Wuthering Heights Act Two
On days like this, when the world’s cruelty almost overwhelms me
I wonder if it’s right to publish a text like this,
Suffused as it is with cruelty and rage.
But sometimes perhaps we must
Hold up the mirror to the world’s horror
To how those who have been abused turn into abusers.
But maybe what this savage story also shows
Is that we all have a common spark of humanity within us
however much we may try to deny it.
And that perhaps that little speck of light
Hidden so deep in the darkness
Can bring us out to the daylight in the end…
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (act two)
adapted by
John Clifford
©John Clifford 1995; Jo Clifford 2024.
All rights strictly reserved.
Copyright Agent:
Alan Brodie Representation, 14 The Barbon Buildings, Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4QH
+44 (0)20 7253 6226
ACT TWO
PROLOGUE
NELLY Imagine a house
EDGAR A comfortable house
NELLY With crimson covered chairs and tables
EDGAR A shower of glass drops hanging on a golden
chain
CATHY A house a girl once saw as a vision of paradise
NELLY But now the grown up child sits in the
paradise and wonders
CATHY Is it for me. Is it for me?
EDGAR And outside the storm is raging
CATHY and EDGAR sit in the comfortable parlour of Thrushcross Grange
A silence.
EDGAR A pleasant evening.
CATHY A pleasant evening.
EDGAR Outside the wind howls
And the rain falls in torrents.
The wind and the rain beat against the window panes.
But here the fire glows
And the china gleams
And everything is peaceful and ordered.
Outside unfortunates scurry in the fury of the storm.
But here we sit by the fire.
We are fortunate.
CATHY Very fortunate.
EDGAR And are you happy?
CATHY I am happy!
I am resolved to be.
Silence.
EDGAR The storm is wild.
CATHY You've said that already!
Silence
EDGAR Dearest
CATHY Yes.
EDGAR Something is troubling you.
CATHY Yes!
EDGAR Can you not tell me?
CATHY Tell you what?
EDGAR Tell me what troubles you.
CATHY No.
Silence
EDGAR It is three years since that Heathcliff
disappeared.
CATHY Three years!
EDGAR And nothing has been heard of him since.
He has vanished and left not a trace behind.
Silence
EDGAR They told me when I married you
That I was marrying danger.
Someone even told me I'd be safer marrying a keg of gunpowder. A foolish fancy!
For you have been so peaceable since he's gone.
My sweet and peaceable Catherine.
And I see no danger in you at all.
If you are gunpowder
You have become as harmless as sand.
CATHY There is no fire near.
That's all.
No fire to explode it!
EDGAR On the contrary my dear.
We have an excellent fire. Burning in an elegant grate.
Enter NELLY, agitated.
EDGAR Good evening, Mrs. Dean.
You have come for the tea things.
NELLY Yes sir.
EDGAR Even Mrs. Dean has changed her rough and
ready country manner and has become refined
NELLY Thank you sir
EDGAR Her position has improved. Like her wages
and her dress.
NELLY Yes sir
EDGAR But Nellie you have dropped a cup
NELLY I'm sorry sir
EDGAR This is unlike you. Is something the matter?
NELLY No sir
Silence
EDGAR You surely don't still miss that wailing
child you left at the heights?
Or is it the scrubbing you miss? Scrubbing the stone flags of the kitchen floor?
NELLY No sir. You've been very kind to me sir. I'm
grateful. Though I do miss the child sometimes and do wonder...but that's not what's bothering me.
EDGAR Then what is?
NELLY Nothing sir.
EDGAR You may go.
You have not gone.
NELLY There is a gentleman sir
EDGAR Then why didn't you inform us before?
NELLY The fact is sir this gentleman sir.
EDGAR Where Nellie? Where is the gentleman?
NELLY At the front door sir
EDGAR Then let him in
NELLY He wishes to see the mistress sir
EDGAR Catherine you may go. See who it is.
EXIT CATHY
EDGAR Nellie this is most irregular
NELLY Not my fault sir
EDGAR Who is this gentleman
NELLY That gentleman sir
EDGAR Yes Mrs. Dean. That gentleman
NELLY Someone the mistress does not expect
EDGAR Yes Nelly. But who?
NELLY Well sir you recollect that Heathcliff-
EDGAR Heathcliff? That gypsy? that ploughboy?
That -
Enter HEATHCLIFF, respectably dressed
EDGAR That...gentleman!
CATHY rushes in and embraces EDGAR
CATHY Edgar Edgar Heathcliff's come back Look he's
come back! He has! he has!
EDGAR No need to strangle me for that!
CATHY Be good to him. For my sake. Be friends now!
EDGAR That's quite enough!
Sit down sir.
Mrs. Linton, recalling old times, would have me give you a cordial reception.
And of course I am gratified when anything occurs to please her.
HEATHCLIFF And I also.
Silence. HEATHCLIFF and CATHY look at each other. Enter ISABELLA
EDGAR Isabella. You remember Heath- Mr.
Heathcliff?
ISABELLA Indeed I do. And what a change in him! He l ooks almost a gentleman!
CATHY Shame on you Isabella!
EDGAR My sister has said nothing amiss
CATHY Mr. Heathcliff is a gentleman in every
respect!
ISABELLA Of course. I meant no harm. I'm sure I meant
no harm!
EDGAR Shall we speak of other things?
Silence
EDGAR Are you staying long?
HEATHCLIFF I heard of your marriage not long since.
And I determined - determined! - to have one glimpse. One glimpse of your face.
And then settle my score with Hindley.
EDGAR These are not subjects of polite discourse.
HEATHCLIFF And your present reception has quite put them out of my mind.
For the time being.
EDGAR I am glad.
HEATHCLIFF But beware of meeting me with another
aspect.
EDGAR Mr. Heathcliff!
