In Chapter 34 of Emily Bronte's Wuthering
Heights, it is with a strange, excited expression that Heathcliff moves
restlessly around after he has been out all night on the moors. Clearly, he seems
possessed with some image or thought as he cannot eat, but clenches his hands and seem
enraptured of something that is nearby.
The fancied object was not fixed, either; his
eyes pursued it with unwearied vigilance, and, even in speaking to [Nellie], were never
weaned away.
Disturbed by
his behavior, Nellie reminds Heathcliff that he has not eaten, but when he reaches for
food, his arm stops before the food reaches his mouth as he so transfixed by his
visions. Later, in the night, Nellie hears Heathcliff pacing in his room, calling the
name of Catherine. Since he remains awake all night, Nellie knocks upon his
door, asking if he wants a candle in the darkness. Heathcliff rejects her offer and
tells her strangely that his "soul's bliss kills my body, but does not satisfy
itself."
At this point Nellie entreats him to let her send
for a minister so that he can make amends for his heathen life. But, Heathcliff rejects
this idea, insisting that he is not interested in going to
Heaven,
" I
have nearly attained my heaven; and that of others is altogether unvalued and uncoveted
by me!"
Here Heathcliff
alludes to his vision, which must be of Catherine. For, when Catherine has died in
Chapter 16, Heathcliff has begged her to haunt him:
"Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as
I am living! You said I killed you--haunt me, then!....I cannot
live without my soul!"
That
same night, Heathcliff is enraptured as he again sees Catherine; she comes through the
window for him, and he dies with a "life-like gaze of exultation" upon his
face.
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