Chapter XXIX Practice Quiz — Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter XXIX
What event has just occurred before Chapter 29 begins?
Edgar Linton's funeral. Nelly and Catherine are sitting in the library at Thrushcross Grange mourning his death.
Why does Heathcliff come to Thrushcross Grange in Chapter 29?
To take young Catherine back to Wuthering Heights. He declares he is seeking a tenant for the Grange and wants his "children" about him.
How has Heathcliff punished Linton Heathcliff for helping Catherine escape?
He sat Linton alone in a chair for two hours without touching him, using only his intimidating presence. Since then, Linton wakes shrieking in the night and sees Heathcliff's presence like a ghost.
What does Heathcliff plan to do with Thrushcross Grange?
He plans to rent it out to a tenant. He tells Nelly she will remain as housekeeper but forbids her from visiting Wuthering Heights.
What does Heathcliff say Catherine must do once Linton dies?
She must work to earn her bread. He says he will not "nurture her in luxury and idleness after Linton is gone."
What devastating remark does young Catherine make to Heathcliff?
She tells him that nobody loves him, nobody will cry for him when he dies, and that his cruelty arises from his own greater misery. She compares him to the devil—lonely and envious.
How does Nelly describe young Catherine's attitude as she confronts Heathcliff?
Nelly says Catherine speaks with "a kind of dreary triumph," having resolved to draw pleasure from knowing her enemies are more miserable than she is.
What shocking act does Heathcliff confess to Nelly?
He bribed the sexton to open Catherine Earnshaw's coffin while Edgar's grave was being dug. He gazed upon her preserved face and was overcome with emotion.
What arrangement does Heathcliff make with the sexton regarding the coffins?
He has the side of Catherine's coffin facing away from Edgar loosened, and arranges for his own coffin to have the corresponding side removed, so their remains will eventually mingle together.
What happened when Heathcliff tried to dig up Catherine's coffin on the night of her burial?
He dug down to the coffin, but just as he was about to open it, he felt a sigh and warm breath near him. He sensed Catherine's presence not under him but on the earth beside him, bringing him sudden consolation.
For how long has Catherine's ghost tormented Heathcliff?
Eighteen years—from the day she was buried until the night before his confession, when opening her coffin finally brought him some measure of peace.
How does Heathcliff describe the nature of Catherine's haunting?
He could sense her presence everywhere—on the moors, entering rooms, resting on the pillow—but could never actually see her. He calls it "a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths, to beguile me with the spectre of a hope."
What symbolic detail does Nelly notice about the library when Heathcliff enters?
It is the same room where Heathcliff was received as a guest eighteen years before, with the same moon shining through the window and the same autumn landscape outside, highlighting the passage of time and its circular nature.
What does Heathcliff do with Catherine Linton's portrait?
He takes it down from the wall, studies it, leans it against the sofa, and declares he will bring it home to Wuthering Heights. This symbolizes his possessive claim over every remnant of Catherine.
What is the final image of Chapter 29?
Catherine says goodbye to Nelly, her lips cold as ice. Heathcliff fixes Catherine's arm under his and hurries her into the tree-lined alley, where they disappear from Nelly's view.
What does Nelly attempt to negotiate with Heathcliff regarding the living arrangements?
She pleads for Catherine to stay at the Grange with Linton sent to her, and later offers to trade positions with Zillah so she can serve at Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff refuses both requests.
What theme does Heathcliff's coffin arrangement symbolize?
It symbolizes love beyond death and the dissolution of boundaries between the living and the dead. Heathcliff seeks physical union with Catherine in death since it was denied in life.
How does young Catherine declare she will resist Heathcliff?
She says she defies him to hurt Linton while she is present and defies him to frighten her. She insists that despite his efforts, he cannot make her and Linton hate each other.
What does Heathcliff warn Catherine about Linton's true nature?
He says Linton is "as bitter as gall" at Catherine's desertion and its consequences, and that Linton drew Zillah a picture of what he would do if he were as strong as Heathcliff. Heathcliff warns that Linton's weakness will sharpen his wits to find substitutes for physical strength.
What Gothic literary device does Emily Brontë employ through Heathcliff's graveyard confession?
She uses the Gothic conventions of grave-opening, spectral haunting, and the blurring of boundaries between life and death. Nelly's horrified reactions ("You were very wicked!") ground the supernatural elements in a realistic frame narrative.