HEATHCLIFF But you'll not drive me off?
Since I last heard your voice, I've...
I've fought through a bitter life.
I was in hell. Before I came in here.
EDGAR No doubt Mr. Heathcliff will have a long
walk before nightfall.
HEATHCLIFF On the contrary. I go to Wuthering Heights.
EDGAR You surprise me.
HEATHCLIFF Mr. Hindley Earnshaw invited me.
When I called this morning.
He is taken to gaming. Of course I deplore
it.
But he cries out for partners.
When he is taken to drink he is quarrelsome. And so partners are hard to find.
But I have no fear of him.
EDGAR Good night then.
HEATHCLIFF Good night. Good night!
EDGAR Mrs. Dean, show Heathcliff the door
ISABELLA Nelly, don't trouble yourself. I'll show Mr. Heathcliff out!
EDGAR Nelly will show him out!
ISABELLA Then we both will.
Mr. Heathcliff.
HEATHCLIFF Farewell. Farewell!
EXIT HEATHCLIFF and ISABELLA and NELLY.
EDGAR Catherine...
Catherine I was shocked at your behaviour!
CATHY Why shocked?
I never said a word.
EDGAR Exactly.
CATHY And if I showed him in,
I was merely being polite.
EDGAR You devoured him with your eyes!
CATHY I looked at him, certainly. Is he not good
to look at?
EDGAR You showed him too much regard.
CATHY Showed who too much regard?
EDGAR Catherine you know perfectly well!
That...that.. Heathcliff.
CATHY Mr. Heathcliff is worthy of anyone's regard.
Don't you think so?
EDGAR I have a headache.
CATHY I think it would honour the first gentleman
in the country to be his friend.
EDGAR I won't talk about it further!
CATHY But I wish to.
EDGAR You are selfish and cruel to do so
CATHY Am I?
EDGAR Yes, when I am so tired and sick.
CATHY You are always sick when some trifle disturbs you!
EDGAR This is no trifle!
CATHY No cause for you to be pettish and spiteful
EDGAR Catherine please!
CATHY There's a tear in your eye.
EDGAR There is not!
CATHY How delicate you are! How peevish!
You are like a spoilt child.
EDGAR I am not! I am not spoilt!
And I'll not hear you say so!
CATHY Good night then
EDGAR Good night!
EXIT EDGAR
CATHY Good riddance!
Enter NELLY. She has been listening.
CATHY Oh Nellie he's a sulky sullen child. He says nothing but peevish speeches just because I praised Heathcliff to his face.
NELLY No use praising Heathcliff to him!
CATHY All I want is a living creature to share my
happiness! Just one! Just one living creature!
Nelly I've endured such bitter misery!
And I've never never burdened him with it!
Such unhappiness since heathcliff's been gone.
I've risen up against Providence!
But he's returned, he's come back from the grave, it's all over, it's like a happy dream, and I can afford to suffer anything hereafter!
Should the meanest thing alive slap me, now, on the cheek, I'd gladly offer the other one!
And I'd ask pardon for provoking it!
I'll prove it Nelly. Now. this minute. I'll go make my peace with Edgar.
Look at me! Look! I'm an angel!
EXIT CATHY
NELLY More like a devil!
EXIT NELLY
New scene. Morning. Several weeks later. Enter Nelly with flowers.
Enter ISABELLA and CATHY
ISABELLA No I won't have breakfast
CATHY Isabella...
ISABELLA I won't! I'm not hungry!
CATHY You're ill
ISABELLA I'm not ill
CATHY Then what's the matter?
ISABELLA Nothing!
CATHY Isabella!
ISABELLA Don't look at me in that tone of voice!
CATHY Then how should I look at you?
ISABELLA You're so harsh to me
CATHY Me? Harsh?
ISABELLA Always. Always harsh.
CATHY When have I been harsh?
ISABELLA Yesterday.
CATHY Yesterday?
ISABELLA And the day before! And the day before that!
And the day before that!
And every day of every week since Mr.
Heathcliff came home!
CATHY But how?
ISABELLA Yesterday you wouldn't let us walk together.
Go on, you said, ramble where you please,
while I walk with Mr. Heathcliff!
CATHY And that's what you call harshness?
ISABELLA What else should I call it?
CATHY I meant you no harm
ISABELLA You wished me away because you knew I liked
to be there!
CATHY You missed the conversation?
It was very habitual. Shall I repeat it?
Word for tedious word, so you know what you missed?
ISABELLA I don't mind the conversation.
I just wished to be with...
CATHY With him!
ISABELLA Yes! With him!
And I won't be put off!
CATHY Is it possible you find Heathcliff
agreeable?
Is it possible you admire him?
Silence
CATHY I find this hard to believe!
ISABELLA I love him! I love him more than you ever loved Edgar!
And I'm sure he'd love me - if you let him!
CATHY Nelly, help me!
Help me convince her of her madness!
Tell her what Heathcliff is
NELLY You can tell her better than I
CATHY He is a savage creature without culture or
refinement.
A wilderness of furze and whinstone.
A fierce pitiless wolfish man.
A man who could not love a Linton
But who'd be quite capable of marrying her
for her money.
And if he found you threatening him would simply crush you.
Crush you as easily as a sparrow's egg.
ISABELLA Shame on you! Poisonous friend!
Nellie tell me she's lying!
NELLY She spoke strongly, miss. But I can't contradict her.
He's a bird of bad omen.
No mate for you.
ISABELLA You're as wicked as she is!
NELLY How's he living then? You tell me that!
How's he grown so rich?
Why's he staying at Wuthering Heights
At the house of a man he detests?
They say Hindley's got desperate since Heathcliff came.
That he's gambled away his entire estate. And that every day he drinks himself into a stupor.
Heathcliff's doing. They say.
Stay clear of him, miss, if you value your happiness.
