Plot Summary
Chapter V of Wuthering Heights marks a pivotal transition in the Earnshaw household. Narrated by Nelly Dean, the chapter traces Mr. Earnshaw’s physical decline and the deepening fractures within his family. As his health fails, the elder Earnshaw grows increasingly irritable and fiercely protective of Heathcliff, his adopted favorite. Any perceived slight toward the boy sends the old man into fits of rage, and Hindley’s open contempt for Heathcliff eventually leads to Hindley being sent away to college on the curate’s advice.
With Hindley gone, Catherine and Heathcliff grow closer, though the household is still far from peaceful. The servant Joseph gains increasing influence over the ailing master, filling his ears with pious reproofs and complaints about the children. Catherine’s wild, defiant spirit clashes with her father’s worsening temper, and his repeated rejections begin to harden her.
The chapter culminates in Mr. Earnshaw’s quiet death one stormy October evening. He dies in his chair by the fire while Catherine sings him to sleep, not realizing he has slipped away. When the children discover his death, they cling to each other and comfort one another by imagining heaven—a moment of innocent tenderness that Nelly finds deeply moving.
Character Development
Catherine Earnshaw emerges as a complex figure in this chapter—wild, headstrong, and mischievous, yet deeply capable of affection. Her contradictions are on full display: she provokes her father and defies authority, but she also kisses his hand, sings him to sleep, and screams in genuine anguish at his death. Heathcliff’s pride and “black tempers” are nourished by Mr. Earnshaw’s favoritism, setting the stage for his later arrogance and sense of entitlement. Hindley, though sent away, is already established as Heathcliff’s bitter enemy. Joseph’s sanctimonious manipulation of the dying man reveals the servant’s self-righteous character.
Themes and Motifs
The chapter foregrounds the destructive power of favoritism: Mr. Earnshaw’s partiality toward Heathcliff breeds resentment in Hindley, inflates Heathcliff’s pride, and destabilizes the entire household. The theme of rejection and hardening appears through Catherine, whose father’s repeated refusals of affection gradually transform her sensitivity into defiance. Death and innocence converge in the chapter’s closing scene, where the children’s vision of heaven contrasts with Joseph’s cold piety, suggesting that genuine spiritual grace belongs to the young and unschooled.
Literary Devices
employs pathetic fallacy in the stormy weather that accompanies Mr. Earnshaw’s death, mirroring the emotional turbulence of the household. The frame narrative deepens as Nelly’s retrospective commentary shapes the reader’s understanding; her aside to Lockwood—“really, you know, sir, it was in his sinking frame”—reminds us that this is a mediated account. Juxtaposition is central to the chapter’s effect: the peaceful death scene against the roaring wind, the children’s innocent comfort against Joseph’s harsh religiosity, and Catherine’s simultaneous wildness and tenderness.