Wuthering Heights
Before Reading 8
ACTIVITIES ANSWERS
BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES (PAGE 91)
ACTIVITY 1 BEFORE READING
Open answers. Encourage speculation. Do not
confirm or deny guesses at this stage. In fact, there
is an element of truth in 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d; 2b is
correct (‘wuthering’ is a Yorkshire dialect word
meaning ‘blustery’); and 3a and 3b are correct.
ACTIVITY 2 BEFORE READING
Open answers. Encourage students to compare and
discuss their ranking lists.
While Reading
CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 WHILE READING
Encourage students to speculate on the characters
and their relationships. Do not tell them the
answers. They will find out as they read that the
‘yes’ answers are numbers 1 and 5.
CHAPTERS 3 TO 6 WHILE READING
1 Mr Earnshaw to Catherine, Hindley and Ellen,
about the dirty, black-haired gipsy child that he had
brought home.
2 Ellen to Heathcliff, about Edgar and Isabella Linton.
3 Catherine to Heathcliff, about his unwashed,
frowning face.
4 Heathcliff to Ellen, about Hindley.
5 Catherine to Heathcliff, giving her reason for not
spending more time with him.
6 Edgar to Catherine, about her hitting him.
7 Ellen to Hindley, about his carelessness in letting his
son Hareton fall down the stairs.
8 Catherine to Ellen, about Heathcliff.
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 7
Open answers. Encourage students to base their
predictions on their knowledge of the characters so
far.
CHAPTERS 7 TO 11 WHILE READING
1 T
2 F Edgar was unwilling to accept Heathcliff as
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Catherine’s friend.
3 F Isabella fell in love with Heathcliff.
4 F Isabella would inherit the Linton fortune if
Edgar and Catherine had no sons.
5 T
6 T
7 F Catherine was just pretending to be ill at first,
but later became seriously ill with brain fever.
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STAGE 5
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F Isabella was very unhappy with her husband.
T
10 T
11 T
12 F Catherine died in her room, with Edgar at her
bedside.
13 F Isabella ran away to London to have her baby.
14 F Hindley drank himself to death.
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 12
Open answers. Encourage speculation, but do not
confirm or deny students’ guesses at this stage.
CHAPTERS 12 TO 16 WHILE READING
1 Why . . .? Because she was knew she was dying and
wanted him to take care of her son.
2 Why . . .? Because he wore old, dirty clothes,
and looked and spoke like a farm worker, not a
gentleman’s son.
3 What . . .? He was bitterly disappointed in him
because Linton was a weak, pale, and sickly child.
4 Why . . .? Because Hareton’s father, Hindley, had
treated Heathcliff badly in the same way, and
Heathcliff wanted Hareton to suffer as he had, in
revenge for Hindley’s treatment.
5 What . . .? She made secret visits in the evenings to
Wuthering Heights to see Linton.
6 Why . . .? Because if Cathy married Linton, any
money she had would become Linton’s, and after
Linton’s death, Heathcliff (as Linton’s nearest
relation) would inherit the whole of the Linton
fortune. And if Linton died unmarried, Cathy would
then inherit all the Linton fortune when her father
Edgar died, and Heathcliff would not get it.
7 Why . . .? He used Linton to trick Cathy and Ellen
into coming to Wuthering Heights, then locked the
doors and refused to let them leave until Cathy had
kept her promise to marry Linton.
8 Why . . .? Because she knew that her father Edgar
was dying and she wanted to be at his bedside.
9 What . . .? He looked at Catherine in her coffin,
broke open one of the coffin’s sides, and bribed
the gravedigger to bury him, when he died, next to
Catherine.
BEFORE READING CHAPTER 17
Open answers.
CHAPTERS 17 AND 18 WHILE READING
1 Because she pretended to cry, and he couldn’t bear
to make her sad.
2 Because he was uneducated.
3 He saw Cathy teaching Hareton to read and the two
of them being very loving together.
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 4 Cathy wanted to plant some flowers there. ACTIVITY 5 AFTER READING

5 Because he no longer wanted to; he had lost interest Open answers.

in daily events. ACTIVITY 6 AFTER READING
6 To rejoin Catherine in death. Students can complete this how they like. Possible
7 For four days and nights he neither ate nor slept, answers would be:
and was found by Ellen one morning, lying dead on CATHERINE: Isabella, I must talk to you about

