It’s a bit confusing, so here’s what actually happened to Cathy’s mum in Wuthering Heights

If you’ve watched Emerald Fennel’s Wuthering Heights and found yourself wondering where on earth Cathy’s mum is meant to be, you’re not alone. The film basically never mentions her, and when it does, it’s blink-and-you-miss-it.

In the adaptation, we only really see Cathy growing up with her father, the abrasive, alcoholic Mr. Earnshaw, at the gloomy Earnshaw home on the Yorkshire moors. There’s almost no reference to her mother at all. The single line comes when Mr. Earnshaw teases Cathy that she’s starting to grow a moustache like her mother, which Cathy angrily denies. And that’s it.

So what actually happens to Cathy’s mum in the original story?

Mrs. Earnshaw in the book

In Wuthering Heights, Catherine and Hindley’s (Cathy’s brother, who also isn’t in the book) mother is present at the start, but only briefly. Mrs. Earnshaw distrusts the orphan Heathcliff from the moment he’s brought into the household and never warms to him. Not long after Heathcliff arrives at Wuthering Heights, she dies.

Her death happens early in the timeline, before most of the drama people associate with Wuthering Heights really begins. Because she’s gone so soon, she has little direct impact on Catherine’s upbringing as the story unfolds.

Who raises Cathy after her mother dies?

With Mrs. Earnshaw dead and Mr. Earnshaw growing increasingly frail and preoccupied, Catherine is effectively brought up within the chaotic Earnshaw household, and especially by the servant Nelly.

Nelly Dean isn’t just a servant; she’s Catherine’s nurse, caretaker, confidante, and eventually the main narrator of the novel. She grew up alongside the Earnshaw children and becomes Catherine’s closest adult figure after her mother’s death.

So while adaptations sometimes make Cathy’s mum seem mysteriously absent, the book’s answer is simple: She dies very early on, and Nelly more or less takes her place as Catherine’s maternal guide.

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Featured image credit: Warner Bros