ISABELLA How full of hatred you must be to want to convince me there is no happiness in the world!
CATHY Call it hatred if you wish, Isabella.
But hear it.
ISABELLA I won't! I won't!
CATHY All the worse for you then.
Silence
CATHY Come in Heathcliff!
I know you're listening!
We need you to melt the ice between us!
Enter HEATHCLIFF
CATHY Though it's hard to imagine a more unlikely
person for the task.
Silence
CATHY Heathcliff you have all the gentility and
warmth of a...a polar bear!
Thanks to your insufferable presence,
This parlour is becoming even more of an igloo!
Still. Let me congratulate you at least.
HEATHCLIFF Congratulate me?
CATHY There's someone here who dotes on you more than I do.
HEATHCLIFF Nellie?
CATHY No not Nellie, Heathcliff. No use looking at
her.
HEATHCLIFF Isabella?
CATHY Isabella.
My poor little sister-in-law.
Who is not going to go away.
But who will listen to every word.
She keeps hold of ISABELLA, who wants to leave
ISABELLA Cathy!
CATHY Look at her Heathcliff
ISABELLA Stop it!
CATHY She's breaking her heart for you.
Lost in contemplation of your physical and moral beauty.
ISABELLA Let go!
CATHY No Isabella I shall not let go!
She swears the love Edgar has for me is nothing to the love she feels for you.
I expect she has said as much to you, hasn't
she Nellie?
Imagine that, Heathcliff.
You could become Linton's brother!
ISABELLA Heathcliff! Tell this friend of yours to let me go!
HEATHCLIFF says nothing
ISABELLA Don't look at me like that!
HEATHCLIFF I have seen insects. Centipedes in the Indies. Repulsive in aspect. Yet possessing a most peculiar fascination.
ISABELLA Let me go!
ISABELLA scratches CATHY, and gets free
CATHY There's a tigress!
ISABELLA Hate you! I do! I hate you!
CATHY Go then!
You've a face like a vixen!
Remove it!
ISABELLA You'll be sorry!
EXIT ISABELLA .CATHY is bleeding
CATHY Look Heathcliff! She has talons!
You must beware of your eyes!
HEATHCLIFF If her nails ever menaced me you know what
I'd do?
I'd wrench them off her fingers!
CATHY You would too
HEATHCLIFF What a wan, mawkish face!
What soft dove's eyes!
They detestably resemble LInton's!
You'd hear of odd things if I lived with that face. I'd be irresistibly tempted to bruise it. I'd turn its paleness into all the colours of the rainbow.
And you say she loves me!
What did you mean by teasing the creature
so?
CATHY I was not teasing
HEATHCLIFF Surely you were not speaking the truth!
CATHY I was.
HEATHCLIFF Impossible!
CATHY Only too possible.
Heathcliff, she has been pining after you
for weeks!
HEATHCLIFF She is her brother's heir, is she not?
CATHY Don't think about it!
HEATHCLIFF Why not?
CATHY Because it offends me profoundly
HEATHCLIFF Does it now?
CATHY To see you court her, yes!
HEATHCLIFF I'm glad
CATHY And to see how greed possesses you!
You should beware of avarice, Heathcliff. It is a pressing sin. Avoid it.
HEATHCLIFF I never knew you cared for my virtue!
CATHY Will you promise?
HEATHCLIFF Promise?
CATHY Promise not to see her?
Promise not to destroy her!
HEATHCLIFF Shall we walk?
CATHY Yes. Let's walk! Anything is better than your silence!
Let's walk! Let's walk!
EXIT HEATHCLIFF and CATHY
NELLY Wolfish pitiless man!
Prowling outside the sheepfold!
Biding his time.
Biding his time to jump the wall
And destroy everything!
Exit NELLY.
Enter ISABELLA, singing.
HEATHCLIFF at the door.
Flow gently sweet river along thy green braes
Flow gently I'll sing thee a song in thy praise
My lover's asleep by thy murmuring stream
Flow gently, sweet river, disturb not his dream.
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below
Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow;
There oft as mild ev'ning weeps o'er the lea
The sweet scented birk shades my lover and me.
Flow gently, sweet river, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;
My lover's asleep by thy murmuring stream
Flow gently, sweet river, disturb not our dream.
(source: Sweet Afton by Robert Burns)
HEATHCLIFF Isabella
ISABELLA Mr. Heathcliff?
HEATHCLIFF Isabella come here.
She slowly comes.
HEATHCLIFF They have told you I am wicked. It is true. I am wicked.
He kisses her.
NELLY Mistress Cathy, look!
She watches
NELLY The traitor!
EXIT ISABELLA
NELLY Filthy traitor! Aren't you ashamed!
Hypocrite! Deceiver!
What excuse will he find I wonder to explain him kissing her!
CATHY To hear you, people would think you were the
mistress! Go back to your place!
NELLY I'll tell the master!
HEATHCLIFF Tell him then!
EXIT NELLY
CATHY Why have you disregarded my request?
HEATHCLIFF What is that to you?
I can kiss her if she chooses to be kissed.
You cannot object. I'm not your husband!
CATHY Clear your face!
HEATHCLIFF You needn't be jealous of me!
CATHY You won't scowl! I won't have you scowling
at me! Clear your face!
HEATHCLIFF I see no reason why I should!
CATHY If you like Isabella, marry her!
But do you like her?
Silence
CATHY From your silence I know you do not!
HEATHCLIFF And I know that you have treated me
infernally! Infernally!
And if you think I don't perceive it you are a fool!
And if you think I can be consoled with sweet words you are an idiot!
And doubly a fool if you imagine I'll suffer unavenged!
CATHY What's this?
What is this?
I have treated you infernally?
You will take revenge?
HEATHCLIFF Not on you!
