How Is Heathcliff An Unfit For Heaven

As characters in both Catherine’s dream and reality claim that she and her sinful and selfish behavior are unfit for Heaven, they support the idea that she is unfit for Linton and his redeeming qualities and more compatible with Heathcliff, a rebellious character. The angels in Catherine’s dream and Nelly in Catherine’s reality openly deem Catherine’s attitude and conduct unworthy of Heaven. In Catherine’s dream, the angels, upset with her sobbing, fling her “out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights” (80), believing her conduct to be unfit for Heaven and more suitable for a less holy environment, Wuthering Heights. Because Heaven is symbolic of Edgar Linton, the angels also indicate that Catherine is not worthy of Edgar Linton and is more suited toward a less holy character: Heathcliff.

Nelly, in Catherine’s real life, agrees with the angels’ stance and tells Catherine that she is too sinful of a person for Heaven, stating, “‘Because you are unfit to go there,’... ‘All sinners would be miserable in heaven’” (80). Nelly believes that Catherine’s rebelliousness, impulsiveness, and selfishness, make her sinful and unworthy of Heaven, a pleasant and holy place, and Linton, a wealthy, kind, and well-perceived man. She expresses Linton’s incongruity with Catherine’s behavior by warning him to leave Catherine after he observes her yelling and slapping Nelly: “‘That’s right!’... ‘Take warning and begone!’ It’s a kindness to let you have a glimpse of her genuine disposition’” (71). Nelly, claiming that Linton’s kind disposition would be unable to control Catherine’s sinful behavior, believes that he should leave and not be involved with