ACTIVITIES ANSWERS
the bed in Catherine’s old room. Heathcliff.
ISABELLA: Oh, yes! He’s so strong and handsome, isn’t
After Reading he?
CATHERINE: Well, he’s always been strong, yes, but
ACTIVITY 1 AFTER READING handsome? No, I wouldn’t call him that.
ISABELLA: I think he is. And I’m so much in love with
Mr & Mrs Earnshaw Mr & Mrs Linton
him.
CATHERINE: That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.
You shouldn’t love him. He isn’t worth it!
Frances m. Hindley Catherine m. Edgar Isabella m. Heathcliff ISABELLA: Why not? What do you mean?
CATHERINE: Well, he can be very violent, and fierce,
and even cruel. There’s a certain wildness in him—
Hareton m.(2) Cathy m.(1) Linton
ISABELLA: You’re in love with him yourself, aren’t you?
CATHERINE: Me? In love with him? No, no, I’m not,
although I’m very close to him. He’s almost part of
ACTIVITY 2 AFTER READING
me. But he’d be a bad husband for you, Isabella!
WEDDINGS
ISABELLA: You’re just saying that because you and
1 Hindley & Frances (1775)
Edgar don’t want me to marry him!
2 Catherine & Edgar (1783)
CATHERINE: Well, yes, it’s true that Edgar and I don’t
3 Heathcliff & Isabella (1784)
want you to marry Heathcliff. You wouldn’t be
4 Cathy & Linton (1800)
happy with him.
5 Cathy & Hareton (1803)
ISABELLA: How can you be so sure of that?
DEATHS CATHERINE: I’m sure because – because you and he
1 Mr Earnshaw (1775) are so different. You’re quiet and gentle and weak,
2 Frances (1778) while he—
3/4 Mr & Mrs Linton (1780) ISABELLA: How selfish you are, Catherine!
5 Catherine (1784) CATHERINE: Selfish? Why do you say that?
6 Hindley Earnshaw (1785) ISABELLA: Because you didn’t marry Heathcliff and
7 Isabella (1797) now you don’t want anyone else to have him.
8 Edgar (1800) CATHERINE: That simply isn’t true! It doesn’t matter
9 Linton (1801) to me whether Heathcliff gets married or not. But I
10 Heathcliff (1802) know he won’t make you happy.
Cathy and Hareton were the only characters alive
at the end of the story.
ACTIVITY 3 AFTER READING
1 Heathcliff to Catherine, just after his return to
Wuthering Heights with his wife Isabella, when he
hears that Catherine has been very ill. (p45)
2 Isabella to her brother Edgar, just before her death
in London, when she writes to Edgar asking him to
take care of Linton. (p54)
3 Ellen Dean to Cathy, after Linton’s death, when she
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gives a letter to Mr Lockwood to take to Wuthering

Heights just before he leaves Yorkshire. (p78)
4 Cathy to Linton, when she was sixteen, writing
secretly to him after her first visit to him at
Wuthering Heights. (p62)
ACTIVITY 4 AFTER READING
Open answers.

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 ACTIVITY 7 AFTER READING
Acceptable answers to this cloze passage are any
words that have an appropriate meaning and fit
the structure of the sentence. Students might like
to check each other’s work and discuss alternative
answers.
ACTIVITIES ANSWERS

What is happening to me? Today, when Cathy spoke

sharply to me, I lifted (raised) my hand to hit her, but
something prevented me. I looked into her face and I
saw her eyes – Catherine’s beautiful (lovely, wonderful,
etc.) eyes! They seem to enter my soul (heart). And
Hareton’s are the same. I can’t (cannot) be angry with
those two. They remind me so much of Catherine! But
everything around me tells me that she was (lived) here
once, and that I have lost her! I’m in darkness, in her
shadow, and there is nothing, nothing on earth to live
for.
But recently I’ve felt (noticed, realized, seen, etc.)
there has been some sort of change (alteration) in me.
I feel hot and cold at the same time. I sometimes forget
to eat or sleep or even breathe. I’m closer to Catherine
than ever before! There is just one thing I want
(desire), with all my heart and soul, something (that)
I’ve wanted for so long! Catherine, hear my heartfelt
cry of pain! My darling (dearest), come back to me!
Can’t you take me with you this time? I’m not afraid
of death. Our bodies will lie (rest) together in the soft,
dark, warm earth, and our souls fly over the moor
(world), together again at last!
ACTIVITY 8 AFTER READING
Open answers.
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