When Edgar tries to calm Catherine down, Catherine strikes him. Using a simile, Nelly says, “He possessed the power to depart as much as a cat possesses the power to leave a mouse half killed, or a bird half eaten” (71) describing him as a cat. The dog motif is used here again, as the cat can be compared to the dog, depicting that Edgar is a weak man who does not carry any dignity since he does not leave the person who assaulted him, but decides to confess his love to her instead. Edgar marries Catherine, and after three years, Heathcliff visits Thrushcross Grange. Catherine discusses with Edgar about how she enjoy Heathcliff’s presence at the Grange, and Edgar “either for a headache or a pang of envy, began to cry” (97), characterizing that he acts like a child since he feels that he is not receiving the attention that he deserves. Later, when Nelly retrieves Edgar to break the dispute between Heathcliff and Catherine, Edgar tells Nelly to “fetch the men” (114) making it a conflict that he does not intend to have a personal confrontation with Heathcliff and characterizing that he is a coward for wanting other people to go against his own issues. Catherine gets frustrated with her husband’s behavior and throws the key, a phallic symbol, into the fire, resulting Edgar to be “taken with a nervous trembling” (115) and degrade him into a …show more content…
Catherine locks herself in her room, eventually leading to an illness. Edgar did not realize that she was sick until he was barging in the room to see Nelly tending Catherine. At first, Edgar was concerned with her physical state, but Edgar still proceeded to ask, “‘Am I nothing to you any more? Do you love that wretch Heath—’” (126) characterizing that Edgar is selfish enough to ask about her love life when she clearly has a poor mental state. After Catherine dies of childbirth, Bronte uses a metaphor to show that grief has “transformed him into a complete hermit” (180). Even with the suffering from the loss of his wife, Edgar did not have an excuse to neglect his daughter. She is perhaps the one piece that his wife left behind. When Hindley dies, Heathcliff claims Wuthering Heights along with Hareton. Nelly tries to receive Hareton with Edgar’s help, but “Edgar Linton, little interested at the commencement, spoke no more of interfering” (184). Edgar does not attempt to challenge Heathcliff for Hareton. Edgar knows that Hareton should not be raised under Heathcliff’s abusive nature, yet Edgar allows Heathcliff to take Hareton without a fight, demonstrating that Edgar is a