CATHY I'm not afraid of that!
HEATHCLIFF I'll never take revenge on you!
I'll thank you instead.
CATHY Thank me?
HEATHCLIFF Thank you for telling me Isabella's secret.
I'll make good use of it.
CATHY You'll make use of it? How?
HEATHCLIFF The tyrant grinds down her slaves
But they don't turn against her.
They are too afraid.
They torture those beneath them instead!
You grind me down, Cathy. You torture me! Only allow me to amuse myself in the same style.
CATHY So that's your idea of happiness!
Inflicting misery!
HEATHCLIFF I'm glad of my success
CATHY You're glad!
HEATHCLIFF If I thought you really wanted me to marry
Isabella I'd cut my throat!
CATHY Marry her then! I won't be jealous!
I won't give you that satisfaction!
Marry her if you like!
Enter EDGAR and NELLY
EDGAR And do you imagine I'd approve?
HEATHCLIFF Spare yourself the trouble!
I can do without your approbation!
CATHY Have you been listening at the door?
EDGAR This is insufferable!
CATHY You have! Base man!
EDGAR Insufferable!
Your presence is a moral poison
HEATHCLIFF I am delighted to hear it
EDGAR A poison that would corrupt even the virtuous!
I therefore require your instant departure!
HEATHCLIFF Oh you require it!
EDGAR 3 minutes delay, sir, 3 minutes, and your exit will be involuntary and ignominious!
HEATHCLIFF Oh Mr. Linton I'm mortally sorry you're not worth knocking down
EDGAR Nelly fetch the men!
CATHY no! You won't go!
CATHY locks the door and pockets the key
CATHY There. I've locked the door!
NELLY Give me the key
CATHY No!
NELLY She won't let me out sir!
CATHY If you have not the courage to attack him
at least allow yourself to be beaten!
EDGAR No
CATHY Then apologise!
EDGAR Give me the key!
CATHY No! I'd rather swallow it!
EDGAR You will not!
Give it to me!
CATHY Have it then!
She throws the key into the fire
EDGAR, defeated, sits down and puts his head between his hands
NELLY starts to try to get the key out the fire
EDGAR Oh Cathy what have you done!
What have you done!
CATHY What a hero!
HEATHCLIFF And this is the slavering coward you preferred to me! What very poor taste!
CATHY Cheer up. He won't hit you
HEATHCLIFF You're right I won't hit it. It's not worth the trouble. I'm tempted to kick it though!
Is it crying?
Or is it just going to faint?
EDGAR springs up and hits HEATHCLIFF and exits out the window
EDGAR I'll show you!
I'll show what it is to disregard me!
What it is to disregard a gentleman!
NELLY Now he'll get the men!
HEATHCLIFF How many?
NELLY Three! With cudgels!
HEATHCLIFF The odds are against me Nelly. I'll beat a retreat.
Next time I'll come with a gun.
But what a contemptible creature.
What a contemptible creature you married. Milk and water! he's not even worth killing!
HEATHCLIFF grabs the key and exits
CATHY Heathcliff! Come back! Oh don't go!
I beg you! I beg you! Heathcliff!
CATHY cries. NELLY cleans.
CATHY Nelly how can you clean?
Nelly I'm nearly distracted!
If Edgar comes back tell him I'm ill. I couldn't bear to hear him reproach me! It would be so tedious! Besides he has distressed me shockingly. And I wished to frighten him. And now Heathcliff can no longer be my friend. So if Edgar insists on being mean and jealous I'll break their hearts by breaking mine.
They'll see. They'll see and they'll be sorry.
They will be. They'll be sorry. They'll be sorry when my heart breaks! Nelly I wish you'd show a little less apathy!
You could at least try to look anxious!
Enter EDGAR
EDGAR Catherine
CATHY Oh. You.
EDGAR Yes, Catherine. Me.
CATHY Not you! Any one but you!
EDGAR Remain where you are, Catherine. I shall not
stay.
CATHY I should hope not!
EDGAR I have not come to wrangle, nor to be reconciled. I wish merely to learn whether, after this evening's events, you intend to continue your intimacy with -
CATHY Oh heavens sake! Have we not had enough!
Let us hear no more of it!
EDGAR I must insist.
CATHY You must insist!
EDGAR Yes. I must.
CATHY Are you really able to? Insist?
Edgar, your blood is cold!
Your veins are full of ice water
But mine, thanks to you, are boiling!
Will you be gone?
EDGAR To get rid of me first you must answer me
CATHY No
EDGAR You must answer
CATHY No!
EDGAR Answer. Your violence does not alarm me.
Will you give up Heathcliff
Or will you give up me?
You cannot both be his friend and mine
Silence
EDGAR I absolutely require you to choose
CATHY I absolutely require to be left alone
Leave me Edgar. leave me!
She breaks the bell
NELLY No use ringing miss. I'm here already.
CATHY beats her head against the arm of the sofa
EDGAR Give her some water
NELLY Water miss. I've brought you water.
Well if you won't drink it, take it!
NELLY throws water over CATHY, who faints
EDGAR She's fainted.
NELLY She's confused sir. She should faint before
she gets the water. Not after it!
EDGAR Cathy! Cathy! Speak to me!
NELLY Do not be frightened sir.
There is nothing in the world the matter with her.
EDGAR There is blood on her lips!
NELLY She decided to give you a fright!
CATHY gets up, screams in rage,
CATHY You are insufferable! All of you!
I can't stand the look of you
I can't stand the sound of you
I can't stand the smell of you!
I can't stand you at all!
I'll go mad!!
I'll go completely mad!!!
EXIT CATHY. A pause.
NELLY We got off lightly.
I was expecting broken bones!
Enter ISABELLA
ISABELLA Whatever is the matter?
EDGAR Nothing. Nothing is the matter
ISABELLA Surely something.
