why does nelly hate catherine

Nelly’s “hate” for Catherine in Wuthering Heights is really a mix of long–term resentment, moral judgment, jealousy, and frustration with Catherine’s selfish, destructive behavior.

Quick Scoop: What’s Going On Between Nelly and Catherine?

In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights , Nelly Dean actually admits that she doesn’t like Catherine once Catherine is past childhood, and she makes it clear this isn’t just a passing annoyance but something deep‑seated. She often undercuts Catherine’s interests in love and health, which shows that her dislike quietly shapes key events in the story.

“I own I did not like her, after her infancy was past; and I vexed her frequently by trying to bring down her arrogance.”

That line is your biggest “smoking gun”: Nelly openly says she disliked Catherine and deliberately tried to “vex” her and pull her down a peg.

Main Reasons Nelly Seems To “Hate” Catherine

1. Moral judgment and irritation at Catherine’s personality

• Nelly sees Catherine as arrogant, spoiled, and wayward , and she takes it on herself to “correct” her.

• She complains about Catherine’s lack of sensitivity and self‑control and treats her emotional outbursts as childish performances rather than real distress.

• Because Nelly has a strong sense of propriety and “respectable” behavior, Catherine’s wildness and selfish choices feel not just annoying but morally wrong to her.

So part of the “hate” is Nelly deciding she’s morally above Catherine and therefore justified in punishing or undermining her.

2. Resentment of Catherine’s power and privilege

• Catherine is the mistress of the house; Nelly is a servant who grew up alongside her but will never have the same status. That creates a subtle class resentment that critics often point out.

• Nelly frequently blames Catherine for things that are much larger than Catherine alone—like Heathcliff’s disappearance and even Catherine’s own fatal illness—piling responsibility onto her as if she deserves the harshest reading of every situation.

• One critic notes that Nelly “loads Catherine with full responsibility” for events she cannot fully control and seems almost eager to deny pity to Catherine in her suffering.

This makes Nelly’s dislike look like a mix of jealousy and class resentment wrapped in “I’m just telling the truth.”

3. Jealousy and discomfort with Catherine–Heathcliff closeness

• The powerful bond between Catherine and Heathcliff is something Nelly observes from the outside; she is close to both, but never central in the way they are to each other.

• Some readings argue that Nelly begrudges this intense bond and sometimes works, consciously or not, to disrupt it.

• The most infamous moment: Nelly knows Heathcliff is listening when Catherine confesses that marrying him would “degrade” her, yet she says nothing and lets the misunderstanding explode, which contributes directly to Heathcliff’s decision to leave.

That silence looks less like innocence and more like a passive act of sabotage born from resentment.

4. Quiet sabotage of Catherine’s happiness and health

Nelly’s dislike doesn’t stay in her head; it turns into choices that harm Catherine:

1. The love triangle and confession scene
   • Catherine confides in Nelly about loving Heathcliff but planning to marry Edgar.

 * Nelly lets Heathcliff overhear only the most hurtful part and does not warn Catherine or clarify what he did and didn’t hear.

 * Result: Heathcliff vanishes, setting off a chain of tragedy that devastates Catherine.

2. Downplaying Catherine’s illness
   • When Catherine is seriously ill (and pregnant), Nelly treats her as if she’s being dramatic and manipulative, advising Edgar to ignore her and assuming the “fit” is staged.

 * She does not fully communicate the seriousness of Catherine’s condition, and later even admits she “was in the wrong,” which shows she knew she had misjudged it.

 * Critics note she uses this to keep Edgar firm against Catherine instead of softening things to help her.

3. Reporting Catherine in the worst light
   • Nelly often runs to Edgar with reports that emphasize Catherine’s bad behavior and temper, pushing him to be harsher instead of reconciling.

 * At times she is openly pleased when her interference drives Edgar away in fear and frustration.

These aren’t the actions of a neutral caretaker; they show active hostility disguised as “doing her duty.”

5. Nelly as an unreliable, biased narrator

• Nelly is the main storyteller for much of the novel, and her own words show that she disliked Catherine and “vexed her frequently,” which means everything we hear about Catherine is filtered through that bias.

• Modern readers and critics often see Nelly as a kind of hidden antagonist : she shapes events and then shapes the narrative about those events to preserve her own self‑image while making Catherine look worse.

• Even other characters notice her lack of sympathy: Edgar calls her “heartless” for how she handles Catherine, and Heathcliff accuses her of twisting Catherine’s wishes.

So when people ask “Why does Nelly hate Catherine?”, part of the answer is: we know she does because she essentially tells us—and then spends the whole story proving it in how she acts and how she talks about her.

Different Viewpoints From Readers

You’ll see a few main camps in current discussions and forum threads:

• “Nelly is malicious and underhated”
  • This view says Nelly is a low‑key villain: she envies Catherine, sabotages her relationships, and then hides behind the role of sensible servant.

• “Nelly is strict but not evil”
  • Others argue she is harsh but practical, shaped by class and her sense of duty; she dislikes Catherine but mostly tries to keep order in a chaotic household.

• “Nelly is humanly flawed and biased”
  • A middle line: Nelly doesn’t purely “hate” Catherine, but she mixes affection, resentment, judgment, and fatigue, and those messy feelings produce harmful choices.

However you read her, the text makes one thing clear: Nelly does not like Catherine after childhood, and her bias has serious consequences for Catherine’s love life, health, and reputation.

TL;DR

Nelly “hates” Catherine because she sees her as arrogant, selfish, and morally wrong, resents her power and intense bond with Heathcliff, and feels justified in pulling her down—and she quietly sabotages Catherine’s love, health, and image while presenting herself as the sensible observer.

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