WUTHERING HEIGHTS
A monologue from the
novel by Emily Brontë
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë. New York: Harper
& Brothers, 1848. |
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CATHERINE: I wouldn't be you for a kingdom! Nelly,
help me to convince her of her madness. Tell her what Heathcliff
is: an unreclaimed creature, without refinement, without cultivation;
an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone. I'd as soon put that
little canary into the park on a winter's day, as recommend you
to bestow your heart on him! It is deplorable ignorance of his
character, child, and nothing else, which makes that dream enter
your head. Pray, don't imagine that he conceals depths of benevolence
and affection beneath a stern exterior! He's not a rough diamond
- a pearl-containing oyster of a rustic: he's a fierce, pitiless,
wolfish man. I never say to him, "Let this or that enemy
alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them;"
I say, "Let them alone, because I should hate them to be
wronged:" and he'd crush you like a sparrow's egg, Isabella,
if he found you a troublesome charge. I know he couldn't love
a Linton; and yet he'd be quite capable of marrying your fortune
and expectations: avarice is growing with him a besetting sin.
There's my picture: and I'm his friend -- so much so, that had
he thought seriously to catch you, I should, perhaps, have held
my tongue, and let you fall into his trap. Banish him from your
thoughts. He's a bird of bad omen: no mate for you.
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY EMILY BRONTË |