EDGAR No nothing. We will have tea, Nelly.
Serve tea!
NELLY It'll be cold sir.
EDGAR No matter Nelly- Mrs. Dean.
Mrs. Dean no matter what the circumstances it is important we act like civilised beings!
Now kindly serve tea.
Pause. NELLY serves tea.
CATHY screams upstairs. Everyone ignores her.
EDGAR Now Isabella. You are quite correct.
Something is the matter. You are the matter!
ISABELLA I?
EDGAR Are you not ashamed?
ISABELLA Why should I be ashamed?
EDGAR For encouraging that creatures advances
ISABELLA Oh that.
EDGAR Will you not deny it?
Will you not deplore it?
Will you not deplore it at least?
Silence. More screams from upstairs.
EDGAR Then I must solemnly warn you. Isabella.
Isabella attend me!
ISABELLA If you wish.
EDGAR Yes Isabella I do wish!
And I do wish to warn you!
If you are so insane as to encourage so worthless a suitor I shall immediately dissolve all bonds of relationship between us.
Do you understand?
Silence
EDGAR I take it you understand.
As for me I shall withdraw to the library. And endeavour to reflect!
EXIT EDGAR
ISABELLA As for me, I'll got out to the garden and I
shall mourn!
NELLY It's raining!
ISABELLA So much the better!
EXIT ISABELLA
NELLY As for me I'll...I'll clean the kitchen
range!
Then I'll polish the grate. Then I'll clean the silver.
And then I'll sweep the stairs!
They've all gone mad in this house,
But there's one sensible soul at least
And it's lodged in my body!
EXIT NELLY.
New scene. Nightfall. (3 days later)
Enter CATHY.
CATHY Three nights.
Three nights they've left me.
Three days and three nights.
Three nights I've been haunted
But I won't be
I won't be haunted!
I'm at home.
I'm safe at home. I'm safe at home at Wuthering Heights.
But I don't want to open my eyes!
I'm in my bed. I'm safe in my oak panelled bed, and its safe and warm!
So why am I so afraid?
Because father's dead and I'm separated from Heathcliff
But I'll run out and I'll find him in the stables
And we'll run out to the moor together. I'll open my eyes
I'll open my eyes
Enter NELLY with tray of food. She watches CATHY in silence
CATHY Oh god I'm here
I'm here and I'm married.
I'm the lady of Thrushcross Grange
And I'm the wife of a stranger!
I'm in exile. I'm an outcast.
What? What have I become?
What has happened to me?
Where's the girl I used to be?
The girl who was savage and hardy and free Where is she? That girl?
Where is she? Where?
CATHY eats
NELLY Wherever she is she's still eating
CATHY No-one cares about me
So I'll die!
NELLY Yes miss!
CATHY I wish I hadn't eaten that!
He'll not miss me anyway!
he doesn't love me.
What's he doing
NELLY Who miss
CATHY That pathetic being. My husband. Is he dead?
NELLY He's in his library
CATHY In his library?
NELLY Studying
CATHY In his library! Studying!
And I'm dying!
How dare he be reading while I am dying! Doesn't he know?
Doesn't he know what's happening?
Doesn't he care?
I s he actually so indifferent to my life?
NELLY You haven't eaten for three days.
It's no wonder you're deranged.
CATHY I begin to think that you don't like me.
I know everyone hurts and despises each other
But I thought no-one could avoid loving me.
Yet everyone's changed.
These last few hours
They've all turned into enemies.
How dreary to die surrounded by all your cold faces!
With his books! Studying! How can he bear to be with his books!
Furious, she tears open a cushion and the feathers scatter
NELLY Stop it miss! For the love of God!
Look at the mess!
CATHY Yes! look at it! look at the mess!
CATHY begins to sort out the feathers
CATHY I used to know feathers.
Did you know that?
I used to know the name of every bird that flew over the moor!
There's a pigeon's. This is a duck's.
NELLY Mistress!
CATHY There's a lapwing. Bonny bird.
Wheeling over our heads in the middle of the moor.
Babies in the nest. Crying for food. Heathcliff set a trap on it, so the mother could not come.
And we saw the nest that winter. Full of little skeletons.
I made him promise that he'd not shoot lapwings after that and he didn't.
Did he keep his promise Nelly? Did he keep it? Are any feathers tinged with red?
NELLY Stop it miss!
You're setting up a regular snowstorm!
CATHY I see in you Nelly an old old woman
With bent shoulders and snow white hair
Your bed is the fairy cave under Pennistone Crag and it's black black night
And you're firing fairy bolts, Nelly, Fairy bolts to blast and blight us!
NELLY Will you stop your blathering.
Cathy for the love of God!
CATHY Look how the candles on the table make the press shine like jet
NELLY What press
CATHY The black press
NELLY There's no black press
CATHY It's against the wall, Nelly, as it always
was.
But you're right, it does look odd. There's a face in it.
NELLY There never was a press in this room
CATHY Don't you see it? Don't you see the face
Nelly?
NELLY Of course I do.
Mistress it's your own face!
Your own face in the mirror, mistress, your own!
CATHY Its a stranger's.
Cover it Nelly cover it!
It frightens me.
NELLY If it makes you happy
NELLY covers the mirror with a shawl
CATHY It's still behind there Nelly I know it is.
NELLY Mistress
CATHY Will it come out once you're gone
NELLY It's yourself mistress.
Your own bonny self.
You knew it once
CATHY Myself!
It's true then. It is myself!
That is dreadful!
And the clock is striking twelve!
The shawl drops. CATHY shrieks. Enter EDGAR
NELLY Oh sir! My mistress is ill
EDGAR As I see
NELLY She has not eaten for three days but she
would not let me in. So we could not tell
you, sir. But it is nothing
EDGAR You say it is nothing?
