how did heathcliff die in wuthering heights

Heathcliff's Death in Wuthering Heights In Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights , Heathcliff dies from self-starvation after years of consuming revenge and grief over Catherine Earnshaw's death. His end marks a haunting release, as he wastes away, obsessed with reuniting with her spirit.

Circumstances of His Decline

Heathcliff's final days show a man unraveling under supernatural torment. He stops eating, grows restless on the moors at night, and converses with what Nelly Dean suspects is Catherine's ghost calling from the window. Nelly finds his corpse after peeking into his room; he lies with eyes wide open and a strange smile, refusing food despite pleas. Brontë leaves ambiguity—Nelly insists it wasn't deliberate suicide, but a willful surrender to starvation amid his madness.

Key Events Leading Up

• Revenge Achieved, Yet Empty : Heathcliff seizes Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, manipulates marriages, and outlives his enemies like Hindley and Linton Heathcliff. Still, victory hollows him out.

• Catherine's Ghostly Pull : 18 years post-Catherine's death, visions and whispers erode his sanity; he demands burial beside her coffin, tampering with it earlier to lie close eternally.

• Physical Wasting : He grows gaunt, hallucinates her presence in the wind, and ignores meals, telling Nelly, "I have nearly attained my heaven."

Interpretations from Readers and Scholars

Fans and critics debate the supernatural tint:

"Heathcliff successfully committed suicide halfway through... what returns is his spirit."

Others see mental collapse over literal haunting. IvyPanda notes his "hunger strike" as vengeance-fueled madness peaking in surrender. A 2025 YouTube analysis highlights his moor-wanderings as longing's final act, symbolizing gothic love's triumph over life. Forums like Reddit speculate racial or ghostly backstories, but canon sticks to emotional starvation. No "latest news" shifts this classic plot—timeless as 1847's moors.

Viewpoint| Cause of Death| Motivation
---|---|---
Nelly Dean's Account 1| Starvation (not suicide)| Hauntings, refusal to eat for Catherine
Scholarly Consensus 59| Self-induced wasting| Grief, revenge burnout, ghostly reunion
Fan Theory 3| Earlier suicide; ghost revenge| Supernatural possession post-hanging
Symbolic Reading 7| Mental/physical decline| Love transcending mortality

TL;DR : Heathcliff starves himself into death, haunted by Catherine, achieving eerie peace.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.