- "It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire," ppage 107.
- "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of our separation again...", page 109.
- Why is Catherine like Heathcliff - not just similar, but why does she describe herself as being the same person? He is who she would be if she were allowed to do as she wanted - free, answering to no one, consumed with personal desires. They shared so much of their life together, and they shared all of what was important to them, that their desires and needs are practically the same. They experienced many of the same injuries, so a history of shared pain, loss, and neglect brought them closer. Something in the core of their souls, beyond anything finite and human, made them into one spirit split in two.
- Would you really want somebody you love to be so much you, and you so much them, that you're the same person? What kind of relationship is that? - is it good, is it bad? Are there any real-life examples of it? 1) No. No way. Not if you paid me. Being in my own head is enough, I can't imagine having to do all of that twice, simultaneously. I enjoy close relationships and friendships, but I draw the line at sharing brain-space. 2) It's a self-destructing relationship. Look where it got Heathcliffe and Catherine... 3) The only thing that comes to mind is the pure, crazy, all-consuming bliss of one's first requited love. You don't know any better than to let yourself fall headfirst, and after that you remember what it felt like when you finally hit the floor with your nose.
- Just because Catherine and Heathcliff identify so much with each other, are they really the same person? They are so isolated, they never really see love - they see ruthlessness, brutality, abuse, anger, etc. What kind of a model is that for people seeking happiness, when they couldn't identify happiness if it bit them on the foot?
- Similarity to twin relationships, the incestuous relationships of half-siblings in love - but the reality of that romance or that relationship could feel extremely suffocating. Does their (C & H's) isolation from everything and everyone make it easier for them to engage in this kind of a relationship?
- Nelly is separated from Hareton when Catherine marries Edgar Linton - the marriage goes well for three years, until Heathcliff returns from wherever he'd run off to. Heathcliff visits, and Isabella Linton falls in love with him (stupidly).
- Mawkish: 1. Excessively and objectionably sentimental. 2. Sickening or insipid in taste. (What Heathcliff calls Isabella - and its true. Oddly enough, he toughens her up into a more interesting character, though he has to torture her and neglect her terribly for her to reach that point).
- For Monday: through to Ch14 (haha! I've finished it!)
- Images I came up with after googling "revenge":
- Cat in a birdcage- Cut-and-paste poster
- A "revenge" bunny
- Johnny Depp
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