NELLY She must go to bed, and I cannot persuade
her. Forget your anger, sir.
EDGAR How can I forget my anger?
You will pay for this Nellie Dean.
Pay for not telling me sooner
NELLY But you were shut up in the library sir.
I could not tell you sooner
EDGAR Go and fetch the doctor!
Make yourself useful!
Or I'll dismiss you from my service!
NELLY Yes sir. At once sir.
EXIT NELLY
CATHY Edgar Linton. You are come, are you.
You are one of those things always found when least wanted.
I suppose we will have lamentations now
EDGAR Catherine I beg you-
CATHY Tears and lamentations and moral discourse.
Tears I can deal with. I am used to them.
And lamentations too.
But I cannot bear the moral discourse!
EDGAR Catherine please!
CATHY I can see a light in my window at home
EDGAR You are at home
CATHY No. Not at home. I'm in a strange house
And I've a long journey to make to get to my home.
A rough journey and a sad heart to make it!
And we must pass by the graveyard!
Do you dare it?
EDGAR Catherine! Speak to me!
CATHY I'll not lie there myself
They may bury me twelve feet deep
But I won't rest till you are with
me...never! I never never will!
EDGAR Catherine what are you saying?
Don't I mean anything to you any more?
CATHY I don't want you Edgar. I'm past wanting
you. Go back to your books
EDGAR Catherine my books mean nothing to me.
You are the only thing I care for.
I beg you. Come with me. Back to your bed.
Out of the cold, Catherine. That's right. Back to your warm bed. Out of the cold
CATHY I'll never be warm again.
Never. Always cold. In this house.
Always so cold. So cold.So cold. So cold!
EXIT CATHY and EDGAR .
New Scene.
A while later. Enter KENNETH. He has just seen CATHY
KENNETH Bottle!
Enter NELLY with bottle
KENNETH Brain fever. Nothing to be done.
And she's expecting.
It'll be a close one Nelly: between her baby being born and her dying.
I wouldn't put any money on the baby.
Bottle!
Brother's drinking himself to death.
Hindley. Continually drunk.
Encouraged by Heathcliff.
Gambled away his estate.
Encouraged by Heathcliff.
Mortgaged up to the ears.
Encouraged by Heathcliff.
Once he's gone, who'll get the estate? Heathcliff!
Terrible thing drink.
Don't drink, Nelly. Never drink. Bottle!
NELLY Doctor Kenneth
KENNETH What?
NELLY I saw a dog
KENNETH You saw a dog?
NELLY Hanging on the front gate
KENNETH Hanging on the front gate
NELLY On the way to see you.
KENNETH Ah. Did you hear anything?
NELLY Yes doctor kenneth. I did.
KENNETH And what did you hear
NELLY Hoofbeats.
KENNETH One horse or two?
NELLY Two. Galloping into the night.
What does it mean
KENNETH It means Heathcliff's got the sister too
Bottle, Nelly. Bottle!
EXIT KENNETH .
NELLY I'll not go mad. I'll not! I'll clean! I'll
clean!
Morning. NELLY asleep.
Enter EDGAR
NELLY Master..I knew nothing. I never suspected I
knew nothing about it at all!
EDGAR Nor I. Yet she has gone. Isabella. My own
sister! I find it scarcely credible, but have come from her room. And I must believe the evidence of my own eyes.
NELLY I didn't know about it, sir, I swear I didn't.
EDGAR We will talk of it no more.
NELLY But shouldn't we take measures, sir?
EDGAR Measures, Nelly? What measures?
NELLY Why measures for overtaking her, sir.
Overtaking her and bringing her back.
EDGAR No Nelly.
NELLY But sir-
EDGAR She went of her own accord. And she had the
right. She had the right to go if she pleased. But henceforward there will be no communication between us. I do not disown her: she has disowned me. She has cut herself off from me for ever.
EXIT EDGAR .
New scene. NELLY cleans. Enter KENNETH
KENNETH She's better. Nelly, Cathy's better. I can scarcely credit it.
After three months! And there's still life in the baby! Astonishing! Nothing I did I assure you. Nothing I can do. Nature's course. Brother's worse. Bottle!
Wait. A letter. From the sister. Read it. Bottle!
EXIT KENNETH
NELLY From Isabella!
She reads
"Dear Nellie is Mr. Heathcliff a man?
If so, is he mad? And if not, is he a devil? I beseech you explain what it is I have married. If you can. I hate him. I am wretched.
Tell Edgar I'd give the world to see his face again".
Enter EDGAR
NELLY Master!
EDGAR What is it?
NELLY A letter from Isabella! From your sister!
EDGAR I do not wish to hear it
NELLY She is most unhappy.
EDGAR That is her affair
NELLY She begs for your forgiveness
EDGAR I have nothing to forgive.
I am not angry with her, Nelly,
I am only sorry to have lost her. Especially since I think she can never be happy.
But I cannot see her:
we are eternally divided.
NELLY Will you not write to her?
EDGAR My communication with Heathcliff's family,
Nelly, shall be as sparing as his with mine.
It shall not exist!
NELLY sees ISABELLA approach
NELLY But she has come to see you!
EDGAR Do not admit her!
Enter ISABELLA, dirty and bedraggled.
ISABELLA Brother!
EDGAR looks at her, says nothing. Exits, slamming door. ISABELLA sobs
ISABELLA Nellie will he not forgive me?
Has he nothing for me
NELLY No
ISABELLA No message at all? Not a sign?
NELLY Nothing
ISABELLA cries. Enter HEATHCLIFF. He looks prosperous.
HEATHCLIFF Well Nellie isn't it just a common slut?
NELLY Someone does not love her as he should
HEATHCLIFF Nellie you misjudge me.
I love it as it deserves!
As a common slut. I brought it covered in the dung cart.
