Linton Heathcliff
'He's a pretty little darling when he's good.'
We are introduced to Linton Heathcliff informally in Volume II: Chapter III.
In Volume II: Chapter V, he arrives in the “The World of Wuthering Heights.”1
Linton is the only child of Isabella Linton, of Thrushcross Grange.
Linton, born in September 1784, is the nephew of Edgar Linton.
Ellen “Nelly” Dean—in service at Wuthering Heights since she was a child—shares an episode from when Linton first became acquainted with the existence of his estranged father…
“And what is my father like?” he asked. “Is he young and handsome as uncle?”
“He’s as young,” said I, “but he has black hair and eyes, and looks sterner, and he is taller and bigger altogether. He’ll not seem to you so gentle and kind at first, perhaps, because it is not his way—still, mind you be frank and cordial with him; and naturally he’ll be fonder of you than any uncle, for you are his own.”
“Black hair and eyes!” mused Linton. “I can’t fancy him. Then I am not like him, am I?”
“Not much,” I answered. Not a morsel, I thought, surveying with regret the white complexion and slim frame of my companion, and his large, languid eyes—his mother’s eyes, save that, unless a morbid touchiness kindled them a moment, they had not a vestige of her sparkling spirit (Volume II: Chapter VI).
We are first introduced to Linton (or, the concept of Linton) when his mother escapes her husband and moves south, near London. The baby is born and raised there; we meet him when he travels north and returns to Thrushcross Grange.
Linton is the younger cousin of Miss Catherine Linton.
The north of England.