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Isabella And Heathcliff Foils

637 Words3 Pages

Cally Konecki

Mr. Wierzal

14 April 2023

Honors English 10

Isabella Linton and Catherine Earnshaw are character foils of one another. While both are romantically involved with Mr. Heathcliff, Catherine’s personality is nearly the exact opposite of Isabella’s. Isabella is meek, delicate, and stubborn, while Catherine is loud, confident, and wild. Catherine feels fiery passion while Isabella pines slowly. but both characters are dismissive of warnings and feel they can make their own decisions. Catherine and Isabella are women of high social status, but they are still very different in multiple ways, including their romances, thoughts on motherhood, and emotional responses to stressful situations.

Isabella is a very mild, unspoken, and …show more content…

Because Isabella is so mild, the way she pines for him is mild as well. This love from Isabella for Heathcliff is the turning point in her personality. She becomes more like Catherine, more stubborn, and more assertive. “‘No, you have not,' said the infatuated girl. 'I love him more than ever you loved Edgar, and he might love me, if you would let him!'” (Brontë pg number; chapter 10). Catherine has called out Isabella for a surface-level love and warned Isabella that Heathcliff is too much for her, and Isabella retorts by saying she loves Heathcliff more than Catherine has loved Edgar, which is proof of her becoming more assertive. Heathcliff and Isabella’s relationship quickly turns toxic and abusive and Isabella finally decides to stand up for herself and run away to London. Isabella is an interesting character, the more she matures, the more stubborn and self-protective she becomes, just like Catherine. As a teenager, when Catherine is unable to get Nelly Dean to leave the room, she stubbornly pinches her and makes her leave. “‘I hate you to be fidgeting in MY presence,' exclaimed [Catherine] imperiously, not allowing her guest time to speak: she had failed to recover her equanimity since the little dispute with Heathcliff. 'I'm sorry for it, Miss Catherine,' was my [Nelly] response; and I proceeded assiduously with my occupation. She, supposing Edgar could not see her, snatched the cloth from my hand, and pinched me, with a prolonged wrench, very spitefully on the arm” (Brontë Find pg but Chapter 8). Catherine is under the belief that Edgar could not see her as she is abusing Nelly Dean, so she continues her

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