeavoured to drive asunder a cloven tree held firmly at its base, and was himself trapped by it for his pains. Thus she believes in the "twin-soul" or the elective affinities, and says:— | But Jane loved him, and he loved Jane. Indeed, Jane likens themselves to a cloven tree, which is one at the root, but divided by storm. Thus she believes in the "twin-soul" or the elective affinities, and says of Rochester:— |
| "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliffe now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that not because he's handsome, ... but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."[53] | "I feel akin to him.... I have something in my brain and heart that assimilates me mentally to him.... I know I must conceal my sentiments.... Yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him."[53] |
| However, Heathcliffe and Catherine part, Heathcliffe running away unexpectedly. (Method I., interchange of the sexes of characters.) | However, Rochester and Jane part, Jane running away unexpectedly. |
| Catherine dreams she is in heaven, but broke her heart to come to earth again, upon which the angels flung her out near Heathcliffe's abode, where she awoke sobbing for joy: Catherine preferred her lover to heaven.[54] | Jane finds refuge with the Rivers family (the Brontë family at Haworth). She is tempted to take to a religious life:—"Angels beckoned, and Heaven rolled together like a scroll," but she heard Rochester's voice calling, though he was miles away. Jane preferred her lover to heaven.[54] |
| The two parted lovers, however, meet again, and by Charlotte Brontë's Method I., (interchange of the sexes of characters portrayed), we arrive at another of my sensational and important Brontë discoveries. | The two parted lovers, however, meet again, and by Charlotte Brontë's Method I., (interchange of the sexes of characters portrayed), we arrive at another of my sensational and important Brontë discoveries. |
| The Return of the Runaway Lover Heathcliffe to Catherine.[55] | The Return of the Runaway Lover Jane to Rochester.[55] |
| Wuthering Heights. | Jane Eyre. |
| Chapter X. | Chapter XXXVII. |
| On [an] ... evening ... I
was coming from the garden....
It had got dusk, ... the moon
causing ... shadows to lurk in
the corners of ... portions of
the building. I set my burden
on the house steps by the ...
door and lingered to rest ...
my back to the entrance, when
I heard a voice behind me
say:— "... Is that you?" It was a deep voice, and foreign in sound.... Something stirred in the porch; and moving nearer I distinguished a tall man dressed in dark clothes, with dark face and hair. He leant against the side, and held his fingers on the latch as if intending to open for himself.... A ray fell on his features; the cheeks were sallow, and half-covered with black whiskers; the brows lowering, the eyes deep-set and singular. I remembered the eyes. | ... I came, just ere dark ... the darkness ... of dusk gathered.... I beheld the house—scarce by this dim light distinguishable.... Entering a portal fastened by a latch, ... I stood.... The windows were latticed, ... the front door was narrow; ... one step led up to it.... I heard a movement—that narrow front-door was unclosing, and some shape was about to issue from the grange. [Charlotte Brontë's Wuthering Heights version of the returned runaway lover, is also staged at "the grange.">[ It opened slowly: a figure came out into the twilight and stood on the step; a man, ... he stretched forth his hand.... Dusk as it was I had recognized him—it was my master ... Rochester. I stayed my step, almost my breath.... His form was of the same strong and stalwart contour as ever: his port was still erect, his hair was still raven-black: nor were his features altered or sunk.... But in his countenance I saw a change: that looked desperate and brooding—that reminded me of some wronged and fettered wild beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe.... He closed the door. I now drew near and knocked: John's wife opened for me.... She started as if she had seen a ghost: I calmed her. To her hurried "Is it really you, Miss, come at this late hour...?" I answered by taking her hand. |
| "What!" I cried, uncertain
whether to regard him as a
worldly visitor, and raised my
hands in amazement. "What!