I don't want it to shame me. I'll lock it up again directly.
Once it's served its turn.
Tell Nellie why I brought you.
ISABELLA I won't.
HEATHCLIFF Tell her!
ISABELLA He wants to use me
HEATHCLIFF Note Nelly how perceptive it is.
Why it could almost be a mind reader.
ISABELLA He wants me to drive my brother to despair!
HEATHCLIFF I don't need your help to destroy your brother!
But the sight of you might make him amenable to my requests!
ISABELLA Don't tell him Nelly! Don't tell him of my
state!
NELLY I don't know what to tell him miss
HEATHCLIFF She is a contemptible creature nellie.
Tell your master that.
She'll crawl through the mud if I ask her.
Tell him that.
Tell him what an abject thing his sister is
And how abject her condition.
You know Nelly she imagined me some hero of romance! About to rescue her from dull conventionality!
What a pathetic delusion!
And that's what made her love me!
I can scarce conceive of her as a rational creature!
I must see Cathy, Nellie. If not by this then by some other means.
NELLY She'll not see you sir.
HEATHCLIFF She will
NELLY It'll be the death of her!
HEATHCLIFF My absence'll be worse
NELLY She's got better in the weeks you've been
gone. She needs quiet. She needs peace.
HEATHCLIFF She needs me.
NELLY She hardly misses you at all!
HEATHCLIFF You know that's a lie.
You know that for every thought she spends on Linton
She spends a thousand on me!
NELLY She loves him
HEATHCLIFF She loves him as she might her dog!
NELLY He treats her with humanity and duty
HEATHCLIFF Humanity and duty! The insipid paltry
creature!
If he loved her with all the powers of his puny being he could not love her in 80 years as much as I do in a single day!
You might as well plant a oak tree in a flower pot as expect her to flourish in his contemptible care!
ISABELLA You're not to speak ill of my brother
HEATHCLIFF Back in the dung cart, creature!
You're not fit to look after yourself!
You're not fit to speak!
I'll need to keep you under my protection! And Nellie. I'll soon return.
I'll walk in the garden, Nellie.
Arrange for me to be let in peaceably
Or I'll get in by force!
And reflect on which will hurt your mistress more!
NELLY Have you no pity?
HEATHCLIFF No. I have no pity.
The more the worms writhe
The more I must learn to crush them.
It's a moral teething, Nellie.
A lesson I am learning.
And I am learning, Nellie.
It's a lesson that began very long ago.
This way slut! Back to the dung!
exit ISABELLA and HEATHCLIFF
NELLY He's human. Isn't he? He's made like all of us. Isn't he? With arms and legs and feelings too! Surely to God he must be!
Enter EDGAR
EDGAR There's mud on this carpet. Clean it up at
once. And shame on you, Nellie. Shame on you!
Dearest, Catherine, please come out!
Please leave your room!
Look what I've brought you!
I've brought you something beautiful dearest.
Something to gladden your heart.
Something to gladden your weary heart and make it lighter!
Enter CATHY
EDGAR These are the earliest flowers in the heights! I picked them for you to remind you of spring
CATHY They remind me of soft winds
Of warm sunshine. Of newly melted snow.
EDGAR The snow is almost gone
CATHY Is it. Is it all almost gone.
EDGAR Down here it is melted altogether.
the sky is blue, the becks are full.
The larks are singing.
The wind blows so sweet I'm sure it could almost cure you.
CATHY And the bells are ringing
EDGAR It is Sunday, my dearest. Had you forgotten?
CATHY Go to church.
EDGAR I will if you allow me.
CATHY I command you!
EDGAR Nellie look after her while I am gone
CATHY Yes. Now go! Go!
And Edgar
EDGAR Yes
CATHY Pray for my soul.
EXIT EDGAR
CATHY Thank God for that!
HEATHCLIFF at the window
HEATHCLIFF Let me in Nellie! I know he's gone to church! Let me in! Let me in!
He bursts in and embraces CATHY
HEATHCLIFF You're dying. You're dying!
How can I bear this?
CATHY Very easily I imagine
HEATHCLIFF No
CATHY You've broken my heart. You and Edgar. Both of you. Broken it. Then you both come here to sob. To weep over me as if you were the ones to be pitied!
I wish I could hold you till you were both dead!
I shouldn't care what you suffered!
I don't care for your suffering!
I don't! Why should I?
And why shouldn't you suffer? I do!
And you have destroyed me
And thrive on it, I think!
How strong you are!
How many years do you mean to go on living after I've gone?
HEATHCLIFF How can you say I have killed you? You know it's a lie!
How can you talk like that when you're dying?
CATHY Will you say in twenty years
"Look that's Cathy's grave"
I loved her once, and was wretched to lose her!
Will you say that?
Will you show your children your old lover's grave
And think, yes, she was dear to me once
But they are dearer to me now
HEATHCLIFF Why do you want to torment me? Don't you know your words are branded into me and will burn deeper for ever once you've gone?
You know I can't forget you any more than I can forget my own self
So why do you torment me?
Does it make you happy to think I'll suffer while you lie in peace?
CATHY I'll not be at peace!
I'll never be at peace!
But I don't want you to suffer Heathcliff
I only wish us never to be apart
And if I feel I've made you suffer
I'll feel pain too. Even if I'm dead and buried.
I'll still feel pain. Pain underground. Come here Heathcliff. Come to me. Forgive me! Do!
He doesn't care for me Nellie.
He doesn't care for me at all.
Oh Nellie I'm tired
Tired of being enclosed in here
I long to escape Nelly
Escape to that glorious world
And always be there.
Not seeing it dimly through my tears
Not yearning for it through the walls of my aching heart
But in it and with it and really there
Oh Nelly you pity me now
But I shall pity you
I shall be beyond and above you
Incomparably beyond and above you all
And why won't he come near me?
