At one point in Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," Catherine frantic as she searches for Heathcliff, answers Nelly's inquiry into her state of mind, "I am Heathcliff!" Later, as Heathcliff mourns Catherine, he makes a similar assertion: "I cannot live without my life!" Thus, as David Daiches in his introduction to "Wuthering Heights" observes, there are Heathcliff's "natural claims to Cathy" in conflict with the "artificial claims to Cathy" by Edgar Linton. That is, the passionate bond that Cathy and Heathcliff share is not like the bond of cousins and the marriage of those in the same social state.
But, just as in "Romeo and Juliet," the "violent delights" of Heathcliff and Catherine have "violent ends"; no relationship can withstand the denial of its passion. Catherine's marriage to Linton is doomed, especially when Heathcliff reappears to take what passion in her nature remains.
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