you come back? Is it really
you? Is it?" "Yes; Heathcliffe," he replied ... "where is she?... Is she here? Speak! I want to have one word with her—your mistress [Catherine]. Go, and say some person ... desires to see her." "... And you are Heathcliffe. But altered!" ... I could not persuade myself to proceed. At length I resolved on making an excuse to ask if ... [Catherine] would have the candles lighted, and I opened the door. [She] sat ... by a window whose lattice lay back. "What does he want?" asked Catherine. "I did not question him," I answered. ... Mr. Edgar inquired ... who it was? "Some one mistress does not expect," I replied. "That Heathcliffe.... Hush! you must not call him ... names.... She'd be sadly grieved to hear you. She was nearly heart-broken when he ran off. I guess his return will make a jubilee to her." "Oh, ... Heathcliffe's come back—he is," panted Catherine. "... I'll ... secure my guest. I'm afraid the joy is too great to be real!" "... Catherine, try to be glad without being absurd! The whole household need not witness the sight of your welcoming a runaway servant." I ... found Heathcliffe ... and ushered him into the presence of the master and mistress. ... Now, I was amazed [by] the transformation of Heathcliffe;... A half-civilized ferocity lurked yet in the depressed brows and eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued, quite divested of roughness, though too stern for grace.... He took a seat opposite Catherine, who kept her gaze fixed on him, as if she feared he would vanish were she to remove it. He did not raise his to her often; a quick glance now and then sufficed; but it flashed back each time; ... the undisguised delight he drank from hers.... Catherine ... rose and seized Heathcliffe's hands again, and laughed like one beside herself. "I shall think it a dream to-morrow!" she cried. "I shall not be able to believe that I have seen and touched, and spoken to you once more.... Cruel Heathcliffe! You don't deserve this welcome. To be absent and silent for three years, and never to think of me!" "... I've fought through a bitter life since I last heard your voice, and you must forgive me, for I struggled only for you!" "... The event of this evening," said Catherine, "has reconciled me to God and humanity! I had risen in angry rebellion against Providence—oh, I've endured very, very bitter misery.... I can afford to suffer anything hereafter! Should the meanest thing alive slap me on the cheek, I'd not only turn the other, but I'd ask pardon for provoking it.... I'm an angel!" (Later on in Wuthering Heights Charlotte Brontë, temporarily neglecting her use of Method I., interchange of the sexes, in this connection, makes Heathcliffe say to Catherine:— "Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy?... You loved me, then what right had you to leave me?... 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."). | "... Tell your master ... a
person wishes to speak to him." When she returned, I inquired what he had said. "You are to send in your name and business," she replied. She then proceeded to fill a glass of water, and place it on a tray, together with candles. "Is that what he rang for?" I asked. "Yes; he always has candles brought in at dusk...." "Give the tray to me, I will carry it in." ... Mary opened the door for me.... Mr. Rochester turned mechanically. "This is you, Mary, is it not?" "Mary is in the kitchen," I answered. "Who is it? What is it? Who speaks?" "... I came only this evening," I answered. "Great God!—what delusion has come over me? What sweet madness has seized me?... Oh! I cannot see.... Whatever—whoever you are—be perceptible to my touch or I cannot live!" I arrested his hand and prisoned it in both mine. "Is that Jane?" "... This is her voice," I added.... "My dear master, ... I am Jane Eyre:... I am come back to you." "In truth?—in the flesh? My living Jane?" "You touch me, sir—you hold me. I am not vacant like air, am I?" "... But I cannot be so blest after all my misery. It is a dream: such dreams I have had.... But I always woke and found it an empty mockery; and I was desolate and abandoned." ... I began ... to withdraw myself from his arms—but he eagerly snatched me closer:— "No, you must not go. No—I have touched you, heard you; ... my very soul demands you.... Who can tell what a dark, hopeless life I have dragged on for months past? ... feeling but a ceaseless sorrow, and at times a very delirium of desire to behold my Jane again. Yes; for her restoration I longed.... Will she not depart as suddenly as she came? To-morrow ... I shall find her no more.... Cruel, cruel deserter! O Jane, what did I feel when I discovered you had fled and left Thornfield?" "Jane! ... my heart swells with gratitude to the beneficent God of this earth just now.... I did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower: the Omnipotent snatched it from me. I, in my stiff-necked rebellion, almost cursed the dispensation: instead of bending to the decree I defied it.... Of late, Jane, ... I began to experience remorse, repentance; the wish for reconciliation to my Maker.... Now I thank God." |
The above parallel descriptions, it will be found, agree practically word for word. I will now give the substance side by side, and let the reader keep in mind Charlotte Brontë's Method I., interchange of the sexes of characters:—
The absolute dependence of Charlotte Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Villette upon her own inner life in relation to M. Héger is proved by the evidence in the chapter on "The Rivers Family," in the chapters on "Eugène Sue and Charlotte Brontë's Brussels Life," and in those entitled "The Recoil."