Why won't he?
Why won't he come?
Don't be sullen now. Come to me
Come Heathcliff. Come to me.
NELLY The master's out of church.
HEATHCLIFF Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your heart?
I cannot comfort you. You deserve this. You have killed yourself.
Kiss me if you like, and cry
And wring out my kisses and my tears. They'll blight you. They'll damn you.
NELLY He's walking across the fields
HEATHCLIFF You loved me. What right had you to leave me?
Nothing could have parted us.
Not misery not degradation not death.
But you did it. You parted us.
You of your own free will.
I have not broken your heart, Cathy. You have.
And in breaking it, you broke mine.
So much the worse for me, that I am strong.
Do you think I want to live?
What kind of living will it be when my soul
is with you in the grave!
CATHY Leave me alone! Leave me alone!
If I've done wrong, I'm dying for it!
Isn't that enough?
NELLY He's coming through the gate
CATHY You left me too, remember?
But I won't reproach you.
Forgive me. Forgive me!
HEATHCLIFF It's hard to forgive and look in these eyes And touch your wasted hands
Kiss me again.
But don't let me see your eyes!
NELLY He's at the front door!
HEATHCLIFF I must go!
CATHY You must not!
HEATHCLIFF I won't stay five yards from your window
CATHY Don't leave me!
Don't go!
it's the last time!
Edgar won't hurt us!
Don't go!
its the last time!
HEATHCLIFF I'll see you again. I swear it!
CATHY Heathcliff I shall die!
I shall die!
Enter EDGAR
HEATHCLIFF Damn the fool! There he is
Speak to me later!
If you must.
But look after her first!
EXIT HEATHCLIFF
EDGAR Help me Nelly! Help me get to bed!
And fetch the doctor!
EXIT EDGAR and NELLY with CATHY .
New scene.
Enter KENNETH; then enter NELLY with baby
KENNETH Told you she wouldn't last. Nature's course. Nothing I could do.
And her brother gone as well. Drank himself to death. And the estate goes to Heathcliff. Bottle! Terrible thing drink.
Baby's still alive though. just. Nothing I could do for it. Sickly wee thing. I'll give it a month.
Where's my bottle?
NELLY Here doctor
KENNETH Hard for you Nelly. Hard. But you've got your place.
Others haven't. More and more people, Nelly. Losing their place.
They're breaking the mills down in the valley.
Did you know that? Breaking the machines. Machines that take the bread out of men's mouths and leave them starving!
I'll have broken heads to mend before morning!
Feed it though Nelly Dean.
Feed the baby.
Don't forget to feed the baby!
EXIT KENNETH. NELLY sings to the baby.
NELLY (sings)
All the trees they are so high
The leaves they are so green
The day is past and gone, sweet-heart
That you and I have seen.
It is cold winter's night
You and I must bide alone:
Whilst my pretty love is young
And is growing
Enter ISABELLA, her dress all torn.
NELLY Isabella!
Isabella what happened!
ISABELLA I ran away! I climbed out the window
And ran past his servants
And ran through moor and bog and briar to this house without stopping!
I am sorry for Catherine.
Is she dead?
Is that her baby?
I'm to have a baby too. His child!
Poor thing! I pity it if it ever falls into his clutches!
He's not human Nelly, he's a devil of some kind.
This ring is the last thing of his that I possess.
Give me the poker. I'll smash it.
There and there!
And into the fire with it!
Now I'll gather some things and run to London!
I can't stay here.
He couldn't bear to see me free of him and contented!
Edgar won't trouble me!
And that monster won't chase me!
You'll not tell him where I'm gone!
And don't tell Edgar.
He has not been kind!
EXIT ISABELLA
NELLY You wee soul! It's a mad world you're born into and no mistake!
Heathcliff!
Enter HEATHCLIFF
HEATHCLIFF I know she's dead! I know. I don't need you to tell me. Don't snivel. She doesn't need your tears.
I was standing. Standing outside in the rain. In one of that wretch's flower beds! And I couldn't stand it! I couldn't stand to be outside.
I climbed up to her window, I had to be with her
I had to be with her and she's gone.
Where? Where Nelly? Where's she gone?
NELLY She's gone to heaven. I hope she's gone to
heaven. Where we can join her, if we repent our wickedness!
HEATHCLIFF Did she repent? I doubt it!
Did she die like a saint!
I don't believe it!
Nelly! Don't tell me stories!
H ow did Ca...Cat...how did she die?
NELLY Poor soul. You've a heart and nerves too
like everyone else. And feelings.
Why do you hide them?
Why do you try so hard to hide them?
You suffer too. You feel pity.
You feel pain.
HEATHCLIFF Stop your damned moralising! There's no room for it here!
How did she die!
Tell me! How did she die?
Did she remember me?
Tell me! Did she remember me!
NELLY No
HEATHCLIFF No?
NELLY She recognised no-one.
No-one from the time you left her.
Her life closed in a gentle dream:
Did you see Heathcliff. Did you see how
gentle.
How sweet a smile on her dead face!
HEATHCLIFF Liar
She's not in heaven. I can be sure of that! And don't tell me that she's at peace!
She's here. In this room.
Her spirit's here! I can feel it!
Cathy! I'll just pray one prayer over you
May you never rest in peace
May you have no rest!
Never rest while I am living!
They say the spirits of the murdered haunt
their murderers
Visit their dreams and never give them rest.
You said I killed you - haunt me then!
Come to me! Be with me always!
Come to me! Don't leave me here alone!
Don't leave me living on this empty desolate earth!
How can I live without my life
How can I live without my soul?
Don't leave me Cathy haunt me.
Haunt me! Haunt me! Haunt me!
end
Edinburgh/Lisbon 7th December 1994.
Revised 20th May 1995.