Wuthering Heights: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Zillah brings Lockwood to a room that Heathcliff usually doesn't allow anyone to stay in. Left alone, Lockwood notices three names scratched into the paint of the bed: Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff, and Catherine Linton. Lockwood also finds a 25-year-old diary, written by Catherine Earnshaw. He reads an entry from a time just after her father died, in which her older brother Hindley makes Catherine and Heathcliff listen to Joseph's dull sermons. From the entry it's clear that Hindley hated Heathcliff, but that Catherine and Heathcliff were close.

That night Lockwood has a nightmare in which he breaks a window to get some air, and a child grabs his hand. She says her name is Catherine Linton and begs to enter, claiming she's been trying to get in for twenty years. Lockwood fights her and frees himself. She continues to beg, and he cries out. His yell carries into the real world—Heathcliff hears it and comes running. He's upset to find Lockwood in the room, while Lockwood's upset over the ghost. Lockwood describes his nightmare to Heathcliff, who becomes livid when Lockwood says the dream-waif deserves to be punished. Heathcliff, sobbing, opens the window and shouts for Catherine to come in.

The next morning Heathcliff escorts Lockwood home. The servants of Thrushcross Grange are overjoyed to see Lockwood—they feared he'd died in the storm. But Lockwood, in no mood for company, locks himself in the study.